Thinking of a new camera, help needed please.

[Guest]

Evening all, after trying to take photos of my Normandy GB with my phone camera and then my girlfriends digital point and click i've decided to bite the bullet and treat myself to a new camera. IanM mentioned on my thread a SLR with an AP setting to give me help with focus issues.

I have around £200 to spend and would like any advice or recommendations, even things to stay well clear of when looking at a beginners camera.

Thanks

Darren

[yak face]

Hi Darren, I know very little about cameras BUT i do know that the camera that i use for all my pics on here ,my sons Panasonic DMC FZ8 , a digital slr hybrid, is very easy to use even for a numpty like me and is capable of some extremely good photos . Have a look on his website to see the quality of the pics all taken with the panasonic.Sams Photo Hut . There are plenty of expert photographers on here who are infinitely better qualified than myself and will offer advice too but im just looking at it from my point of view- that of a beginner! Hope this helps cheers tony

[Guest]

This is a good place to be start, very helpful people if you want to contact them. Digital Cameras - Compact Digital Camera best buys - Digital Camera accessories

Not sure personally what £200 can get you though.

[Guest]

Take a look at this one, http://images.maplin.co.uk/full/A15KF.jpg For around £150 you get a HD camcorder and camera all in one.

Cheers

Andy

[Guest]

This is one of the hardest questions to answer. The trouble is there are so many factors involved. You can get a DSLR and never use 75% of its features. You can get a really good compact and find it has as much on offer as a DSLR but no matter what, it will not give like for like quality of a DSLR.

I currently use a Cannon G10 which is a high end compact, now at the G12 I believe. However, getting the best out of it is hard work until or unless you fully understand what the functions actually do. When I shoot pictures of builds in progress I set it at AP (Aperture Priority) and, because the actual sensor in a compact is smaller than in a DSLR, I know that if I set it at F8, I will get all the depth of field (the distance from front to back of acceptable focus). To ensure good quality images I leave the 'Speed', the ISO setting at its lowest which is 80 ISO. This gives me a shutter speed of 1 second, far too slow to hand hold but in fact, I do. I am that used to handling the camera that I can with little support get the pictures sharp enough. This camera has a 14.1 mega pixel sensor which is the cameras biggest fault. People think that the more pixels the sensor has, the better it is.

However, on a compact camera with a small sensor, all those pixels crammed into such a small space are inherently 'noisy' which gives a grainy looking picture. Grain was cool on film but the mush grain that a digital camera gives is just not good.

Thankfully, technology is making the noise levels less and less each day. Some high end DSLRs set at 1600 ISO show less noise than my Canon at 100 ISO. Trouble is, it costs money and unless you are professional and passing the cost on to your clients, it just is not worth it. My DSLR is a very basic and getting on a bit Nikon with a whopping 6 megapixels maximum and a minimum ISO of 200. Theoretically this is a recipe for disaster, high ISO and low MP with old technology should equal noisy soft pictures. However, nothing could be further from the truth. I don't use the Nikon very often but every time I do, I am aware of the pure quality of the image.

For my finished pictures, I put the model in a light tent whit an umbrella flash bouncing down onto it. This can easily be replaced by desk lamps but I have the flash setup and I like the fact that I can handhold the camera as the flash controls the exposure speed so no chance of getting camera blur. If I was using ordinary lamps, I would expect shutter speed of more than 1 second so I would have to use a tripod.

The moral of the above is do not get suckered in to the megapixel war, you don't need tons of them. On a compact or bridge camera, anything between 6 and 10 is by far enough so long as the quality of the camera and its optics are good enough. Having said that, you may struggle to get one that low now. By the way, a bridge camera is a compact that looks like a DSLR but does not, in the main, have interchangeable lenses. What they do generally have even with interchangeable lenses is an electronic viewfinder. This is similar to a tiny TV in the eyepiece which is fine but can make accurate manual focusing harder. Modern autofocus tends to make this not a problem for most people.

