If you're thinking about buying one and have a budget of £250 - £300 then buy the Sony DSC H9, absolutely stunning camera with 8.1 MP, 15x zoom, best i've ever had in that price bracket.. it's more like a digi-cam than a camera!!, screen is huge!! very impressive technology...

I used to have the Fuji Fineview series cameras which are superb. The S9600 and S7000 were lovely cameras to use as close to getting a digital slr as you can get and up to 12 mp. I decided though I wanted to go for interchangable lenses and external flash so bought myself (against considerable Canon biased advice) am Olympus E-500 with lenses and flash. Lovely camera. Great resolution and features and beautiful lenses. However they don't have that wonderful crispness of the Fuji.

 

I'm now set on buying myself a good quality compact I can just chuck in my pocket (rather than carry a camera bag) so am looking at some of the Sony ones too. I just don't like their memory sticks. Are they any better than the old ones??

I think they're getting a lot better, I got a 4GB memory stick with this one, can store upto 24,000 VGA stills. I've always stuck with the Sony range, i've had several in the last couple of years, last one was the Sonny DSC-W70 which was good but the DSC-H9 is another step-up. Is very close to a SLR, also comes with long distance lens cap...

My first REAL digital was a Sony. I think it was DSC-707 but it was quirky and took ages to write to card. Superb lens though and funky design but not easy to use. I love the new DSLR they have brought out (is it the a1 or something?).

My first REAL digital was a Sony. I think it was DSC-707 but it was quirky and took ages to write to card. Superb lens though and funky design but not easy to use. I love the new DSLR they have brought out (is it the a1 or something?).

That's why I love the Sony range, the lens is superb, and yeah the new SLR range is damn impressive, was even thinking about getting the SLR but then I came across the DSC H9 which weighing up the price/features was perfect for me;)

My main need for moving out of the non-dslr stable was because I wanted to use a powerful flash. The ability to use telephoto's as well was a benefit but the main thing was the flash which always seems to be a pretty puny thing, good for family shots, snaps of the pet budgie and aunt Martha drooling while sleeping off her christmas lunch. I'll have to have a look at this H9 and see if it fits my needs as a compact.

ive got the fuji finepix s7000 and i thinks its awesome and it looks like its a really profesional piece of quality kit and when you turn it on the lens comes out lol

Ahh I had that as well. It was a great piece of kit. I traded it in for the S9600 but they both were superb on camera kits. The colour rendition in Fuji is superb. Only down side was they couldn't synch up with an external flash though sadly otherwise I'd still be using it.

Just bought the Sony H9 and ordered a x2 telephoto lens

and a wide angle lens for it from the states. Have you tried out

the infa-red night mode yet? Great bit of kit for the money

Just bought the Sony H9 and ordered a x2 telephoto lens

and a wide angle lens for it from the states. Have you tried out

the infa-red night mode yet? Great bit of kit for the money

Yeah the infra-red mode!!, I tried it the other day during the day and it made day into night!! I'm gonna order the stand as well, what do you think about the remote control feature? I think that's brilliant because you can get the shot in focus then stand next to family/friends and bingo you're included!! very pleased thus far with this camera!!

Yeah, and good for taking sneaky pics :nono:

Yeah, and good for taking sneaky pics :nono:

Yeah ;) , whilst messing about with the camera the other day I filmed my friend at the shop where he works without him knowing :rofl:, I then showed it to him :rofl: , I said search on Youtube under your name later tonight, you're on :rofl:, in the end I didn't though!!

Ahh I had that as well. It was a great piece of kit. I traded it in for the S9600 but they both were superb on camera kits. The colour rendition in Fuji is superb. Only down side was they couldn't synch up with an external flash though sadly otherwise I'd still be using it.

 

yeh I have the S9600 and its superb. :cool: Im not up on all its features but I know it has the fittings to add another flash to the top.....is that no good for external flash?

Legrath: No not really. None of the flash manufacturers (at least when I had the camera a year or so ago) did a dedicated (i.e. it worked with the camera's autoexposure system and zoom lens) powerful flash. You can get 'slave' flash which fire as a result of the camera's own flash and flash which you can use the manual (sorting all the settings yourself) but not one which communicates back and forth between the camera and flash. I have to say that the colour saturation in the Fuji still makes my Olympus look tame to the extent I am still considering getting the Fuji pro camera the S3 or S4 when the price and my wallet can agree a price!