Buying A Digital Camera

[CSS]

My Casio (QV-R40 I believe) camera recently broke down and will run me 6,000 baht to fix so I'm in the market for a new camera. I was very pleased with the Casio but a couple camera repair shops told me that the problem with a casio is that getting repair parts is very difficult and expensive.

What I'm after is a compact camera as I like to have the camera with me all the time in an unobtrusive manner. I hoping for a camera that is small enough to put in my jeans pocket or a small bag on my belt, turns on and is ready to take a picture quickly and obviously takes quality pictures. Being able to take good indoor or low light pictures without a flash(I don't know much of cameras but I understand this relates to ISO, right?) is more important to me than a high level of megapixels and I have no need necessarily for a large viewfinder. A zoom greater than 3X optical would be a bonus.

I've been trying to research a bunch online and visit camera stores in town but Chiangrai doesn't have much selection.

Also, prices seem much cheaper from online stores in the US than here in Thailand, but they don't deliver overseas. I would be appreciative if anyone could recommend places to purchase cameras in Thailand or that deliver internationally at reasonable rates. And if they do deliver internationally is there a tax upon receipt?

Sorry for all the questions. I would be grateful for any advice on one or two of my questions. My price range would hopefully be less than 13,000 baht.

Thanks in advance

[clint60]

I am in the market for Fuji FinePix F20 Digital Camera. I have been reading expert reviews and that has been useful to me. It may be help you too. I had been using PCWorld.com, cnet.com to find reviews. Yesterday I used PriceGrabber's expert review tab(http://www.pricegrabber.com/info_expertrev...sterid=22720937)

and found a site (www.smartratings.com) that aggregates expert reviews. It only covers a few categories but it is pretty neat. Just my $.02.

Edited March 7, 2007 by clint60

[CSS]

I am in the market for Fuji FinePix F20 Digital Camera. I have been reading expert reviews and that has been useful to me. It may be help you too. I had been using PCWorld.com, cnet.com to find reviews. Yesterday I used PriceGrabber's expert review tab(http://www.pricegrabber.com/info_expertrev...sterid=22720937)

and found a site (www.smartratings.com) that aggregates expert reviews. It only covers a few categories but it is pretty neat. Just my $.02.

Thanks Clint. The smartratings site is helpful and the Fuji FinePix F20 looks to be a great value with many of the futures I am looking for. Thanks for the advice.