Advice for buying camera

[NeilJ]

Hi!

I have offered to buy my brother a camera for his wedding present.

They've suggested that I get them a bridge camera. My budget is around £150.

I know very little about cameras myself and some advice would be appreciated, on what sort of camera would be the best and where to get it from etc.

Neil

[Mark Woodhead]

I have the Fuji Finepix S1900 (bridge Camera) with an 18X optical zoom which is very good for alot of simple photography, but the shutter speed is so slow it is nearly impossible to take moving shots. You have to move the camera with the object which is extremely difficult. Also the focus is slow on clamping on to an object so again photographing moving targets becomes difficult.
I do not know if all bridge cameras are slow, but if he wishes to take action photography you may have to spend more.

[Angry Turnip]

Many point and shoot/compact/bridge camera`s do tend to suffer from Shutter lag-(by the time the shutter has fired your subject has gone)

It all depends on what your brother wants to use the camera for-if it is for action/aircraft shots I would suggest a second hand DSLR with at least a 300mm telephoto lens.

Unfortunately like most things,the price for a camera is a good indicator-if it is just for general use then their are plenty of decent point and shot camera`s by all the main manufacture`s.

[jasT1981]

I have the Fuji Finepix S1900 (bridge Camera) with an 18X optical zoom which is very good for alot of simple photography, but the shutter speed is so slow it is nearly impossible to take moving shots. You have to move the camera with the object which is extremely difficult. Also the focus is slow on clamping on to an object so again photographing moving targets becomes difficult.
I do not know if all bridge cameras are slow, but if he wishes to take action photography you may have to spend more.

I have the S2750 and it suffers the same issue with shutter lag. Takes a second or two to shoot which can be a bugger at Airshows. My advice would be to hold the shoot button in half way and focus (doesn't take shot at this stage) then shoot when the plane comes into screen as it has already focused and will shoot the picture as soon as you push the button again to take the photo with no shutter lag.

[SKYWATCH]

But…………………………

Perhaps his brother isn’t an aviation enthusiast and might just want to take nice scenic and family photographs.
If indeed this is the case, one of the little 16MP Nikon or Canons would be an excellent wedding present.

I would have much preferred that than a vacuum cleaner 

SKYWATCH

[Jake Lewis]

I myself use the Panasonic FZ45 24x optical zoom. Absolutely fantastic camera and I have used it for its fast shutter speed and its fast auto-focus. It has a fantastic ability  to take close up pictures - I have never been left in doubt with this camera! Definitely worth the money, despite being over your budget at £205 (Amazon) it's something I would seriously consider if I were you. Even have a look at a few reviews for it. The camera has never let me down and I would seriously consider it to be on of the best bridge cameras out!

I will send you pictures at a later date, I'm in Spain at the minute - So will try and get a few shots for you.

Good luck Neil!

Jake

[NeilJ]

Thanks for all the advice :-)

One of my friends owns a Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ48, and is very happy with it. I think it's maybe the model up from the FZ45 and costs £219 on amazon. It is a good bit more than I wanted to spent, but it seems to have very good reviews.

I've narrowed my options down to the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ48, Fujifilm FinePix S4500 and Kodak EasyShare Max Z990.

Here are the links:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Panasonic-DMC-FZ48EB-K-Hybrid-Digital-Optical/dp/B005K6WTSU/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1346664519&sr=1-1
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fujifilm-FinePix-S4500-Digital-Optical/dp/B006Q8VAR2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1346679227&sr=8-1
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kodak-EasyShare-Z990-Digital-Camera/dp/B004MMF7PU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1346679327&sr=8-1

It's just for general use, unfortunately my brother has no interest in aircraft.

Do you think it would be worth spending the extra and getting the Panasonic? Or would one of the others be better value for money?