Best Digital Cameras Under £150

Since the credit crunch is now upon us its important to shop around to make sure we get the best quality technology at bank balance friendly prices. Spending less that £150 on a digital camera doesn`t mean compromising on features, as long as you shop around you can pick up a top quality bargain.

Its important to identify which specifications are important to you as the photographer. Image stabilization comes as standard on many compacts and is a very useful way to combat the bugbear of camera shake when shooting without flash in dull light. Face recognition is another key function whereby the camera automatically points focus towards faces in the frame – is another regular feature, whilst some models now boast higher resolution than ever before.

Here are a pick of the top ten digital cameras available for £150 or less…

Canon PowerShot A590 IS (£139) The camera features Canons 8-megapixel, 4x optical zoom compact and built-in image stabilisation. The controls are large and the shutterspeed is slightly sluggish but for £139 the camera demonstrates an above average performance.
Ricoh R8 (£149) has a solid feel, features a wide angle 7.1x optical zoom that produces detailed images. The camera features an LCD screen which can be problematic in bright sunlight as it appears very dark. It also has a boxy design compared to more sleek competitors.

Fujifilm FinePix Z20fd (£109) is available in four vibrant colours and a well designed sliding mechanism that activates the camera. It`s a user friendly camera that doesn`t feature image stabilisation. The 2.5 inch rear screen which gives a murky viewing pane.

Pentax Optio A40(£139.99) fits snugly in the hand, or handbag with its pocket sized dimensions, despite this it has a sturdy build quality and produces consistent captures.The negatives are the plastic controls but it does produce good shots. The Pentax s12 model is a cheaper model (£119) but has 12 megapixels and an excellent battery life for those after a bigger model.

Olympus FE-360(£119.99) is user friendly with easy to use menus. It includes a rechargeable lithium ion battery that many of its competitors do not. Picture quality is varied, as is white balance also the camera has too many small fiddly buttons.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FS3 (£119.99) is gimmick free,has a comprehensive set of worthwhile features and an attractive look. The only negative is its plastic faceplate which is a small price to pay for affordability, rich colour and image detail.

Canon Ixus 82 IS (£139) is beautifully designed with 8.0 megapixels, an aluminium body and built in image stabiliser,motion and facial detection. It also has auto red eye correction.

Olympus Mju 1040 (£99.99) This slim 10 megapixel compact with 7.7 inch LCD and advanced face detection is great for anyone looking to spend as little as possible with the best possible results, for an extra £19 you could purchase the FujiFilm Finepix s1000fd (£119) which has a large 12x zoom lens,10 megapixel resolution as well as red eye detection and face recognition. The only negative is a slightly bulky chunky feel.

The key to finding the right model for you is researching, and with the wealth of websites online the best digital cameras are never more than a click or two away.