Small compact

[penfolduk]

A friend has a nice budget of about £400 for a new compact camera. They want one that is nice and small and has a decent zoom on it and can handle indoor photography as well as outdoors.

I thought of the Ricoh Caplio R4 but in my limited knowledge I may well be wrong and would appriciate any suggestions that I can pass on.


Phil

[Ronald S. Jr.]

The S3IS is lovely. Not all too small, but much smaller than a dslr. It won't fit in a pocket, but will in a purse. If he wants smaller, he won't get much zoom, but the SD700 IS is an awesome little camera. Best I've yet seen that'll slip in a pocket.

[jbkalla]

I have the SD550 (IXUS750). Not sure if it fits in the price range your looking for, though.

It takes really good pics (7.1MP), and has a HUGE screen on the back. Only standard 3x or 4x zoom, though, but it's really small!

[Ronald S. Jr.]

£400 is about $730, so just about any P&S will fit in that category.

[Radtech1]

I also have been looking for a P&S. I got a big push in the right direction when the latest issue of AMERICAN PHOTO magazine hit my mailbox. They have a "Best of 2006" issue out right now. THIS IS THE LINK (http://www.popphoto.com/americanphotofeatures/2398/american-photos-editors-choice-2006.html) to the article. The "Best Camera" is broken down into several categories: Entry Level DSLR, Advanced DSLR... all the way to camera phone. The categories that might interest you would be High Res EFVs (http://www.popphoto.com/cameras/2477/editors-choice-2006-high-res-evf-cameras.html), SuperZoom EFVs (http://www.popphoto.com/cameras/2483/editors-choice-2006-superzoom-evf-cameras.html), or Digital Compacts (http://www.popphoto.com/cameras/2438/editors-choice-2006-digital-compact-cameras.html).

Right there, the best of the best.

Rad

[DavidW]

£400 is about $730, so just about any P&S will fit in that category.
Unfortunately prices are much higher here in the UK - often what costs US$400 in the US costs £300 over here. In part, this is because we have 17.5% VAT (sales tax) on almost everything.

For example, Canon S3 IS is typically around £330 in the UK (Warehouse Express) and $450 in the US (B&H). £330 is $600 at current exchange rates.


You can sometimes get around this by personal imports, but unless you're lucky getting something through via the Royal Mail (where taxable and dutiable items quite often get through without any tax or duty being charged), you can get hit with a hefty bill, especially from the likes of DHL who add a brokerage charge to whatever tax and duty HM Revenue and Customs charge. If HM Revenue and Customs do charge you, expect to pay at least 17.5% VAT on the cost of the item. Often you land up paying a few percent in duty, 17.5% VAT on the total of the duty, item and shipping charges, and a brokerage fee of around five pounds as well.

FedEx can be particularly nasty, in that I've had items delivered by FedEx with nothing being charged, then later I've got a hefty bill from FedEx for duty, VAT and brokerage charges. I only import items that I can't source in the UK.


Having said that, the US dollar is quite weak compared to the pound at the moment (around USD1.82 to GBP1), so this may be the time to try imports. If I hadn't just bought an EF 16-35mm f/2.8L, this might have been a good time to buy the Newton Bracket I have my eyes on.



David