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BS: Digital camera: advice required
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Subject: BS: Digital camera: advice required From: GUEST,Dazbo Date: 09 Jun 06 - 10:19 AM I've finally decided to do away with film and go digital. I don't take many photos these days but would like a camera that I can fit into a pocket, has a decent battery life and capable of videoing with decent sound quality (for tunes in sessions etc). Price range £100 - £200 I've been doing some research and on t'internet and I am considering a couple of Canons (A430 or A540), Megxon MT6 (battery life looks fairly short on this one), a couple of Panasonic and Sonys. If you've got any comments on these cameras or alternative suggestions I'd be grateful to read them. Cheers PS I know there was a least one thread on this from a year or two back but the speed things are changing in the digital world I thought it'd be clearer to start a new thread. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Digital camera: advice required From: The Barden of England Date: 09 Jun 06 - 11:20 AM I have purchased several cameras from this site:- http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Canon-Outlet_Canon-Digital-Cameras_W0QQcolZ2QQdirZQ2d1QQfsubZ2QQftidZ2QQtZkm It's the official Canon site - refurbished with the same guarantee as a new camera, and probably in the price range you are talking. I've never had a spot of trouble with any of them. John Barden |
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Subject: RE: BS: Digital camera: advice required From: bobad Date: 09 Jun 06 - 12:19 PM One feature that I would suggest is to try and get one with the largest LCD screen, I see that that Canon and Sony have models with 3 inch LCD screens, check those out. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Digital camera: advice required From: Grab Date: 09 Jun 06 - 12:21 PM My personal musts are: 1) Manual speed/exposure adjustment 2) Swivel screen 3) As few menu options as possible Manual settings for the speed/exposure are essential if you want to get into better quality photos. And it's funny how easy it is - where it would have cost hundreds in film, years back, now you can take a few hundred photos and experiment. It doesn't make sense to handicap yourself for later by getting something that just doesn't cut it - it's the equivalent of a plywood-top guitar. A swivel screen is a great thing. You can do candid shots of people to the sides of you or back, or just with the camera sitting in your lap and them not noticing. And overhead shots over crowds too. Menu-wise, some cameras advertise that they've got hundreds of modes. Avoid them - unless you've got some kind of insane memory, you'll never find the right one when you need it. If there's more than a dozen or so menu options, don't bother. PC Plus magazine keeps a log of their current best-buy computer gear, including cameras. It's probably worth checking out their latest edition. Graham. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Digital camera: advice required From: Bardford Date: 09 Jun 06 - 02:07 PM DP Review has all the latest info. You can compare cameras side by side. Prices in American $, though. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Digital camera: advice required From: gnu Date: 09 Jun 06 - 02:28 PM Great advice! I too, am considering getting into the 21st century. I was actually thinking of making the jump a BIG one. Straight to a Sony Camcorder with mini-DVD, Steadyshot for about $600 Canuck. Not much bigger than a camera. Twice the price of a good camera, but, much more versatile.... or, am I talking through my hat? (I really haven't done a lot of research, but, it just seems to me that it is an option which should be considered.) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Digital camera: advice required From: JohnInKansas Date: 09 Jun 06 - 02:50 PM While many "still cameras" allow you to take short videos, and some will record sound along with it, most limit you to rather brief "snatches," and many produce "jerky" movies. If you really want videos with sound you may want to make a separate investment in a real videocam. If you really want to do it all in one camera, be diligent in assessing whether any particular camera will really do what you want. With the step up to 4 Mp and higher, almost any of the cameras you're likely to find in the price range will take reasonably good still pictures. The most commonly cited demarcation between ones the reviewers like and the ones they don't are in initial charge time and recycle time. I'd suggest looking at the specifications (and some reviewer reports) for these two items if you want something that will satisfy you for a while. Some otherwise very nice cameras can take 10 seconds or more to be ready to take the first shot after you turn them on. This is perhaps something you can live with once you're used to it, but think first about whether that will matter. When you're waiting to get a shot that's rapidly evaporating, it can be a very long time. Some otherwise very nice cameras can take about the same time to save the last shot and get ready for the next one. Also perhaps just an inconvenience, but you may want to give some thought to what will satisfy you. Shutter lag is quite noticeable in some otherwise good cameras. You click when the scene is just what you want, and the camera captures "a few seconds later." Even a second or two of lag can be frustrating. If you use it at all, with a digital camera you'll take a lot more pictures than you'd imagine if you're used to film. Plan on getting some memory expansion with any camera, especially in your price range, so you don't have to stop and dump too frequently. Also make sure you have hard drive space to download all your pictures, and burning the originals to CDs for archiving is a good plan. Also consider that you'll want a good photo editing program sooner or later. John |
