Camera again

[taimatsu]

Okay, my loan has come through, and I want to buy a replacement camera. My last one was a Panasoic six-megapixel thing. It was fine till it got bathed in champagne. I bought it for £159 from John Lewis about a year and a half ago; I'd like something about the same quality but cheaper. Does anyone have any recommendations for me?

Comments

[darkwaterfairy.livejournal.com]

try pixmania.com, haven't found anywhere cheaper.

7mp for ~£50-70

[kizzie.livejournal.com]

Hmm.. .reccomendations... Um.
Camera = Non Essential.
Saving money for when it's tight at the end of term might be better...

Not a reccomendation you probably want to hear, but the responsible part of my brain was shouting at me to say it

[brrm.livejournal.com]

Quick point - beware the megapixel wars when choosing your camera. For compact cameras, silly numbers of megapixels (>6) gives the manufacturer something to lure the customer, but it in fact results in noisier images for the small sensors you get in compact cameras.

I think I've heard people say good things about the Fuji Finepix F30(?) - I don't think it's still current, though. If you're likely to dunk it again, perhaps one of Olympus' weatherproof ones would suit? This picture (http://www.photonhunter.co.uk/photos/events/glastonbury2004/P6270080.JPG) was taken with mine, in the chucking rain, with no protection.

Prod me if you have questions. :)

[claire-smith.livejournal.com]

Paul and I are actually getting rid of a Canon A95 (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Canon-PowerShot-A95-Digital-supported/dp/B00068WUSG/ref=sr_1_22?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1199567434&sr=8-22), if that would be of any use to you? It's 5 megapixels, not 6, but it's a nice little camera. We'd be asking for £50.

[taimatsu]

Given that I plan to spend less than £100 on this, I think I can both buy the camera and save for a rainy day. Also, as I am hoping to sell more jewellery this loan cycle, probably mostly online, the camera will also help me *make* money. Thanks for your concern, though.

[taimatsu]

Hmm, it's a possibility, but I've just realised that actually it would be sensible for me to buy something which uses the same kind of memory as the one I have - which is SD card, not CompactFlash. So I think I should hold off and investigate further. Thanks, though.

[thinkstoomuch.livejournal.com]

Canon make nice cameras, and you can get 1 gig of CF memory for less than a tenner. All memory prices have dropped a lot in the last few years.

I'd also recommend my Fuji. They don't make it any more, but the closest model is the S5700 which seems to be selling for about £105. Possibly more bulk than you're looking for, has lots of features. Also doesn't take SD.

[taimatsu]

I'm not bothered about lots of features - it needs to take nice snapshots in varying light levels and have a good macro mode. That's about it. I'd like to keep it under £100 if I can :)

[thinkstoomuch.livejournal.com]

The Canon has a pretty good macro mode (I've used similar older models). Fuji is superior, as it has a whacking great lens for such a cheap camera. This also means it deals with low light better. Though maybe it's out of your budget as you would need to get a card as well.

I'd seriously consider the 2nd hand Canon on offer - memory cards are cheap. Look around, obviously :) http://dpreview.com is a very good review site.

Oh, and get house insurance, it should cover any alcoholic tendencies your new camera may have.

Edit: Both have tripod mount points - you will need a tripod, or light-box and external flash (pref. both, I've never used a light box though) if you do much macro work.

[taimatsu]

Actually, I am being told the mamory thing shouldn't put me off, so I am after all quite keen on your Canon. I will do a bit of web-searching before making a finalfinal decision, though - how soon do you need to know?

[hsenag.livejournal.com]

Obviously you should consider the extra cost of replacing your existing memory if necessary, but it's pretty cheap these days so don't rule out options just because they don't take SD; just check on the total price.

[arron-shutt.livejournal.com]

Tescos are doing the recently released Fujifilm A920 for £90 (reduced from £150) recently. 9 Mpix camera, with a nice big screen, and some internal memory. I'm not sure whether the deal is still on, but I bought one for my mother and myself and I thought that it was a good deal. A 2 GB will set you back just under £30, so you've got an hours worth of movie, or around 1000 images.

http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.202-7842.aspx

There's some sample images here if you want to see what the quality is like..

http://www.ashutt.myzen.co.uk/images/dscf0068.jpg
http://www.ashutt.myzen.co.uk/images/dscf0070.jpg

These are at full resolution, so even with my hamfisted photography, cropping and scaling..you've got enough resolution to play with. :D

[elethiomel.livejournal.com]

Well, if you're looking to spend around the same again then the Fuji Finepix z100fd is around the £150 mark. 8 megapixel and does everything.

[purpleheather.livejournal.com]

I've got a canon A95, it's a beautiful camera - easy to use, takes great pics, and the swivel screen makes photograping awkward things and at odd angles a snip. The macro function is lovely.

here (http://www.7dayshop.com/catalog/default.php?cat=6&type=6010&man=0&filterwords=&go=SEARCH&comp=) are lots of cheap CF cards.

[purpleheather.livejournal.com]

Here are some of my photos with the A95:

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/141/397392446_b50c4fec89.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/117/276703039_bff7f8e7bc.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/39/82217908_d1527511e0.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/43/82218005_3896a4a699.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/101/256650433_a36f9bbb9e.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/114/260952613_7f702aabba.jpg

[kizzie.livejournal.com]

Shiny! Sounds like you have it all sorted :)

[thinkstoomuch.livejournal.com]

And because everyone else is doing it, here's a macro shot:

Butterfly! (http://optimisticynic.net/images/butterfly-macro-crop.jpg)

That's cropped but not zoomed. Should you be outside on a sunny day, you might be able to get away without a tripod, as I did that time. Focus is a little forward of the wings I think, which is a shame.

[curious-reader.livejournal.com]

I am asking the same question again. Why did I before I added my birth date always the link only on your post not on others that the contents maybe inappropriate for minors? (I did not want to ad my birthday because I am rather embarrassed about my age.) You never rarely put anything sexual or whatever into your post whilst ploni and livredor do that quite a lot. But I have never had that problem with their page. I was always able to see it immediately. Why is your LJ different?

[imc.livejournal.com]

I would put in another vote for the Canon (Powershot G3 here, which is older and only 4MP but I can't say I often use all the available pixels).

[taimatsu]

My LJ is different because I have set it that way. Livejournal has a recent policy about age-restricted content, which I think is silly. I have flagged my *entire* journal as potentially 'mature content', because I do not want to worry about forgetting to do it if I do post something adult. So if you have not added your birth year to your profile it will bring up a warning. I'm sorry if it inconveniences you but for me it is the most sensible way to deal with LJ's policy.