A new "what digital camera?" thread

[notadrop]

Dick
Take a look at
Fuji Finepix A340 - has 4 megapixel
long lasting on 2 AA batteries
about £150 on internet

 

[2 wheel humvee]

Digi camera

I went down to Jessop's today to find that the A80 is cheaper there (198) than any I could find on the web. But.... it is possibly just a little too large although it felt much more solid than the Ixus and some of the smaller cameras I tried.

I bloody hate making decisions...............

Mind you, I have decided that I'm going for a 1200GS next year

Oh and a message for Lol.........

Cheers

Dick

Been following this thread with interest,as I'm thinking of upgrading my Fuji finepix digi cam to something that offers better quality,more features and is more "must have" than the one I've got,why?
I dunno really,been so impressed by some of the pics posted on this forum,and would like to be able to take and post high quality images quickly and easily- that's a good enough reason to spend money isn't it
Blimey Dick,a 1200 GS next year?
You'll have to sell a few more CD's mate!
What colour?
Spokes or alloys?
BWM luggage or something else?

 

[BarcodeMan]

Dick,

IMHO don't be overly influenced by the latest multi megapixel hype. Without a decent lens it doesn't matter a jot, also unless you're regularly printing quite large pics extra pixels might not really matter. As Ian points out most of us end up reducing the resolution in order to post.

Shoe-horning more pixels onto the same surface area simply makes smaller pixels. Smaller pixels don't pick up light so well so the camera's gain needs to be set higher to pick up sufficient light. Result can be very grainy images in low light, and I'd imagine you'll be shooting in those conditions.

TTFN

 

[guitarman]

There's been a lot of sense talked in this thread (come on guys you're giving the board a bad name ) and since I started it I've found out a lot about digital cameras and got some useful advice from you blokes.

The problem is I still don't know what to go for. It seems that 2-300 will buy me a good camera, with Canons well to the fore, but size matters (although I tell my wife it doesn't ) and Mike O made a good point about the camera being small enough so that you never feel like leaving it behind.

Help.......................................................

Many thanks to all the posters (and no hijack - where did I go wrong )

Cheers

Dick

 

[Baggyns]

Dick,

I can highly recommend the Canon Powershot S50. It's small enough to put in your pocket, offers 5 megapixels (plenty enough for up to 10" x 8" prints), has a great lens, can take a microdrive, and shoots in RAW (don't bother with jpeg). Best of all it's just been superceded by the new model so it's cheap - I've seen it for £269. Being 'out of production' is not a problem as they change models every few months anyway. After all, my 1150 is now 'out of production', but it's still a great bike! I use an S50 as a second camera to my Nikon digital SLR and i am well impressed with the quality of pics it produces. If you buy one you won't be disappointed.

George.

 

[guitarman]

Thanks Baggyns, the S50 is one of the ones I'm considering. Seems to have all I need and as you say it's small enough to fit into a pocket.

More playing and fiddling is required.

Cheers

Dick

 

[mikeh501]

Its worth mentioning that a lot of the shots on the home page of this site and advrider have that nice blurry background look to them and a number of others where the timing was just right to take the shot.

Both these things cannot really be acheived with a point and shoot type camera like the Canon A/G series. I know, I used to have a G5. To take pictures with depth of field (blurry background) or with fasting moving objects you really need a digital SLR, like the Canon 300D/10D or Nikon D70. The outlay is quite a bit more though and they are obviously larger.

Examples of a couple of dSLR photies.

 

[jimbo]

To take pictures with depth of field (blurry background) or with fasting moving objects you really need a digital SLR

Surely to to achieve this your need a camera which has the ablity to select the aperture manually. That does not necessarily imply an SLR camera. The Fuji S602Z-PRO for instance isn't an SLR, but has this feature (and is rather popular on this web site).

 

[bakerlonglegs]

Re: A trade off as usual...

If you can live without the moveable LCD, do consider the A75. High resolution LCD screen, better metering and now available for the same (or lower) price as the A70. Get's my vote of the 'A' series.

Just bought my missus the A75 - very impressed with it. Also has aperture priority, shutter priority and fully manual modes so can experiment with action shots, fixing depth of field and so on. £219 from John Lewis, although probably cheaper elsewhere.
Andy

 

[Wreford Miles]

I brought a Pentax Optico 330 a while back

Well built and has a good lens and always produced great shots.

I have two batteries because they always run down when left in the camera which is a pain.

Top tip a good lens and 3 meg is worth more than a cheap lens and 5 meg

 

[Jon]

I can highly recommend the Canon Powershot S50. It's small enough to put in your pocket, offers 5 megapixels (plenty enough for up to 10" x 8" prints), has a great lens, can take a microdrive, and shoots in RAW (don't bother with jpeg). Best of all it's just been superceded by the new model so it's cheap - I've seen it for £269.

Dick said
the S50 is one of the ones I'm considering

Mike O's got the S50 - seeing his pics is why it's near the top of my list too.

Pixmania are doing the new S60 for £320, which is tempting for that little bit extra.

Have to see what it comes with included in the price - need to think about memory sticks etc. Thought about that too Dick? Or has that just made you go "Argh - another variable!"

 

[mikeh501]

Surely to to achieve this your need a camera which has the ablity to select the aperture manually. That does not necessarily imply an SLR camera. The Fuji S602Z-PRO for instance isn't an SLR, but has this feature (and is rather popular on this web site).

The problem isn't that P&S camera dont have aperture priority, the reason they cant get a shallow DOF is that the lens and sensor size is so small that the shallowest DOF is actually huge in comparison to a camera with a larger sensor i.e. a dSLR. I'm not saying impossible, but the DOF can be far more shallow (i.e more pronounced) on a dSLR.

