Advice on buying a digital camera

Si_GTi · Post by **Si_GTi** » Mon Jul 04, 2005 10:45 pm

Evening all,

I'm looking at getting myself a decent digital camera, and I've seen one I like - this one, a Sony Cyber-shot DSC-P200. My budget is Â£250 maximum, so it fits nicely with what I can afford to spend on one, plus it's 7.2 Megapixel, and it's a Cyber-shot, which I have heard are pretty damn good

Looks like:

The only digital camera I use at the moment (which belongs to my parents) is a Fuji Finepix F4800, a 4 Megapixel camera which is alright by all accounts, but a little outdated now in terms of the what else is available on the market, and the features it is equipped with.

Basically, I was wondering if any of you have got any experience of the Cyber-shot range, or have any suggestions as to what other cameras I might want to look at before spending my hard-earned

BTW, once the next payslip comes my way, I will then invest in a couple of spare memory cards and a leather case. Its just the camera I'm after at the moment!

Thanks

tom_mk5 · Post by **tom_mk5** » Mon Jul 04, 2005 10:53 pm

If I were you mate, with that sort of budget i'd be steering away from Sony and looking at Canon. I have a Sony DSC-P10 5mp camera and to be honest the pics it produces are disappointing compared to my new Canon Ixus. Don't get me wrong Sony make nice cameras, but you will get much better quality with Canon for that kind of money.

Babe RuthLess · Post by **Babe RuthLess** » Mon Jul 04, 2005 11:11 pm

Whenever possible, you should stick to "traditional" camera equipment manufacturers. Not because of the digital bits and pieces, mind you, but because they tend to offer the best lenses/optical set-ups (and these are what ultimately matters when it comes to raw image quality). These companies also tend to have the best compression algorithms for the images, and that is another key factor

That said, I'd recommend a Canon or maybe a Sony "W" camera (those with large displays and nice Carl Zeiss lenses).

bstardchild · Post by **bstardchild** » Wed Jul 06, 2005 6:42 pm

I love my S5100 Fuji sure it's bit big but I've got big paws

just got a new toy for it 1.5 tele converter lens

View from my study window (No Zoom)

View from my study window (Max Zoom)

View from my study window (Max Zoom with 1.5 tele converter)

Excellent

Si_GTi · Post by **Si_GTi** » Wed Jul 06, 2005 6:57 pm

Crikey! Thats a helluva zoom

I took a look at a Canon digi camera with similar spec to the Sony Cyber-shot but it was another Â£30 more than the Sony

No rush, I'll keep looking

Cheers

wul3er · Post by **wul3er** » Wed Jul 06, 2005 7:03 pm

I would also recomend Fuji. I have the S602 Zoom Model with external flash, It is a really good camera even if it is a few years old.

I have always used Fuji Cameras and they are really good, In my experiance.

mikegti · Post by **mikegti** » Wed Jul 06, 2005 10:28 pm

I like pentax optio S5i, tiny!

dino · Post by **dino** » Thu Jul 07, 2005 8:54 am

I love my Nikon Coolpix 3000. Takes really nice pics!

PhilGTi · Post by **PhilGTi** » Thu Jul 07, 2005 9:06 am

My girlfriends got a Samsung, its the dogs b****x, much better then my canon... its got a cool nightmode, you can take a pic in the pitch black and it comes out just like a normal one during day light.

Phill.

JTLondon · Post by **JTLondon** » Thu Jul 07, 2005 6:28 pm

mikegti wrote:I like pentax optio S5i, tiny!

Ditto that... its a nice camera.

Best thing is to get a copy of Stuff or T3 magazine and read the reviews.

Do you really need a 7mp cam? How big is this Cybershot anyways? Have you compared the size and functions with any of the others that are mentioned?

Si_GTi · Post by **Si_GTi** » Thu Jul 07, 2005 6:51 pm

Do I need a 7-megapixel camera? I don't know. I spotted the Sony on dabs.com's front page and it looked pretty damn cool, tis all. There's quite a range of cameras available, the Pentax s5z is one of them, and definitely the tiniest!

The Cybershot measures 10.4cm (W) x 5.2cm (H) x 2.8cm (D) and weighs 144g. The Pentax is 8.3cm (W) x 5.5cm (H) x 2.2cm (D) and weighs 105g. There's also a Canon Ixus i5 to take into consideration which is halfway between the other two cameras in size, about 9cm wide and roughly the same as the Cybershot in depth and height.

Other than the extra megapixels (the Sony has 7.2, the other cameras have 5) there isn't much to choose between them other than what they are like to use!

Think I'll go have a look at the T3 website, good plan

toXXin · Post by **toXXin** » Thu Jul 07, 2005 7:23 pm

I'm currently looking at a Canon Ixus 50, and if I can afford it, a Canon Ixus 700.

They look like great cameras for the money!

JTLondon · Post by **JTLondon** » Thu Jul 07, 2005 7:35 pm

toXXin wrote:I'm currently looking at a Canon Ixus 50, and if I can afford it, a Canon Ixus 700.

They look like great cameras for the money!

Something about Canons you should be careful of.
My friend had an Ixus 3 or 4mp... and the lens motor died and the camera just wouldnt shut or work even.
He sed its just something that happens with Canons over time... so bare that in mind.

Tahrey1043 · Post by **Tahrey1043** » Sat Jul 09, 2005 3:15 pm

a quickie - cameras i have owned...

Fuji A210 finepix, 2 megapixel with fixed focus (+macro, digizoom). Nice little device, good shot quality and the best macro mode ever. Not blazing fast, but it did the job. Digital zoom best avoided, and movies only in mono.

A little incident with a broken USB port (in warranty) lead to...

Olympus C-220 Zoom - similar specs to above (almost identical) but with zoom lens and autofocus. Zoom worked well. AF didn't. Macro mode was a joke and a right disappointment after the fuji. Picture quality was variable - between a little better and a little worse - but there's only so much you can do with 2mpix. A trip to france also showed there's only so much you can do with 128mb of storage, even if you start down-coverting (it had a LOT of ever smaller capture modes, down to 768x512, 640x480, 480x320, 320x240... 240x160!)

Pensioned it off to me mum when I could afford it, got a...

Samsung A5. It's pretty damn cool, but eats batteries like they're crisps. Five megapixels improves the image quality like you wouldn't beleive - you can easily pretend you were using a 35mm film camera with decent media in it. A 512mb memory card also helps - capture everything at max quality all the time, and just burn to CDR when you're done. Damn nice picture quality, good range of modes, good macro (not as great as the fuji, but close) and a fully-manual setting for the budding david bailey (nice fx from playing with aperture and exposure etc! can capture pics in really low light without flash if you use a tripod or put it on a still surface). Also takes movies with basic sound capture, but not quite up to sony-style MPG / MPG4 recording.

My bro has a 3mpix Canon and seems happy with it - got it not long after my fuji and still seems happy with it. Zoom hasn't died yet. Dad's been thru a budget 1mpix model (works ok) and a more pro-looking digital SLR (olympus, with better focus). The less said about mum's old fuji the better, save that i gave her the olympus to FORCE her to stop using it. They haven't always made good digicams, so see if you can test it before laying down money.

Seven megapixels should give a very sweet picture. I don't think there's much call for a consumer model to go much beyond 8mpix (as you'll be able to do A4 size frame (11x8 inch) enlargements at 300dpi, indiscernable from regular film but for the lack of grain) so that should see you right for quite a long time.