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Ok, so my old digicam is very very crap and the drivers don't really work win Windows. The 3rd party OS X drivers kind of work (it always knows how many pics are on the camera, unlike in Windows that often can't even do that) but they can't download images (making them kind of pointless). So I really should find a new camera (I've been about to get a decent one for years). What I want is a lower end camera (nothing that fancy if it really upps the price), anything 2MP+ that can take a sharp image without needing a tripod to keep it still. Flash for inside (or even the ability to take indoors pics without one), rechargable battery is a big plus, MMC cards would also be quite a nice feature as I'm buying them for the phone anyway but as long as I've got more than 32MB of storage even internal only is fine. Couldn't care less about zoom unless it doesn't really boost the price but a high end random feature I would kind of enjoy is a BlueTooth connection, although USB or FireWire would be fine and that is more a fantasy wish than a real need. So, anyone got any advice for something cheap (we're talking not buying a few TV boxsets to fund it)? What about the older models that were quite hgih end for their time and are now solid mid range to be picked up cheply on ebay? ((And to make this one of the only game based threads today: Sonic X is on ITV (reruns, first ep today) right now and the english dubs are so incredibly bad)) |
Digital Camera help
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Shivoa 6,314 posts
Seen 2 years ago
Registered 20 years ago -
pjmaybe 70,666 posts
Seen 12 years ago
Registered 20 years agoBest bit of advice I can give you about digi cameras (low end) is to go try 'em out in a shop - I know, it's an old fashioned concept but believe me, I wish I'd tried my crappy HP out properly in a store first, as it's got the slowest lag between me pressing the button and it actually taking the photo (I could bloody draw what I'm snapping quicker)
Low end - Canon and Fuji are excellent, pretty much any model that does +2Mp but flash memory-based are usually cheaper.
Peej -
MikeD 10,063 posts
Seen 5 months ago
Registered 18 years agoThe Nikon D70 is much liked by my hardware mag. Brilliant quality photos and superspeed!
edit: realises you said lower-end, this thing would've set you back 1200 euros.gif)
Edited by MikeD at 15:59:01 19-04-2004 -
rtr 187 posts
Seen 3 days ago
Registered 20 years agoProbably a little too high spec for yourself but I bought the wife a Casio QV-R41
4MPixel, 3xOptical Zoom, 2" screen, flash, SD media for £200. Blew my old 2Mpixel fuji away completely. -
pjmaybe 70,666 posts
Seen 12 years ago
Registered 20 years agortr wrote:
Probably a little too high spec for yourself but I bought the wife a Casio QV-R41
4MPixel, 3xOptical Zoom, 2" screen, flash, SD media for £200. Blew my old 2Mpixel fuji away completely.
Does it have a demo tune?
/feels stupid
Peej -
ssuellid 19,142 posts
Seen 2 days ago
Registered 20 years agoCanon A60 2MP camera is available from Amazon for £99. But it takes AA and Compact Flash. It is a bargain tho. -
rtr 187 posts
Seen 3 days ago
Registered 20 years agoNo but it does have an annoying beep which you can turn off.
I guess you might be able to play "Tie me kangaroo down sport" on it if you really wanted to -
Shivoa, I'd recomend a visit to dpreview, an excellent site. From own experience I'd suggest Pentax's Optio cameras (3-400 series), then Olympus, Nikon, Canon, etc. The big names are a safer bet. -
Shivoa 6,314 posts
Seen 2 years ago
Registered 20 years ago/starts to browse the net for reviews with eBay open in the background.
/sees the £100 price range being blown away by a positive review or a special offer price at an online retailer.
>go try 'em out in a shop
Good call. I might just have to make a trip out tomorrow to see if there are any decent shops in the centre of B'ham. -
pjmaybe 70,666 posts
Seen 12 years ago
Registered 20 years agortr wrote:
No but it does have an annoying beep which you can turn off.
I guess you might be able to play "Tie me kangaroo down sport" on it if you really wanted to
Heh that's one of the things that also pisses me off about my crappy camera - the beep is a dead giveaway, specially when you're trying to take those photos of (rest of post deleted because it's utter utter filth)
Peej -
IIRC the annoying beep was forced upon the camera manufacturers in Japan because of some legal junk, people have the "right" to know somebody took a picture of them or something like that.
