what to look for - dig camera?

r.mac_2

Hiya,

I am going on honeymoon in December to South Africa. We want to buy a good quality digital camera to take with us - we are doing a mixture of driving the garden route, safari and beach holiday.

I ahve a cheapy point and shoot camera, but its about 4 years old now and not great quality.

We have about £300 to spend. What should we be looking for spec wise. I only know a little. For ecample, what's an SLR digital camera and do I need/want one?????

Any advice grately appreciated x

BillScarab

A Digital SLR camera is likely to be more than £300. An SLR is a Single Lens Reflex camera, by using a system of mirrors when you look through the viewfinder you look through the Lens so you see exactly what will be on the final photo. They also have detachable Lenses so you can pick a different Lens depending on the photo you are taking. The other difference is that SLR's generally have better quality lenses and much larger CCD/CMOS sensors so the pictures tends to be much better quality than compacts (depending on the photographer of course).

I went on Safari in Kenya/Tanzania a few years ago and bought a film SLR camera for the trip with a good zoom lens. It was well worth it as I wouldn't have got any decent pictures with a compact.

Having said all that some of the newer top end compact 'bridge' cameras are pretty good and some have very good stabilised zooms. Panasonic have just released the FZ18 which has 18x optical zoom and decent reviews, it is also within your budget.

I suspect you would need to spend at least £500 to get a budget SLR with a long zoom lens, possibly more.

f1charlie

For more detail look at:

www.steves-digicams.com
www.dpreview.com

SLR pros:
- Best picture quality (although against a good quality compact you may only notice difference in big enlargements)
- Interchangeable lenses giving you wider wide angles and longer telephotos

SLR cons
- bulkier
- always have to look through the viewfinder to frame a shot (except Olympus which have a live view facility on the LCD)
- if you do want to change lenses, means more to carry

As you are going on safari you probably want a decent zoom range for the animals, so you could consider a 'bridge' camera (so called because it falls between a compact point and shoot and an SLR) like the Panasonic FZ-8 with its 12x zoom. (£160 here)

ormus

i wouldnt take any slr digital camera to the beach. they are very prone to ingress of sand etc.. cost a fortune to clean it up.
get a decent canon or nikon compact camera. it will do almost anything a holidaymaker will want.
there is also the security/theft aspect to consider. a digital slr will make a very tempting target.
if you had a budget of say 400ish, you could get both a slr and a canon compact?

r.mac_2

ormus - yeas i think we could stretch to £400. What would you suggest that was both slr and compact?

thanks billscarab - your explanation was very clear and useful.

I think as we have a point and shoot we may go SLR if we can push the budget - they look to be about £379 plus from John Lewis (just using as a rough price starter guide), and then use the old camera for beach and city etc.

off to have a hunt around armed with my new knowledge. x

Edinburghlass_2

psssst when are we having an MSE hen night?

BillScarab

ormus wrote: »

i wouldnt take any slr digital camera to the beach. they are very prone to ingress of sand etc.. cost a fortune to clean it up.
get a decent canon or nikon compact camera. it will do almost anything a holidaymaker will want.
there is also the security/theft aspect to consider. a digital slr will make a very tempting target.
if you had a budget of say 400ish, you could get both a slr and a canon compact?

You'll struggle to get a basic SLR with a lens for £400. If you're photographing wildlife you' need a decent zoom. The best solution for the OP with a budget of £300 is a top end bridge camera.

BTW I've regularly used an SLR on beaches and never had problems. You just need to be careful swapping lenses.

r.mac_2

Edinburghlass wrote: »

psssst when are we having an MSE hen night?

I think very soon! Will keep you posted edilass :j

BillScarab

r.mac wrote: »

ormus - yeas i think we could stretch to £400. What would you suggest that was both slr and compact?

thanks billscarab - your explanation was very clear and useful.

I think as we have a point and shoot we may go SLR if we can push the budget - they look to be about £379 plus from John Lewis (just using as a rough price starter guide), and then use the old camera for beach and city etc.

off to have a hunt around armed with my new knowledge. x

For photographing the wildlife you'll need a longer zoom lens, otherwise you'll just get a photo of a large expanse of grass and scrub with a few distant animals in it. Once you start looking at zoom lenses the price shoots up unfortunately.

If you want to get an SLR the two big names are Canon and Nikon, both are good and both have their supporters. If you want a Canon have a look on ebay at the Canon Outlet they sell re-furbished cameras direct from the manufacturer.

BTW before taking he plunge with an SLR it may be worth going to your local library and getting a couple of books out to research the subject and decide if you want one or not.

angelavdavis

I agree with Ormus on the canon compact digital front. They can produce some excellent results.

I actually own a digital SLR (Canon 300d) that I bought a few years ago, but tbh I don't really get an opportunity to use it enough and if I went on a safari, I would ideally want a zoom lens that will probably set me back about £400 on top!

However, I would say that using an SLR requires lots of practice, especially with a lens too. If you haven't used an SLR in the past, they are very different from point and click cameras. In addition, carrying around all the paraphenalia required can be a durge!

As far as choosing any digital camera is concerned, I personally would list my tips as follows:

1) Ensure your camera takes standard memory cards such as SD cards or compact flash as proprietary cards can cost a lot more and you want to buy a few so you don't run out of space.
2) (If you are going for a compact camera), ensure you can get one that also does video to capture odd moments that a photo won't do justice to.
3) Go for a minimum 3x zoom in a compact camera.
4) Opt for a camera that can use rechargable batteries and buy at least one spare so you always have two charged and available.
5) (If you go for a canon compact), you can always buy an underwater housing so you can take it to the beach, take a boat trip, go snorkelling with it and it will always be protected, yet you always have full functionality.

f1charlie

r.mac wrote: »

I think as we have a point and shoot we may go SLR if we can push the budget - they look to be about £379 plus from John Lewis (just using as a rough price starter guide), and then use the old camera for beach and city etc.

You can get cheaper than that:

Nikon D40 for £299:

http://www.jessops.com/Store/s47076/0/Digital-SLRs/Nikon/D40-Black-+-AF-S-DX-18-55mm-Lens/details.aspx?ovc=