Compact Camera for £200

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Soldato
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Hi All,

I'm off to India in October and need a camera to use to take pictures.
I've got a budget of around £200 and need a compact camera to take with me.

Any recommendations? It'll be a lot of scenery shots and a few of me and my mates.

My Mum is going to the States next month and I might be able to get it a bit cheaper there.

Cheers All :)
 
I'm after a similar answer. I have an old Ixus 970 that only gets used once or twice a year, but after using it yesterday I realised actually a decent compact is quite handy.

The S110 looks good, but they're up over £200 from what I can see. How about the Ixus 255? I like that it's a little smaller than the S110, the only real loss that I can see is the S110 goes to F2.0, the 255 only F3.0.

Thoughts?
 
Don't really know about the 255, problem with point and click cameras is that there are so many of them, it's hard to say. The S100/110s always get recommended in this class.

The main differences I can see vs. the S100/S110 are not only the lens, but you loose RAW file format (deal breaker for me) only JPEG and there are no aperture or shutter speed controls on the 255, which makes it much more point and shooty :) but if that is what you need it should be fine.

Having said that I don't see it being that much better than your current ixus to warrant a new camera. The S100/110 however has more DSRL ish features which is why I like it.
 
The main thing with the high end compacts like the S110/LX7 etc. is that you get a bigger sensor that is fused more on image quality than Megapixels and you get a faster and sharper lens that is less compromised with a shorter zoom range.

The lack of RAW is not really an issue if the JPEG engine is good and customizable because if you shoot a compact it is unlikely you will want to spend hours in LR, and even if you do a good balanced jpeg that is close to your final output is still very much workable. A lot of of sports pros actually shoot their 1Dx/D4 in JPEG mode so that A) they have maximum file writing speed and unlimited buffer, B) when it comes time to send the photos to the Editor they can send the files immediately instead of having to import and export inn something like LR.

The manual controls are useful, but only when you end up with a lens that is worth changing aperture on manually. With the superzoom type cameras you basically want the lens wide open at all times because you will always struggle for light and/or be diffraction limited from wide open. Let a long the fact you have no DoF to play with anyway.


So basically an S110 type camera just gives you way better image quality and the chance to play a little with some settings that actually make a difference.
 
I'm still so amatuer I don't even use RAW on my DSLR, so I wouldn't miss that. I do like the idea of controlling aperture and shutter speed though. Maybe I'll keep my eyes peeled for an S110 for a little while and see if I can find a bargain somewhere. Thanks.

**EDIT** I see they're on eBay for around £189 from Hong Kong. Any dangers in going this route? Lack of Warranty perhaps?

**EDIT** Nevermind, I see even the UK they have them £210 with £20 cash back and 3% discount on phone orders. Maybe I'll just do that...
 
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Ah Ok, bear in mind that Canon says that ebay isn't covered by their autumn cashback offer

"Q. What transactions/products are excluded from this cash back?
...
3. Product bought on ebay or through Amazon Marketplace (3rd party, i.e not Amazon directly) Resellers; products purchased from a retailer or e-tailer based outside the UK or Ireland; "
 
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