A basic DSLR is going to be around £399 and for what you want, not necessary. You can expect to pay around the same for a high end compact or bridge camera. Thankfully there are loads in between and realistically you need to look at what is available in your budget. Go to PC world or a decent camera shop and have a look at what is on offer.

Look for something that will at least allow you to set Aperture Priority and Shutter Priority. Also check that there is some manual control over the speeds and apertures rather than just the so called Scene settings. Also check that there is a reasonable optical zoom, do not use digital zoom it is simply rubbish. Also check that you can switch off the flash as it is the last thing you want when taking pictures of kits. Nearly all cameras have a close up mode, usually set by selecting a flower icon. Some call this macro but true macro is when the size of the image on the sensor is 1:1 with the actual object, rarely achieved on a modern compact no matter what they call it. Thankfully, you rarely need to get that close so the correctly labeled 'close up' is more than enough.

Nearly everyone on here uses a camera so have a look around and when you see pictures that look the way you want them, ask what camera is being used. It may be that some will be over budget but not all of them. Whatever you fancy, don't rush it. It is a lot of money to buy something that doesn't do what you want. If you settle on one, ask around if anyone has one and what they think. You can get your best prices online but still have a look and feel of the camera in a shop if you can.

Good names to look at are Nikon, Canon, Sony, Panasonic (Lumix) Olympus, Kodak, Pentax and there are others. If you see one with a name like Nippon, ask around, look online for review. Some of these amazing will do anything cameras are really only fit for putting inside a Christmas cracker

[spanner570]

First off Darren I'm pretty certain you won't get a new Digital SLR for £200.

I have A Pentax K100D Digital SLR, it is heavy, eats batteries for fun (And has started to play up now. which is irrelevent really) I have come to realise I should have left well alone.

Do you really need a Digital SLR?

I have a Sony DSC-W80 7.2 mega pixel Cyber-shot compact digital camera.....All the shots posted on here are taken with this camera. Simple to use, or you can play about with the settings. No big bag needed, just shove it in your pocket! This little gem will hold it's own against any SLR and you will get loads of change from your £200.

Don't take any notice of the blurb saying this and that camera has 10.5 mega pixels or whatever or more, you don't need that amount. It's a bit of a con, unless you want to print something as large as your living room wall that is. 5/6 or 7 mega pixels is in my experience, ample.

Personally, I would forget the SLR for now and get a good compact camera with a lithium ion rechargeable battery fitted.

Cheers,

Ron

[AlanG]

Just to put things into perspective. Every one of my pics that i've taken for my builds on here have been taken with my 5mp Carl Zeiss Nokia N95 8Gb mobile phone. I would love to have a DSLR but in truth i haven't needed one yet. Don't get me wrong i'm sure my pics could be a whole lot better. But sometimes less is just as good up to a limit

[Guest]

Canon G10 is an awesome little camera, Bought one for my girlfriend, video's aswell. She loved it while we was away.

[Guest]

As above, you won't get a DSLR for £200, there are buckets of second hand ones on eBay but it's a minefield if you don't know the features and in's and outs of them.

Your best bet in my opinion would be a Bridge camera, (these are the ones which look like a DSLR but without removable lenses), they tend to have good lenses, (so often neglected but the lens is THE MOST IMPORTANT part of any camera, digital or otherwise), with a large zoom range.

First of all you need to assess what you'll use the camera for primarily, (all compacts upwards will do acceptably good snapshots), it seems that Macro, (closeup) model shots are the main reason you're looking, check the specs of the cameras in your prioce range and look for one with the best close focusing ability, Olympus are very good at this feature, my wifes had three in succession and uses them to take closeup stock pictures of her stock for the website,

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for examples

Her current model is a Fuji S2500HD bridge camera, it's closefocusing capability is about 2cm and can be tweaked if you're feeling techy but has what she calls, 'dumbass mode', switch on, point, press.

Save about £15 for a cheap Jessops tripod, don't use onboard flash, try to diffuse light to prevent harsh shadow, (tracing paper or net curtain in front of a desk lamp e.g.) and use the cameras self timer on the tripod for best results.

