Suggestion for a digital camera please ..

roadsidetree

Hi,

I am thinking of buying my first digital camera. Considering the fact that I don't know much about these, could anyone suggest me a good model please. My maximum budget is 250 quid. Hope this would be enough.

Cheers :beer:

intel

Whatever you get do remember that even if you do get a camera with movie option
make sure you get one with a continous shoot facility, Or even if you get a Camera that takes Movies and it hasnt go a good enough buffer you will only be able to take footage at One minute increments even if it says you can take 30mins footage
with a 512mb memory card.

I think this camera is really good, http://www.pricerunner.co.uk/photography/digital-cameras/335271/prices

wolfman

I've always been very pleased with the Canon Ixus range. They're generally all very well built, small and very ergonomic (easy, intuitive to use).

The only annoyance (with my older Ixus, not sure if this applies to the newer ones) is that it doesn't show up as a removeable drive when you plug it in. This would be very handy and you just drag n drop the photos via Windows Explorer. My Ixus however, requires a piece of 3rd party software to get the photos off, which is a pain as it's just another piece of software I need to install for a relatively simple task.

Juvi_2

Hi not sure how good these are, but saw these two offers around from the hotukdeals website

Premier DS-5080 5.0 MegaPixel Digital Camera with 4x Digital Zoom, 1.7" LCD Display and PictBridge Enabled, is just £47.97p at Tesco.Com/Electrical. Buy through your QuidCo.Com account to earn 2% in cashback and check out the Voucher Section Here for any applicable discount codes available.

Features: Super lightweight/Compact, Up to 4x digital zoom, Rechargeable Li-ion battery included, SD card expansion slot, 24fps movie mode, 10 second self timer, Built-in auto flash with 'off' feature, Red-eye reduction.

and

The Panasonic DSC-FZ3B 3.1 MegaPixel Digital Camera with big 12x Optical Leica DC Vario-Elmarit Zoom Lens [equivalent to a 400mm class lens], 4x digital zoom, 1.5" LCD display, is just £189.99p at DigitalDirect.Com. If you buy through your QuidCo.Com account, you can earn 2% in cashback. Or use the link below to go straight to the deal.

Other Features: Motion Image Recording with Audio, Optical Image Stabiliser, Includes: 16Mb SD Card, Software



hope it helps

coolagarry

Some points to consider.

Megapixel size. Many cameras in your price range boast 5mp + but do you really want that many... For average prints or computer views 3mp are perfectly fine and you get lots more pics on your memory card. (I certainly can't tell the difference with naked eye)

Zoom. Remember that it's only optical zoom that counts. Digital zoom is just a way of reducing the size of the pic and you can do that with cropping after the pic is taken.

Lens quality. In my opinion it pays to go for a well known make to get a good quality lens. ie Olympus, Canon. Nikon etc

After that go to a site like
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/search-handle-form/202-7405518-0575855
go through the cameras and read the coments.

Hope this helps

Doonhamer

Lots of good reviews and forum stuff here. Also, Jessops staff are usually well trained and helpful. Even if you don't plan to buy from them it's worth going it to get a feel for different cameras. Technical spec is only one thing, but you must hold a camera in your hand before you decide. Also try and bargain with Jessops, you can sometimes get a better deal than you might think. Internet places such as Ebuyer have good deals on cameras and their memory card prices will be very good.

Little_John

I have an Olympus 770UZ, it takes great pictures, only 4mp but that is still enough to get a print at A1 which I got done by a freind with a big printer.

I have found that if you buy last years camera you will get it at a seriously discounted price and get pretty much the same camera, I got the 770 and at the time the 765 was about £150 cheaper only thing it was missing was a hot shoe for an additional flash and the remote release. I bought mine in the US so I got the 770 at the same price of the 765 in the UK.

as coolagarry sugested stick to a camer manufacturer not a pc manufacturer that now makes cameras. the most knowlegable people I found are the people at jesops the one I went to had samples and let you get a feel for the camera in the shop. ask them for advice and think about how you want to use the camera before buying and then they/we can advise you better. there are so many cameras to choose from.

buy online and save a fortune, pixmania are ok but very slow refunding
This site has a side by side comparison page you can have a look at them all
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/sidebyside.asp
another with reviews
http://www.steves-digicams.com/hardware_reviews.html

Ken68

Somerfield were doing a cheap 6.36mp with software, cable etc. £79.99 just before Christmas and also quite recently....Lumicron LDC-618z3 3 optical 2 digital 2" view..no memory card....a starter camera , probably not what you are looking for, but suits me, more settings than I know what to do with.

wolfman

coolagarry wrote:

Megapixel size. Many cameras in your price range boast 5mp + but do you really want that many... For average prints or computer views 3mp are perfectly fine and you get lots more pics on your memory card. (I certainly can't tell the difference with naked eye)

5mp is generally regarded as all you should need. For prints A4 or larger it's definitely worth getting as you'll get a higher PPI than with a 3mp camera.

Lens quality like you say is also hugely important, otherwise you won't notice the extra pixels.

rsykes2000

A good review site is https://www.steves-digicams.com - if you find one or 2 cameras that you think you like under your budget, well worth visiting there as the reviews are fairly comprehensive and seem impartial.

dunc_2-2

i just bought one b4 christmas & am v happy with it :j
i can also recommend dp review, it american & so some of the cameras have slightly diferent model names/numbers but their in depth reviews are v good
in the end i narrowed my search down to two:
the olympus stylus 800 (mju 800 digital) which is 8mp & 3times optical zoom
& panasonic DMC-fx9, 6mp 3times optical plus a huge 2.5 inch view screen
they both have a good spec but i went for the panasonic primarily because it has a leica lens & it is a more compact camera than the olympus
i got mine from here

but check out pixmania

Its also important to get a high speed memory card to minimise the lag between you pressing the shutter & it taking the pic, also memory card write speed affects the recycle time shot to shot ie the quicker it writes the quicker its ready to take another shot
a tip my brother taught me is to burn a cd with the images you want processing & take them to a shop to get printed, he worked out the relavent costs & its way cheaper than d.i.y. printing buying paper & ink + if the shop get it wrong its on their expense not yours :T

hope this helps, happy snapping :rotfl: