I guess i'm just a worn out old photographer that lugged a pair of EOS 1Ns, 3 or 4 lens and a Metz CT60 Flash plus wet cell battery pack on a belt  around just about every second weekend for just under 25 years, the purpose was to shove cameras into bride and grooms faces, I have to say I am over the photography bit myself these days and travel as light as possible.
All I use these days is a Panasonic Lumix DMC-L1 an old Kodak DX7590 and a couple of other compacts, they are heavy enough for me now.

A basic SLR isn't really all that heavy. Only time mine gets heavy is if using a 70-300mm zoom all day at a racetrack or similar. Likewise my new 16-85mm is heavyish but most kit lenses are fairly light.
And its only heavy when hanging around your neck, take a small case with just the one lens and it weighs nothing over your shoulder.

Depends what you want to photograph whether you will need additional lenses or not.

Quote from: buckle247 on August 08, 2012, 01:30:40 PM
Depends what you want to photograph whether you will need additional lenses or not.

Well as I said earlier in the thread, we are off to India in November and I said to SWMBO that I wanted a new Camera thats better than the Finepix S5500 that I've got now, to take photos of whatever we will see in India, so it'll be scenery, buildings, people and trains (in fact all the usual touristy stuff)

Pre-Digital I had (and still have) a Minolta XGM with 3 lenses, 28mm wide angle, 50mm standard and an 80-200mm tele-zoom all of which I used to carry around wherever we went, and it took some fabulous pictures. But I bit the bullet and went digital with a pocket camera and progressed to the Finepix, now it's time to move on again.

I think I will visit the local Jessops in Swindon and see what they've got to say, there's also a local independant I'll pop in and see as well. Might as well see what sport of a deal I can get out of them 

Many thanks for all the help and advice so far, keep it coming it's all helpful.

Regards

Neal.

Hi Neal;

Just bought a Nikon Coolpix P510.....about the same size as your FinePix but a generation on from it technically...

16M pixels, 42 X Optical zoom and a whole host of editing features.

As an ex Photog...unless you want to work in RAW, the full digital SLRs are a smidge expensive to leave on Auto most of the time.....

Later;
STU in KOQU

You may want to try London camera exchange in Bath, they had some good deals on Nikon and Canon. My personal choice would be a Lumix G1 as i'm not planning on buying loads of lenses (i really don't need another hobby... ) Also the latest Sony Alpha's are getting good reveiws...

The best tip i can give, is to have a good play with each one you like the look of, until you find the easiest to use camera - after all, you don't want to spend your holiday messing with the camera 

I did own a DSLR once, after a few months i sold it and went back to my beloved Fuji Finepix S6500fd. Now my phone (HTC one S) takes better 'snaps' than both of them...

I would still rather have a proper camera though !

Quote from: 4x2 on August 08, 2012, 11:05:51 PM

I did own a DSLR once, after a few months i sold it and went back to my beloved Fuji Finepix S6500fd. Now my phone (HTC one S) takes better 'snaps' than both of them...

I would still rather have a proper camera though !

Great camera I wish I still had my 6500fd.

Like you I use my phone most of the time, Nokia N8 12mp and Zeiss Lens.

Quote from: oldrailbug on August 08, 2012, 11:11:48 PM

Quote from: 4x2 on August 08, 2012, 11:05:51 PM

I did own a DSLR once, after a few months i sold it and went back to my beloved Fuji Finepix S6500fd. Now my phone (HTC one S) takes better 'snaps' than both of them...

I would still rather have a proper camera though !

Great camera I wish I still had my 6500fd.

Like you I use my phone most of the time, Nokia N8 12mp and Zeiss Lens.

I bought my first S6500fd for £300 (brand new) and p/x it to get a Canon DSLR (don't remember which...), didn't get on with it, so I sold it and bought my second S6500fd on ebay which i'll never sell ! 

Fuji 6500 is what got me into photography. Owned it for two years, and think I sold it for more than I paid for it! Great camera.

From the sounds of it, a kit lense like the Nikon 18-105 would be perfect for what you are wanting. The older 18-135mm is also good, but lacks VR which the 18-105mm has. 18-55mm is a bit limited, so would aim for a package which comes with either of the above personally.
Not much need for a bigger zoom unless you plan on doing wildlife/zoos etc.

Quote from: buckle247 on August 08, 2012, 11:40:37 PM
Fuji 6500 is what got me into photography. Owned it for two years, and think I sold it for more than I paid for it! Great camera.

From the sounds of it, a kit lense like the Nikon 18-105 would be perfect for what you are wanting. The older 18-135mm is also good, but lacks VR which the 18-105mm has. 18-55mm is a bit limited, so would aim for a package which comes with either of the above personally.
Not much need for a bigger zoom unless you plan on doing wildlife/zoos etc.

I agree with that - you may be able to negotiate to get a deal on substituting the 18-55 for the 18-105. Vibration Reduction (VR) is a useful feature  (particularly good for these dark, grey days that we've been having in the UK at the moment or other times when the light level is low). Even having a 18-55 and a 55-200 (VR) is not too heavy to carry around but this combination will be out of your price range unless you go secondhand.

Don't forget to price up the cost of the memory card (or two) before you buy.

Right guys I've had alook around the camera shops in Swindon and it looks like I'm way out of the cost of a DSLR to match my old Minolta XGM + 3 lenses :-( :-(

So it looks like a toss up between the Finepix HS30 EXR and the Nikon P510, as recommended by Stu fromEGDL (or wherever he is today;-) )

Any quick replies would be appreciated as I'm having a coffee to think about it.

Ta
Neal

Right Chaps & Chapesses,

Many thanks for all the ideas and thoughts, I completely ignored all of them  and went for the Fuji Finepix HS30 EXR in the end.

Got the Camera, 16Gb Card, spare battery pack and case for £340, so £10 under budget, SWMBO will be pleased 

I'll have a play with it and report back later as too how I get on with it, I'm going to do that usual bloke thing of, get camera out, chuck manual in drawer somewhere, play with camera, then get frustrated because I don't know what each button does and can't remember where I put the manual. 

Anyway, once again many thanks for all the help and advice.

regards

Neal.

You should be able to get a NIkon 3100 DSLR with zoom lens for about £350;

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Nikon-14-2MP-Digital-Camera-18-55mm/dp/B00403MA4M

http://compare.ebay.co.uk/like/280927285485?var=lv&ltyp=AllFixedPriceItemTypes&var=sbar&cbt=y

Or is that too much?

H.

Good choice of camera Neil  it will do everything you need and has a great reputation in camera circles, IMO far better lens that the rubbish they stick on the front of entry level DSLRs, well done.

Nikon D40 is a great little camera , easy to hold and use, my first
digital camera, previously using Nikon film slrs including
a Nikon F which only has about 3 controls.