Cameras

[Tonysmedley]

There is no doubt that the “big name” cameras such as Nikon and Canon are extremely good but as with many other products there are alternatives which are far less costly and which for the majority of us will do everything we want.
There is a wide range of sale prices for most of the cameras on the UK market and you should use the internet to find the best buts

Whilst I now have a Fuji F70EXR with which I am well pleased, I have in the past found the Casio range to be very good value for money with first class performance. I still have a Casio EX Z700 which I use quite often.
For a very reasonably priced camera I suggest that you look at the Casio Z550 which can at the moment be obtained from Amazon at £74.99 including delivery.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Casio-Exilim-EX ... B0032AMV84

This camera has a 14 megapixel sensor, 4x optical zoom a 2.7” viewing screen and in macro mode will focus down to 1.9” It has a lot of extremely useful “Best Shot” settings for automatically setting up the camera for particular views – portraits, scenery, collections etc. It has a useful movie taking mode and a “YouTube” feature
It uses a Li-ion battery which will take 200 or so pictures before it needs re-charging. Many cameras still use AA batteries which require far more frequent changes

For an unbiased and very full review take a look at

http://www.steves-digicams.com/camera-r ... eview.html

This is at the bottom end of cost in the value for money stakes. If you want to pay a little more I suggest that you:-

Look on the internet at sites like Amazon and see if there is a camera which you fancy.
Read any customer reviews that are available for that camera. However, you will often find one or more very dissatisfied customers with an axe to grind; ignore them if there are many more favourable reviews.
Go to the Steves-digicams site I recommended above and see if he reviews that camera. You won’t get a better overall picture than from that site. Ignore any prices quoted as it an American site ..

Personally I like the slightly larger 3” viewing screen found on more recent (and more expensive) cameras..

[alexnick]

This is an interesting thread. When I last bought a camera, I got a friend who was a quasi-expert photographer to advise me on the subject, not trusting straight statistics or online reviews. I should state that this advice is aimed primarily at SLRs, not compact cameras.

The critical element was the lens. Good lenses are more useful than the number of megapixels or the level of optical zoom. Therefore I bought a cheap SLR body with 6 megapixels, and used the money saved by not buying a more expensive model to buy an extra lens. The results are as good as more expensive SLRs with similar lenses, and by far better than a compact can ever achieve (I was comparing with my Dad's 12 megapixel compact). This explains the problem of camera phones and why they should be avoided; you cannot get a good lens into the camera.

AN

[Tonysmedley]

I can only repeat what I have said previously. Whilst the proud owners of SLRs are convinced that nothing can be as good, for the amateur photographer wanting only pictorial records of personal events, a compact camera will produce results fully as satisfying as an SLR. It will also produce acceptable quality movies.
If your interest is in exhibition quality pictures then go ahead with a more expensive SLR. (which of course may be a digital camera)

[Tonysmedley]

I should have added to my previous post that a good wide angle is almost essential for taking photos of model railway layouts.

Tony

[buffy500]

I fairly recently bought a Nikon S8000 as a compact.
Its a something like 14mp and 10x zoom.
It is out of your £125 budget though....

I actually really like it, and its not bad at doing macro type shots on some 1:72 scale models.

This is a shrunken shot of it taken a week or 3 ago.
Given the scale and the distance away I think looks pretty reasonable.



With the naked eye to don't really even notice any of the defects / blemishes..

[oldrocker]

I fairly recently bought a Nikon S8000 as a compact.
Its a something like 14mp and 10x zoom.
It is out of your £125 budget though....

I actually really like it, and its not bad at doing macro type shots on some 1:72 scale models.

This is a shrunken shot of it taken a week or 3 ago.
Given the scale and the distance away I think looks pretty reasonable.



With the naked eye to don't really even notice any of the defects / blemishes..

That's quite impressive !

I'm not looking for exhibition quality or big prints so that could fit the bill.

A bit more research and a slight loosening of the purse strings might be called for !

[Tonysmedley]

The Nikon S8000 is a nice little camera. It costs about twice as much as the Casio I mentioned but as in all things it is not necessarily twice as good!

The worst criticism of it, made by a few reviewers, was the disappointing delay of around 3 seconds before taking pictures and viewing etc. Whether this is important depends on what you want.

The Casio EX H10 and the Fuji F70EXR are quoted as comparable cameras; there are minor differences between them all but their performances are not significantly different. You do pay a little more for the Nikon name
Nikon £150
Fuji £130
Casio £120

Tony .

[Crimpsal]

Here's one I took earlier
This little souvineer I brought back from Wales last year is only 40mm in length.
It was taken using a Casio QV-R41 (cost new unknown) & is only the 5th pic I have ever taken using a Digi camera.
And no , it hasn't been manipulated on the computer, this is just as the camera saw it.

[Tonysmedley]

The quality of a photograph depends on the quality of the lens, the accuracy of the focussing and the quality of the film/plate or the digital imaging sensor.
If you have enough money you can get excellent results with film or digital systems. But with a digital system you have something that money can’t buy – immediate results - except for Polaroid and similar systems.
Half a century ago I had a colleague who was a dedicated photographer, but actually produced very few photographs. He specialised in outdoor subjects and each one would involve days or weeks of preparation, visiting the proposed site to determine lighting conditions at different times of the day or seasons of the year. When he finally got round to taking the picture, it would be perfect. I remember one particular study of a pair of horses looking over a field gate; a simple subject but it won many prizes at exhibitions. The scouting and field work for that shot took about 6 weeks.
For many of us the ability to look at a digital photograph after a few second and to decide whether it is good enough or that we need another go, is a very valuable attribute.

Sorry if I bore you!

Tony.. ..

[danielw2599]

The thing is, having a good quality lens doesn't automatically equal excellent pictures just has having an expensive camera doesn't. Unless you shoot in low or challenging light there is little to be gained by having a lens that costs the earth. The same can be said with DSLRs Vs Point and Shoots. to a certain extent. The biggest benifit I find having a DSLR is the super quick AF and the speed at which the camera takes and processes the image.

I found when I had a Panasonic P&S to take railway photos that it took an age to focus and an even longer age to process before I could take another, obviously not good for moving objects when they are travelling at speed. Now with a DSLR I can take 4 pictures per second and focus almost instantly, this to me is worth the extra money.

I have found though that seeing ones pictures on the screen after I take them is great, but often isn't representitve of how they look on a computer.

[Tonysmedley]

Oldrocker,

Did you buy a camera?
Anything to report?

Tony

[oldrocker]

Hi Tony et al (who's Al?)

Yes, I went for a Nikon S3000 from Jessops for £69, £20 cheaper than Asda and £30 cheaper than Argos !

It fulfilled the main criteria of being within budget and fitting into my pocket less noticeably than a mobile phone.

It's also a point and play which I wanted for next week when I visit my daughter in Edinburgh. The macro bit will have to wait to be tested but from a general use point of view should be OK. 199 user reviews on Jessops site averaged it out at 9/10.

If I ever want to get serious I have a Fuji S9000 bought for my other daughter who has virtually never used it and which I have taken possession of! It's a bit scary though !

Regards,

Oldrocker.

[Tonysmedley]

Oldrocker,

You have probably made a wise choice. Critics tend to find fault with cheaper cameras, but as I have stressed, most of the tine they are perfectly adequate for what most people want.

The Fuji S9000 is a fine camera, but “point and shoot” it isn’t. The small size, light weight and ease of use of the small compact are virtues which are not easily highly desirable.

I hope you didn’t get an orange coloured S3000”

Tony