Are there any digital camera experts around?

bobber

Hope someone can help me please with a bit of advice.

Have wonderful little 5month old baby and have been taking loads of photos of her. But we are becoming increasingly disappointed with the photos as they are so hit and miss with the focussing. Just uploaded over 20 of her and only one is sharp.... we are gutted and have decided to get a new digital camera before we miss any more. Just had set of negs & photos back from my 15yr old olympus mju and the difference in quality is amazing - but we want the convenience of digital ideally so I can snap away all the time.

Im not sure what to look for in the new camera to make sure the same thing doesnt happen. Current camera is Samsung digimax 301 and we've played around with macro setting to see if that helps as on standard setting you have to get to stand too far away and we wany close up portraits - we just very well focussed hands or feet on macro!

So what do I look for on the spec to make sure the focussing is spot on? Do I need good optical zoom for it as we want close ups of baby? I dont want to spend any more than £150 ideally as im on unpaid mat leave now, so money is v.tight.

Thanks for any advice

electron_3

Fuji F10 is a brill camera with continous shooting

http://shopping.kelkoo.co.uk/ctl/do/search?fromform=true&siteSearchQuery=fuji+f10

I have the E510 the main difference is that the F10 has continuous shooting
and the E510 shoots at 1minute incements no matter how big the memory card you get I know its more than the £150 you want to spend but the F10 is a must consideration.

cwoodham

Came across this thread yesterday about unsharp masking which you might be able to use on images you already have to sharpen them up. I guess this will only help if you have 'soft focussed' images. If they are actually out of focus, you are probably right to look for a new camera.

mr_fishbulb

cwoodham wrote:

Came across this thread yesterday about unsharp masking which you might be able to use on images you already have to sharpen them up. I guess this will only help if you have 'soft focussed' images. If they are actually out of focus, you are probably right to look for a new camera.

Unsharp masking will only really help sharpen pictures that are already in focus, but haven't had must post-processing sharpening from the camera.

It will do a little to help an out of focus photo, but not a lot.

Sir_Bargains-A-Lot

I really would recommend using http://www.myproductadvisor.com/mpa/camera/inputSummary.do, where you can stpulate your budget and what you are looking for in a camera, and it will make a recommendation for you. The results will show US prices, but look the cameras up on Amazon.co.uk, Dabs.com or Pixmania and you'll find them at great prices.

I've been advised by more than one high street retailer that £150 will either get you a top of the range budget camera, or a bottom of the range decent camera. The only one I was recommended to be between the two was the Nikon Coolpix 4600 or 5600. They are still available well within your budget.

By all means PM me and we can discuss more, and I'll try and pass on the wisdom I recently receieved from retailers. FYI, I ended up buying a Casio Z10 which has proved to be excellent...

electron_3

May I just say stay away fron Pixmania as they are absolutely awful.

Excellent review site http://www.steves-digicams.com/

T4i

This is why I bought a new camera. Got two kids, both never stay still!

Looked into cameras for ages.....went to shops tried different makes/models.

I ended up with the Fuji E550, not the smallest of cameras but with these slim cameras there isn't enough light for the lense to utilize so darker shots come out rubbish...

Example of Fuji E550 picture..
Fuji E550

Edit** Don't forget about shutter lag too, nowt like actualy missing the picture you shot! For close up shots I dont use any zoom, just macro.

bobber

Thanks for all your speedy responses.

I've just looked at the Fuji on Amazon, electron, and the reviews are very impressive. Bit worried as 2 people said they had problems with focussing - but then others said it was great for focussing. Someone did mention that you can half depress button to focus on the subject more accurately - this is what I do with my old MJU and have never had a blurred photo. I was tempted to get a digital MJU as my old one never let me down, but s'pose technology has come on so far in 15yrs....

My main priority has got to be quick close up portraits with flash I think. I noticed on cameras.co.uk review bit this morning that they showed the same picture taken with lots of different cameras - will try to look at that again too as they had example portraits in and outside and the difference between cameras is incredible.

Donnie

Don't forget to press the button half the way down, to allow the camera to focus.

I have a Samsung UCA 5, purchased for under £100 from Boots. Here's an example of an indoor Macro picture that I have taken with this camera; Click here to download picture

For a 'skin' pic; Click here to download

No special settings were used and this isn't the highest quality setting. It's just to give you an idea of what to expect in terms of detail.

bobber

Thanks for that Donnie, but this one just takes the picture straight away. I've tried just pressing lightly but it wont work on this.
The other annoying thing with this samsung is the delay of the shutter after pressing (especially with flash) - shes normally moved by the time it actually takes the piccie!

cargo

T4i.
Cracking pic.