My daughter is 18 soon and she really wants a good digital camera for her birthday, She has mentioned the Olympus Pen, But I am lloking at the Canon A390. I have a budet of £350-£400 but I want to get the best out there fot the money. So what would you guys recommend? She would be using it mainly for day to day photography, no extreme closeups or mega zooms, just a good all rounder.

Cheers

SD

It's hard so say without perhaps a little more information. For example, the Olympus PEN has an interchangeable lens system, similar to a DSLR, but that makes it larger and limits what you can do to the lens connected at the time. It uses a Micro Four-Thirds mount, which is gaining support, but there aren't as many lenses for that as there are for Canon and Nikon DSLRs. Having a compact camera that's easier to carry around and has a wide lens range might be more convenient.

Also, will she want to shoot video? If that's important, that might be another consideration. I haven't been able to find the Canon A390 you referred to, so I can't compare them. There's a Sony A390 DSLR, which is in a little different category than the Olympus, but you will still have some lens limitations. That doesn't mean they're bad cameras or won't do what she wants, but it's just something you'll have to check into before purchasing one of them.

Thanks for the input Ken.

Yeah sorry my mistake, I meant Sony A390. Video is not important, and to be honest with you I don't think she will be changing lenses much. This will be her first DSLR so she won't need all the bells and whistles, just a good all rounder.

SD

I think she might end up preferring a "point-and-shoot" camera because it can give you a fair amount of flexibility in a smaller package, and without the worry of making sure the right lens is attached.

The sensor size is smaller, so images might not have quite the same quality, but unless she'll be shooting in low light a lot, and blowing the images up larger than A4 size, I think it would be OK.

The Canon G12 is generally considered to have pretty high quality, and is almost a junior DSLR, and it's in the price range you mentioned, going for £380 on Amazon.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Canon-PowerShot-...2047&sr=8-1

According to the preview on DPReview, it looks like an okay all-rounder, especially for the budget you've set yourself. The other entry-level cameras from other major manufacturers (Nikon D3100, Canon 1100D) are a couple hundred quid higher up, meaning that you'd have to look at either a 2nd hand or older (Nikon D60 or D3000, Canon 1000D) camera to get under the budget.
Looking at the lens lineup at Jessops, it looks like there are enough lenses in the Sony lineup to give you good focal coverage should you or her wish to expand capability later.

Although the Olympus Pen and Sony NEX-type cameras are also possibilities, they are generally a bit less capable, and because they occupy a relatively new niche with more "style", they cost a bit more for a given performance level.

Just watch out for lens envy...

Yes, DPReview is a good place to go for information on different cameras.

Here are the conclusion pages for three of the cameras discussed:

Sony A390
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/sonydslra390/page5.asp

Olympus PEN (E-PL2)
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/olympusepl2/page16.asp

Canon G12
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/CanonG12/page9.asp

I only got back into photography a couple of months ago and settled on the Olympus E-PL1. It's been a great choice and is very light and compact like my original 35mm Olympus OM-G film camera while capturing beautiful images with both the kit lens and the legacy OM glass I still had from the old days.


Simple Point And Shoot Result With Kit Lens


More Artistic Result With Legacy Lens

The Olympus OM range served me well over the years and always been happy with the quality of the images the camera/lens combination coud deliver.
My small collection of cameras I have used over the years.

Left to right: remote for the cinema, Leitz slide projector, Nikon F5, Leica M6, OM10, OM2SP, Leica

Thanks guys. I'll let you know which one we choose.

SD

Alicatt, what is the lens below the M6? and would you be interested in selling it? Im asking because I just picked up a second hand M8 and need some lenses for it

cheers

D163

Just to let you guys know. We settled on the Sony A390. Nice camera, she loves it.

SD

Very cool, and nice to hear she is enjoying it.