A good compact for £100 ish will yield good results, the most important thing is close focusing distance, if trying in a shop sit them on the counter and focus on anything handy and see how well they lock focus at a close distance.

One final thing, choose a known brand name, avoid no-name products like the Maplins linked Camcorder above, (sorry Andy, I know it's well meant), no-name stuff tends to have flashy specs but usually have poor quality optics and hardware.

As mentioned, high MP count is not essential, 6+ is plenty good enough unless you're wanting to print A3+

[Guest]

Some of the small compacts nowadays give exceptional pictures and include the flexibility that Graham describes. Some of them however simplify things by having lots of different 'modes' for different shooting conditions, which can keep it simple for those who are not familiar with the intricacies of aperture priorities, shutter priorities etc..etc.. I use one such camera an Olympus which has now been superceded a number of times but it is waterproof, shockproof, works in a high temperature range and is relatively user friendly. No it doesn't give the same quality of picture as a DSLR but when you want it mainly for posting on the net and you are going to reduce it to a resolution of 72 dpi it doesn't really matter.

As for camera resolution I remember years ago the holy grail of camera resolution for a picture quality to equal film was generally regarded as 6 mp. It sort of begs the question then of why are we now looking at DSLR's of 18 mp in a high end consumer camera. It's a bit like a motorcycle with 180 bhp capable of nearly 200 mph. I can't help but ask why?

With your budget you can get a really good compact or a bridge, such as a Canon Rebel or 550D, which I think you will enjoy more than a bottom end DSLR that will cost you a lot more.

[AlanG]

It's a bit like a motorcycle with 180 bhp capable of nearly 200 mph. I can't help but ask why?

One very simple and primative reason why....adrenalin and the big fat :cheesygrin: it gives you

[Ian M]

I to use my Nokia N95 for most of my photos on here, well I did! After my laptop died, I am using the wife's PC.Why don't desk top pc have blue tooth! Thus I use of late my Canon EOS300D. Its a bit long in the tooth and there are four newer models after it; the 400, the 450 the 550 and the 1000. (the 1000 is a crap out and is a down tuned 550 pass on that).

If it was spending time I would by the 550. Brother in law has one and its the mutts nuts.

(In the good old days I was an Olympus fan and was gutted that they missed the DSLR bus first time around. What did they do when they caught the bus: Made nothing compatible with their old system! Not even the Flash guns! So I cave a very good slr film camera, half a dozen lenses, three or four flashes, half a mile of cables and whatnots for it!).

Not helping you. Sorry.

A good trick Darren is to keep an eye open for what is coming in the near future. They will often dump the prices on the last model to clear stock and make room for the newest one. I got my Canon cheap by the same way. Well Apart from I didn't know that a new one was coming the week after, and the guy in the shop sort of forgot to say as well.....

Ian M

[Guest]

Ian, When I bought the G10, the G11 came out three weeks later! However, if you wait for the next one, you will never buy anything they change them that often. I used to use OM1s Ian before I moved on to Nikon in my film days, loved the Olympus gear, it was sooo small compared to the Nikons but they just had the edge.

[yak face]

Ian , i bet youre confused now eh !!!!? Just to chuck in another two penceworth, the panasonic i mentioned before is not a current model but can be found for well under £200 secondhand, and as anyone on here will tell you , camera buffs tend to look after their gear, but a lot have to have the latest model so usually second hand ones are a great buy, cheers tony

[Guest]

I completely agree Tony my wife bought me a new 60D body for Christmas and part of me was gutted as i loved the 30D I have had fro a few years. Luckily I came across a family member who was just looking at getting into digital SLR's so I gave it to him where I know it will have a good home. It was in perfect condition with box manuals cables etc. Cameras such as these can be picked upon the second hand market for a bargain price but they are as perfect as the day they were bought.

Have a look for 400D's or 30D's etc. on eBay, you might just find something you like there. Not the latest and greatest but who cares when you are just starting to get the feel of them.