Which Camera?

[connieb19]

I've decided, with the better weather now here, I'm going to buy myself a new camera, but, I'm so confused. The more cameras I look at and the more I read about them, the more confused I'm becoming.
I have the Argos catalogue here and I honestly don't know what I'm looking for. Can anyone help me out a bit? :confused

[angela5]

Can't help you out connie i'm afraid, i'm just as confused as to which camera to buy too. I love looking at the photography thread they have some great pictures on there. Hope someone recommends a good camera.:D

[_Ju_]

I am very happy with my Olympus mju 410 digital camera with 4 mega pixel, optical zoom and weatherproof (imporant with the weather here). It's already a couple of years old so you can probably get one of its younger siblings (probably even for less).

[connieb19]

Can't help you out connie i'm afraid, i'm just as confused as to which camera to buy too. I love looking at the photography thread they have some great pictures on there. Hope someone recommends a good camera.:DThye vary so much in price too. I've been looking at the 7.1 pixel, Canon A620. My brother has it and says it's really ood, but it's nearly £300, and I don't now whether it's necessary to spend this much, or would a cheaper one do just as well?:confused:

[luskentyre]

What I tend to do, with a lot of purchases is get reviews by people who have bought similar items. Amazon.co.uk is good for that - lots of user reviews. You can also browse by price, which is often the first consideration.

Have a look here

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/tg/browse/-/560836/ref=br_bc_h_1_1/203-8865515-8493517

hope this helps.

[angela5]

I'm not planning on spending £300 on a camera..i would not pay more than £200 there must be a good one for around that price.

[connieb19]

What I tend to do, with a lot of purchases is get reviews by people who have bought similar items. Amazon.co.uk is good for that - lots of user reviews. You can also browse by price, which is often the first consideration.

Have a look here

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/tg/browse/-/560836/ref=br_bc_h_1_1/203-8865515-8493517

hope this helps.Thanks Luskentyre. I was looking at the reviews until 4 O'clock this morning. I think that's what's confused me so much There's loads that sound great, and the more I look at the worse it's becoming. Is there really any need to spend a fortune or will a cheaper one do?:)

[luskentyre]

I don't think you need to spend a fortune - it just depends on

1) Your budget
2) Your requirements

(these can be swapped around depending on how rich you are!)

I'd settle on a price, and browse all the cameras that are available on Amazon. They're automatically arranged by best-selling so that should give you an idea of how well they're rated.

[EDDIE]

I've decided, with the better weather now here, I'm going to buy myself a new camera, but, I'm so confused. The more cameras I look at and the more I read about them, the more confused I'm becoming.
I have the Argos catalogue here and I honestly don't know what I'm looking for. Can anyone help me out a bit? :confused
In this day and age there no such thing as a bad camera i felt the same as you when i bought my first camera.
All you have to remember is
1. the more pixel in the camera the better anything from 3 million and above is ok even better if you can get one with 5 million and above because 3million pixels takes good quality photos but when u try to enlarge the photo the quality is not so good were as u have 5 million and above the enlarge photo is really good.
2.Optical zoom is allows u to zoom in with no loss of quality the higher the optical zoom the better it usualy ranges from x3 to x5 in the small compact cameras.And then theres digital zoom which is total rubbish not worth talking about ignore digital zoom
3.is battery which type they take i prefer the AA rechargeable because there cheap to buy the batteries and charger from anywere so its easy to keep spare charged up batteries because cameras use up a lot of power.Were as some camera have there own special battery and charger and if it breaks 2 or three years down the road it could be a problem getting hold of a new one and will be expensive compared to a AA battery charger which u can buy anywere
4.If its just everyday photos ure going to be using it for the slimmer the camera the better so its easier for u to carry about without it annoying u if u have a bulky camera ure less likely to take it with u
The worst thing with buying a camera is it doesnt come with a case or memory thats the hidden cost but u can buy memory cards cheaply of the internet.
Me personally i would buy a kodak because there not to dear and the kodak range is good quality and takes good pictures and not only that kodak has being making cameras since day 1 and im quite sure your mum dad and grandparents had a kodaks years ago
I bought a nikon camera paid £284 at the time and my girlfriend dad bought a kodak for just over a hundred pound and i hate to admit it but his one takes better pictures than mine and the crazy thing he told me about kodak and i didnt listen but im going to upgrade my camera to a kodak next shortly

[connieb19]

Thanks very much EDDIE, that is very helpful advise. I wasn't very sure about the optical and digital zoom thing.:)

[connieb19]

Is it better to buy one that comes with a printer?:confused

[Zambo]

I have a Kodak EasyShare with the printer.

