Advice on Digital Camera pleas

jackieblack

Hi
This might sound like a stupid question...:o

My first digital camera (several years ago) was a Kodak, and came with special software. You could (I think) only access the pictures via the software.

Since then I have stuck with Sony cameras, which the pc recognises like a memory stick and it is MUCH easier to view/move/copy etc the photos.

I am looking to buy my DH a cheap (£50 ish) digital camera (not worth buying him an expensive one as he always manages to break/lose anything he's given! He's now broken the old Kodak camera - and he's NOT getting his mitts on my Sony!)

I want to buy him one which the pc will recognise like a memory stick, like my Sonys. Is this now a common feature with other makes? Any recommendations?

Thanks

totalsolutions

Very common, SD memory, plug into card reader or mini usb lead to usb on pc.

Cat695

many digi cams will come with a cable that will connect to the pc via USB and it opens up like a harddrive

if you have a card reader on your pc then just choose a camera with the same card

but like i said seeing as most cameras come with a USB cable then it won't really matter which camera you buy or which card it has inside

its more down to cost and the quality of pictures you want.....the larger the megapixal the better quality of picture (though a huge megapixal camera is only really needed if your going to blow up the picture to large sizes like for a poster etc)

i would say anything over 6 megapixals will give a very nice picture on your PC and when printing out on normal photo paper (4' by 6')

Tescos currently have 20% off on there cameras look here
http://direct.tesco.com/q/buylist/id.2711.aspx

BillScarab

Cat695 wrote: »

its more down to cost and the quality of pictures you want.....the larger the megapixal the better quality of picture (though a huge megapixal camera is only really needed if your going to blow up the picture to large sizes like for a poster etc)

i would say anything over 6 megapixals will give a very nice picture on your PC and when printing out on normal photo paper (4' by 6')

Tescos currently have 20% off on there cameras look here
http://direct.tesco.com/q/buylist/id.2711.aspx

Wrong! Do not get conned into believing the number of mega pixels is anything to with picture quality. the most important factor is the quality of the lens. In fact many compact cameras with high mega pixel counts have wrose images then cameras with lower counts due to noise. There is lots of info about this on the web. It did make a difference when going from 0.3 megapixels to 1 megapixel but nowadays it is not a measure of picture quality.

To the OP it may be worth having a look at the Canon ebay shop. Reconditioned Canon cameras direct from the manufacturer.

http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Canon-Outlet

jackieblack

Cat695 wrote: »

many digi cams will come with a cable that will connect to the pc via USB and it opens up like a harddrive

if you have a card reader on your pc then just choose a camera with the same card

but like i said seeing as most cameras come with a USB cable then it won't really matter which camera you buy or which card it has inside

its more down to cost and the quality of pictures you want.....the larger the megapixal the better quality of picture (though a huge megapixal camera is only really needed if your going to blow up the picture to large sizes like for a poster etc)

i would say anything over 6 megapixals will give a very nice picture on your PC and when printing out on normal photo paper (4' by 6')

Tescos currently have 20% off on there cameras look here
http://direct.tesco.com/q/buylist/id.2711.aspx

I don't have a card reader, my Sonys connect with a cable to the USB port.
My Kodak sat in a little docking cradle but, as I said, you could only view/edit the photos via the Kodak software which was a pain.
Also, where I work we have a couple of little Canons which you seem to have to access via the Canon software, and this is what I'm looking to avoid.

I'm not particularly bothered about the number of MP, I have my own cameras which I use for main/important family events/occasions, this is just a camera for my DH to use so he doesn't keep borrowing mine (which he will eventually lose or break).

Are you saying then, that any brand will be ok with regards to being able to access the photos on the PC, via a USB cable, in a similar fashion to my Sonys?

jackieblack

BillScarab wrote: »

Wrong! Do not get conned into believing the number of mega pixels is anything to with picture quality. the most important factor is the quality of the lens. In fact many compact cameras with high mega pixel counts have wrose images then cameras with lower counts due to noise. There is lots of info about this on the web. It did make a difference when going from 0.3 megapixels to 1 megapixel but nowadays it is not a measure of picture quality.

To the OP it may be worth having a look at the Canon ebay shop. Reconditioned Canon cameras direct from the manufacturer.

http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Canon-Outlet

I agree with your point about MP, I'm not going to get hung up on that, but where I work we have a couple of little Canons which you seem to have to access via the Canon software, and this is what I'm looking to avoid.

Is that maybe just the models we have which are a few years old now? Is the ability for the PC to read the camera like a memory stick a feature of newer cameras?

jackieblack

Does anyone have any recommendations for specific makes/models?

FZwanab

Most cameras have a usb cable that links the camera to the computer, but as with my last camera at one stage the computer did not recognise it. I bought a card reader on ebay and it connects to the computer and reads the card with all the photos on it.

Also a good point to look at is the optical zoom rather than the digital zoom, as this will show you how close you can go to a subject without losing picture quality.

Canon are good with manual controls, but I have a panasonic myself with more basic controls and love it.

MothballsWallet

I got a Fujifilm A510 in NZ nearly 2 years ago for about 100 quid; it was a bundle deal in the shop with a 256MB xD card and a Fuji camera case. Bizarrely, the camera alone would have been more expensive.

Anyway, I can put the xD card into the reader on my laptop, or I can connect the camera to the computer with a USB cable. And I'm not stuck with using the Fuji software: I can use that, or other tools, such as MS Paint or Photobie, to name but 2, as the xD card/camera pops up as a hard drive and I can drag and drop the image files across in Windows Explorer.

Something in that line or the Canon would be good. I wouldn't touch Kodak without looking at the latest models: I worked for a city council in Auckland, and their Kodaks, older models, kept using battery power like no tomorrow. We had to charge the batteries every day or so, and they weren't being used that much.

RichPyke

Fuji, Samsung, Sony are all good ones.
MegaPixles are worthless, I use a 6MP camera for all my photos and they are fine... you only need 2000MP cameras for if you want to print at stupid sizes or have huge digital images on your PC...

Find the cheap cameras in your budget, hit google and search for them all, read reviews, problems, everything, they decide... most have sample photos too which show the quality.

P.S. Stay away from Fuji unless you want to limit your storage. XD cards are more expensive and XD cards have 2 speeds, only high speed can do video too...

BillScarab

Rich, the site rules are no links in sigs.

I don't have a Canon camera but I would be very surprised if you couldn't just connect it and use it as an external drive. To be honest I'm surprised you have to with your Kodak. Currently I use a Panasonic TZ3 and that is just treated as an external drive. I use the tools built into Vista for image handling as they're pretty good and more straightforward than the rubbish most manufacturers seem to supply.