That's why my Panasonic mobile phone sounds like a SLR camera when it takes a picture and I can't turn the damn thing off. -
cyk 306 posts
Seen 8 years ago
Registered 18 years agossuellid wrote:
Canon A60 2MP camera is available from Amazon for £99. But it takes AA and Compact Flash. It is a bargain tho.
2nd'd.gif)
I have the A70, great little camera. Just check my portfolio and I'm sure you'll buy one... everyone else who has did (or something in english). -
Shivoa 6,314 posts
Seen 2 years ago
Registered 20 years agoOk, 4AA batteries make me think I should also say my specs take the principal that smaller is definitely better and I would pay a bit more or go for a camera with slightly lower quality images to get that space saving.
Those are very nice pics from the A70 (and I am tempted as the £150 that they seem to get to second hand is just about within the available funds) but I just think that something smaller with Li Ion might also be available to me for a similar price. -
Shivoa 6,314 posts
Seen 2 years ago
Registered 20 years agoAny views in the Minolta Dimage Xi? I know it is getting on a bit and the image quality isn't perfect (red tint won't really be a problem tho' as I can just software normalise that out) but the prices seem quite good and it does have OS X drivers (unlike the replacement Xt model). It is also very compact and uses MMC/SD cards. -
cyk wrote:
ssuellid wrote:
Canon A60 2MP camera is available from Amazon for £99. But it takes AA and Compact Flash. It is a bargain tho.
2nd'd I have the A70, great little camera. Just check my portfolio and I'm sure you'll buy one... everyone else who has did (or something in english).
Wow, were they all done with the A70? Including the Macro shots?
Brilliant pics, btw, independent from the technical quality.
edit: On a sidenote, do you know how the Ixus models compare?
Edited by UncleLou at 19:02:08 19-04-2004 -
phAge 25,487 posts
Seen 3 weeks ago
Registered 18 years agoMe dad swears by his Nikon Coolpix 5000 - and he´s a fervent Mac user too.
phAge -
cyk 306 posts
Seen 8 years ago
Registered 18 years agoUncleLou wrote:
cyk wrote:
ssuellid wrote:
Canon A60 2MP camera is available from Amazon for £99. But it takes AA and Compact Flash. It is a bargain tho.
2nd'd I have the A70, great little camera. Just check my portfolio and I'm sure you'll buy one... everyone else who has did (or something in english).
Wow, were they all done with the A70? Including the Macro shots?
Brilliant pics, btw, independent from the technical quality.
edit: On a sidenote, do you know how the Ixus models compare?
Edited by UncleLou at 19:02:08 19-04-2004
Ta
Yes, they are all done on the A70, even the macros, that I've had for a year now. Not sure how the Ixus compare. -
striker 2,606 posts
Seen 6 months ago
Registered 20 years agoMy advice is to choose a photo brand like Canon, Fuji, Minolta, Olympus, you get the point.
Besides that, I find Imaging Resource a valuable source of info, with reviews for every kind of budget. -
Shivoa 6,314 posts
Seen 2 years ago
Registered 20 years agoIn then end (after going and checking a few out in the local Dixons and desperatly searching for good online prices) I've decided to go with a Sony DSC-P72 which seems to get ok reviews and just fit into my price range. The memory stick isn't my format of choice but it is about the same price as MMC/SD so it ins't that bad (and I do lean towards Sony sometimes so I might get cross product use oneday). The NiMHs aren't LiPol/Ion (damn you Sony, why have you forsaken your normal Li love?) but it does come with some high capacity ones and a charger and it isn't weighed down with 4 of 'em. On the plus side the shots taken with it look quite good to me, it isn't a base model but does come in not much above £100, and it is auto-detected on both Windows and Mac without even bothering with things like drivers. -
MikeD 10,063 posts
Seen 5 months ago
Registered 18 years agoNice.
Though I never expected you to be a sony fanboy -
Gurgy 2,924 posts
Seen 19 hours ago
Registered 20 years agoMikeD wrote:
The Nikon D70 is much liked by my hardware mag. Brilliant quality photos and superspeed!