The camera is really good - it takes really clear photos, and it is so easy to use. The printer is great, but I only use it for photos I want in a hurry. It works out more expensive to use the printer. I usually upload the photos, and have them printed by Truprint. It's all done online, and I have the photos within days - it's a lot cheaper.

Even my husband can use the camera, so that proves how simple it is!

[Naefearjustbeer]

I would say no. I hardly ever print out a picture at home when you can get 50 6x4 prints at the chemist for £5. Much cheaper and better quality than buying loads of ink and fancy photo paper for home use. Very good quality. When you pick a camera you like the look of I would do a search on www.kelkoo.co.uk (http://www.kelkoo.co.uk) to see where to get the best price. One thing to consider is memory cards as most cameras only come with a fairly small memory card. I bought a casio camera for about £140 then 2 512 Mb memory cards a spare battery and a hard protective case and it all came to about £200 from www.7dayshop.com (http://www.7dayshop.com)

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/5602771/Trail/C%24cip%3D36801.Photography%3EC%24cip%3D36810.Digi tal%2Bcameras.htm I reckon this would be a good camera it is an better model than the one I have
Argos price
149.99 camera looks like a pretty good price
39.99 512mb memory card v expensive 7day shop have cards for about £12.50

[Raven]

If you only want to view 6x4 photos then a lower pixel camera will do. You dont have to splash out in a 8 million pixel cam for that.
I personally would buy a canon, but I dont know what they have on the go with small compact ones just now. I was never let donw by canon and can only recommend it.
Our boy has a small Hp cam with rechargable batteries and I am really disappointed in that. You will have to charge them every other day and you can only shoot a couple of pics. I have got a battery pack in mine and can shoot easily 600 pics in one go.
I would go in a camera shop and try different ones out as not every one lies good in the hand and see for yourself if you can cope with the menue and the buttons.
If you want to see instant results the ones with a printer might be a good idea, but I think it might proof more expensive than if you would get prints form an internet company.
Even more confused now? LOL, so was I before I bought mine ;-)

[EDDIE]

you only buy one with a printer if you fancy that the good thing with digital cameras the photos are easy transfered from the camera to any device in jpeg form.When you print your own photos onto paper its actually quite expensive for the paper and ink u use?
When u get ure tesco and asda they should have photo shops in them and its 5pence a print which is nothing and its a good photo print as well.u can even email ure photos to website and they will print them and post them back as well.
But what i always do i only print the photos i like best and keep all my photos on my computer so i can view them anytime.
And most importantly all the photos u take with a digital camera u always store the jpeg photo on cd because that way u have the pictures for life and its nice to look at photos 5 years later and still have the luxury of being able to reprint enlarge or manipulate the photo or even send by email to friends.
The digital camera puts the photos in jpeg fromat which is the most popular format in the world u can do so much things with a jpeg picture
When u get a camera its worth getting a big memory card so u can take loads of photos when i go on holiday i take photos of everthing and its really good to look back on

[connieb19]

Thanks Folks for the advice. I have decided not to buy one with a printer. I doubt if I'd make much use of it if it is just as cheap to go to truprint or somewhere. I'd probably just have my pictures on the computer and put them on discs. I'm still a wee bit confused about which camera but I'm finding all the advice helpful..Thanks:)

[Naefearjustbeer]

Think what you want to do with the camera, Do you want a fancy one to take composed pictures. Or one that you can easily pop in you bag and take out and about for snapshots. I have a nice compact camera but some of the more professional looking ones are quite reasonably priced these days. for example this fuji s7000 is £199.99 from amazon

http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B0000C6LQN.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg



Do you go on long holidays? how many pictures are you liable to take and what kind of batteries does it use. Some use normal AA batteries which you can buy almost anywhere if you nead, other use specilal lithiun ion rechargeables where you will either need to buy a spare battery or take the charger with you when you go away. However the lithium ion batteries tend to last a lot longer than a set of AAs I have a casio with its own rechargeable battery and it will take about 250 max quality flash photos per charge of the battery. I also have a fuji that uses aa batteries and I reckon I get about 100 flash photos per set of 4 AA batteries

[connieb19]

Thanks Naefear, I was looking at the link you gave me and the original camera I was looking at is £100 cheaper than Argos. I think what I'll do is go up a look to Argos and look at the camera, and see the size ect and then if I still like it, I'll order it online. Its a Canon PowerShot A620, 7.1 pixel, 4.0 digital zoom and uses AA batteries and 32mb memory size for £187. Does this sound ok or is 7.1 pixels a bit much?:confused

[susan.leith]

You've been given pretty good advice here, Connie 19.

