Cheers for the reply. I'm not going till may was gonna give myself a month or two to play around.

That cannon looks good for the money too.

For your requirements I'd definitely recommend a decent travel zoom compact.

I've usually been impressed by the Panasonic Lumix TZ range, but haven't tried any of the newer once and from reviews it seems they've been overtaken by the competitors.

Have a look at the Canon SX260, seem to hear good things about that and it's well within your price range.

To be honest, a vacation isn't the time to start playing with the technical side of photography and more often than not I've seen first time DSLR shooters come home with terrible photos because they didn't know what they were doing.

I've got an upcoming holiday to the states and for once I'd actually like to get some good photos as I'm taking in a few motorsport events.

I've only ever used basic point and shoot cameras so I'm not a pro and its only a burgeoning hobby at the moment.

I'm looking with a budget of around £300 I will be taking mainly holiday snaps and close ups of stationary cars but there will be some action shots etc required from some distance. I'll have a backpack with me at most times so size isn't the be all and end all.

I initially started looking at mid range point and shoots such as the Samsung st200f but unsure if this will be up for requirements.

Secondly I was looking at a Nikon d3100 dslr and trying to find the £100 extra for a 55-200 lens.

To throw a spanner in the works I've been having a look through some threads in this forum and the Fuji x10 seems to have a pretty good opinion around these parts but I'm not sure the 4x zoom will cut the mustard.

Any suggestions to help me? To add I also don't have an amazing home PC for Photoshop etc.

Any help appreciated.