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Hi all 
I've been ill over christmas, so staring at a computer screen to seek out deals has not been tempting at all. Wondering if anyone's come across any particular bargains in the boxing day/january sales yet?
I use a d7000 normally, but in April I'm going to be inter-railing europe for a month, staying in hostels, and I've decided against lugging around my kit with me. This is due to its weight, but more importantly I don't want to always be worrying about losing my stuff (especially in busy cities/hostels). So I'm looking for a compact camera that can give me manual controls, with a decently wide lens, prob about a 15 optical zoom, and a view finder. It does not have to be slow, or a pretty colour, or have a touch screen.
Even if not posting an offer, I'd happily hear any recommendations on camera's if someone wants to share their experiences.
Thanks for reading.
i got a fuji X10 for xmas and it really is a cracking piece of kit and i noticed yesterday amazon had it for sale at £299...a good saving on what my better half paid for it
Quote: prob about a 15 optical zoom,
You'll be lucky. Optical zoom seems to max out at 5 or 6, which is already pretty good.
I bought a Canon G12 over Christmas for £300, but I think they are normally £360. That has a 5x optical zoom. Cracking little camera.
Ian
Hi all, thanks for responses.
The fujix10 certainly is aesthetically pleasing to me, but... I mustn't buy based on that! A friend of mine says he likes it, his only gripe is the viewfinder is only 80% of frame or something? So it seems a bit gimmicky? Any views on this?
Digicammad, I think maybe the terminology has lost me along the way. Some website before way saying ideally try and get 10x-15x optical zoom? Perhaps it was baloney! I get focal ranges, I guess it'd help a great deal if someone could inform me of the equivalent? I mean for a compact I'd prob be happy with a 20mm something up to 100mm and something zoom.
Quote: The fujix10 certainly is aesthetically pleasing to me, but... I mustn't buy based on that! A friend of mine says he likes it, his only gripe is the viewfinder is only 80% of frame or something? So it seems a bit gimmicky? Any views on this?
yea it's true that the optical viewfinder is 85% view and no info and the lens can come into view but i've only had mine since xmas day and i must say that i thought it was going to be a huge issue as well and was a bit worried about that amount of money being spent on me but i can honestly say it isn't an issue to me whatsoever as everything else the camera does and how it looks and feels in my hand completely overshadows the viewfinder issue. others might think differently but thats how i feel about it in hand. hope thats of some help.
Cheers lawbert, I had however found your thread before posting 
cheers regardless, may help anyone else who comes looking.
Nice to hear your feedback Gary on the x10. It isn't make or break, but yeah for framing correctly and positioning leading lines in, dunno whether the view finder issue would be a ballache for me. At the moment, as lawbert suggested - the P7100 seems £70 cheaper (with a case) at the moment. Since I don't plan to leave until April, I've got some time to watch prices, but just wanted to have a good idea just incase some good deals come about in january.
The optical zoom power (eg 5x) is only the longest focal length divided by the shortest. So for example the 28-200 lens on the Nikon p7100 is about 7x. If somebody is talking about 15x the chances are that they are factoring in digital zoom, which you need to avoid to maintain image quality.
As a note Dan on the p7100 it has now been replaced by the p7700 which is styled more like the X-10 and is around the £400 mark.
I paid £269 for my P7100 the week before xmas from WEX with the case and a spare Nikon Battery so I cant really see the price dropping any lower than the £229 it is now....I guess WEX bought to many!!
There is an excellent review on it on Dpreview
Quote: The fujix10 certainly is aesthetically pleasing to me, but... I mustn't buy based on that! A friend of mine says he likes it, his only gripe is the viewfinder is only 80% of frame or something? So it seems a bit gimmicky? Any views on this?
I you need a full functioning 100% view, best stick with dslrs
The viewfinder on the x10 is best used to set composition, nothing else, its certainly no gimmick, some people complain that there`s no information shown in the viewfinder, information is not needed. It was pretty amusing seeing people complain that they can see the end of the lens in the viewfinder, these people have obviously never used a rangefinder
There is a lot to like about it apart from its looks, its fast f2 - f2.8 lens, its bigger 2/3 sensor, its macro and super macro settings, and its leaf shutter giving you flash sync at all shutter speeds up to 1/4000 that I can have using any of my Canon or Olympus flash units, and so much more.
Quote: I mean for a compact I'd prob be happy with a 20mm something up to 100mm and something zoom
There`s plenty of 4x zooms to choose between.
My personal favourites 4x zooms are the Fuji x10, Panasonic LX7 and Olympus XZ-2 with its tilting touch screen.
... the Canon G12 has a 5x zoom, full manual control, a tilting screen, a viewfinder and a built in 3 stop optical ND filter.
I haven't had it long but a few of the ePz members have them and they have a very good reputation.
The G12`s viewfinder is about the same as the x10, showing about 80%
The p7100 has an 80% viewfinder...and a built in 3 stop grad, so many wheels and dials that you never need to enter a menu.
And it does a lovely Bacon Sarnie
To be honest you would be hard pushed to buy a rubbish top end compact nowadays....It pretty much comes down to price and personal preference I think.
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