Our trusty old Canon PowerShoot A70 has, after way over 5 years service, given up the ghost. This 3.2 mega pixel monster served us well but now it's time to replace it and here's where I need some help guys.

I'm not by any means knowlegable about photography but I have an idea about what we would like to buy.

It has to be compact.
It has to have a viewfinder.
It has to be smart enough to cater for a less than smart operator.
It has to have that anti shake whatsit to stop our pics blurring.
It has to preferably have as standard a wide angle lens.

Budget is around £200 but is flexible.

Any advice and tips from you knowlegable photographers would be really really useful. No information, however trivial it may seem to you, will be wasted believe me !

One question, why the need for a viewfinder?

There are hundreds of suitable digital cameras on the market for your budget but stick a viewfinder in your wish list and it cuts it down to almost none.

My favourite (and a few people I have recommended it to also love it) is the Fujifilm F100fd. I can't find the best price atm but a friend of mine bought it recently for around £180 (IIRC).

Found a good price CLICKY!

My first thought was "You'll be lucky". So few cameras have viewfinders these days. I don't get it. I have ranted about this before. Using the screen means more battery usage. Using the screen means that it is hard to see in bright light. Using the screen is a recipe for disaster with horizons- some of my wife's recent pictures look like she was completely rat rrrrsed when she took them.

And guess what. I've just had a quick squiz at Jessops and they have 16 compacts with viewfinders, mostly Canon. When I went camera shopping for my wife for Christmas, there were almost none with a viewfinder. Perhaps manufacturers have cottoned on.

I can only give you some buying advice. Try the Digital Camera Company http://www.digital-cameras.com/ or Warehouse Express http://www.warehouseexpress.com/Home/default.aspx for some of the best prices. I selected my wife's Nikon compact on Jessops, because their selector tool is pretty good and then got it with a case and spare battery for the same price from the Digital Camera Co.

Nikon CoolPix P5100
Compact *tick*
Viewfinder *tick*
Image Stabilisation *tick*
I'm not sure any camera that has advanced settings for a compact camera can cater for that one.In 35mm equivalent talk it has a 35-123mm lens.

Mark

I'm sure a lot of the Canon Powershots have EVF (Electronic Viewfinder) but I've never been keen on squinting through a little peephole the size of my small finger nail.

I recently bought a compact that has a 35mm equivalent of 24-240mm (10x optical zoom on a 24mm wide angle) still in a compact body. It also does 720p at 30fps video (H.264) and has proper optical image stabilisation as well as digital stabilisation if you need it.

It doesnt have a viewfinder though.

Its got loads of manual features or just the straightforward auto everything mode I think its got smile and blink detection too.

For just under £200 though its feature rich. Its bigger brother (WB550) has HDMI out too.

Thanks for the replies guys.

The viewfinder is a feature my wife insists on. trigen_killer was echoing my wife when he said that it's often difficult to see the screen in bright sunlight. Personally I think I could cope and who knows, maybe we will compromise eventually.

The moron factor (It has to be smart enough to cater for a less than smart operator) is for me alone. I'm of the age where I just want to be able to open a new toy and play... not have to read through a small novel before I can use something.

I'll take a look at all the sites you've mentioned. Thanks very much guys for taking time to reply, it's appreciated.

Paul

Most cameras these days, even the top end SLRs, have a 'point and shoot' mode, so I think with whatever camera you get, it'll just be a case of remembering which setting on the dial is Full Auto mode.

It does my head in the lack of view finder on compact cameras, on a small camera with an inevitable shutter lag you need as much stability as possible. I frequently get blurry images on compacts due to the movement required to press the shutter with nothing to rest it against. With a view finder you can use your cheekbone to steady the camera while you press the shutter and wait an age for the shutter to do its thing.

What does the camera community think of the Panasonic TZ6 ?

Commissioner Gordon has the TZ7 and it's a cracking little camera.

You want to get yourself a proper compact then. There are ones out there which have no lag at all.