Have a go yourself. Put an object 1 metre in front of the camera and another 2 metres after that and see if you can make the second object (or first) blurry.

Its a question of optics not electronics

 

[guitarman]

.......................................
Have to see what it comes with included in the price - need to think about memory sticks etc. Thought about that too Dick? Or has that just made you go "Argh - another variable!"

I've gone Argh a number of times already . Musn't forget the spare batteries and charger if it's AA or battery (£20-£40) if it's Li-ion (assuming the camera has a charger ) then what about a case sir, perhaps you might like a little tripod...... ???? ?

Aargh, aargh and double aargh!

I appreciate your points Mike but depth of field doesn't mean much to me. I'd like a decent quality camera that I can just point and shoot generally but that also has other functions if I need them. The A80 and A75 seem just right except for the size and S50/60 is perhaps just a bit too expensive (but I could be swayed after appreciating Mike O's pictures for the last few months).

Cheers

Dick

 

[MikeO]

Dick,

in your position I'd go for a second hand S45. The early pictures (everything before arriving in Katy, Texas) in my journal were all taken with an S45 - it has 4 Mpx rather than the 5 of the S50. I've just sold it to a friend for £150 - but they go for under £200 on Ebay - & I'd expect that price to drop with the advent of the S60

I can't tell the difference between the picture quality of the S45 & S50, but, if anything, the S50 seems to take longer over doing things. For example, when you've taken a picture and want to close the lens slide, to put the camera back in its case, it takes longer for the motors to retract the lens on the S50 - perhaps something to do with the image taking longer to save because it's 25% bigger?? Overall, I actually found the S45 easier to use (although they are identical to look at, apart from the numbers on them and the fact that the S45 is silver and the S50 is black.

BTW the only reason I 'upgraded' to the S50 was that someone dropped my S45 for me, breaking the inside of the LCD screen*, and I needed to have another camera whilst it was being repaired. Due to the excellent exchange rate at the moment, I picked one up over here for £210.

Mike

*the camera still worked fine, I just had to use the optical viewfinder, rather than the LCD, which made it inconvenient 'on the move' or when wearing a crash helmet.

 

[guitarman]

Thanks Mike, that's really good advice, unfortunately I have a resistance to buying electrical stuff second hand. I know I should get over it but I've had too many bad experiences with stuff that appeared to work but didn't when I really put it to the test.

Maybe I can pick up one new still???

Thanks again Mike, keep the pics and stories coming - you could sell Canon cameras on the strength of that thread considering the number of times people have referred to it Ever tried to get sponsorship???

Cheers mate

Dick

 

[guitarman]

Well Mike, just did a search on the web to find an S50 with a 128 mb card for £275 whilst an S45 here was over £300. Go figure, as our American cousins would say.

Cheers

Dick

 

[(RIP) Kaister]

warning - thread hi-jack - sort of.

To Mikeh501

What can you do with the dSLR that you can't do with the G5 ?

I've just got a G5 and thought it did 'everything'

( which for my limited use, it probably does )

 

[mikeh501]

warning - thread hi-jack - sort of.

To Mikeh501

What can you do with the dSLR that you can't do with the G5 ?

I've just got a G5 and thought it did 'everything'

( which for my limited use, it probably does )

The real difference is in speed of operation. The speed of focus, tracking moving subjects, shutter lag... basically catching that moment. The problem with a lot of digicams is that by the time the camera has focused and sorted itself out, that 'moment' you wanted to capture has gone. The other major difference is in noise within the photograph, P&S cameras suffer from noise, especially as you crank up the ISO, to point where it really detracts from the photograph. The G5 suffers from this a lot - anything of 200 ISO really sucks.

I mean i'm not saying that P&S doesn't have its place, my camera is huge in comparison and in some situations I dont take it because its too big/expensive. I'm actually thinking of getting a small P&S for these occasions!

If I had to choose a P&S right now I would definately go for Canon #1 and probably get a IXUS430 but the A series range are excellent too.

If your buying a digital point and shoot camera, these things are key:-

* An optical viewfinder - with the EVF type cams you get lag between what is in front of the camera and what you see in the VF - this isn't good.

* Battery - Without doubt, dont bother with AA's - go with a lithium battery, it will last a lot lot longer on a single charge.

* CompactFlash - I would only go with CF cards now, as this is the most popular, cheapest and fastest cards available, and if you trade up you will find all higher end cameras use em.

* Pixels - not majorly important but I would be looking for something with about 4m pixels. If you have more than this your camera is probably quite susceptible to noise.

* Zoom - optical only, turn off the digital when you get it out of the box. I would be looking for at least 3x.

 

[(RIP) Gerry Huxtable]

Powershot A70

Down to £149.99 at Argos


cheers


Gerry H.

 

[Grizz]

Interesting....

I bought a Canon S50 about 6mths ago.... they were £500 RRP, Interwebthingy, and order line prices were £339 , and Jessops price matched at £340, plus I bought carrybag and 128 card, to top up the standard 32..... Now I see prices under £300 incl 128 cards...... GRRRRRRRRRrrrr........ !!!!!

However, all that said, It fist in my jeans pocket, riding pocket, and takes decent on the move pics as MikeO can attest to.

This is my first Multi-function ("real") camera, and I must say, my quality has improved (at least I think so)
The camera goes everywhere I go, everyday (work etc) because as Mike says, you dont want to miss a good shot becaust you can't be arsed to take it along. The big screen makes life easier when taking weird angles, and I find taking pics while riding (Did I say that??) easy.
The metal case construction is also highly recomended.
I have the Silver option (to go with my bike), but the black is possibly the better, though rarer option.
Takes decent "Weird angle" shots