Yet another recommendation required thread ...

[Re-Joyce]

Yet another recommendation required thread ...

Sister in law is after a half decent camera to take round the world.
Has to be relatively compact - not DSLR I guess
Good quality
Do it all
Fairly robust
Good low light - is this possible in budget?
Fast (switch on till picture and minimal shutter lag)
Budget around £250

What about this: http://www.jessops.com/online.store/products/76010/show.html
Any other suggestions?

cheers
Jason

 

[dan m]

I'm guessing film is out of the question - if not, then there are plenty of small rock-solid SLRs with a fast 50mm prime to be picked up for peanuts (pentax mx, olympus om, ...), or even a little P&S Olympus Stylus Epic for $10 or so.

Otherewise, what's the price of the Canon s90 over there? If she can get one in budget then I have think it meets all your criteria. I really like mine. If it's above budget, then you really can't go wrong with anything from the Canon P&S line. I'd stay away from things with super zooms - the lens will be quite slow, forcing you to use flash in low light (not always allowed at historic sights and might draw unwanted attention).

Dan

 

[joel]

My wife has a Lumix TZ7. While not especially capable in low-light, it's a fine little camera that can take nice video. Flash is defeatable, and IA or scene mode provide reasonable solutions for most shooting situations. Things like face recognition and pano stitch helper (it "helps", but doesn't actually do the stitching) are fun.
There are plenty of options out there, so worth spending a little time investigating. Personally, I'd look into a camera with GPS, since this would help put her photos on the map, literally.

 

[cliffpatte]

All the little lumix cameras are good at people and scene shots. Where they fall down a little is on the ability to do shots in low light without the use of the puny flash. £250 is the cross over between entry level DSLR and bridge cameras so competition from the hight end P&S brigade is pretty feverish. I would probably ask how flexible they are on budget because cameras like the S90, G10 and LX3 are really quite a bit better for only a bit more money.

Cliff

 

[Eyebroughty]

Hi,

Try the Canon SX210 IS.

http://www.jessops.com/online.store/products/77155/show.html

I bought one and am surprised at how good it is.

http://s1022.photobucket.com/albums/af342/Gullane/Camera Test/

As you can see the only problem with the small compact is it just has a screen to look at and it makes it difficult to make sure you have a level setting, as in the sea is at an angle, not level. Still for the money it is a cracking camera. Also it gives better video than my Canon camcorder!

John