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Subject: RE: BS: Digital camera: advice required From: Big Al Whittle Date: 09 Jun 06 - 03:30 PM recently got a kodakZ470 and its about the cheapest SLR at currys. I really like it. but I'm no expert. does a lot of stuff that I'll never use! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Digital camera: advice required From: Joe Offer Date: 09 Jun 06 - 03:36 PM I'm very happy with my Canon A70 camera, with 3.2 megapixels and a relatively small, fixed LCD screen. I leave the screen OFF most of the time, and batteries seem to last forever. I haven't been completely happy with flash photos, but I find the camera does a very good job of available-light indoor and night photos. -Joe- |
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Subject: RE: BS: Digital camera: advice required From: number 6 Date: 09 Jun 06 - 04:00 PM For a point and shoot .... For quality go for a Canon. There are a variety of them out there Dazbo in the price range you want. sIx |
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Subject: RE: BS: Digital camera: advice required From: GUEST Date: 09 Jun 06 - 05:08 PM There is 'small'...and then there is shirt-pocket small. My wife just got a Panasinic Lumix, which she raves about constantly...it is quite small, but not tiny...and has LOTS of features. If you need one of those teeny things that you can hide in a shirt pocket, take advice from others. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Digital camera: advice required From: Bunnahabhain Date: 09 Jun 06 - 05:56 PM Like Joe says, BIG SCREENS EAT BATTERIES. If you get a camera with a big screen, it will go though batteries very fast. If you get one where you can turn the screen off it will help hugely. Other than that, go in store, and try them out. Best way to find how annoying power up, shutter lag, etc are to you. If you want to record sessions, maybe a dedicated sound recording thing would be best. Not often that a device trying to do lots of things is as good at any of them as a specialised one. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Digital camera: advice required From: McGrath of Harlow Date: 10 Jun 06 - 06:04 AM It's horses for courses. Something that seems absolutely essential to one user with one set of requirements will be completely irrelevant to another, or will even be seen as a drawback. It's so easy to forget that when giving advice, and talk as if we are advising a clone of ourselves, with identical needs and preferences. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Digital camera: advice required From: Mr Red Date: 10 Jun 06 - 10:53 AM Well I got a wristwatch camera 5 years ago. Payed for itself the first week. The banter and fivolity at an arguably security sensitive workplace was wonderful. I used to wear it in case I had an car accident - the only time I could have used it was at night and the police wanted to shine there headlights at the joyrider's results but I reckoned I would still have had 40 black photos. And the times I took pictures of folkies and said "Here, I bought a new watch and all I got was an old timer" then showed them a picture of themselves............... fun - I'd say. It eats batteries as you can immagine. Horses for courses as they say. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Digital camera: advice required From: GUEST,Jon Date: 10 Jun 06 - 11:22 AM I'm still happy with using my parents Olympus C2 and see no reason for them to want to upgrade from it. Given the service that one's given, and having a quick look through an Argos catalogue, I guess their FE-100 at £120 would be a candidate for me in that price range - although when I get my own digital, I think it will be a digital SLR... |
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Subject: RE: BS: Digital camera: advice required From: GUEST,DB Date: 10 Jun 06 - 12:42 PM I'm a great fan of Canon cameras. I've got a 'little' (but by no means tiny!) Canon A85 (4 Mp) and a Canon 300D SLR (which is quite big and heavy - especially with extra lenses). I carry the A85 around with me for day-to-day use and the 300D on holidays or for my occasional botanical field trips (like the one I went on today). Both cameras have both automatic and manual controls and are supplied with really excellent documentation and software (both of these are a must, in my opinion). The A85 is a couple of years old now and has probably been replaced by similar models with a higher spec. I couldn't tell you what the latest models are but they will probably be in the "A" series. They will also be a bit 'chunkier' than the super-slim "Ixus" range and will have a dial on top with a comprehensive set of settings and some have a fold-out screen as well (not present on my A85). I would look for as many Mps as you can afford (4 or higher). Some 'puritans' will tell you that you don't need this sort of resolution but I find that it can be useful if you want to zoom in and crop pictures in your image editor (something that the 'puritans' tend to forget - or perhaps they're such perfect photographers that they don't need to crop!). |
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Subject: RE: BS: Digital camera: advice required From: Green Man Date: 10 Jun 06 - 12:49 PM Personally I like Fuji. I have two and the image quality is superb. Try a lot out before you buy. If you are coming from an slr you will miss the manual focus unless you go up a bit in price. Best GM |
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Subject: RE: BS: Digital camera: advice required From: GUEST,.gargoyle Date: 10 Jun 06 - 12:58 PM Suck in your gut and take the hit.
