which digital camera to buy?

[triplets]

Buying my first, so many to choose from, want a large lcd and a zoom lens and metal case if poss, can you recommend any?

My 9 month old Sony Cybershot....has everything you want and more...yours for £120 including £50 case - see for sale threads!

Canon Ixus models all excellent.

have you got triplets t?

Are you asking me if I have got triplets? Sure have and don`t I know it!

how old are they!!!

Any particular canon then, how many pixels would you recommend, would like a large lcd!

They are 8, two boys and a girl, Rebecca, Thomas and James.

my friend had triplets they are two now and a tv channel filmed her through the preegnancy - we met another trip mum when i was at a play place with them yesterday!

Does she find it hard work, we are permanently exhausted, mind you we are "older parents"!

she does have help but also has another child one year older! The other woman we met had trips 4th baby!!!! So four turned into 4,5,6!

Well as exhausting as they are they are truly special, just wish I could knock a few years off, have them but also have my son I lost, thats the reason they are hear and why we had them so late in life. Its the way things worked out, if someone had told me 12 years ago the roller coaster we were in for I would never have believed them. Its been very very hard.

Have not researched the range recently, just know they have good optics and strong bodies. Anything above about 4 MP will be more than enough for just about any situation.

\link{http://www.dpreview.com/\This site} is excellent.

Thanks Hubdee, had a quick look, looks very good will look more in the morning, off to bed now, feeling shattered! I cooked a 3 course lunch for 18 today as a favour! Nighty night!

ahhh triplets i am sorry i did not know about your son children do wear one out when one is a little older but also i have more patience!

Thank you, Matthew would be 27 this July, seems incredible. Anyway this isn`t getting my camera sorted out!

I'm a big Canon fan - they are very well made cameras and you get a lot of camera for your money - what's your budget, triplets?

Also what sort of camera are you looking for - are you intending to do just snaps (and get the best quality snaps you can do) or have scope for a little more control over the output (be able to do macros, zoom in, change shutter speed etc) - would you like a camera you can grow into and learn about that sort of stuff?

The Canon Ixus's are excellent - very compact and very good quality, you do pay a slight premium for their size though - something to be aware of. I've got a \link{http://www.dabs.com/productview.aspx?quicklinx=3T0G&refererid=WQ&GCID=C16358x004-CamerasCam&KEYWORD=Canon+Powershot+A620\Canon A620} which is known as a "creative compact" - i.e. it has basic point and shoot modes, but you can also has lots of other features packed into it and is very good quality. Has a good macro mode for a compact too. - comes in at just under £200 in most places. Slightly bigger than an Ixus though, so it's important to decide exactly what you need from a camera.

Whatever you choose, I strongly recommend you actually go and handle the camera in somewhere like Jessops - do you like how it feels in your hand, can you reach all the controls okay, do the menus feel intuitive. Jessops tend to be more expensive than online, but in my experience if you go in with a printout from the web they'll almost always do their best to price match for you. They generally have staff who actually know about the cameras and you have the added benefit that you have an actual store to return to in the unlikely event you have any problems after purchase.

Hope that helps :)

Sound advice thank you. yes I agree you have got to get the feel of it. I basically just want one for family snaps, holidays etc. Budget is around £200. My brother recently bought one from Jessops, paid £400, but its abit complicated for me! I guess I just want a large display. I do want one with a grip on it, you know that curvy bit on the side! Also a zoom lens.

The Canon A620 has the curvy bit and the display is certainly reasonable :) Another one to look at for display, I think, are the Olympus compacts - as I seem to remember that the display took over most of the back of the camera - I don't know an awful lot about the Olympuses to be fair, but they do have a good reputation.

I would try and get as many megapixels as you can afford (as long as the optics are good, and the feel of the camera is right/has the features you want - Canons, Nikons, Olympus...) - the number of megapixels makes a big difference in terms of how big a picture you can get out of it. So if you wanted to have a large printout of a particularly fab holiday picture to go on the wall, you'd still get good quality.

But yes, go into Jessops and have a play - then when you're sure which model you want, run it through pricerunner, dealtime and kelkoo to get the best price, print it out and go back to Jessops to haggle

\link{http://www.jessops.com/search/viewproduct.cfm?PRODUCT=CANIXUSIZOOMB&BRAND=&CONTINUE=false&FEATS=&FIRSTPRICE=&KEYWORD=&LEVEL=&MODELNUMBER=&NEWQUERY=True&NODE=236&ORD=ASC&ORDERBY=PRICE&QUANTITY=10&RECENT=0&REFINE=&SEARCH_FOR=&SEARCHNODE=0&SEARCHURL=ShowGSearch.cfm&SECONDPRICE=&SHOWCASEID=&STARTROW=21&SUBS=&WORD_SEARCH=N&\Canon iZoom} comes in at under £200 (you could probably find it cheaper elsewhere too... so consider that a guide price).

5MP, shooting modes (A620 has these too - helps you get a more "clever" picture with very little faff or knowhow - like portrait shots with the background blurry, or long exposure night shots), and very light and compact. Doesn't have the curvy grip thing, but I'd recommend holding it in the shop to see if you get on with it.