Suggestions for a good digital camera (read conditions carefully)...?

Question

It MUST:

- be compact (as opposed to digital slr -styled)

- be cheap! (under £200 - so ebay/ high street shops only)

- have a li-on battery - I can't afford any more rechargeable batteries

- have 5x or more optical zoom and at least 6x digital zoom

- take very high resolution photos - at least 8 mega-pixels

- work well in extremely well in very low light situations - ie. crisp, hi-res photos in museum type conditions where you can't use flash

- have macro mode on it that works from 5cm

- and most importantly, have an optical view finder coz i've got shaky hands :)

So, they are my conditions.

I've already looked at the Panasonic DMC-FX500 which looked great, but it didn't have a viewfinder :( and the Sony Cybershot DSC-W130, but reviews i've read said that it didn't work well at all in low light conditions - it was way too noisy at even ISO 400!

I had a cybershot dsc-500 before, but that was also too noisy in low lighting (i'm referring to picture quality btw)

Answer 1

I would go for the Panasonic Lumix, the leica lenses are far superior to the Zeiss lenses on the Sony's. I meself have an FX-50 and do quite a lot of similar type photography and the photos are always spectacular.

Answer 2

This is a bargin: http://www.comet.co.uk/shopcomet/product...

CASIO EX-Z1080 for £79.00

Can not be missed!

Answer 3

okie dokie there are two cameras linked below, and i think they are pretty good, hope i have helped in some way.....the second one is waterproof, and tho i dont see a viewfinder it has other features to give you great pics, so your shaky hands shouldnt be a problem....hope you get a good camera

Answer 4

well, i suggest that you go to the store that sells digicams.. they know better and may even suggest you more than what you want...

Answer 5

Your requirements are very stringent, and it actually minimizes the number of cameras to search for.

The few that fit your requirements are:

Canon G9 (pushing the high end of your budget)

Canon SD890 IS

Nikon Coolpix P5100

I think most cameras in this range won't have great low light performance, so you may be disappointed. The cameras above do have ISO above 800, however, there images will have noticeable noise. The cameras do have image stabilization so it might give you the option to shoot at 400, and still get adequate shutter speed that ensures crisp pictures.

Hope that helps.