Ooh they have one in stock too at our local Argos

I've got a Fuji finepix - s5500. It's a superb camera and although I think they've stopped making that particular one there are alternatives. For work (magazines) I use a Fuji Finepix s7000 - excellent quality and some lovely effects. All for under £300 it's a bargain!

I'm still using the original Canon digital IXUS which I bought with my second student loan. (Don't tell my mother!!! She thought I was sensible with my money... ) The later models have higher resolution, do video clips and so on, but my oldie still stands up to the vast majority of compact digital cameras on the market for build quality, styling, and taking pretty good photos. Here's a couple at the highest resolution photobucket will allow.

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g1...g/925a91d8.jpg

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g1...g/595ad464.jpg

Bearing in mind that this camera has seen pretty active service since 1998, the battery needs replacing now, which will cost me about a fiver if I ever get round to doing it , but apart from that it's going as strong as ever.

Something to investigate with digital cameras is who makes the lens. It's all very well having 800 megapixels, but if the resolution is just going to show up weaknesses in the lens manufacture, then you've been sold a dud. Get one where the lens has been made by a traditional lens manufacturer (Canon, Fuji, Nikon etc...), but bear in mind that even Sony use Fuji lenses in some of their digital cameras.

You could probably do a lot worse than the IXUS series, although rumour has it they've sacrificed some of the build quality in later models, swapping the all-metal casing for crappy plastic buttons and so on.

What is the s7000 like for action shots ?It looks like an SLR though from the spec I dont think it is ?I guess choosing the "right" digi-cam for you depends on your budget, whether you want a compact (pocket size)camera. I find the down side of digicam compacts is getting really good action shots- thats why my next one will be a digi-SLR

I tend to like the fugi , I had a f700 but that has worn out , so have just bougth a f11 , is a fad camare, smaller than the f700 , takes great action shots, and is easy to use.

My Sony digital camera has a Carl Zeiss lens, I don't think you can beat them

hiya!

I have a Fujifilm S5100 camera. Its a finepix with 10x optical zoom. I love it its fantastic just the right size for my hands and wasnt too expensive either. The quality is brilliant although it is sometimes hard to get pictures of stuff moving very fast without it being blurred.
It also takes very good quality film (with sound) and the battery life is good too.

I would definitely recommend it!

Have a Pentax Optio that is always in my pocket and a Pentax *ist D have also owned a Nikion (my sister now has that one) and a Pentax EL2000. Have a few film cameras but would guess you are not interested in them

I have a Canon EOS 350D SLR. Lovely camera, chuffed with it, only problem is you need to carry a bag for your lenses!!!!
Dawn.

Thats the model Im thinking of getting as my first SLR- current one is Canon A620 but I hope the SLR will take better action shots- what is yours like for action pics ??