Recommendations for a new mik-en-druk

[Bacchus]

I'm in the market for a new compact, something I can replace my little Nikon 3200 with. I'm looking for a 5mp or better model, with propper shutter / aperture priority mode implementation, and if it uses CF or xD cards, all the better

Thanks in advance.

[J.C.]

The Canon G6 is rated very highly. But there are some other Mik-en-Druk camera's which give you 10x zoom these days. I would consider one of those. Take a look at www.dpreview.com to compare camera's and look at various features.

Johan

[SimonDP]

There is quite a big selection out there, in the class that you are looking for. Maybe an idea of the budget upper limit you have, too narrow the filed down somewhat? Even so, as mentioned the G6 is a very good buy, as is the Nikon 8800, and the Panasonic Lumix new FZ5 as well. Give us an indication of your requirements (we know now about the 5MP one), and you will probably get quite a few various ideas form everybody!

[Hendrik van Rooyen]

I always start at the end and work back to the start.

What do you want to do with your images? 5mp will be enough to do A3 prints with some PS in between.

Do you do lots of wildlife, nature, people, action?

Must the unit be small enough to fit in a pocket, bag, backpack?

How big is your hands?

How big is your budget?

Regards.

[Doff_Oak]

I have a Canon S1 IS. It is nice, but not great. I like the immage stabelizer and the 10X zoom. I find the auto focus very disapointing and it does not want to be used in poor light. It is only 3.2 Mega pixles but I think to print up to A4 that is not bad.

[Fred_ZS]

Henke and SimonDP have the right idea by first wanting more details from you, but until then, just some input on my own experiences.

The Fuji S602z was my favorite "mik-en-druk". You could leave it in full auto and just click away and get great results, or take full control when needed.
It's a 3.1 MP unit with 6x zoom and never gave me a day's troubled. I liked it so much that it decided to keep it as my "everyday" camera.
The initial attraction was lens quality and the fact that it uses 4x AA batteries (NiMH).

The S602z has since been replaced by the S7000, with the main improvements being a new CCD, 6MP effective pixels, and RAW image ability. Look and layout remained essentially unchanged.

I have also had the Nikon 8800 and although it has impressive specs I was somewhat disappointed with it. A lot of my photographs are taken at indoor action events where I found AF to be frustratingly slow and give poor results in low light. CF write speed was also slow. I did not like the idea of a manual focus button, i.p.o. a focus ring, it feels clumsy. However it does produce lovely photographs and is a solid quality built camera.

Go to http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/sidebyside.asp - This is a great site for reviews and direct side by side comparisons.

Take your time and kepp in mind that there is a lot more to a digital camera than Mega pixels and zoom range. Lens quality and speed, AF ability, shutter speed, ISO range and buffer size and memory card write speed, among others, are also important factors to consider.

Good luck with your search.

Fred..>><<

[James Mitchell]

HP 945


You can auto / manual almost everything, including focus. It is rather large but has a big piece of glass up front. Using 4 AA batteries also means that you have good shooting endurance and the SD card means you can add additional storage at any time.