[ouch]

Hi all,

I thinking of getting a new camera as I want something better than whats in my phone.  A few people have recommended a digital slr but tbh I'm pretty crap at taking photos  and really want something I can just point and shoot.

I mainly want to take photos of meself and friends climbing and also family shots and holiday snaps etc...

I was thinking of getting a Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ3 as it's got a decent zoom and wide angle.

any opinons, suggestions?

[SA Chris]

We have one of the Panasonic Lumixes (sp?), not sure which one. Great lens, and takes good pics, but no matter how good compacts are there always seems to be a slight shutter lag. If you are only taking snapshots though, very good.

[dave]

all the little canons, panachronics and casios i've seen seem to be decent. i've not seen a compact that didn't have major issues with chromatic abberations though (purple finging etc).

[SA Chris]

(purple finging etc).

What are purple fings?

[dave]

presumably they are somewhere between red fings and blue fings, innit?

[ouch]

Hmmh, I did a search on chromatic abberation and got blinded by science 

Will this be an issue that I should be bothered about?  It seemed like it made images blurry, I dont blurry images, they are bad enough when I take them anyways and need all the help the camera can give 

[dave]

basically on some consumer cameras if theres a high-contrast edge (like a silhouette against a bright white background) you often see some colour (often purple) fringing. this is often exagerated at the long end of cameras with a massive zoom range, (its quite noticable on my dad's panachronic lumix thing with a 10x zoom). can be corrected in photoshop if its not too bad and you can be arsed. if you're not picky, its not an issue. however if you are picky its a deal-breaker. depends on the user, the camera, how big you're printing etc.

example:

[ouch]

hmmh, I see what you mean.  Does this not happen with more expensive cameras? 

I'm beginning to think that it might be worth getting a dslr and learning how to use it.  A bloke in work has got a canon eos d400 and reckons its the dogs.

[dave]

not sure - price of equipment is never necessarily an indicator of quality!

DSLRs are great, but be aware it means a few things. 1. learning curve. 2. expenditure, and 3. expenditure. By expenditure i mean DSLRS are not cheap, then you will need to buy memory cards, and then a camera bag to put the camera in. then you'll probably realise you need another lens, then you;ll have to buy another camera bag so you can carry the camera and both lenses at the same time. then you'll probably realise you need a tripod, and then a flashgun, then you'll have to buy another camera bag to be able to carry the camera, both lenses, flash around with you, not to mention those filters you've just bought, and the lens pen, the remote for the camera, the spare camera battery, the spare batteries for the flash, i could go on.....

if you see yourself a more a snapshooter who's not got the time to be arsed learn about stuff for ages, really geting into it etc etc then you'll be better with a little compact digital thing you can stick in your pocket - these still piss all over the results you'd get using print film in a compact camera that you would have used 10 years ago.

[steven82]

i was told that the canon eos 350d was a good camera to get especially if you just want to point and shoot kinda thing its also quite a bit cheaper than the 400 so mite be worth a look

[ouch]

I think I'll stick with the original idea and get the panasonic.  At least it will be some thing I will use and not sit in the bag cos I dont know how to use it.

cheers for the replies