Advice on digital camera

Im looking to spend £200 and want the best digital camera as going on a trip round ireland and wana get some good scenery shots ect.

i found this Buy Fujifilm S1500 10MP Digital Camera - Black. at Argos.co.uk - Your Online Shop for .

but what do you lot think or any others i should look out for and or buy??

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What do you want in a camera? There are hundreds...

What factors are important to you?

- Physical size?
- Battery life?
- Overally picture quality?
- Long zoom?
- Wide angle?
- Lots of automated features?
- Manual controls?
- Good low light abilities?
- Quick start up?
- Fast burst rate?
- Good weather protection?
- Actually waterproof/underwater?
etc.

I can understand that you just want 'the best' for the money but there's no such thing. It's like wanting 'the best' bike. Have you had a camera before? What did/didn't you like about it? What kind of pictures are you thinkin you'll take?

Don't know much about that Fuji, but I certainly wouldn't buy it from Argos at £180 when everyone else does it for £130.

I think you want:
- lots of dynamic. This is the weak point of digital cameras, and one that is slowly being developed. Fuji is a clear leader in this area with easily 1 stop more than the rest and they would be my starting point
- similar to this is low-noise ability. Note that this is quite different from noise reduction processing. You need low noise at the capture stage.
- a camera that's portable enough to have with you all the time. But only you can tell if it's a bridge or a compact.
- very decent optical quality and enough megapixels to print on... what, A4? Allow for a bit of cropping (not much) and 8 Mpx is enough
- precise AF, not necessarily fast
- wide angle (at least 24mm in 24x36 equivalent), but moderate tele: 180 is probably sufficient. Of course we always want more, but then your optical quality and portability start to suffer really badly. At that focal length though, you really get into anti-vibration territory, and they're not a gimmick.
- rear screen you can flip to take pictures at odd angles
- complete exposure control, which includes checking histograms or having the burned-out/blocked areas flashing on the rear screen
- weatherproof; not necessarily water proof, but at least something you can get out in a drizzle
- a good white balance correction (try in incandescent, fluorescent and mixed lights)
- if you take lots of pictures, the camera should accept large-capacity memory cards. I'd rule out anything that only accepts Sony memory stick
- if you like taking care of your best pictures afterwards, you want the option to take them in RAW format (which of course should come with a proper "developer" --- IIRC that rules out Nikon unless Capture NX is bundled, which I'm almost sure is not going to be the case)
- Speaking of processing: a lot of cameras process the pictures too much to make them appear "pleasant" (in JPEG format only). Think about the difference between proper food and one that's got tones of salt, sugar, monosodium glutamate etc. The pictures appear sharp and noiseless, but it doesn't mean they really are like that at the source. This means you can't work on them afterwards without creating quite a bit of damage

Then you need to ask yourself whether that camera is only going to be used for travel photos, or if you're going to use it for other things as well.

But I don't know if that's right or wrong. If it is, look at Fuji first for they dynamic range. I haven't got specific models in mind yet to suggest.

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What Digital Camera, digital camera reviews and photography tips

£250 with case & 2 Gb card?

UK Discount Digital Cameras, Cameras, SLR Cameras, Video Cameras and Binoculars Fuji Nikon Sony Canon Minolta Pentax Olympus

Digital compact camera advice please.....

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Yes - all that; is there one - what's it called?

John

I've made it easy for you to work out the answer

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to be honest i should of asked a better question that what i did, im really thinking of getting into taking photos alot, and ive been reading up on digital slr cameras but i just want a starter camera really and as cheap as possible for now till i see how i get on with it having no experience.

i want taking shots of people close up and end of garden type things/and also scenery to which i know once i have a digi slr body i can spend loads of lenses.

so where and what to look for in a cheap as possible starter digi slr body

over to you experianced ones.

thank you

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If you want an SLR with a lens for £200 then you'll have to look second-hand. If you're planning to spend more in the future then you may as well stick with one brand so you can slowly update lenses etc.

I guess in that case maybe decide what you'd like if you had whatever you think you might spend in the future and then look around ebay and gumtree for whatever you can get for 200 quid from the same make.

If you were going Canon for example then their cheapest model is the 1000D but it's not been out all that long. Might be possible to find one for £250 I guess, or else look for an earlier model like a 10 or 20D.

Other option is to just go for something like the Fuji above and then see if it's worth upgrading later. I don't fancy that particular Fuji mind you, but you'll get something one way or the other for 200 of course.

Caveat: H not a digi slr expert

Couple of things to consider before heading down the slr route:

1. Will you be touring etc on the bike with it? It's one thing taking a digital slr on a day trip - something else trying to pack light with one and a few lenses!

2. If you want a 'cheap' body, can you afford to start building up the 'extras' [lenses, flash, tripod, filters, case/bag/rucksack etc]?


The bridge I linked to won't give you such good photos (significantly smaller CCD and a single lens which is a compromise) - but a 'good' camera won't do all the work for you, and even the Lumix you can learn the basics of aperture and speed changes and what they'll achieve for you.

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Argue with me: http://the-ride-info.blogspot.com/

Here are a few models to select from. All have stabilisation feature. Few will allow A4 prints above 800ISO, except Fuji. The availability (or not) of HD video may be a factor for you, but check that you can actually zoom during the video. Check the prices as some may turn out to be above your limit. Two stand out:

• Panasonic Lumix FZ28 (the one Horse linked to): 27-486mm; good optical quality; probably one of the best all-rounders for this price; good low-light performance
• Ricoh CX1: 28-200mm; superb optics; built-in HDR gives it an extra 3IL of dynamic range; pitched at the curious photographer happy to experiement rather than the "happy snapper"

That doesn't mean the rest is rubbish. There are some very good cameras that you may prefer if you try them (that's the key; don't just look at spec sheets or recommendations), but there are compromises to accept:

• Canon PowerShot SX200IS: 28-336m
• Fuji FinePix F100fd: 28-140mm; high sensitivity and high dynamic range; sadly no manual mode, histograms, etc.
• Kodak Z1015IS: 28-420mm
• Olympus Mju 9000: 28-280mm; versatile
• Panasonic TZ4 ot TZ6: 28-280mm or 25-300mm
• Pentax Optio W60: 28-140mm; waterproof; stabilisation not physical but electronic (post-processing)
• Ricoh Caplio R10: 28-200mm; the cheapest of the lot; good image quality; slow to focus in low light
• Samsung WB500: 24-240mm

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