Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX7

I've purchased the camera to substitute my 3 years old Minolta Dimage X which was unreparable after only 3 years of excessive use (roughly 10000 pictures taken). The aim was to get a camera small enough to carry around all the time. It is used for professional documentation purposes as well as family pictures. The overall quality of pictures is worse than I am used to by the minolta in terms of sharpness and colour. I expected this to be significantly better due to the Leica-Lens and the 5 meg-pixels combined with the image stabilizer. (All in all the amount of bad pictures is roughly twice as high as for the minolta). The large display is very nice to show the pictures to others right after taking, but the relatively low resolution eats up most of that benefit. The flash is to weak - even worse as for the Minolta. A fast start up - comparable with the Minolta For video sequences fast SD-Cards are needed. (With my 3 years old Simpletech MMC the sequence stops after a few seconds but it works with the withgoing Panasonic-Card)

- Extremely good for macro-pictures - reasonable price for the features: - 2.5 inch display - image stabilizer - leica-lens - high resolution - small size - low energy consumption (display shuts off after an adjustable amount of time - The camera offers many settings for special pictures. - Partly metallic housing - Nicely positioned buttons and switches for easy use and nice appearance. - Manual is not needed if you have used a digital before. - fast start up

- Overall picture-quality not satisfying! - Resolution of display far too low - Flash not powerful enough - No zooming of lens while video sequences - No sound recording (only in combination with picture for short duration) - No speaker

Minolta dimage X Casio Exilim

Small compact and really easy to use. It is a point n shoot that fits into your pocket, as the size is around that of a mobile. A huge screen on the back shows off your shots and there are leads, cd, and instructions included. The 5 megapixel output eats memory (1gb card solves that) and you get around 100 shots on a fully charged battery (including a couple of flash shots)

Macro shot is excellent, along with the 5 mega pixels. 3x Optical for a slight zoom, and considering its size. Colour casing, for the more fashion conscious. Reduced shake built in (although you will opt for the level 2 all the time) Pretty fast start up, around 2-3 secs on manual shot. Lots of options included on the camera.

Some shake (well it is small). Pictures can tend to be flat, and may require touching up afterwards. Still struggles in semi dark/lightbulb lit rooms, but I have yet to see a camera around this price that can do decent picture/focus in lowlight. Flash is close range, around 2-3 meters, after that it falls off fast. The screw seat on the underside is not under the lens, which may cause problems when trying panoramic shots. No manual focus.

Jessops offered a finance package, which was good as I didn't have funds. They also have a 3 yr guarentee for any accident for a low rate too.