I need a new camera; I have some fairly exacting specifications - can anyone help?

[KatyMac]

It needs to take the photo quickly (my current one has a big pause)

Can you get cameras that plug in to charge (like a mobile phone)? If so I want one of those

& it needs to be easy (no complicated knobs or twiddles)

& it needs to be cheap (less than £100 ideally much less)

Help?

I agree I use mine everyday and it doesn't need charging from 1 week to the next

ONe of the ones that Bunbaker recommended - the Nikon L110 - DD has one of these. It is utterly fab.

If you are patient and are willing to buy second hand, I would try eBay for one of those or similar.

The zoom on it is incredible I have some pics on my blog.

I bought my big camera on eBay for about half what I would have paid in the shops.

Although DD's uses normal (rechargable) batteries. Not sure if the newer version has lithium batteries.

I have the camera for you! Just bought it myself and I really like it:

fujifilm finepix

It takes amazing pics (which is really the most important quality in a camera)
a lot of reviews (esp on the american amazon.com site) liken this to a full size professional SLR camera and I agree (it has a special EXR feature which does all the work for you of choosing the right settings)

It comes with a free 4GB memory card

Its only slightly above your budget (£136 reduced from £300+)

Comes with battery charger (you remove the lithium battery from camera and plug charger into wall)

It is not the smallest neatest camera in the world (feels clunky compared to my panasonic), but it takes great pics for its size.

I agree with the negative reviews that say that if you zoom while you are videoing you get a very blurry image until it gets into focus, not a big problem for me and for picture taking the zoom is really really cool.

By the way, if you are having battery problems, remember that with ANY new battery operated applicance (laptop, phone, camera etc) you must "condition" the battery when you first get it. This means you fully charge it for a number of hours (read instructions) then use it and let it completely run down, then for as long as you can try to always do a full charge and then let battery completely run down before a re-charge. Try to avoid "topping up" a half charged battery, you will shorten the battery's life if you do this.

Nooo, with the Nikon L110 you are back to AA batteries - definately not what Katy wants! Not sure 15x zoom with only basic stabilisation or the larger form factor is useful for the 'point and click' use either - and the shutter lag is twice that on the Panasonic I linked. And it's £135 - which is a great deal for this camera, but a Ferrari for £20,000 is not a good deal if you have 3 kids.

yy, realised that after I posted, MrA.

It is a fab camera, but we also have an extremely old version of the Lumix that was suggested upthread, and it is the one that DD takes when she is going away with school. It is smaller, batteries last longer and takes excellent photos.

I think we bought the Lumix about 8 or 9 years ago and has been a great buy.

Just want to say thank you for this thread and the advice given, particularly from Mr Anchovy. Have similar requirements to the op but been clueless for ages and missed out on lots of photo opportunities.

Have gone for the Amazon Lumix deal, and as I went to pay remembered we had a gift certificate for £30 from our wedding which probably would have expired if this hadn't prompted me. So I got the camera, a case and a fast SD card for £41.

Thankyou!

Thanks everyone - I'm still deciding but leaning towards the Lumix

Marking my place. Need a camera for my holibobs.
I found this Lumix FS14 this morning in Jessops.
Very tempted to pop along this arvo.
Anything is better than my iPhone4S pile of crap camera, surely?

Meant to add, it comes with a carry case and memory card.
Bargain non?

And do I add the 3 year repair plan for £15? Gotta be cheaper than my travel insurance excess should anything happen to it....?