Cross posted from my much loved Journal:

Anyone got any compact digitial camera recommendations? I'm looking to donate my 5MP Sony to the rest of the family and get oen with a 28mm-100mm (equivalent) zoom lens of Leica/Zeiss quality, with >=7MP and manual override, for myself. Obviously I want the best there is within budget, which is roughly £300.

I bought a Panasonic compact for my daughter about a year ago and we all abscond with it whenever it's time to take pictures. The only digitals I've found that shoot faster are the SLR ones. Picture quality is amazing and rivals that of the digital SLR I bought at about the same time for twice the price.

Link to a newer version of the same at Best Buy, which prolly won't do you any good across the pond:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp ... 1672224378

check out www.dpreview.com

although they may just do SLRs.

also www.popphoto.com

I think there are two options when going for a camera - compact for snaps and AVI video with sound that you can take anywhere- in which case the credit card size Casio Exilims are fine and good value -

or a camera to take shots to frame on your wall - in which case I'd get a Nikon D40 or D80 with a good lens (the 18-70mm one is very good value or the 18-200 VR one is amazing if you are feeling balla).

Some good thoughts here, but what I'm after is portability and quality in one camera/lens.

I don't want more than one lens as I've found in the past that the whole gubbins gets too bulky to lug about, as it will mainly be used for casual/holiday/family shots; but the quality does need to support occasional/risible attempts at high definition "art" photos.

It must go down to 28mm equiv., as I found the 35mm equiv. Sony lens wasn't wide enough to capture the scale of the interior of Canterbury Cathedral recently, and up to 100mm ish equiv. to cover portraits. Beyond that range, I don't care.

It must be the highest quality possible for the price (hence the fixation on Leica and Zeiss lenses), and include a viewfinder and manual override (AP exposure).

It must offer RAW format as well as JPEG, and a decent ie 2.5" LCD.

It seems illogical to buy an SLR if I'm only using one lens, and on top of that I know from my 35mm days that all other things being equal a compact can offer higher quality pics than an SLR, due to the absence of mirror shake (unless it's lockable of course).

(From reviews the Nikon DSLR looks very good quality but comes bundled with a 26mm-83mm equiv. zoom that's too short for portraits. Ditching this in favour of the 27-105mm equiv adds £140 net to the package, taking it close to £600, way over budget.)

I don't what I want exists at the moment.

Northy,
I'm going to recommend a Fuji. I have owned 2 so far and LOVE them. Short of a DSLR, I can't imagine a better camera given your guidelines. The one in the link below is the same as I have only about 2 or 3 years newer model number. It sort of looks like a DSLR but it's not and it IS a lot smaller than a DSLR. One lens, 28-300, manual override, viewfinder & LCD. But the best thing about it, 9mp and takes GREAT pictures.

Sent this email to Panasonic:

I'm looking for a high quality digital compact camera with 28mm zoom lens,
manual override and viewfinder.

The TZ3 has the zoom lens, and the FZ8 has the other features, but not the lens.

Do you have any plans to release a version of the FZ8 with the TZ3 lens in the
near future?


---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thank you for your email enquiry.

In response, there are no plans at present to release such a product. I am sorry for any disappointment this may cause.

Blah blah

Regards,
Catherine Lambkin
Customer Support

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Think I'll wait to see what the reviews say about this model:

http://www.popphoto.com/cameras/4394/fi ... -fz18.html



though it seems uneconomical as I'll hardly ever use 350mm of that lens.