Cameras

[Brisa]

Well I am looking a new camera as my old Nikon coolpix 2100 has seen better days after 3 years of trials/holidays/trackdays etc.

I would like a camera that won't hold any photography skills I may have back.

It would have to be digital and I think what Im after is one of these SLR cameras.

But then I know nothing about whats available so I will leave it to you guys to advise me.

Have about £300 to spend, also don't mind second hand etc.

[Tony Harrison]

Fuji Finepix S7000 is quite good.

[The enchanted broomstick]

im just going to say something in the fujifilm finepix range. There are some quality cameras out by this company with fool proof usability. What model is up to you because of features where it may or may not include sound recording and different pixel rates etc.

I've had a finepix for a while now and a lot of mates have pretty good quality and last long.

stu ;)

[Haz]

Cheapest didgital SLR is the Canon 350D, and it's ~£500 including lens. The Canon re-seller on ebay often have them guite cheap, but I doubt you'll mange £300 including a lens.

Same story for the Nikon 70D

[Rob_P]

D70 :P

Do you want a proper digital slr or just a digital camera that looks like an slr. If so defo go for the new FujiFilm S5600, i've got the S5500 at the mo and it's mint. It's certinatly improved my photography my a load!

Rob ;)

[Tony Harrison]

Don't forget the Nikon D50, it's a bit cheaper than the D70 and does pretty much the same things.

[Haz]

Still not £300 with a lens.

If you want an SLR you'll have to stretch your budget, looky. Damn annoying, means I'll have to wait an age for prices to come down, I really would love a 300D. I'm excited enough about my dad getting a 20D as it is!

Edit: Look second hand, some fairly good prices going.

Edited November 1, 2005 by Haz

[that NBR dude]

go to Warehouse Express, as they have some cracking 0% finance options on all kinds of SLRs, DSLRs and various other items. Great for people on a budget, or for people who want to spread the cost to make it slightly more bareable.

For that kind of price range, I would say add a bit onto that by doing finance, and go for something like a Sigma SD10, Mamiya ZD SLR, Pentax *ist DL

If you want good pictures but without the need for a DSLR, have a look at the Fuji Finepix S7000, or the Minolta Dimage A200.

If you want something to just slip into your pocket, but still a good range of megapixels, maybe something along the lines of a Casio EX-Z750, Canon Powershot A620, or for a bit more cash, the awesome Powershot PRO1

if you can absolutely stretch your budget to something like £60 a month, then have a look at Warehouse Express offer on the FinePix S3 Pro, with an 18-35mm lense (total price of £1589) which is a truely amazing camera.

Hopefully this long winded essay of jargon and numbers helps slightly, but I really do suggest checking out that site :(

Edited November 1, 2005 by NBRtrials.tk

[Brisa]

Well thats all a bit gay lol.

Seen a few on ebay around the £220-300 mark but I take it they were just SLR looking cameras..

Im not fussed if it looks all professional as long as it takes good images really. Don't want to up the budget as its a toss up between a camera and a king... if cameras too dear then the king wins.

Like I said second hand doesn't bother me at all so if theres good cameras in that budget second hand i'd be up for them.

[that NBR dude]

I would say for £299, a Fuji FinePix S7000 is the perfect choice. You have the advantage of a 6.3 Megapixel camera, with a 6x optical zoom from a 32-110mm Lense.

Its fairly neat and doesnt weigh the earth, unlike some 35mm SLRs.

I would definitely reccomend this over a king.

Edited November 1, 2005 by NBRtrials.tk

[Tomm]

What is the advantage of a proper (digital) SLR over these SLR-a-likes you can buy for much less? Is it just the overall quality or is there actually a major advantage in the SLR system?

[that NBR dude]

What is the advantage of a proper (digital) SLR over these SLR-a-likes you can buy for much less? Is it just the overall quality or is there actually a major advantage in the SLR system?

A proper DSLR will allow you to alter exposure, apature, focus and various other settings with a wider scale of adjustability. The SLR lookalikes have very little in the way of adjustment. They are mostly just automatic point and clicks

[Rob_P]

The SLR lookalikes have very little in the way of adjustment. They are mostly just automatic point and clicks

Hardly, I think you'll find on most that you can set it to manual and adjust both apature, shutter, iso and manual focus as well. It's not as advanced as say a digi slr but it's still there. A point and click is one of those digital compacts your mum would have :-

It's all to do with the flexability and image quality. With say a DSLR you can change lenses for the appropiate subject that your shooting, you can add a wider range of accesories like flashguns, filters etc. It's all to do with the sensor as well, a slr look a like will have a smaller sensor than a digi slr and the newer top end DSLRs have whats called a full frame sensor, for example the new Canon 5D. People always normally think that the better the amount of megapixles is better, this is true but say if you had a 6mp slr look a like, thats alot of detail to go onto a small sensor, therefore resulting in noiser images, this is why cameras like the 5D have 12MP and a full frame sensor. Anyway thats all far to technical for me, im sure Chris will come and tell me thats completly wrong as well ^_^

But yeh, it's just the general amount of add ons once you've bought the camera really.

Most products for the more serious photographer are aimed to be used with the most popular dslrs.

