Afternoon all,
I have been tasked with finding my other half's mother a digital compact camera with a budget of £150. Doesn't need to be swinging and dancing but needs to be decent.

Main use will be family get togethers, parties etc but also when they go to Le Mans each year so a sport function may be useful. She isn't an IT geek but certainly isn't a technophile so dont need to worry too much about it needing to be easy peasy to use. Plus most of them have an auto function anyway.

I am currently looking at the Lumix FS37 but if anyone has any other suggestions to throw in the mix then please feel free.


Thanking you,

mads

[Edited on 30/12/11 by mads]

One consideration often overlooked: is MiL happy to have a screen viewfinder? IMHO, a proper viewfinder makes all the difference when outdoors and when given a similar task a couple of years ago, grandpa hadn't thought about it. So I lent him mine and he couldn't get away with the screen. That narrowed the search a lot. Then factor in batteries. I found a camera with a removable battery pack and separate charger with spare battery packs at a reasonable price, but also took AA batteries just in case!
I'll try to find the info on what I bought for him.

Wife got a kodak easy share for her birthday a month ago,
very easy to use, but no viewfinder,
there about £70 and loads better than my Finepix that cost £150 about 5 years ago

The FS37 is not a bad midrange compact, but it has touch screen controls which are very much a love/hate thing. Personaly I don't like them on a camera, I much prefer buttons with proper tactile feedback. Make sure the MiL is ok with this.

I agree with Owelly about a viewfinder being incredibly useful, but the fact is that at this budget you won't find anything new with a view finder, and the cameras that do have them tend not to be very "compact".

The Fuji refurb shop is always worth a visit, they have the F300EXR for £98.99 which is a pretty good camera and they come with a full guarantee etc.

Sadly you have missed some excellent deals recently, e.g. the excellent Canon SX220 was available from Amazon for £161 with £30 cash back on registration bringing it down to £131.

Prob under budget, but I bought a Fuji AV200 - came 2nd in the Gadget Show budget camera (got it to take on bike rides). 14mp, 10 mins hd vid, 3 x opt zoom etc.

£47

ATB

Simon

thanks folks. will have a look at the ones you've mentioned and also ask MiL about viewfinder and touchscreen.