What is the best digital camera I can buy for around £120?

[ChirpyKez]

I have a budget but am looking to buy my Dad a decent-ish camera for Christmas! I've had a look around but a lot of it goes right over my head! I'm looking for a good all-rounder camera with a decent zoom and pixels. Any advice welcomed.

[Gavmacp]

My mother bought a panasonic and gets on well with it.

[Gavmacp]

There is a Panasonic lumix in Curry's at the moment for £120.

[VHG]

A bit over your budget but I just bought a Canon SX220 for £149 and I have just used it on a weeks holiday to Mexico.

Fantastic camera, long zoom, and terrific photos.

It is coming to end of life so hence a bargain as it is normally well over £200

Review here

http://www.ephotozine...l-camera-review-15949

On sale at Amazon (I bought it at Jessops)

http://www.amazon.co....-Camera/dp/B004M8S152

[VHG]

Here is a picture I took in Mexico last week with the Canon SX220

This iguana was some distance from me so I had to zoom in, but just look at the detail on the skin and on the sand

http://www.flickr.com...60253@N06/8136341591/

[VHG]

Here is another one from Mexico. This was on maximum zoom (the dolphins were some distance away) but it is still pretty sharp even on full zoom

Note you can click on the picture to make it bigger.

http://www.flickr.com...60253@N06/8136365017/

[Answerprancer]

Get him a bridge camera.
I'd recommend the Panasonic Lumix FZ38, 12 mega pixels and 18X optical zoom, you get loads for your money and they don't come much better than this until you enter the marvellous world of the DSLR! It has a threaded lens so you can add filters and it can shoot in raw (should your Dad get into post-processing at some point). I'm talking S/H here btw.

[Answerprancer]

...plus, it has a Leica lens and it can take macro shots as close as about 1/2 an inch.
The FZ38 was my 'baby' before I discovered DSLRs, here are a couple of photos I took with this camera:
http://i1028.photobuc...hotator/Pavillion.jpg
http://i1028.photobuc...Photator/Wheelpod.jpg
http://i1028.photobuc...y348/Photator/Bee.jpg

[Answerprancer]

eg.
http://www.gumtree.co...b-sdhc-card/111137971

[Mosaic]

I'm quite pleased with the Kodak Playfull I got tis summer. Mobile phone sized, will takes pics and video in HD, and has an inbuilt usb so there's no fiddling to transfer files. It's less good in closeup but does really crisp quality video and is literally point and press.

[rhythmcrazy]

I'm very happy with the Nikon Coolpix L25 that I bought a few months ago. It takes excellent pictures and also very good videos, although you'll need an SD card of 8GB or more to store the videos.

[jno]

bridge cameras are good but bulky. If you're just looking for one that fits in a pocket I'd go for a Lumix (in fact I have)

http://www.amazon.co....sonic+lumix%2Caps%2C0

First one on the list looks pretty good and fits your budget (with enough left over for a memory card, which doesn't seem to be included).

[sandyRoe]

While I don't know enough about cameras to recommend one, I just wanted to comment on the quality of the photographs taken by ABers. The talents of the people posting here never cease to amaze me.

[ChirpyKez]

Thank-you everyone there's some great answers in there and I'm going to have a look at all your reccomendations. Great photos by the way, thank-you for making the effort.

[VHG]

The Panasonic Lumix TZ cameras do get good reviews.

I did mention the Canon SX220 further up this topic, but it was a toss up between that and a Lumix TZ.

There are numerous Lumix TZ cameras at various prices so hunt round for the best deal.

[jno]

you're getting excellent photos from it, VHG