Any photograhpers among us? Need advice on which digital camera to buy...

[lulupop]

I am what you could call an interested amateur. We currently have the Canon Ixus V (2.1megapixel) which has been a good first digital camera but I am finding I can't get good enough shots with it.

I want to buy a new camera, and can spend up to £500. This could buy me a Canon G6, which seems to have a lot of scope to improve my skills, but I was wondering if it might be a bit much? Would I be better with a Powershot, or one of the Fuji cameras?

Can anyone offer some more informed advice?

We have an Ixus and we recently got a very good deal on a Canon G5 which is a FABULOUS camera - really love it. Far more involved settings you can mess around with, but still a similar menu system to the Ixus so you're not learning from scratch. Can't recommend it enough. Two minor downsides to the Cannon: in some flash shots you can see the shadow cast by the lens, also the red eye isn't fantastic on any Cannon camera from what I can tell.

That said, I've heard good things about some Fuji models recently too (can't remember which were the particularly good ones - I think they're a bit of a mixed bag - some models fantastic, some not great for the money). I personally, however, wanted another Cannon.

Best thing to do would be to go into a proper camera shop - I can recommend Jessops as a reputable retailer who won't sell you something you don't want/need. That way you can get a proper feel for the camera, and get advice from a camera bod.

Hi, we have a Canon Powershot A80 - not as dinky as an Ixus but takes great pics. With £500 you should be able to get something really good. Have you read the camera reviews on Amazon etc?

Glad you said that about the red eye Georgina - I thought it was me!

This is an extremely detailed site: dpreview . But I would also recommend going in to a shope, trying the camera and seeing if the "feel" of the camera is right. For example I think the ease of use of the menu system is really important if you want to start mucking around with apertures, speed etc. I have to admit I am a point and shoot photographer - it is DH who is the enthusiast!

Another thing to think about - as with all of these things, the technology is moving fast, and two years down the track, something better is likely to come along. DH is very proud of having off-loaded his old camera gear on Ebay for, oh, about 1/5th of the price he paid for it!

If you have a Jessops camera shop near you ther are very helpful and extremely knowledgeable.

Thanks for your replies - I have been looking on the dpreview site, which is excellent but I think offers almost too much info for an inexperienced person like me to decipher.

We have a Jessops so I'm going to go in there this afternoon and have a look

Dp spent hours reading reviews before choosing our camera, and decided on the new Cannon (S1 I think it's called). It's only 3Mp but it's got a really good zoom, a steady-cam thingy and excellent picture quality. It also looks nice.

we have the sony dsct1
its great tiny and takes good photos and movies too