Which Digital Camera?

shellyd_3

I have never had a digital camera before and don't know much about them.
I am looking to use my Boots point to buy one. I think I have narrowed it down to 3, Olympus C315 £89.99, Nickon coolpix 4600 £98.98 and
Canon Powershot A520 £149.99 (I will need to save a little longer to get the Canon but don't mind waiting if it's worth it).

I would welcome any advice.


Thanks

Michelle

T4i

Canon do make good optical devices. I'd save that bit extra and get the canon.

Donnie

shellyd

I would avoid purchasing any of these cameras if I were you.

For a modern camera they offer a low level of sophistication. Though the basic picture quality will be good, digital cameras are capable of a bit more these days, especially when it comes to video shooting capability.

The three cameras score very poorly when it comes to that.

Ideally, you should look for the specification of 640 x 480 pixels at 30 frames per second(fps) with sound. The length of the video should be limited only by the length of the memory card.

I managed to pick up the Samsung UCA 5 from Boots for less than £100, a while ago.


It's a world away from those primitive cameras.

T4i

Video recording at 640x480 isnt the best.....

Its like watching a mobile phone movie.....but slightly bigger.

Depends wat u want from a camera......point and shoot? or a camera with manual settings...

and as the other user said, video recording is possible.....as long as you have a memory card large enough to fit decent length movies on.

Donnie

This Vivitar Vivicam 5340s from Boots at £79.99 has better specification, though I know nothing about the quality.

http://vivitar.com/vivitarwork/images/v5340sManual.pdf

Donnie

I'll disagree with you there T4i. It depends on the amount of compression, frames per second, size of the pixels etc.

Video shot from a Canon IXUS 50 at 640 x 480 pixels using 30 fps is close to DVD quality. You certainly can't say that about any mobile telephone camera.

The same shot from my Samsung at 30 fps is better than VHS video quality, but uses one eighth of the memory space of the Canon.

For example, on my Samsung, I can shoot sixty eight minutes of the highest quality video with sound on a one Gigabyte card.

On the Canon IXUS 50, ten.

The three cameras mentioned by the OP have very poor specification. In some cases, there is no sound or there is a one minute limit on the length of the video or the amount of frames per second are as low as ten, resulting the jerky kind of video you'll see on a mobile telephone.

Better to get yourself a camera that you'll enjoy for years to come.

Probably better to get a cheapie for now and wait until a really good camera pops up on the Boots website.

T4i

Donnie wrote:

Canon IXUS 50 at 640 x 480 pixels using 30 fps is close to DVD quality.

But we are not talking about a IXUS 50.

Donnie

I also wrote about my Samsung UCA 5, which I purchased from Boots for £100. Plus i received around £25 worth of Advantage points.

I think that you're are a little confused about video quality.

I have a Nokia 6230i. The video quality is QCIF. The means Quarter Common Intermediate Format, a mere 176 pixels wide x 144 pixels high at a maximum of 15 fps.
That is closer to the quality offered by the three cameras mention by the OP.

CIF or Common Intermediate Format at 352 x 288 is the Video CD standard.

Super Video CD standard; 480 x 576.

DVD standard; 720 x 576.

VGA: The name comes from the 640 x 480 maximum resolution of the original IBM VGA display technology.

The term VGA is also often used to refer to a resolution of 640×480, regardless of the hardware that produces the picture. For embedded devices, there now exist QVGA (320×240) and QQVGA (160×120) and 1/8 VGA (240×160) display modes.

In short, it is unlikely that your mobile telephone will produce video quality approaching the Samsung or the Canon IXUS 50.

Donnie

Morgan has the Konica KD-3300 for £35 or the Olympus Camedia C450 for £60, to tide you over or maybe a cheapie will turn up on the site.

If it was for me, I would wait and keep my eye on the Boots site.

danio_2

Donnie wrote:

This Vivitar Vivicam 5340s from Boots at £79.99 has better specification, though I know nothing about the quality.

http://vivitar.com/vivitarwork/images/v5340sManual.pdf

This is an excellent camera, I have used Fuji in the past and most recently an Olympus C765 Ultra Zoom. The Vivitar 5340s is by far the better one, in all aspects.. (Size of camera, picture quality, settings, ease of use and it is a much nicer looking camera).....OOOHH! and the all important price (got mine from boots.com for £69.99 (Used a £10 discount code), I am VERY impressed with it.

Donnie

Certainly sounds like a good camera to be your first.
Don't forget to pay with your Nationwide credit card in order to get 12 months extra on the warranty.