Digital Camera Advice

[thecraw]

I'm sure there were a couple of people on here who were into photography and I am looking for their advice for free.

I'm looking to buy a new digital camera. It doesn't need to be an all singing all dancing affair, just a point and shoot and offer decent results.

I would be prepared to spend up to £130 max as its just for fun pictures, family shots, holidays, golf trips etc. I do nothing fancy, nor do I want anything complicated.

I'm now confused after looking at hundreds of different models and if someone who knows what they're talking about advises me to go for X or Y, then I'll probably just take that advice.

I was looking at this and was wondering if it is ideal or if there is better for my money.


http://www.cameras.co.uk/reviews/fuji-finepix-s1800.cfm

Thanks in advance.

 

[Leftie]

I bought the Fuji S1600 back in Oct ready for a golf trip to Portugal. It is classed as a "bridge" camera i.e. between a compact and a DSLR with interchangeable lenses. It's obviously more bulky than a compact but with the zoom you don't really need interchangeable lenses unless you want it for more specialised photography.

One of the reasons I bought it was because you can use the traditional viewfinder which I prefer (you can hold it up in front of you and look at the screen if you want). There are very few compacts with this facility.

Great resolution, good zoom and good macro. Getting to grips with all the different options, menus, features, etc can take a while and I'm still learning - but there again, I am a bit of an old fart now so these things take time. For straightforward point and shoot though, it's good.

What you might find is that the standard auto point and shoot is fine for most things but if you go into the menu and start using the relevant "mode" for the scene e.g. landscape, night, portrait, etc, the colour saturation is often better.

At the end of the day, the quality of the photo is a bit like the golf shot i.e. down to the wally wielding the equipment.

Only downside on mine that I have found (S1800 might be better)is that if you zoom while on video, the mechanical noise of the zoom is heard on playback.

 

[RGDave]

Panasonic Lumix DMC FS30 (target £120)

Canon Digital Ixus 130 (target £120)

cheap choice - Canon Powershot A470 (target £85)

These are compact - if you want a bridge camera try Canon Powershot SX120 IS.

I have both types - mostly, I use a compact.

 

[bobmac]

I was after a compact camera for just general snapshots. Holidays, golf course pictures etc, something that doesnt take up loads of room.
I ended up buying a camera that had 14mp, 5x zoom and a 3 in screen...all for £67.
It is the GE Qi455 and ASDA were selling them for £67.
Couldn't resist it

 

[Leftie]

If you want to have a look at some of my piccies (oooh errr mrs) I'll upload a few samples onto photobucket and give you the link.

 

[GB72]

I have a Panasonic Lumix and have been really impressed. Easy to use, great pictures but has some flexibility if I want to turn off the auto options. Thoroughly recommend it. This was the one recommended to me by my brother in law who studied photography at university

 

[Kellfire]

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fujifilm-FinePix...8192&sr=1-1

Quality little camera, got it for Christmas. Can be had for cheaper than Amazon, too. For the price it's hard to beat.

 

[Smiffy]

I've just got a Samsung PL200 for Christmas.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-PL-200-D...8444&sr=8-2

Very pleased with it. Doddle to use on fully automatic, does it all for you but loads and loads of different options if you want to get creative.
Impressive 14.2 megapixels, a useful 7x optical zoom, massive 3" LCD which makes life easy for viewing what you've snapped and it takes movies in Hi Definition too if you want.
Rechargeable batteries so you're not lugging AAA's around with you, and I bought a mains charger and two extra batteries for it off ebay for about £10.00.
If you shop around, you can get it for about £100.00.
Bargain

 

[medwayjon]

Panasonic Lumix gets another vote here.

When we dont want to take the whole SLR with us we use this and it delivers excellent photos.

 

[RGDave]

Panasonic Lumix gets another vote here.

When we dont want to take the whole SLR with us we use this and it delivers excellent photos.

Yep. My big old fuji stays at home most of the time.

 

[Deleted member 1418]

Got a new Panasonic Lumix for Christmas - quality!

Other than that, go for Sony or Canon as their lenses are the best along with Panasonic.

 

[Fyldewhite]

I went for a bridge camera too about 12 months ago (Fuji S200EXR) which is a bit more expensive but you have the ability to do so much more with it. The reasoning was that very soon the quality in phones would be enough for day to day snaps and sure enough I've just upgraded to Nokia N8 with 12 MP, flash etc and HD video. This is obviously still not as good as a decent compact but fine for casual snaps with the advantage that I always have it with me leaving a "proper camera" for the more serious stuff.

 

[Pip]

The lens is always going to have far more impact on the quality of your pics than the No. of pixels or ability to record in "HD", which is why phones will never replace cameras. I would always recommend buying the one with the best/biggest (not always the same, I know) bit of glass you can afford and would be happy to carry around.

 

[thecraw]

Bought something today, think it was a Samsung although I cant remember at all as its in a box in the boot of my car and I cant be bothered going out to get it.

Anyway it has 14 mega thingymajigs and 7 x optical zoom and a strap put round your wrist, that was what sold it to me I liked the strap.

It was £99 reduced from an original £180 although I did take that with a pinch of salt and wondered if the strap added extra value!!!

 

[Smiffy]

Bought something today, think it was a Samsung
Anyway it has 14 mega thingymajigs and 7 x optical zoom
It was £99 reduced from an original £180

Sounds very much like my Samsung PL200

 

[viscount17]

Bought something today, think it was a Samsung
Anyway it has 14 mega thingymajigs and 7 x optical zoom
It was £99 reduced from an original £180

Sounds very much like my Samsung PL200

it was the strap that did it for smiffy too

 

[thecraw]

Close Smiffy its the Samsung PL201!