I'm a bit stuck - Which one?!?

[kmpowell]

First time user here!

I have been looking to get my parents a new compact digital camera at about the £250 mark. The camera needs to be fairly intuitive to use, slim enough to be able to wear round the neck (not as a fashoin accessory!, they do walking and RSPB stuff etc), fairly future proof(for a year or two at least) in terms of a decent spec, and most importantly a decent lens to give a good picture. Having done a bit of research, the models I 'think' I have narrowed it down to are:

Sony DSC-T9
Nikon Coolpix S6
Canon Ixus 65

.... they all seem to do the same kind of thing for the same kind of price, however I keep getting mixed reviews on the lens/picture quality. Some say the sony is miles better, but some places say you are just paying for the name with Sony & Nikon, and the Canon is best.

I note however that the T9 has been superceeded by the T30? So in terms of picture quality should I discount a sony all together becasue the T30 is out of the price bracket and the if the T9 has been superceeded it will be old tech?

Anybody here own one or able to shed any unbias light onto which would be best?

Or does anybody recommend anything else?

TIA
Kevin

[Pirate!!]

Ahoy there!

So many choices. So many suggestions that will follow. I have a DSLR so I'm not qualified to advise . . BUT . . having had a Panasonic FZ series camera with OIS, maybe you could look at one of their products, such as:

Panasonic LZ5 with a review here

Just a suggestion.

[mjcairney]

I know this is an American site, but you may get some useful information.

Best of luck.

Cheers,

Martin.

[Astaroth]

The T9 was only released earlier this year/ end of last year so certainly isnt old technology.

Which is the best is dependant on your priorities. The Sony is by far the smallest so if pocketability (love making up new words) is priority (as it was for me) then this may well be a winner. If however you are paying for miniturisation less money has gone on the important things like lenses and sensors but saying that my T33 does produce very good pictures and as I have a dSLR for my top shots the size was the priority for me for something that I can take where I dont want to take a dSLR

[ush flynn]

not a fan of sony cameras, they wouldnt be disappointed with the t9 but i think you can get more for your money with the nikon or canon. The s6 i havent used yet but looks good on paper. The original S1 and S2 were decent enough but were nikons first try at that shape of compact camera. The s6 im hoping is much improved. My gf has just swapped her ixus 50 for the 60, she didnt like not having a viewfinder which was her main reason. Also the resolution on canons bigger screen didnt appear to be as good as it should have.
If it were me. Id be looking at the new panasonic FX 01 or the older FX9. Image stabilisation is great for small cameras and the leica lens produces great images. I also believe the SD memory cards are the one to stick with for now. Cheaper to buy and more widely used (so they can swap cameras if they need to)

[richard plumb]

T9 also has image stabilisation. Nice camera for tucking in your pocket, and gives good results. Panasonic fx01 is also worth considering. Pretty small and ois is very good.