Digital Cameras

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Billy

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W211 E55 AMG (Black)
I have the need to replace my recently expired (dropped) camera.

Being a total novice I am looking for any advice or recomendations on what I should buy.
 
Im very happy with my Nikon Coolpix 3100 3.1megapixel £279 from dixons
 
Might be an idea to pop in WH Smith and look at some of the magazines. One thing to watch out for though, they will slate some camera's for not having enough or certain features yet you would probably never use any of them anyway. I never switch mine to manual, although the night settings are very good. How they rate picture quality is the most important thing.
 
I have a Fuji MX1200, a few years old now but the quality is excellent and it is quite compact so is ideal for slipping in your pocket or glovebox.

Two friends have both bought a Cannon, not sure which model, it is quite small and takes really good pics, they got them abroad so were cheaper.
 
I have just bought a Sony DSC-P71 3.2mega pixels. List price £299.99 and I bought it for £229.99 on the net. Excellent camera.
 
depends what you want from your camera - more to the point what you expect from it and what quality you are used to.

If you are used to using a decent 35mm SLR for large (above 10x8) prints then most digital cameras won't cut the mustard until you start spending big bucks.

Don't buy anything below 3 megapixels that realistically should be the entry level they will print up to 10x8 with no real loss of quality.

Do you want/need a camera with full manual control - that was certainly an issue when we bought ours. does the camera have a good metering system (how it measures the light) and can you select the metering mode? - average metering across the whole sensor is OK but some form of "matrix metering" and "spot metering" will get better results in some conditions.
does the camera have a good zoom range? don't count the digital zoom figure look purely at the optical zoom range. digital zoom is nothing more than enlarging the image on your screen - it very quickly breaks up whereas optical zoom actually moves the lens without any loss of quality.

there are lots of possible solutions and at the end of the day it's personal preference. When i bought my digicam I looked for what I considered to be the best all round camera and ended up with a Nikon Coolpix 995. I'm still using it and it's an amazing piece of kit.

When you are buying - don't be afraid to haggle in the camera shop - particularly on discontinued models (or those about to be discontinued) the camera shops have a large(ish) profit margin and the manufacturers will discount towards the end of production. I got a discount of £350 on my 995 - redused from £750 to £400 6 months before Nikon released the 4500. Check the japanese market - they get the new models about 6 months before us, then head off down to your camera shop armed with all the prices you can find off the internet - Jessops will price match any .co.uk web site advertised prices and any UK .com as long as they have the camera in stock.

Buy second hand - there are always the "gadget boys" who buy the latest technology whether they need it or not so there are plenty of used bargains around - before buying an older camera make sure it's still supported by the manufacturer. Ebay is good for this. Don't be fooled by import cameras particularly from the US the warranty is void for eurtope with many of the manufacturers - there are usually cosmetic differences between models released for the 2 markets.

Just about the best digital camera resource site on the net is

http://www.dpreview.com/


If you'd like to pick my brains on the subject drop me a line

[email protected]

Andy
 
I bought a Nikon 5700..retails @ about a grand in the UK.

Nice camera, but finding it hard to justify the money when compared to far cheaper models.

To give you an idea of what it can do, below is a quick macro shot of the face of my watch at standard resolution.

image001.jpg
 
Mine is a Konica kd 400z, 4.1 mega pixel,smashing camera, very good photos and they print off well too as long as you have a photo printer. it has 3 resolution settings and takes all cards of all sizes, its body made of metal not plastic, can't recommend it enough.
 
Oh! I nearly forgot to mention.....

Try the link below for camera's, not a vast selection but a few of us at work have bought from these people and the service has been excellent, next day delivery on everything so far and on the one occasion when a camera was DOA, they shipped out a replacement unit immediately before having to send back the original.

The prices are amongst the cheapest in the UK also.

http://www.letsgodigital.co.uk/
 
Last edited:
Originally posted by jimmy
Whoo, a MB watch.

Why can't the Germans make watches?


Why can't the swiss make cars?
 
Billy, as your in Manchester it might be worth going over to Liverpool and visiting these

Bestcameras (also known as Kamera Direct)

They were by far the cheapest I found, and they give you an extra years warranty free.

Best of all they are actually a good camera shop located in St. Helens Merseyside, but trade on the internet as well.

Camera I bought was a Fuji S602 Pro. Fantastic.:rock:
 
Fuji Finepix 601 from Dixons, point and press, works brilliantly.

Comes with charger cradle, USB connection, and CD-Rom finepix program that works automatically whan you put the camera in the cradle.

If you get ambitious, you can read the handbook. It does other clever stuff too that's beyond me.

Fuji 601

Recommended for the novice, and got the bits if the bug bites :)
 
Hi,

My first post, and it's about cameras........who would have thought !?!

Anyway, thanks for all the tips.

Jason/Fuzer : I too am favouring the Nikon Coolpix 3100, any regrets ?

Cheers,
Michael.
380SL
A160.
 
Originally posted by Michael
Hi,

My first post, and it's about cameras........who would have thought !?!

Anyway, thanks for all the tips.

Jason/Fuzer : I too am favouring the Nikon Coolpix 3100, any regrets ?

Cheers,
Michael.
380SL
A160.


Hi dude ,

Nope , no regrets . Great wee camera . Batteries don't last very long when you are taking 3 megapixel pictures with the flash on red eye ( 4 flashes) It takes compact flash which is nice and cheap on expansys I got 256 meg for about 40. The camera can take up to 1GB in it. At 2 MP the camera can take about 400 shots on the 256 card which is handy. Great wee camera.:bannana: :bannana:
 

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