I got one last week, very nice indeedy. Speed, handling, feel all excellent. Shop around and you can get the kit with lens for £930 - £950.
Quality is best I've ever seen but as it's my first ever "prosumer" SLR then that's no surprise. -
MikeD 10,063 posts
Seen 5 months ago
Registered 18 years agoLovely.
Don't forget to link us to some of your pictures made with it. -
cyk 306 posts
Seen 8 years ago
Registered 18 years agoReGuRgIt8oR wrote:
MikeD wrote:
The Nikon D70 is much liked by my hardware mag. Brilliant quality photos and superspeed!
I got one last week, very nice indeedy. Speed, handling, feel all excellent. Shop around and you can get the kit with lens for £930 - £950.
Quality is best I've ever seen but as it's my first ever "prosumer" SLR then that's no surprise.
I'm also saving for one Just found out it has a 30 minute bulb mode too, keeps getting better and better. -
I've ordered the Canon Powershot A 70 now - 219 EUR at amazon.de, that's not quite 150 quid.
I was sorely tempted to get the new A 75 (bigger screen) or the A 80, but they are significantly more expensive, and as I only want to find out if digicams can reawaken my interst in photography again, I didn't want to spend too much. I am just too lazy to carry my old SLR around. :-/
So, cyk, there's yet another person who got the A 70 after seeing your portfolio (and reading some reviews, just to make sure), cheers! -
ssuellid 19,142 posts
Seen 2 days ago
Registered 20 years agoThe A70 is an excellent choice. I bought one last year and 2 of my work collegues were so impressed they bought A70s as well.
Best place for compact flash and AAs BTW is 7dayshop.com - they are channel isles based so not sure about if they deliver to Europe. -
Cheers for the link (well not really a link, lazy git, but you know what I mean), I'll check them out.
Any advice on the recharger and AAs I should get? Afaik, the original Canon equipment is a bit meh? -
pjmaybe 70,666 posts
Seen 12 years ago
Registered 20 years agoSsuellid, you might be able to answer this one. How quick is the canon's shutter speed, as I'm quite interested in it - but want to know if you get a bit of lag between clicking the shutter and it actually taking the pic...
Bear in mind I'm a total Digicam noob so I'm just wondering if all digital cameras are as "slow" as my crappy old HP.
Peej -
jaa 962 posts
Seen 2 days ago
Registered 20 years agoA work colleague has a Canon A70. It's a very nice camera - although, tbh, there's not much to choose between compact digicams from the major brands (Canon, Nikon, Pentax, Olympus, Minolta, Fuji, Sony,...). I do recommend zooms starting at the 35mm setting instead of 38 (not a huge difference but everything counts). Then there's the battery type. And looks, of course...
Oh, UncleLou, I just think you could have saved postage costs by ordering an Xbox with Rallisport 2 (and maybe TOCA 2) at the same time.
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pistol 13,018 posts
Seen 8 years ago
Registered 19 years agortr wrote:
Probably a little too high spec for yourself but I bought the wife a Casio QV-R41
4MPixel, 3xOptical Zoom, 2" screen, flash, SD media for £200. Blew my old 2Mpixel fuji away completely.
I've also just swapped my Fuji 1200MX (2mp) for a Casio EX-X3 (3.2mp) and it's the dog's danglies:) -
Hah, a clever attempt, jaa, but amazon.de delivers postage free anyway.
Ssuellid, you might be able to answer this one. How quick is the canon's shutter speed, as I'm quite interested in it - but want to know if you get a bit of lag between clicking the shutter and it actually taking the pic...
Peej, I am not the one who should answer this, but from the reviews I've read there's a lag as well, though it's said to be "below average" with all the Canon A models. You'll find pretty exact dates at the review site valli linked to, where you can also compare cameras directly with all their stats ("buying guide" -> "side by side")
edit: linkage to dpreview
Edited by UncleLou at 11:22:07 21-04-2004
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I have the A70, great little camera. Just check my 
Yes, they are all done on the A70, even the macros, that I've had for a year now. Not sure how the Ixus compare. 
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