Which camera..

I am ideally looking for a camera, small enough to carry around with me (and if possible put in a handbag), but good enough to take some reasonable pictures with (mainly of dogs).

I am looking to spend around £200.
I have been hearing about 'bridge' cameras and this could potentially be the sort of thing I'm after.

Any recommendations and examples of photos would be great..it's not something I know much about unfortunately!
Thanks

Hello. Ahhhhh, the joys of spending other peoples money

A bridge camera may be to big for your handbag (unless you carry a large bag with you)

Have a look here. There are a few to choose from..... http://www.cameralabs.com/buyers_gui...l_camera.shtml

My money would go on the Panasonic TZ18 and have £60 change for memory card, case, spare battery and maybe even a bag of chips

My fuji bridge camera has served me well.

Take a look at my last few pics all were taken on it.


This would be the new updated one [mine is about 4 years old.]

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fujifilm-Fin...9068987&sr=8-1

For a Christmas gift we bought our daughter the Samsung DualView ST100 14.2MP Digital Camera. My daughter LOVES it and it takes great photos. We paid 350.00 USD for it but well worth it. She has had it for a year and a half now and still loving it. Google the images and you'll see it's a nice pocket camera with some serious MP.

Good luck!

Thanks
That one looks good, I will look more in to it. Do you have any links to pics taken on one..I have found a few on amazon but thats it so far. Having looked at the bridge cameras a bit more they do seem quite bulky.
It doesn't seem there is a huge difference in the picture quality but am I wrong on this as there must be benefits to a bridge?

Thanks, that is one of the links I have open! I will have a look at your pics now

Thanks, I'll have a look at it, its a minefield!!

welcome to the forum

Take a peak at the compacts on this link

http://www.camerapricebuster.co.uk/

Don't forget camera prices don't include memory cards, and best to get rechargable batteries if your camera of choice takes AA batteries.

Compact cameras nowadays are very very good, you just can't change lenses with them but easy to carry about. There is such a choice you need to take a look at the spec and ease of use as well as keeping within your price bracket.

Bazza

Here you go. Click on the small picture to make it larger. http://www.flickr.com/photos/cameral...th/5621569494/

Good way to check out camera recommendations is to type its names into Flickr Groups, i usually find a few groups showing pics taken by said camera. Gives you an idea of its capability's.

If you're going for a larger /bridge camera I'd look at a small DSLR like the Nikon D40 (second hand) the picture quality will be much much better.

Or, I'd consider a small panasonic Lumix - for a small package they sure do pack a punch Here's a few threads when I had one: http://www.yophotographer.com/tags.p...onic+Lumix+TZ7

Thanks, I think perhaps a compact is probably going to more practical for me in reality, and perhaps with time and improvement I could try a bridge camera

Thanks for that They seem pretty good.

Thanks, that has been helpful looking at the group pictures.

Thanks Azz, I think I am edging towards the Panasonic lumix tz2o.
Seems like it takes pretty good photos for a little compact, and I think considering I know nothing about photography (my dad would be ashamed!), I wouldn't get the best out of a bridge and would probably use a compact more.