Good camera recommendations? - 1

Hi. I want to get a camera for my 14th birthday this summer. My parents are will to spend anything between £100 - £150.
it has to have really good, far zoom (i want to use it for concerts)
really clear, sharp, vivid colours and basically great quality photos
easy to use - i'm not a professional photogropher remember!
and some/a lot of effects, such as sepia/night light/outside/inside/black and white etc
oh and it must have video with sound!

do you have any recommendations? I found these ones online, maybe you could tell me which one i should go for?

Samsung PL221 16MP Compact Digital Camera
Canon PowerShot SX130 IS
NIKON S6200 Digital Camera

I've been doing quite a bit of research into this myself over the last few months, looking for a camera. I'm a former semi professional photographer so might be able to help.

The Canon you mention looks like an excellent buy - and it is one I have considered. The only downside I can see to it is, it takes conventional batteries, rather than the usual camera battery you recharge. Now some people see this as an advantage! Because you never get a flat battery, you just replace the batteries with some spare ones you carry around. But it could get quite expensive in batteries and even rechargeable ones don't last that long according to some reports.

The Canon Powershot SX220 HS is an excellent compact camera - read the reviews on Amazon. Some professionals rate it highly. It's not the most glamorous looking camera but picture quality is supposed to be it's big strength, plus it has the long zoom and hd movies. It's one of the better ones for low light and capturing action. It also has full manual exposure options for when you get more experienced and want to get more creative. Jessops are selling it for just under £150 (£50 off normal price).It's £178 on Amazon. It has a proper battery pack too. This is the one I would go for - except don't have the cash right now! Jessops have it in grey or purple.

There's a newer model than the Nikon S6200 which is the Nikon S6300 - slightly better I think and a good buy for £130 at Jessops.

I wouldn't bother with the Samsung. Also Take a look at the Panasonic TZ18 superzoom with Leica Lens - about £140 on Amazon (very popular and good reviews).

I think you would be happy with any of these (although the Canon I mentioned is prob the best of the bunch in terms of picture quality).