Digital camera less than £60, AA batteries

skattykatty · 3 June 2011 at 8:22PM

Mum wants a point and shoot digital camera to replace her ancient film one! She is not at all technical and it needs to be simple to use. One using AA batteries would be best, as well as good size LCD screen. Any ideas? Budget around £60. Cheers.

santer_2 · 3 June 2011 at 8:37PM

Jessops have this, though check if you have to get a charger, theirs is £40 but they are around for £5 elsewhere

http://www.jessops.com/online.store/categories/Compact%20Digital%20Cameras/products/Sony/Cyber-shot%20DSC-W310%20Digital%20Camera%20in%20Black%20-77321/Show.html?cm_mmc=Tradedoubler-_-CompactDigitalCameras-_-all-_-all&tduid=a70afbbf400395ae9b729281f759606d&url=http://www.jessops.com/online.store/categories/Compact%20Digital%20Cameras/products/Sony/Cyber-shot%20DSC-W310%20Digital%20Camera%20in%20Black%20-77321/Show.html?cm_mmc=Tradedoubler-_-CompactDigitalCameras-_-all-_-all

Ben84 · 3 June 2011 at 9:08PM

skattykatty wrote: »

Mum wants a point and shoot digital camera to replace her ancient film one! She is not at all technical and it needs to be simple to use. One using AA batteries would be best, as well as good size LCD screen. Any ideas? Budget around £60. Cheers.

Everyone has a favourite camera brand, so you'll get different advice from everyone on this subject

However, Pentacon have made a good range of simple cameras for years (as well as high end ones) under the brand name praktica. The main selling feature for me with the basic models is that they're small, quite tough, generally take AA batteries and are reliable at taking clear photos under most conditions without needing great skill. Their digital anti-shake is good because the most common trouble I find with people replacing film cameras with digital is holding it still enough to avoid fuzzy pictures. The problem is worse under low light conditions. Few basic camera owners use a tripod, they just want something they can hold to take photos without any major setting up. My praktica has almost no issues with this however - provided you're moderately steady when using it the picture is good.

This is the same as the model I own and hopefully it's less now than the £70 I paid about three years ago:

http://www.praktica-uk.com/product_info.php?products_id=339

I find it easy to use, there's not an abundance of settings really. It comes with a clear manual that explains everything.

I may get called up on this not being the cheapest camera for the mega pixel rating out there, but it's more about the quality of the camera build itself (fujifilm in this price range are flimsy, despite having greater mega pixels) and the quality of the design itself. If the camera is user friendly and has good features you'll take nicer photos and never mind the massive mega pixels. Besides, if it's all about mega pixels you're better off with the old film camera. Film does, and always has (even in the cheapest oldest brownie camera) had a vast resolution with just single molecules making up the photo receptor surface. Camera buyers might be worrying too much about the ratings on new digital cameras and letting this influence their purchases too much, I know I have owned some poor quality cameras with high mega pixel ratings.

tafelmoneysaver · 4 June 2011 at 6:34AM

FinePix AX280 Black Refurbished 14 Million Pixels SD™/SDHC™ compatible 5x Optical Zoom 3-inch LCD AA Batteries 12 Months Warranty £48.99 From https:// secure.fujifilm.co.uk/shop/consumer/digital/digital-cameras/fun-and-easy/finepix-ax280

Forwandert · 4 June 2011 at 10:33AM

Netto had a samsung 12.2 megapixel camera advertised for this week at £49.99, it is a re chargable one though not one that takes AA batteries, it is on their website if you wanted to have a look.