1,000 USD for Canon EOS (SLR) Rebel.
Sincerely, |
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Subject: RE: BS: Digital camera: advice required From: JohnInKansas Date: 10 Jun 06 - 01:31 PM gargoyle - Current top of the Canon line appears to be the EOS-1Ds Mark II. It's a 16.7 Mp, which should be quite sufficient for most users. I tried pretending I wanted to buy one to check the price, but the Canon website doesn't list cameras as something you can buy direct. I'm sure it's economically priced. (!!!!) A warning is perhaps in order for those considering a step up to a digital SLR: it's very common now for sellers to advertise prices for the camera body only, not including any lens, so when you see a "bargain" price, make sure it includes enough parts and pieces to be usable. John |
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Subject: RE: BS: Digital camera: advice required From: number 6 Date: 10 Jun 06 - 01:46 PM Your correct on that John ... and you require good glass (and they are not cheap) to get the most out of your SLR. BTW .. Dazbo's request is for a 'point and shoot' digital not an SLR. sIx |
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Subject: RE: BS: Digital camera: advice required From: JohnInKansas Date: 10 Jun 06 - 02:33 PM 6 - Dazbo's price range is unlikely to get into a D-SLR, although prices have been coming down on some of the older models. Several others had mentiond that the SLRs are "better," which I something I'd definitely agree with, and it's hard to consider a thread a "private conversation" with just one person - hence the note. I have no idea what accurate current conversions are between US$ and the pound, but I'm guessing that some of the older model Canon digitals may be getting down to close to the range suggested, although the jump from fixed lens to swappable is still a pretty wide gap. Good "point and shoot" cameras are pretty abundant, and at the 5 to 7 Mp and higher that you can get for 1"pocket change" it shouldn't be hard to find something "very good" to suit the original request. 1 If your pockets are a little deeper than mine. John |
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Subject: RE: BS: Digital camera: advice required From: number 6 Date: 10 Jun 06 - 02:44 PM My daughter just bought a Canon point and shoot for $249 cdn .. I can't recall the model but it has 5 mega pixels and would fit in a shirt pocket. It has video capabilities, but these 'videos' in point and shoots are very, very limited. SLR's are better, but john as you mentioned the cheaper (here in Canada) ones still go for about $700 cdn without the lense. On ebay (and such web sites) you can probably find a low end SLR with lense for around $600 U.S. I should note SLR digitals do not have video capabilities. The view finder in my D70s is for playback only and I think most high end SLR's are the same. sIx |
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Subject: RE: BS: Digital camera: advice required From: GUEST,Jon Date: 10 Jun 06 - 03:00 PM John, I was looking at this site the other day (actually was toying with a camcorder...). Thier prices seemed reasonable compared to most of the other sites I tried. It may give some idea for you on UK prices on digital SLR. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Digital camera: advice required From: JohnInKansas Date: 10 Jun 06 - 06:39 PM Jon, With a guess at the exchange rate, the prices shown aren't far from what US dealers are showing; but the cameras there are a bit above my current "reality level" so I'm not current on identifying the various models. I'm very much partial to Canon, based on film experience with them, and the reviewers consistently rate them at or near the top; but they don't make throwaways. Nikon of course is also highly regarded, but again they're not into the "budget" market much. My current digital is a Fujitsu that 3+ years ago was the best I could get for $200 US (2 Mp) but my daughter recently spent $50 for a 3.5 Mp one (unrememberable brand) that puts it to shame. Thankfully, I've got Photoshop Elements, or I wouldn't get much usable out of mine. (More casual shooters might be happy with what comes out of the camera, but... ) Newer Fuji digitals have remained impressive in the reviews, among lower cost cameras; and I wouldn't hesitate to support choosing one of the newer ones for a point-n-shoot user, but what's available has moved well past what I've got. If the plans all come together, my next digital likely will be one of the lower to mid tier Canons, but I'm sure there will be lots of new models along before I get there. John |
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Subject: RE: BS: Digital camera: advice required From: GUEST,.gargoyl Date: 10 Jun 06 - 08:37 PM The beauty of the Canon SLR - is you can use your already existing Canon lens - or in my case - because I'm cheap, the Tamaron equivilents.
