I do not know which digital camera to buy i have two to pick from i want it to take photo's at airshows

kodak Z650 Digital Camera
6.1 megapixels for unbelievable-quality prints up to 50 x 76 cm
10x optical zoom lens and 5x digital zoom (50x total zoom)
2.0 inch LCD to view and share your pictures with brilliance and clarity
Schneider-Kreuznach Variogon optical zoom lens allows you to zero in on your subject with exceptional crispness
Picture-enhancing features: on-camera cropping, digital red-eye reduction, and histogram
Multizone auto focus with AF assist light for low light focus
Auto option plus manual settings including selectable aperture and shutter priority
17 scene modes and 5 colour modes
Continuous VGA (640 x 480) video with MPEG-4 compression and audio
32 MB of internal memory and SD/MMC expansion card slot

or


fuji FinePix S5600
5th Generation Super CCD HR sensor
5.1 million effective pixels
10x optical zoom
Real Photo Technology and ISO 64 1600 sensitivity range
Anti-Blur Mode to minimise blurring from photographer and subject movement
High quality video recording at VGA and 30 frames per second
Rapid start-up time of 1.1 seconds and shutter lag of 0.01 seconds
Automatic pop-up flash
JPEG and RAW file format
Versatile manual functions including manual focus and exposure
xD-Picture Card" providing large storage capacity, lower power consumption and fast write speeds
1GB capacities currently available

Personally Id pick the first one. You can always expand the memory.

Great reviews of both here:

http://www.cameras.co.uk/camera-reviews/kodak-easyshare-z650.cfm
http://www.cameras.co.uk/details/fuji-finepix-s5600.cfm

The Fuji comes out slightly better.

If you're going to take pictures of aircraft in flight, you would benefit from proper image stabilisation. The Fuji anti-blur just selects a fast shutter speed for you, which may not be appropriate.

If you don't want to up your budget, I would look at something like a second hand Canon S2 or Panasonic FZ5.

If you can stretch to £250, look at the Canon S3 or the Panasonic FZ7.

Any of these will also give you 12x zoom (approx 430mm equivalent) which again might be helpful for flying aircraft. Whatever you do, dont use digital zoom - it will just degrade your shots. If you really need to crop and enlarge, you can do it much more effectively on a PC.

I'd say fuji. It has almost no shutter lag (the delay between pressing the shutter and the picture actually being taken). It has a slightly lower resolution, but the claim of 50cmx70cm by the other one is completely unrealistic.

ISO 1600 is a benefit if you want to take "action" shots (such as fast moving planes), but you'll notice slight noise on the picture. RAW is also a benefit, as it doesn't use compression, and if you get a 1 gig memory card you'll still fit a couple of hundred shots on it.

As the airshow season has finished in the UK for this year, I suggest you wait until next spring before making the decision, 6 months is a long time in the fast moving digital camera world.

Grinder

I'd say fuji....

ISO 1600 is a benefit if you want to take "action" shots (such as fast moving planes), but you'll notice slight noise on the picture.

Have you actually used this camera? At ISO 400 it's very noisy. At 800 or 1600 you might as well get your crayons out and sketch the scene yourself.

As the airshow season has finished in the UK for this year, I suggest you wait until next spring before making the decision, 6 months is a long time in the fast moving digital camera world.

Grinder

Very true. Wait until March and then get a second hand S3 :)

Go for the fuji....don't be swayed by the extra ccd size of the Kodak.

Mega pixle size is not everything

if you can go for a canon

I'd recommend the finepix, I have one myself and it takes fantastic photos. I've used mine for aircraft photography and the results have been terriffic.

If you PM me I can give you the details of another forum where a thread is currently singing it's praises.

It's only £112 at Argos at the minute too.