I currently use a Canon Eos 35mm SLR and have a range of lenses. I’d dearly love to upgrade to the digital version of this (the EOS 350D), but can’t afford it.
Bascially I have £200 to spend and want as near to a SLR experience as possible - good optical zoom, high res, quick shutter response etc.
Please help with your reccommendations. These pages should help if you don’t know UK pricings: UK Amazon Digital Cameras £100-200
Or/and this site. Read the reviews and check out the sample galleries. Ask questions on their message boards, both sites have lots of very knowledgable people.
I looked a few pages of your Amazon link, and the one that looks most suitable for your stated requirements is the Olympus C-765UZ - mostly because of the fast 10x optical zoom. I used to have a much older Olympus with 10x zoom and loved it. Battery life wasn’t too good though - check the Imaging Resource reviews to see what the battery life and shutter lag are, and how they compare to other models. (Their reviews usually have actual measurements of battery life and shutter lag, usually in the “picky details” section.)
I forgot how much my old digital camera annoyed me with battery usage. That’s something to consider in your purchase. I leave my D-70 on for months at a time and it will still run through a gig of memory before recharge.
If you’re going from film to digital then there are things you should be prepaired for. There is less lattitude in lighting situations with a digital so over-exposure situations cannot be compensated for with software.