An SLR also gives you everything you already understand and WANT TO CONTROL. A low end digital will not permit the variety of options for:
However, if you want a GREAT camera for copying photos to webpages, or items for E-Bay to sell, even newspapers with OCR-distilation. The old (late 1990's) Mavica10X (SONY)(1.4 floppy) creates a low-res (28-50K file) that cannot be beat for web-displays and with a 10X zoom and a 1X1 (postage stamp size) closeup it is versitile. Quick, cheap, easy, dependable, affordable, repairable (mine was fixed twice) but, horrible at night with flash.
Go to the bookstore and hock over 12bucks for two good photo magazines then read the ads and reviews.
Sincerely,
I like live music, I like no amps, I like film and prints (with digital scans in the processing)I like a compass, map, and triangulation. But, I have also watched Serius, GPS, and Adobe grow over and shadow my small foot-prints in the sands-of-time.
There are printers and inks that promise 70 years .... I have family photos twice that age, I have B&W prints (with negatives) of the prohibition 1920's age that look like they left the dark-room yesterday...I have polaroids from 40 years ago that look like boiled cauliflower. Be careful - if it is important - be safe rather than sorry. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Digital camera: advice required From: JohnInKansas Date: 10 Jun 06 - 11:17 PM Yeah, gargoyle, that's what they say - you can use all your Canon lenses. The only problem is that the interchangeable "EOS" lens system came out exactly seventeen minutes after I walked out of the store with my Canon A1 and three new lenses, which was added to two earlier Canon AT1s, none of which have the "new mount." I have at least 6 very good Canon lenses that cannot be used on any of the new ones. And it ain't all that long ago either. I've only changed the battery in the A1 twice. (They discontinued my camper trailer model two weeks after I bought it (new) too. I'm starting to take this stuff personal.) John |
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Subject: RE: BS: Digital camera: advice required From: number 6 Date: 11 Jun 06 - 01:47 PM Regarding DSLR's ... take into consideration the camera's longetivity in regards to the total number of frames of the model you are considering. DSLR's tend to wear out sooner than SLR's. sIx |
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Subject: RE: BS: Digital camera: advice required From: Liz the Squeak Date: 12 Jun 06 - 01:20 AM If you want camera advice, become a member and PM Phot... it's what he does for a living, although someone else pays for the hardware! Personally, I'd go for one you can afford and one you understand. There's no use in the world for having a shirt pocket sized camera with thousands of functions if you need a degree in engineering and computer programming just to understand the manual (which in our case is bigger than the wretched camera)! LTS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Digital camera: advice required From: GUEST,Dazbo Date: 12 Jun 06 - 04:23 AM Thanks for all your replies. I'm not really into getting an SLR: I've got an Olympus OM10 that I've had for 25 years and generally can't be bothered to carry it around (a pity as it was a pretty good camera in its day). Thanks for the links, the DP review site looks good for reviews (but doesn't like all the cameras I've been looking at). The more I think about the more I like the look of the Canons, but more research is needed. |
