Buying a digital camera...advice needed

[funkster]

Hi people,

Could anyone advise me on a decent digital camera to buy - my requirements are that it be small, have an LCD screen on the back so you can see the picture once it's been taken, have quite a big memory - enough to hold about 100 photo's, and produce faily decent pictures which will mainly just be uploaded onto the PC at home.

How much money an I going to have to spend? I see camera's in calalogues priced from £79 - £999 (Up to 1500 Euro's) I would idealy like one atthe other end of the scale but don't want anything rubbish!

Will £200 (300Euro's) be enough for average quality?

Anyone reccommend anything to me?

Many thanks in advance!

funkster

[kevin abq]

Digicam

Funkster,

You're probably going to get as many different opinions as there are people here! Everyone has a different idea of what an ideal digicam is.

You didn;t mention what resolution you're looking for? You said it's for uploading to a PC. Do you plan on printing it to, say, 8 x 10, or is it for a web page? If it's for snapshots and occasional printing, I would say you need a 2 Megapixel+ minimum for 8 x 10 if you have a decent printer. If you plan on using it for highly detailed documentation pics, like architecture, or you plan on having a lab print the output to a dye-sub printer and you want to enter photo contests, I would say to get 3 or 4 MPixel. If it's just for a web page, a 1 MPixel will suit you fine.

I personally have a Canon Powershot S300 Digital Elph (2.1 MPixel). I bought it for the size and convenience, and because of its all stainless steel body. It's about the size of a deck of cards.

[funkster]

Thanks Kevin - just looked your camera up on the net and it's a VERY tasty little number!

I would be using it mainly to store pics on my hard drive and get them printed at a shop occasionally - and I'm looking for a small one like the Canon Powershot S300 Digital Elph - thanks for the info!

[kevin abq]

Digicam

Funkster,

I think they have a newer model than the S300, like the S330 or something. Although, that means you can probably get a good price on the S300.

I really like the camera's ruggedness. Everything works as advertised and you can even get movies (with sound) and at 20 fps. at 160 x 120 (30 sec.), 320 x 240 (15 sec.) or 640 x 480 (~5 sec.). It's not trying to be a camcorder. It's just a handy little feature. Another nice feature is the panorama mode. It helps you take panorama shots and the software stitches it together beautifully. I've taken several of those.

Another nice feature is the superb optics. I had researched my choice for about a year before buying. I had it narrowed down to 2 finalists - the Canon and the Toshiba PDR-M70 (3 MPixel). The test photos I got from the digicam review websites clearly showed the Canon had outstanding optics. I printed 8 x 10 pics from those two and one other (Coolpix 775) for comparison. The S300 shamed the Toshiba and the Nikon. The colors were perfect and sharp. Hard to believe they squeezed that power in such a small package. A really, really first-rate design.

For what it's worth

[funkster]

Thanks Kevin - I'm going to go to my local camera shop and see if I can get the S300 at a discounted price! I'll let you know how I get on!

Cheers

[kevin abq]

New camera

Funkster,

I look forward to your report. One thing, and this is an oversight by all the camera vendors ... get yourself a larger compact flash card. They ship the S300 with an 8MB card which will hold about 8 full-res pictures (1600 x 1200, highest quality setting), more if you increase the compression or reduce the res to 1024 x 768 or 640 x 480. I bought a 64MB card and it seems very adequate. You can get those cards pretty cheap nowadays and I recommend it. Also, you might look into a second battery for those field trips to the zoo or whatever. The camera takes a proprietay lithium-ion rechargeable battery, so you can't just pop in a couple of AA batteries when it gets low. You don't want to get stuck without a fresh battery.

The charger it comes with does a good job of quickly charging, so you can keep a full battery in the camera all the time. I top mine off every 4 weeks or so if the camera's been sitting without being used.

Good luck!

[funkster]

Cheers Kev, I'll bear all this in mind!

[funkster]

Kev,

Just thought I'd let you know what I bought in the end...

Got myself a Canon Powerhot A40 (£209) - after many many hours looking at reviews and sample pictures on the internet, I decided that this was by far the finest camera in my price range - it's 2 MegaPixel and it has everything I could possibly need!

http://www.steves-digicams.com/2002_reviews/a40.html

The ONLY drawback (although it hasn't proven a problem so far) is it's size - it's not the smallest camera on the market but is without a doubt the best value for money. It is the only camera in it's price range that has sound with the video clips, and has a great software program, including the panoramic feature as you mentioned. I am absolutely over the moon with it, and have taken hundreds of pictures already! Bought muself a 64Mb card, and am going to buy another one as well, as I'm off on a 2 week holiday in 10 days and I don't want to run out of space!

I was the annoying bloke with a camera at a cousins christening last weekend, and got some great snaps!!

Let me know if you want to see some samples and I'll email them to you and we can compare pics to look at the quality - as we both have similar specs.

I can't put the thing down!!!

Speak soon

[Rembra]

Originally posted by funkster
Kev,

Just thought I'd let you know what I bought in the end...

Got myself a Canon Powerhot A40 (£209) - after many many hours looking at reviews and sample pictures on the internet, I decided that this was by far the finest camera in my price range - it's 2 MegaPixel and it has everything I could possibly need!

http://www.steves-digicams.com/2002_reviews/a40.html

The ONLY drawback (although it hasn't proven a problem so far) is it's size - it's not the smallest camera on the market but is without a doubt the best value for money. It is the only camera in it's price range that has sound with the video clips, and has a great software program, including the panoramic feature as you mentioned. I am absolutely over the moon with it, and have taken hundreds of pictures already! Bought muself a 64Mb card, and am going to buy another one as well, as I'm off on a 2 week holiday in 10 days and I don't want to run out of space!

I was the annoying bloke with a camera at a cousins christening last weekend, and got some great snaps!!

Let me know if you want to see some samples and I'll email them to you and we can compare pics to look at the quality - as we both have similar specs.

I can't put the thing down!!!

Speak soon