A few more thoughts -
If you don't want anything bigger than 8x6 prints, then there's no need to go beyond 5 MP.
Don't even think about buying anything without rechargeable batteries.
I never print my own photos - you can get great prints from http://www.photobox.co.uk/ - 6x4 from only 5p each.

Good link here - a bit techy, but covers most of the topics you've asked about.

http://www.photo.net/equipment/digital/basics/

I know you're all excited about having Argos in Caithness, but it can be pricey.....so shop around. Amazon is usually fairly competitive

Good luck!

[Naefearjustbeer]

My cameras are 2 and 3 megapixels and they print one fine quality images up to A4 size. I would think with a 7.1 megapixel you would be able to get huge enlargements done without any problems. Remember that your 32mb card will probally only hold about 15 full quality pictures. A bigger memory card is a must have option in my opinion.

[EDDIE]

Think what you want to do with the camera, Do you want a fancy one to take composed pictures. Or one that you can easily pop in you bag and take out and about for snapshots. I have a nice compact camera but some of the more professional looking ones are quite reasonably priced these days. for example this fuji s7000 is £199.99 from amazon

http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B0000C6LQN.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg



Do you go on long holidays? how many pictures are you liable to take and what kind of batteries does it use. Some use normal AA batteries which you can buy almost anywhere if you nead, other use specilal lithiun ion rechargeables where you will either need to buy a spare battery or take the charger with you when you go away. However the lithium ion batteries tend to last a lot longer than a set of AAs I have a casio with its own rechargeable battery and it will take about 250 max quality flash photos per charge of the battery. I also have a fuji that uses aa batteries and I reckon I get about 100 flash photos per set of 4 AA batteries
Its a good camera but very bulky thats the big disadvantage with it its no use for going on holidays for the average person the smaller the camera the better idealy its fine to get a camera that will fit into your jacket or handbag so when ure on holiday or out for the whole day the camera is not a burden to u a camera that size is a burden to carry about and your less likely to take it with u

[fred]

Thanks Naefear, I was looking at the link you gave me and the original camera I was looking at is £100 cheaper than Argos. I think what I'll do is go up a look to Argos and look at the camera, and see the size ect and then if I still like it, I'll order it online. Its a Canon PowerShot A620, 7.1 pixel, 4.0 digital zoom and uses AA batteries and 32mb memory size for £187. Does this sound ok or is 7.1 pixels a bit much?:confused

Before you do nip into the chemists on Traill Street in Thurso, I've seen some good bargains in there. They arn't the latest models they're a year or two old but they're good makes at good reductions in price. Don't know if they have any on offer at the moment but it's worth a try.

[connieb19]

Before you do nip into the chemists on Traill Street in Thurso, I've seen some good bargains in there. They arn't the latest models they're a year or two old but they're good makes at good reductions in price. Don't know if they have any on offer at the moment but it's worth a try.Ok thanks Fred, I will take a look. :)

[Whitewater]

I have several cameras, my favourite is a 35 year old Canon SLR, just can't beat the lens for good quality work. I also have a pocket size canon which is very discreet, and an Olympus of the same size which has an excellent lens (but has been borrowed by one of the siblings). However, I am rapidly becoming hooked on a little pocket digital camera, a Kodak Easy Share, which has the ability to take three frames per/sec for action shots, and can also be used to take short videos. I have a 1GB card which I purchased on ebay for I think £18, and had it by recorded delivery the next day. This camera is so versitile it still facinates me at times.

[Don Quixote]

What do you want to do with the camera?

Take lots of pictures but not too bothered about fine quality or fine quality and only a few pictures.

I recently bought a Canon 4mp camera with a 512 mb card. It uses rechargeable AA batteries.

I have it set on the second lowest quality setting and have taken just over 1000 pictures with it in the last 2 months.

If you use non rechargeable batteries, leave the flash on auto and use the view screen it will take 50 - 60 photos.

If you use rechargeable batteries at the same setting it will take over a hundred photos.

With the larger card and the lower settings the card will hold about 1800 pictures.

Increasing the picture quality reduces the amount of photos you can take.

If you want to send your pictures as e-mails then keep the quality lower.

If you want to take pictures for framing then you want the best quality you can get.

It is not necessary to print photographs but it is easy to download them and put them on disc for easy storage and retrieval. The big chemist in town can do that cheaply.

