Good digital camera...

[othomas2]

Hi all.

I'm after some advice about purchasing a digital camera.

I'm looking to spend £100-150 maybe a little more.

Anyone have any good recomendations ? Where to buy... I'm in London if that helps or perhaps online for a better deal. But would ideally like to buy in person.

I've been told that panasonic make good digitals, and to go no lower than 4 meg pixels... Also to find a screen that is 2 or 2 1/2 " Would this be about right for the money that I'll be spending or could I get better quality.

Can anyone help me further as I know very little concerning digital cameras. Any info and advice would be greatly apreciated.
- I've been asked to look into it as a christmas present for myself.

Thanks
Owen

 

[DocFrankenstein]

I don't know of any good digital cameras in that price range... but you can buy a decent filter with the money!

If you wanna learn photography, would you consider film?

 

[Big Mike]

What are you hopping to do with your camera? While you can take good photos with a cheap digital camera (under optimal conditions)...you may find it very limiting in terms of learning photography.

If learning photography is your goal, the usual suggestion (in that price range) is a film SLR camera....especially an older one without all the bells & whistles that a new one has. (Canon AE-1, Pentax K etc.)

As far as digital cameras go, there is a huge difference between a cheap digicam worth a few hundred and a good camera (like a Digital SLR)...of course the good ones are much more expensive.

If you do just want one to play around with, then yes, a nice big screen is good. Get something with optical zoom (digital zoom silly). Most of all, get something that feels good for you. Go to a store and check them out before you buy.

 

[othomas2]

Thanks for the advice.

I basically already have a decent Pentax SLR with various lenses, tripod, etc. I'm just after a digital for recording my artwork and for whatever other general shots that I need it for. I will never use it for important, detailed work. That's what I'll use the pentax for. Basically I keep needing to take say 4-5 shots for various reasons and ending shooting the rest of the film quickly in order to get the film developed and photographs in hand. A lot of the shots I'll take with it will probably remain on the computer.

So you think 4 mega pixels camera will be about the best quality I can get for £100-150, or should I look for better.

Thanks for your help and sorry if this has all been asked before.

 

[Dave_D]

You can get a very used nikon D1 for about 350 USD.

 

[DocFrankenstein]

Aaahhh - that piece of info makes a whole world of difference.

I still don't know what to suggest, but they're all pretty much the same. You get what you pay for in terms of optical and image quality.

Just get one with the manual controls and preferably an option for a spot meter.


At lowest ISO they can deliver ok results.

 

[DocFrankenstein]

I know my reply doesn't help at all, but there's a few billion digital point and shoots right now, and a few million of the new ones coming out every day. So nobody does a comparison between them... it's all a big mess.

People tend to suggest not what's best for you, but simply what they use and they rarely have the chance to compare and actually use a few different cameras to give an educated unbiased opinion.

Hit the shops and fiddle around with the cameras.

 

[othomas2]

Thanks again.

I'll take a visit to the shops and see what I come up with... but I think you're right. I need something that I will be happy with and being such a personal thing from one person to the next, I've got to make my own way. Cheers. I'll come back and let you know what I'm considering/bought.

 

[PlasticSpanner]

Check out the Traveller camera at your local Aldi store (£89 I think?)

My father in law has one & it has the facility to use completely manual with a max exposure of 8 seconds. I think it's 4.8MP but not sure.

Not a brand name but do you want a camera or a badge?

 

[othomas2]

Cool, I will check it out !!

I've been taking a look at the 4MP Panasonic DMC LZ1 online, £117.99

It seems to have quite consistant reviews. Anyone experience it before ?

 

[Johnboy2978]

I would look into one of these for that price range. I used to have a Sony that was similar to this and produced a nice quality image. Sony has a nice sensor and a Zeiss lens which is nice. One negative with Sony is their propriatary batteries though.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Sony-Cyber-shot...572912688QQcategoryZ30011QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16830150057 which would be 165£ after rebate.

 

[Lumix]

I'm a new member of this forum but would like to say the Panasonic range of digital cameras are first class. I personally use a FX20 which is just fantastic. I have had many years in photography and have used just about every type of camera there is. They all have their own good and bad points depending on the type of work you are doing. Now retired I use the FX20 as it is so good at most types of photography and all in one package. No need to carry anything other than the camera itself. Do take a look at the secondhand market IE eBay for some real bargains.

 

[othomas2]

Well I spent the morning weighing up the pros and cons, reading reviews for the Panasonic...

LZ1 : £129.99 from jessops / £117.99 online

and the

FX8 : £182.99 online from www.buyacamera.co.uk (£229.99 in jessops)

I used pricerunner and kelkoo to find the cheapest prices. I ended up getting the FX8 online as I thouhgt it woould keep me pleased for longer before evetually getting a digital SLR in the future when prices come down.

The main bonuses concerning the FX8 over the LZ1 for me were 5MP over 4, A leica lens, larger rear screen, sound with movie clips, plus more.. here's a link for those that are interested.

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0505/05050902panasonic_fx8.asp

Anyways I noticed everything I looked into for prices buyacamera.co.uk were the cheapest and they themselves had good reviews. So fingers crossed I'll be happy with the purchase and reliabilty of this company.

Thanks for the help everyone. Will keep you posted on my opinions after christmas, when I can use the thing. :thumbup:

 

[Rob]

London Camera Exchange are very patient with people (not so much at this time of year though!!!). If you want to go up there and say "show me every digital camera you've got between £100 and £200" then they'll do it for you.

Rob

 

[othomas2]

Thanks rob, will keep that in mind for the future.

Well, I got the Panasonc FX8 and up until now has been a very good camera IMO.

The image stabilization is a good thing to have, and the macro function is very good. The settings for different situations is questionable though although I tend to just cancel everything out and work more manually with it. 'soft skin' setting is great though, makes everyone look younger. Also,
the resolution on the screen is average for it's size, although is big.

Anyways, I'm very pleased with it's output, and better than the few digitals I've tried in the past.

cheers
owen