Anyone know about cameras/photography?

If he's really interested in photography, would a camera like that be a false economy? If he's looking to be creative he might find an SLR better and I'm sure there would be few Canon 350d knocking around the bay of e at that price. Even cheaper would be a film camera but obviously not quite as instant.

I have a Fujifilm S5700 which is probably a step down from the ones you're looking at. It allows me to do everything I could with a DSLR aside from the flexibilty of changing lenses. It has a full Manual mode where I can alter shutter speed and apeture width. It has exposure compensation, alterable flash levels and both custom and pre-set white balances. If it's his first foray into digital photography I'd say a bridge camera like these is perfect. You have a fully usable camera for £200, as opposed to spending upwards of £200 on a DSLR then having to spend considerably more on the various lenses to get the extra functionality.

Looking at those two, I'd probably choose the S8000 because of the longer optical zoom (as opposed to digital zoom which compromises picture quality) and the higher ISO capability.

Have you noticed what cameras he's been looking at - were they DSLRs or point and shoots? Also, how technically minded is he?

I know it won't be a surprise, but honestly I'd tell him you want to buy it and get him to choose it otherwise it's an expensive mistake if it's not what he wanted. There's so much choice out there, esp for £200 and it's important to get the functionality & camera to suit the person, their style and what they want to get out of it.

I wonder sometimes, well...A lot really If the higher end compacts aren't better for folks with an 'interest' in photography.

For about £200 you get a large percentage of the functionality of a small/medium DSLR outfit at a tiny percentage of the cost.

If it does 'take' and you want to get a bit more serious you can, without having lost that much on the cash front and you always have a handy 'quick snapper' for casting shots and what have you. Plus most of them have rudimentary DV capability which can be a novelty.

Thanks for the advice everyone. I think I might get him talking about it a bit more and ask him what sort is best! I think the one he was staring at in the shop window last was a Fujifilm S9600 that was £249, although I've found it for about £189 on line.

He used to have a full SLR with film but got rid of it and now has a little compact digital but is keen to go for something a bit more snazzy! I know he said optical zoom was important but I'll have to start listening a bit more next time he rattles about it!