Digi Camera for coursework?

Ruthie5

Hi, I'm doing a distance learning course in interior design, and need to take pictures of my coursework to submit it electronically. The college say that purchasing a digital camera is strongly recommended - a camera within a mobile phone will not be sufficient. At the moment I just use my iphone 4 to take general pictures.

As I will be taking pictures of - for example mood boards, plans, sketches etc, I'll need good resolution and also for colours to be as 'true' as possible. Plus easy uploading etc will help, as would general ease of use - as I'm not very technical!. I gather that MP is important and that I should look for at least double figures on this. Ideally, I would love to spend 20 quid - but I'm happy to go up to £50+ if that's what I need to get a good product.

Looking at other threads, I have seen mention of a Fujifilm finepix L55 at the bottom end of price range. Also a Canon 16MP one for £60 in Argos and a Panasonic Lumix DMC-FSEB-K and a Fuji J2200 16 MP. Any thoughts on these for this purpose please?

Also, what are the important things apart from MP that I should look for, and what should be the minimum MP for me do you think?

Thanks in advance! Ruthie

closed

MP isn't that important, and an iphone can take good photo's - 5MP of a sketch gives plenty of detail, but if you want a proper camera, any of them should do the job, alternatively use a pc to create the work.

PasturesNew

Clarify if they meant "most people take cr4p photos with their cr4ppy phone"... or if they meant "mobile phone cameras can't be used because ...."

It might just be that some people in the past have sent fuzzy/badly lit, small images.

InsideInsurance

Ruthie5 wrote: »

Hi, I'm doing a distance learning course in interior design, and need to take pictures of my coursework to submit it electronically. The college say that purchasing a digital camera is strongly recommended - a camera within a mobile phone will not be sufficient. At the moment I just use my iphone 4 to take general pictures.

As I will be taking pictures of - for example mood boards, plans, sketches etc, I'll need good resolution and also for colours to be as 'true' as possible. Plus easy uploading etc will help, as would general ease of use - as I'm not very technical!. I gather that MP is important and that I should look for at least double figures on this. Ideally, I would love to spend 20 quid - but I'm happy to go up to £50+ if that's what I need to get a good product.

Looking at other threads, I have seen mention of a Fujifilm finepix L55 at the bottom end of price range. Also a Canon 16MP one for £60 in Argos and a Panasonic Lumix DMC-FSEB-K and a Fuji J2200 16 MP. Any thoughts on these for this purpose please?

Also, what are the important things apart from MP that I should look for, and what should be the minimum MP for me do you think?

Thanks in advance! Ruthie

MP is the resolution of the file, unfortunately everyone has latched onto it but realistically you only need a little over 5mp to get an A4 print size so unless you intend to print onto bill boards or the side of a lorry you dont need 16mp.

A camera is only as good as its weakest link, you could have a 2048mp camera but if it has a sweetie wrapper for a lens then the pictures will be terrible, just really big files of rubbish.

Given your budget you arent going to be getting much better than an iPhone4 if you buy a new camera. You could do better with a secondhand camera that may be a step up but obviously that possibly introduces other challenges.

Are you going to create actual rooms etc and photo those or will it all be samples/ models etc?

Another consideration would be a scanner and possibly electronic mood boards. The wife is in a similar field and she does use her iphone 5s and a scanner for 99% of her things and only occasionally cracks out the big camera when wanting to print something very big or wanting very good macros etc

pepdavies

I have a Canon Powershot S3. You can probably get on one ebay for £20. Takes great photos and has a tilting screen which is quite useful for awkward angles. My advice is to get a tripod, the model of camera you put on it is less important.

bluesnake

Ruthie5 wrote: »

.... need to take pictures of my coursework to submit it electronically. ...

A pdf creator will do this very well http://www.cutepdf.com/products/cutepdf/writer.asp

To be honest my phone (android) is not as good as my camera, but it is easy to charge, always at hand, and the photos are really not that bad, plus a couple of add-ons like HDR Plus, and a panorama shooter (or use the free ms software) https://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/redmond/groups/ivm/ICE/

Iphone cameras are not that bad either, probably better than a new £20 one

Laz123

The Panasonic range are good as they use decent lenses.

Cisco001

Photo from high end phone are not much difference from low end DC

devizes18193

http://shop.fujifilm.co.uk/refurbished-digital-cameras

Some here might suit

tyllwyd

Have you talked to the college about it? You might find that the instructions were written a few years ago, and mobile phone cameras have improved a lot since then.

I don't think that £20 will buy you anything as good as your iphone camera - when I was looking for a cheap compact camera, prices seemed to start at £50.

Have you started your course yet? If it was me, I'd stick with your iphone for now, and see what feedback you get from your tutors. Also, you might find that you don't continue with the course for very long, for whatever reason, so it is probably a bit early to start investing money in a new camera.

althas

IS it a 4 or 4s you have? There was a major upgrade to the 4s camera and that would certainly do the job. I have takem some wonderful photos with my 4s

As others have said, the MP on this type of camera is a non issue. Much more than 8mp and the quality of the image can be affected. Basically this is due to the size of the sensor in the camera and in mobile phones and point and shoot, they are small

In my opinion, THE most important thing is the lens. That should be really the only thing to focus (no pun intended there) on. Panasonic Lumix tend to come with Lecia lens, and basically, without going into multiple £10,00's, that is as good as it gets. So from that list you ahve given, is the Panasonic is a Lecia lens, I would get that one