As I was looking down at Panthip yesterday and realised just how clueless I am - I am looking for a digital camera mainly for taking outdoor shots so with a good optical zoom oh and reasonably priced and simple to operate.

Any recomendations would be hugely appreciated as I am a complete novice in the photography field.

Cheers

based on your requirements, I think the Panasonic FZ30 fits the bill perfectly. It has 12x Zoom with Optical Stabilisation. (something of utmost important for outdoor zoom picture taking)

Panasonic FZ30

The price is in the range of Panasonic FZ30

ITs 8 MP. Gives you enough pixels to crop what you need out of the pictures and users of this camera are very very happy for outdoor pictures. Bear in mind though that this camera does not have excellent reviews for indoor picture taking. Lots of noise for pictures taken above ISO200.

Have fun shopping. Feel free to ask any questions and I will try to help.

BalthazarBeefheart

Recommended reading before purchasing is:-

http://photo.askey.net/

Here could be one for you:-

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikoncp7900/

We have one at work and a friend of mine has one to.

Neat compact easy to use (once you have read the manual for further details that is.)

Prints come out great on 10” x 12” size.

Yours truly,

Kan Win