Which Digital Camera?

matty_c608

I have a £275 Voucher from Pixmania.

I want to buy a Digital Camera from them with it.

I don't really know what to choose though.

I was hoping for a 10 Megapixel model, but am not sure if this is worth getting, because a higher optical zoom would be much better to zoom in with!?

As for my needs, I love to experiment/try new things/create effects! I also like to take pictures at parties/family gatherings. Therefore portability would be nice. How ever, I never see a small camera with anything above 3x optical zoom.

I did have a Sony Cybershot DSC P150, this had nice images, but i found the flash was a bit bright, and bought out spots in peoples faces lol!

Model I've considered so far:

Canon Poweshot G7 [http://www.pixmania.co.uk/uk/uk/401410/art/canon/powershot-g7.html]

Any thoughts/recommendations highly welcomed! Thanks will be left as necessary!

lightisfading

Olympus' mju 750 has 5x optical zoom while still being really compact. All of the mju cameras have great image quality too.

The only other really compact ones i can think of with over 3x optical zoom are Ricoh R4 (not too reliable, from what ive seen working in a cam shop), Kodak V560/V610 (not impressed with the image quality), and Panasonic TZ1 (slightly bigger than todays compact cameras, but still pretty tiny for 10x optical zoom. And all the Panasonics are great quality.

Nobody needs 10mp, unless you plan on making huge (A0 posters?) enlargements, or cropping tiny bits out of the middle. In your situation i would definitely go for a high quality camera with a bigger zoom over 10mp.

(shame you can't buy the camera anywhere else, Pixmania aren't well known for customer service!)

matty_c608

I know, you will find a thread about me ranting about Pixmania somewhere in the forums.

The good thing is though, after all my whining, I got this voucher (well at least told I'm getting it - a voucher to the value of the camera I bought over 2 years ago - A Sony DSC P150. Now I don't know if they mean value I paid for it, but I sure hope for that).

Well, I like compactness too. How compact is that Canon Powershot G7 do you know?

I was kinda hoping for at least 7 Megapixel with 4x zoom, not tooo big! Any more advice really appreciated (esp. From you as a Camera shop worker lol )

Matt.

matty_c608

Actually was looking at this too:

http://www.photographyblog.com/index.php/weblog/comments/panasonic_lumix_dmc_lx2/

Lumix DMC-LX2

WHat you think>?

sellingmysoul666

they did a feature on the gadget show recently
2 10mp cameras & a fuji f31 which was only 6mp but it still the best of the 3 !

http://gadgetshow.five.tv/jsp/5gsmain.jsp?lnk=401&featureid=265&show=s5e11&section=Consumer

even better it will only cost you £219

http://www.pixmania.co.uk/uk/uk/s_action/search/index.html

sevlow

Matty,

I agree with one of the other posters that 10MP is overkill for most of us as we never print above A4. I've produced fantastic A4 prints from a 3MP camera, so a 6/7 MP model will be more than adequate even if you crop extensively.

Perhaps this link will focus your ideas;

http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/2006-camera-guide.htm

The Fuji F30/F31 models also offer excellent quality particularly in low light conditions where you may wish to avoid flash to get a more natural look.

You can find a review of the G7 here;

http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/canon/powershot_g7-review/index.shtml

Finally if you like or would like to learn about post processing then think about investing in Adobe Elements/CorelXI/ACDseePro etc.

Hope this helps

ziffius

Unless you really need the 10MP, I would go for the Canon A710 IS. It's similar to the G7 having Image Stabilisation and 6X optical zoom but is 7MP amd is much cheaper. http://www.pixmania.co.uk/uk/uk/382392/art/canon/powershot-a710-is.html# @ £191

The LX2 has to much noise, the G7 is better.

Pixmania also have the Sony DSC-H5, 7MP with 12x optical zoom http://www.pixmania.co.uk/uk/uk/266881/art/sony/cyber-shot-dsc-h5-black.html @ £257. In real terms there isn't a huge difference between 7MP and 10MP.

vk2003

The definitive review site for digital cameras is dpreview
There is also a guide, in which you can enter the features that you want, and it will list the cameras that meet the criteria.

HTH

ziffius

If you're finding the flash a little 'harsh', you could get the external flash for the G7 http://www.pixmania.co.uk/uk/uk/155569/art/canon/speedlite-430ex-flash.html but it's not cheap and it's not little either. You use a diffuser on it and then bounce the light off the ceiling/ walls rather than pointing directly at the faces. Or you could just try putting the camera in manual mode and turning down the flash

coolagarry

The easiest way is to decide what you want and then to go here
http://www.cameras.co.uk/html/digital-camera-selector.cfm
where it sorts out a camera with your spec.
For example it you put in 7 megapixels (which I personally think is big enough unless you decide to print out huge pictures) then it will give you a list and you can look at the other attributes and see which one suits you.
Personally I fancy the Canon Powershot A710 IS as it is 7mpx with a 6x optical lens and a 2.5 lcd screen (people love to see the pics that you have just taken so the bigger the lcd the better)

matty_c608

Thanks for all your help!

I'm also considering the size. A lot of those seem to be pretty large.

Everyone pulls out their digi cams/phone and I pull out my cam ready to take photos, lookin as if I came from the Sun Newspaper lmao..

I'm considering going to Jessops to get a hands on with these cameras. Do they let you hold/test them in store?

Many thanks!

Matt.