Hello there, just after a bit of guidance please as i have very limited knowledge on the subject of cameras.

Anyway...its my dads birthday soon in a couple of weeks time and i know hes after a digital camera, so me and my mum are going to suprise him.

Wanting to get him a digital SLR, one with a decent optical zoom, but at the VERY most wanting to spend £250, is this possible? im not sure which ones are good, which ones are crap.

any advice welcome.....

cheers

Dan

EDIT - forgot to mention, i'm not necessarily after one with interchangeable lenses etc, more a basic point and shoot camera

[quote name='swfcdan' post='550559' date='Jun 5 2008, 08:26 PM']Hello there, just after a bit of guidance please as i have very limited knowledge on the subject of cameras.

Anyway...its my dads birthday soon in a couple of weeks time and i know hes after a digital camera, so me and my mum are going to suprise him.

Wanting to get him a digital SLR, one with a decent optical zoom, but at the VERY most wanting to spend £250, is this possible? im not sure which ones are good, which ones are crap.

any advice welcome.....

cheers

Dan

EDIT - forgot to mention, i'm not necessarily after one with interchangeable lenses etc, more a basic point and shoot camera[/quote]

Hi Dan - you have confused me somewhat. A digital SLR will normally have interchangeable lenses. I don't know of any new one for that sort of price, but you should be able to get a decent second hand one.

If you don't need interchangeable lenses then you need to look at bridge cameras or compact cameras. Fraid I cannot give you any direct info in this area - I only use SLRs , but there are some good review sites. This one is among the best [url="http://www.dpreview.com/"]http://www.dpreview.com/[/url].

The other place you might like to try is the Amateur Photographer forums at [url="http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk/"]http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk/[/url]. People there are very helpful. Go to the Forums.

I've always found the Fuji FinePix s9600 pretty good as its the one i've used for a while now and its never let me down, I'm not a pro but do like something that works and its been great so far and i paid £249 for it brand new just over a year ago from Argos,

<<<< Thats 1 of my pics taken with it on the left

It has a good optical and digital zoom, can use two different card formats XD and Compact Flash , 28-300mm lense equiv to a 35mm camera the video mode on it is very good with sound plus its got a good sized view finder/screen which can be tilted for overhead shots or flipped up for low level pic's and loads of other things to play with but wont bore you As you can tell i like it and it does what it says on the tin as they say

I've had 4 Fuji's now and everyone has been good for the money and i still use 3 of them and the oldest one i have is 7 years old and still works fine so been quite happy with the quality of them so far and the next one i buy will be a fuji DSLR when i can afford one

This is it matey [url="http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000INUDMY/ref=nosim/2009-digital-camera-03-21"]CLICK ME [/url]

i had a fuji s602z that was a very good camera but just bought a sony alaph a200 very good camera bit more then you want to pay but its the best one i have ever used and can do so much with it as a lot of stuff fits it dont know how much they are but the sony alaph a100 are pretty much the same just lower mp and has a bit less on it but still can change all the lens

For that kind of budget you may be able to pick up a second hand Canon 10d/20d/350d. Good luck though!

thanks for your responses guys, after doing a bit more research ive realised its a 'bridge' camera were after. looking at reviews and what have you, the Sony Cybershot DSC-H7 seems to be quite reasonable, but there are just so many to choose from!

i would second what aztec says, the fuji 9600, i have the fuji 5500, which is old now, but still takes perfect pics.
My next one will be the fuji 9600

You won't get a DSLR for £250. If you want what's called a 'bridge camera' buy a Canon Powershot G9. I've been a pro photographer for years and know a lot of people who use the G9 and can't fault it. About £250-270.