taimatsu | (no subject)

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If I wanted to buy myself a reasonable-quality digital camera for UKP100 or less this weekend, how realistic would I be being, and where should I look if it were possible? I want to buy it in person, not online. It's got to be easy to use and produce basic web-quality images. I'll want to be able to plug it into both Windows and Mac computers. If it were difficult to break, that would be a bonus. I have no idea how realistic my budget is.

Discuss.

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Your budget is tight but feasible -- don't forget that you will probably want a memory card of some stripe to go with the camera itself. We bought my stepdad-in-law one of these (http://www.jessops.com/Store/s31463/0/Digital-Compact-Cameras/Kodak/Easyshare-C310-Digital-Camera/details.aspx?&IsSearch=y&pageindex=1&CatId=236&comp=y) for Christmas and he seems to find it fairly easy to use -- the site suggests it'll work with a Mac and also with a PC but I can't offer you any first-hand advice about the Mac end of things.

As to where you go to get one, well, Jessops are good, larger Tescos seem to be selling them these days (well, the big one near us does), and so would PC World and the like. I have no idea which, if any, of those exist near you, sorry ;)

Remind me where you are?

Near one of these?

I bought something cheap online (<£50 all inc, IIRC) on behalf of someone else a while ago - I can't remember the details but could probably find them if you want to have a go at finding the same thing in a store.

I want to buy it in person, not online.

So long as you're aware that will be more expensive, fair enough.

Yes, £100 should get you a perfectly decent camera, though it'll most likely come with non-rechargeable batteries and a tiny memory card, both of which you may want to upgrade.

Jessops are normally very helpful though that could just be the dudes in the branch I go into.

I've personally liked the Fuji compacts so this one (http://www.jessops.com/Products/ProductDetail.aspx?SkuId=35445) would fit your requirements exactly. It's just within your budget but has a very good resolution and a metal body.
Sadly, it doesn't come with an xD card so you will need an extra. the 12MB internal memory would be for enough for oh, 3 shots at full res.

I love the camera I have -- when I got it, it was worth what would be equivalent to about UKP 200 or so. Can't remember the megapixels off the top of my head, but it has a rechargeable battery, which I personally find much preferable to non-rechargeable. Digi cams go through batteries like CRAZY, especially if you use your cam a lot.

Plus, I did have to get a memory card, because my cam's internal memory doesn't hold too many pictures. I was able to get a 250MB memory card for the equivalent of UKP 20. It holds about 175 pictures, depending on the resolution.

Go to www.bestcameras.co.uk, print out the camera-only prices of any you're interested in, and take them to Jessops to price match. I got about £100 off mine.

(am on phone and typing, will elaborate later if you need me to!)

I've had good experience with Jessops, in several towns/cities.

For reviews, check out http://www.cameras.co.uk/ - useful easy to read reviews with price comparisons, online suppliers for price matching and test photos

Hi Lucy

Get the biggest memory card you can afford - this works out cheaper and more convenient in the long run than getting a small one now and then buying another one later. With my digital camera I ended up buying a succession of progressively bigger memory cards which add up to 1Gb. Mind you, back in 2003 when I got the camera memory cards were very expensive.

I find that prices vary loads and things (especially memory cards) are generally cheaper online.

Get one that takes standard AA or AAA rechargeable batteries, then you can get good ones and a fast charger later.

I don't know what you get for 100 pounds these days but I'm sure there are loads of reviews out there. Worth doing loads of research because you'll have the camera for years hopefully.

Yay I look forward to seeing your photos! :-)

Hugs

I got an Olympus FE100, It's selling for about £79 in the larger TESCO's. With a memory card of 128mb it came to £100. It has AA batteries though, and if you use the flash it can be greedy, but works well with rechargaeble batteries. It's a 4.0mpx and although no view finder it takes lovely pics.

Example: http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g74/rach74_photos/LiverBuildingLong.jpg

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