[Paul Simons]

Hi All,

I am new to all this camera stuff. My partner has a basic 3 magapixels camera currently. WE are going to iceland to see the northern lights, claciers etc. So was thinking of getting a new camera for her for this to take some cracking photos of the views. Am looking to spends about £150 - £200 on a good quality camera, good zoom and high amount of megapixels. Not sure what else to look for but will then use the camera in the future for gernal photos of family, other hols etc.

Any suggestions or advice greatly appreciated

[allymac123]

The only advice I can offer you is to not be too concerned with the mega pixel count. Once you start getting above 6 or 8 you will often see a decrease in the image quality in compact camera's.

My old 4MP olympus C700 took far better landscape photo's than my g/f's 12MP Fufi F100 does and that has three times the resolution!!

The only time megapixels may make a difference is when you are printing significantly larger than A4. Even then more MP certainly DOES NOT guarantee a better print.

[Paul Simons]

thanks for that nice to know no to bother to much of megapixels, what should i really be looking for then ??? am really lost

[allymac123]

I'd love to be more help but unfortunately I've been out of the loop from compact camera's for a few years now so don't really know what is out there anymore.

Hopefully someone else will be able to nudge you in the right direction.

[Throttle]

Theres some reviews on recent compacts at Dpreview (assuming you want a compact camera)
Slim / Ultra Compact Camera Group Test (Q4 2008) Review: 1. Introduction: Digital Photography Review if you click the reviews and the holiday group tests you'll get various other compact cameras reviews

If you see any Camera you like check out Camera Price Buster - Digital Compact Cameras
Should help you out for a good price though they dont have every shop there so may be able to get bit cheaper elsewhere but overall the site is quite good for decent prices.

[Zone]

Moving to Digital Photography Gear

[moonrakerz]

Originally Posted by allymac123

The only advice I can offer you is to not be too concerned with the mega pixel count.

Hear, hear - don't fall for the more mega-pixels, the better, line !

6 Mp is plenty, UNLESS you intend doing 6ft by 4ft prints !
I went to Iceland a few years back with a 3 Mp camera, the results were, and still are, brilliant.

I would look for a camera from a camera manufacturer rather than an electronics company: Nikon, Canon, Pentax, Olympus. You will probably get a slightly better lens on it.

[RobDickinson]

I recon you could get Iceland for a 5DmkII, or prehaps a 50D and a battery grip. Its a cheap cheap country thesedays.