Rob :(

[that NBR dude]

Hardly, I think you'll find on most that you can set it to manual and adjust both apature, shutter, iso and manual focus as well. It's not as advanced as say a digi slr but it's still there

I stand corrected...

Yea wheres Chris when you need him

quick definition:

A SLR is a single lens reflex camera. Light coming into the camera through the lens that takes pictures is reflected up by a mirror behind the lens onto a ground glass screen above. You look at this screen through the viewfinder and a 5 sided glass prism (a pentaprism) is used to turn the image the correct way round. Well known makes of SLR inlcude Nikon, Canon, Olympus, Minolta and Pentax in 35mm and Hassleblad and Mamiya in medium format.

The mirror has to lift up out of the way before the picture is taken. Some cameras have used a partial mirror which lets some light through so the mirror does not need to move. Although not succesful for film cameras, this is very effective in some digital models.

Edited November 1, 2005 by NBRtrials.tk

[Haz]

SLRs are designed to be adjustable, only high end SLR look-e-likies have the features there from the start, most of the time they are an after thought.

[Brisa]

Well thanks for the help and I think I will opt for the Fuji FinePix S7000. Seems to be the best sort of thing for my needs without getting super over complicated.

Another wee question, for my wee nikon I need for find a good make of AA rechargable batteries, every ones I have bought don't last at all even with display turned off etc.

I didn't want to chance it with the dearer ones as I didn't really know what I was after. Any suggestions?

Edited November 2, 2005 by Brisa

[that NBR dude]

Well thanks for the help and I think I will opt for the Fuji FinePix S7000. Seems to be the best sort of thing for my needs without getting super over complicated.

Another wee question, for my wee nikon I need for find a good make of AA rechargable batteries, every ones I have bought don't last at all even with display turned off etc.

I didn't want to chance it with the dearer ones as I didn't really know what I was after. Any suggestions?

Any battery with a decent mAh will do. Im using Duracel rechargable ACCU which seem to last a long time.

DC1500 NiMH with 1800 mAh so something along that kind of miliamp/hours will do you fine

[Rob_P]

Im using 4 Ni-MH 1300Ah AAs. Seem to last for fooking ages, got 2 sets so theres always back up.

Bout £6 for a pack of 4

[Haz]

NiMH are where it's at, but make sure camera can take the capacity, if you charge it in a dock. I loaded my HP 812 up with NiMH 2100s, but it couldn't charge them, making them completely useless. Such a naff camera. :P

[Dai the Socket]

I was wondering what people think of the Nikon D50 from Jessops?

They're doing a 'buy a camera over £200 and you dont pay til 2007' thing. So I'm thinking about buying something sweet for my Photography trip in February?

I want something nice, that's functional. Is good quality and has lots of lens options. It also has to be able to keep it's value, and be at a decent price

Cheers.

Nick

[Tomm]

Yeah, D50s are good by most people's reckoning and Jessops have a good price on them, so why not?

However I don't know how well it will hold its value - DSLRs are probably in for a bit of a price crash this year.

[DeeZee]

I wouldn't buy a D50. Its a false economy, as the images they produce are on the poorer side. Plus, no one seems to have mentioned good lenses? I'm sure that you appreciate a DSLR is just a body, a crap lense will be slow, and be usless in anything other than bright conditions. You then need a fast lens. a f/2.8 will set you back £350+. Where as if you got a decent spec fixed lens camera, you get a faster lens, with all the settings of a DSLR.

What do you intend to be taking pictures of? What zoom range do you need? Do you want manual settings? Will you be needing a flashgun, how wide do you want the lens? what memory will you be using? There are a million questions on this topic.

go here, and get some proper advice

Steves Digital Camera Reviews

[SebJT]

For the price, you should go for the 350D over the D50. I know its £100 more but the D50 has a poorer build quality and image quality in comparison also a lot slow at processing images etc so not great for sport.

Problems with point and shoot cameras like the S7000, although they do have manaul settings they never work any where near as well as a DSLR.

Manual focus is generally impossible to use due to picture viewing on an LCD and using buttons which take a while to move the focus range.

Apperture - even though they go down to F4.5 i can never get them to give a nice depth of field.

Adavantages of the DSLR over point and shoot:

-Near instant boot time - great for catching those unexpected moments

-Far superior image quality

-Brillant and quick auto focus with 7 points of focus (350D)

-Far superior for sport (trials) photography with instant shutter and what you see in the view finder is waht -you get. With point and shoot using the LCDs you get a delay and you cant see the image as well. So getting a perfectly timed gap shot first time is difficult.

-A lot faster image processing so you can take and take and take.

-Compact flash cards more robust so more reliable and easier to handle when using multiple cards.

-Massive choice of lens

-Choice of flash guns rather than using poor inbuilt flashes

- and loads more....

finally

They look a lot better becasuse they are a "proper" camera

They feel so much nicer to use as they are a bit heavier and bigger making they more steady

To sum up:

If you want a decent camera that will get you some nice shots then a S7000 will be fine

If you want to be creative with your photography and get stunning shots you will have to take the leap to DSLR cameras

Hope that helps.

Seb