Help me choose a decent camera and card.

[Mr Mister]

Right im after a camera with decent optical zoom because i like car events etc and the close up action pics look great. I have a budget of £200-300 + a 1 or 2gb memory card.

I have been looking at the Panasonic DMC-FZ7 which i have seen for £215. Its got 12x optical zoom which seems good for a camera in this price range. Also has many manual override settings.

In terms of a memory card (depending on the camera) but for the panasonic i thought the corsair 2gb card ocuk has for £35 looked good. Does anyone have any opinions on this?

You might be able to tell im a bit of a photography n00b Ive looked at a nikon D50 which was a bit more than i wanted to spend and also seems quite complex for a relatively new photography.

Any help appreciated.

 

[kidloco]

I bought the FZR a little while ago. got it for £199 with a 512mb card and carry case etc.

It is a good camera, but you need to make sure you have it on the right setting depending on what your shooting or the images can be very hit and miss, blurred etc. Get things right though and its fantastic.

The D50 is in another league entirely, if you can afford it then its worth the extra

 

[Sol]

The D50 isn't any more complicated to use than any other camera because if you really wanted to, it has the same settings as most point and shoot cameras i.e. auto, portrait etc.

I bought my girlfriend a Canon Powershot s3 IS and she likes it. Pros for that type of camera is that you don't have to switch lenses (versatility) but with a DSLR you will get better quality pics. If you get a d50 you will have to look at it as a long term investment as the price goes up when you start buying different lenses etc for it. With the Lumix/S3/Sony H5 etc you will be able to get decent photos for most uses for a lot lower cash than the d50.

Bottom line: If you want a camera you probably wouldn't want to upgrade any time soon then get the d50. If you aren't sure how much photography you want to do you could get the lumix or equivalent and see how you get on first but you may end up wanting a DSLR (a lot of people do).

I use sandisk memory which does the job and is compatible with most cameras, so is Kingston (cheaper). No idea about corsair tbh.

 

[Wyvern971]

For "Point and Shoot" the 2Gb Corsair I got for my brothers IXUS is fine (but I wouldn't know how it performs in an SLR requiring faster write times)