I've got a new toy

[John]

I thought I would invest in a new camera, so I went to the local specialist shop and I went in expecting to buy a 9 or 10MP camera because I thought they were the best, no matter who made them, it turn's out I was wrong, he asked me what sort of money I was looking at spend and what I was looking for, now at this point in most shops the sales man would have gone and got something that was round the price I was looking to spend, this guy didn't, in fact it was under budget and spent over an hour going through all the features and answering any question I had to ask, this isn't something you would get at your high street stores like Curry's, PC World, Argos etc and I doubt there would be anyone there that really knew what they were talking about.

Anyway, like I said I always thought that the more mega pixels you have the better, but it's not, that is only part of the equation, things like the processor and lens are equally if not more important, so I ended up buying a Olympus SP-500UZ it has 10x optical zoom, 6MP and has all the features and more of a 35mm camera which is what I wanted, in Argos it costs £299.99 I paid £229.99, so Nigel have a word with head office they arn't buying right

On of the really good features of the camera is it's Super Macro, you can get as close as 3mm away from your subject, I took this as a test, I've cropped it and compressed it as the image was a little over 4MB in size but it gives you some idea

[ATTACH]2271.vB[/ATTACH] Click to enlarge

All in all I'm really pleased with it but I'm afraid that a lot of these types of shops and going to fall in the path of the big chains, and it's going to be a big loss.

[ATTACH]14056.IPB[/ATTACH]

[Guest]

WOW....Awesome John...(I'm jealous as hell,,,,my camera sucks compared to yours and it cost £250 just 4 months ago)

[Guest]

mine cost 100 about 3 or 4 years ago

lol

mine is crap 2mp no optical zoom only crappy digital zoom

it still take good photos but i want a new one but i cant afford it

[wonwinglo]

John,very impressive,interesting what you have to say about the mega pixels,stunning macro facilities,and above all shop around as the giants are not always the answer.

Will you please take some different test shots for us to see,what I would like to see are foliage taken at distance with the zoom,a moving object such as a vehicle and a picture taken in a dark environment,if these are as good as the macro test then I will be even more impressed.

A very exciting camera,I want one.

[Guest]

John,

I have loved my Olympus E-10 for many years now and I have always been a very strong advocate of the fact that the lens is at least as important as the pixel count. This is precisely why my camera can still hold its head up with a lot of more modern cameras, as the lens is superb.

I am toying with the idea of a new one and I am eyeing up the new Olympus SLR’s but I will be paying more attention to the lens than the pixels.

Where did you get it?

[Guest]

The Camera I have is an Olympus c-750. 4mp,10x optical, 40x digital zoom. I seldom use the digital zoom but on the occassions I did I was quite impressed with the picture. Pretty good except towards full zoom then I get serious degredation. The pics of Duncan and Sandy's Lazybees were taken with this camera. The main problem I find with it is the slow shutter time. When taking a shot of say, a flying model a fair bit of lead time must be allowed for, between button press, and the picture being taken. Not at all like the near instant response I was used to with the 35mm film camera. It also is not so good as film when camera is in a fixed position and the target moving like kids on a bouncy castle. I have enjoyed using it tho'.

[John]

Where did you get it?

Janet Greens

[Guest]

Janet Greens

I thought it must have been. They must be feeling the pinch nowadays from the new Jessops as well. As you say I hope they remain and continue to provide the level of service that we all want.

[Guest]

the detail of the photo is really good and what a deal of how you got it for.my camera is a sony and it is about 6 years old dad bought it and gave it ot me after a year. so its better to ask him about the spec.

[John]

They must be feeling the pinch nowadays from the new Jessops as well.

I went in to Jessops first but the 2 people working there were late teens early 20's and didn't really know what they were talking about, I wanted someone that knew their stuff

Barry I will get together a little portfolio for you

[Guest]

That seems to be so typical of so much of the business world nowadays. The superstores are taking over so much of what we consume and are selling it to us at ever attractive prices but as I have said many times, the answer lies with ourselves.

If we want the service we must be prepared to pay bit more for it and support our local businesses, although it would seem in this case you won on price as well. Town centres around the country are dying because we all seem so set on getting our goods at the cheapest and most convenient outlet but then we all complain about the level of service we get.

I really believe we should support our local town centre busineses and if you want to know why just have a look at any American town centre on a Saturday afternoon. That will be the future of the UK.

[Guest]

John i had a chat with the buyers today and your camera has a cost price to us at £ 219.53 that is way below what they sell to independants so you got a real good bargain mate I bet your well pleased!!!!!!:dan1:

[Guest]

I have to disagree with Richards posting about service!!! Price points are no longer enough to guarantee custom! I make sure that anyone who comes to my store can get good advice on any C.E product. The problem is trying to train enough staff to fulfill this need, at the moment its only me so a bit fractious is the service. John i bet if you camera (god forbid went wrong in 8 mnths they wouldnt give you a new one) We would!

[Guest]

John, A great camera!!!!!!!One that i would say isnt far off the entry level SLR's. As i remmber you have the built in auto Fstop and App settings, something that will become really useful when doing model shots!!! Theres a slight amount of grain on the photo you posted, do you know what ISO it was taken at?

I cant remmber- does it have FW?

I have to agree with Nigel here. Although i believe, like the dinos dying out, its the same process and for that reason i buy all of my electronic goods from www.ebuyer.co.uk. Their service is amazing, if you dont like a product simply send it back and you get a refund. If anybody can find a cheaper source for electrical componants i would love to hear about it!

Richard - DSLR every time!!! I wouldnt go back to an instant camera if you paid me! You are 110% right about lens' being a very important factor. even more so for the SLR range of cameras.

The new minolta range of DSLR's are the best value for money SLR's on the market. They are just as good as the D50s from nikon etc. Also they actaully feature the same CCD. The CCD, as John says is very important as this the equivalent of "35mm film". The more lines, depth of colours and anti-gammut adjusts the better the quality of the image. If your really looking at an SLR trying doing some research on the minolta 5d as theres not a bad review out there. As i remmber you can pick up the body only for about £250 which when you compaire it to the cannons 20 and 10d's at over £350 thats a huge saving!

Lens...if your using a DSLR you cant just wack your old lens on it (otherwise i would have my 10000mm lens on mine!) you have to get a digital lens. It also depends on what your using the camera for, as for most people an 85mm zeiss will be fine!

Another VERY important factor when viewing digital cameras is to look at the "interpolation" ratios. This is where software increases the resolution of the image by splitting pixels and pre-shading them to the nearest matching pixel. This is great for your hoilday snaps but crap for good modelling photos or action shots. IE: a 5m interpoled camera is actually only 2.5 doubled, thus to say a 5m camera without interpoling will take a better photo as the original image is larger.

Dont get me started on DPI, Gammut, BSOD, cycling, ARE & raw file exports.....i could natter on about cameras and digital art all day...anybody wants to go more in depth or wants some help, send me a PM, ill be more than happy to chat.....hope ive not bored you all to death !

[Guest]

Also remmber resolution is propotional to file size and format.....something that can be a pain if you only have a 16mb SD card, lol.