You should get a good happy snapper camera with decent size card, carry case, battery charger etc for around £250.

[Naefearjustbeer]

Before you do nip into the chemists on Traill Street in Thurso, I've seen some good bargains in there. They arn't the latest models they're a year or two old but they're good makes at good reductions in price. Don't know if they have any on offer at the moment but it's worth a try.

I was in the chemists today and was surprised at how much cheaper they were than they used to be. I remember looking at a camera in the chemist about a year ago and it was £170 dearer than argos. They are still quite expensive but nowhere near as bad as they used to be. Tha camera I looked at was a waterproof olympus camera and they were asking round about £300 amazon are asking for about £245 and John lewis want £329 [disgust]

[Naefearjustbeer]

Another thing is I always take my pictures on maximum quality, If I want to email them I can easily reduce the size and quality of the image. However if you take a low resolution picture that is the best you will get and it wont print out so well. If you take a nice photo you can get an enlargement from your high quality pic and then reduce it if you want to email it to someone(remember to save the original high quality image). I use a free program called irfanview to manipulate images (do a google search it is a free download and easy to use). I also notice that my hotmail email automatically optimises pictures for email when you attach them.

[fred]

I was in the chemists today and was surprised at how much cheaper they were than they used to be. I remember looking at a camera in the chemist about a year ago and it was £170 dearer than argos. They are still quite expensive but nowhere near as bad as they used to be. Tha camera I looked at was a waterproof olympus camera and they were asking round about £300 amazon are asking for about £245 and John lewis want £329 [disgust]

You can get a good 4mp with 3x zoom for under 100 quid these days.

Pity the accessories still cost the earth. I look round the thrift shops for old film cameras that are in a nice case, you can get them for 50p or so and throw the camera away. Better than paying £15 for a new one to match your new digital and just as good.

[connieb19]

Is this a stupid question to ask, but do all the cameras come with the cables needed or do I need to look out for that? In the Argos catalogue some of them dont mention the cable, whilst others do. Is it just common sense that the cables are included, or is there some, where, actually you need to buy the cables seperately?:confused

[Rheghead]

I find that the cables are usually supplied with the camera. In fact there are usually more than one supplied to suit different ways of downloading.

[scorrie]

You can get a good 4mp with 3x zoom for under 100 quid these days.



Indeed, check out this Kodak on Amazon. No doubt the buffs would scoff but for under £70 it is as good a place to start as any, in my opinion. I bought one for my brother as his first camera and he seems well pleased. I myself have a 5.1 MP Nikon but never use half the features so should probably have gone with something cheaper.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0009RNIK8/qid=1147115990/sr=8-1/ref=pd_ka_1/202-5473585-9733400

[connieb19]

Indeed, check out this Kodak on Amazon. No doubt the buffs would scoff but for under £70 it is as good a place to start as any, in my opinion. I bought one for my brother as his first camera and he seems well pleased. I myself have a 5.1 MP Nikon but never use half the features so should probably have gone with something cheaper.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0009RNIK8/qid=1147115990/sr=8-1/ref=pd_ka_1/202-5473585-9733400Thanks scorrie, i was looking at this camera last night, I have just gone ahead and ordered it now. Thanks every-one for all the help and advice. No doubt i will be looking for hepl again shortly when I dont know how to get my photos onto the pc...lol:Razz What would I do without the org..

[fred]

Indeed, check out this Kodak on Amazon. No doubt the buffs would scoff but for under £70 it is as good a place to start as any, in my opinion. I bought one for my brother as his first camera and he seems well pleased. I myself have a 5.1 MP Nikon but never use half the features so should probably have gone with something cheaper.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0009RNIK8/qid=1147115990/sr=8-1/ref=pd_ka_1/202-5473585-9733400

Good price on the camera but the accessories are a rip off.

£25.80 for a 256mb SD card is way over the odds.

[2little2late]

I bought a Vivitar 3935. 5 mega pixel 3x optical zoom 4x digital zoom, 256mb sd card plus Arcsoft photo software bundle all for £89.00 plus postage from Pricedrop t.v.
Excellent camera real value for money.

[scorrie]

Good price on the camera but the accessories are a rip off.

£25.80 for a 256mb SD card is way over the odds.

Oh aye, forgot to say I only bought the camera itself from amazon.

[darkie@dreamtilt.com.au]

If you are still looking Connieb19 take a look at some Canon,I bought a Canon Powershot A85 then a Canon Powershot A610 both very good and not to dear and they come with everything you need even some good photo programs worth the look http://forum.caithness.org/images/icons/icon6.gif