Thought I'd splash out and buy myself a new camera 'cos the old one is very basic and can't take sharp close ups, has a pathetic zoom and eats batteries. In fact my phone takes better piccies.
I was looking at the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ30. Anyone got any views on this camera (or other possibly better ones)? Looking to pay around £400.
pm dirkdigger ..... he's the expert :)
Suggest having a good browse in
www.dpreview.com
then going to try out what you like the look of in shops, prior to buying online so it's cheaper! One hint I have - if you are going to try out a camera, and it's got the same kind of memory card you're used to, take your own card to the shop so you can take sample pics with it and then play with them on your PC. I did this with a couple of the high end semi-pro Canons and rejected them both as they didn't stand up well to full screen display. I ended up with a higher price but much better one, which was a squeeze at the time financially but I haven't regretted it for a moment. Not that I use it a fraction of the amount I do the pocket one...
moonbells
If you visit http://trial.which.co.uk/reports/av/digital_camera/index.php?bbcam=adwds&bbkid=compare+digital+cameras&x&whichaa=2 you'll be able to take out a 30-day free trial and see the most recent consumers' association report.
So long as you remember to cancel the payment before the 30 days are up! ::)
Thanks peeps. The Which? report (I'm already a member) was one of the reasons I'd sort of earmarked the Panasonic.
Moonbells, what did you buy in the end?
Jill
Big one: Canon EOS 300D (now updated to 350D and much better, but I don't care...)
Gets used for astrophotos and holiday pics and big events.
pocketcam: Canon Ixus 40 with a 1GB high speed SD card. Does movies, stitches, x3 zoom but the optics were better in my old 2x zoom one (less chromatic aberration). I think that's a factor of the weeny size and zoom. (It is really tiny and goes everywhere with me.)
moonbells