Beginner of Beginners - First purchase (Bridge Camera)

[GaryN]

Although I cannot comment on the Fuji camera that you are thinking about purchasing I was in a similar position about deciding what type of camera to buy without spending too much money. I did a bit of reading up so I could decide what features I wanted, in no particular order they were as follows.
Manual control of aperture, exposure and ISO.
Option to capture RAW files.
Good zoom range (more than average compact camera)
SD card (which seems pretty standard anyway)
In built rechargeable battery.
After much looking around I ended up going down the second hand route and ended up with a Canon SX1 IS bridge camera. The only one of my features that was not fulfilled was for the in built rechargeable battery so I purchased a couple of sets of high capacity AA NiMh batteries and they are lasting really well.
I like to read Photoplus magazine as it has lots of practical tips, ideas and features.
I have also posted up some images on the forum and received some very helpful advice.
I hope that helps a little.

[OldBoy]

Originally Posted by thefonz78

Yeah another vote for fuji.

Fuji are the only camera maker who produce film. Always like the colours on Fuji digital cameras.

[thefonz78]

Yeah i always used fuji film my dad always did too. I hear fujifilm are going into the interchangable lens market again. They have made a Canon mount 30 x zoom lens.