Digital Camera's and Cam corders.

[Bass Junky]

I just bought a Sony Handycam for $980 from JB.

Great little video camera, took it on holidays and recoded heaps of stuff.

I can't believe how long the batteries last.

I'll bring it to the next meeting if you want.

[Snowman]

It's funny you say that Rhett cause in our endevours we found the opposite. We went to Teds initially and the chick that served us there knew absolutely nothing. And I mean NOTHING. In the end we had to leave because she was just painfull. She was like "um.... well.... this ones a new model and so it's more expensive than the older model but I'm not really sure what new features its has". So what features did the old model have? "um... well... I'm not really sure" Ok - thanks for you help

Then we went to Camera House and the guy there was freaky knowledgeable. I kinda felt sorry for him as he knew so much that it was obvious he didn't have a life! LOL. Only problem was they were damn expensive there.

[lvlong]

hi, try Canon IXus 40, they are much thinner than ixus400 and has bigger screen as well. Picture 's color is much warmer than the optio series of Pentax. You should be able to buy 1 for about mid $500 . Try www.cpl.net.au , they don't provide much information but cheap price.

[xRHETTx]

It's funny you say that Rhett cause in our endevours we found the opposite. We went to Teds initially and the chick that served us there knew absolutely nothing. And I mean NOTHING. In the end we had to leave because she was just painfull. She was like "um.... well.... this ones a new model and so it's more expensive than the older model but I'm not really sure what new features its has". So what features did the old model have? "um... well... I'm not really sure" Ok - thanks for you help

Then we went to Camera House and the guy there was freaky knowledgeable. I kinda felt sorry for him as he knew so much that it was obvious he didn't have a life! LOL. Only problem was they were damn expensive there.

Its funny that you say that Andrew because my girlfriend works at Teds so i guess im a bit biased. She is extremely knowledgable about dig cams, knows all the spec and features etc. I guess you get people who dont know anything wherever you go. Just try to speak to someone who has worked there for a while, had a chance to build up their knowledge base.

[Snowman]

Well I was given the name of a very knowledgeable guy who works at Harvey Normal by Joel. Top guy who know's his stuff. For those that have been following this I ended up ignoring most of your advice and going with a Nikon Coolpix 7900 for the digicam and a Canon MVX250i digi camcorder.

I really liked the Canon IXUS range and it was a close toss up between that one and the Nikon but I liked the Nikon a little more as it was slightly heavier and felt easier to hold, plus Joel would have killed me if I didn't get a Nikon! LOL.

Anyways... thank you all for your input. I wouldn't have known where to start with out the advice.

[Yorik]

I aheva Canon G5, quite nice, movies could be higher res, but sitll quite good for money.

[CNR33]

Well I was given the name of a very knowledgeable guy who works at Harvey Normal by Joel. Top guy who know's his stuff. For those that have been following this I ended up ignoring most of your advice and going with a Nikon Coolpix 7900 for the digicam and a Canon MVX250i digi camcorder.

I really liked the Canon IXUS range and it was a close toss up between that one and the Nikon but I liked the Nikon a little more as it was slightly heavier and felt easier to hold, plus Joel would have killed me if I didn't get a Nikon! LOL.

Anyways... thank you all for your input. I wouldn't have known where to start with out the advice.

I thought I would get bagged for reccomending a Nikon Coolpix. I got one for my 21st two weeks ago, love it. Easy to use, good quality.

One more positive vote for the staff at Teds tho, the guy that served me knew his stuff, and gave me 2 of the Gold cards, so I get 20 free prints per months for a year.

[Leewah]

Last year I bought my GF the Casio Elixim Z40. It's a 4 Megapixel with a 3x optical zoom. It's got a huge screen for a small camera and is easy to use. Quick startup was a must for me and this defiantely had it.

http://world.casio.com/exilim/en/ex_z30_z40/

Highly recommend it.

[Mean_R34]

Canon, Canon & Canon in that order!

I have an IXUS 430 which is fairly compact & takes really nice photo's. I am a happy snapper & not a serious photographer, so it has everything I need.

The IXUS 40 superseeded this & has a heaps larger LCD screen & is loads smaller.

Not sure about the other new one's as I bought mine a year ago.

I have heard that Pentax are pretty ordinary, both with their poor quality lens, grainey (supposedly) pics & the familiarity of some salesmen with Pentax who see the returns. This was the feedback from a couple of dealers in reference to the Pentax Optio s4. The good thing about that is it's tiny size + it's considerable cheaper than the Canon range, but most likely for good reason.

My 2 cents.

[ferni]

Hang on...the Mrs is up the duff? Did I miss a memo? Congratulations!

Couple of notes when looking at compact digital cameras...

* Don't get caught in the megapixel hype - 5 is plenty, anything higher and you'll have bigger file sizes (less space) and not a whole heap more picture quality

* Optical zoom is important, forget about digital zoom

* Compact Flash and SD memory cards are good value - get a big one

* Movie mode can be really handy, even if you have camcorder as well

I'm a big fan of any Canon Powershot or IXUS when it comes to compacts.

Couldn't agree more - and i have the Cannon IXUS V3 - its a great little camera.

Its all about the lense these days. As said above 5MP is plenty, but of course you can turn the MP down in the camera settings so don't be put off if the camera you want is 7MP