First time camera recommendation

[MaxwellF]

Hi,
This is my first post!
I'm looking for my first digital camera and have read numerous reviews on PhotographyBlog and TrustedReviews that have been conflicting and confused me a fair bit.
If you could help me these are my needs:

. slim / pocketable
. decent zoom
. around the £200 mark
. the first two times I'll be using it are at Wimbledon (!) and Budapest do i really need HD video?
. nice look

I've had a look at the Fuji Film 200EXR and liked the apparent HDR feature is this any good?!

Thanks in advance for any info / help!

[chris-p]

Originally Posted by MaxwellF

. slim / pocketable
. decent zoom
. around the £200 mark
. the first two times I'll be using it are at Wimbledon (!) and Budapest do i really need HD video?
. nice look

Hi Maxwell, welcome to the forums

For your budget the F200 EXR is a pretty decent camera. However, you can probably do better....

Have a look at the following cameras...

Panasonic DMC-ZX3 - this has an 8x zoom against the Fujis 5x, better image stabilisation and better video and is about £220
Panasonic DMC-TZ8 - this has a 12x zoom and better image stabilisation and better video and is about £210

The other alternatives are the Canon IXUS 130 IS and Sony DSC-WX1 both of which have the same sort of zoom range but are otherwise slightly newer and slightly better specified.

As for the HD video question, the answer is a resounding maybe. The thing is that if you don't use the video feature then you don't need HD video. If you did decide to use the video function then you'd definitely be better off with one of the HD cameras, not because HD is great but because the standard VGA resolution of non-HD is appalling!

[MaxwellF]

Thanks a lot!
Looking at the Panasonics and the Sony now
If anyone one else could give me some suggestions before i decide that would be great
Thanks again

[ianpinion]

Hi Maxwell,

I would concur with Chris' suggestions. You really can't get anything any better for the budget you're restricted to and both these cameras are likely to be listed as Which Best Buys, just like the models they have superceeded, namely the DMC ZX1 and TZ6 were, in last years tests.

I would have no hesitation in recommending these two Panasonic Lumix cameras, because their lenses are made by Leica. And for optical quality they are hard to beat!