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Digital cameras

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
in General Chat
Im going to get myself a new digi cam and i was wondering what sorta thing i should be looking for. What sorta of MP should i be looking for to get some decent quality pictures? Im interested in a 8.0MP at the moment, is that any good?

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    JsTJsT Posts: 18,268 Skive's The Limit
    6 or above is good. You wont have significantly better results going above 6 or 7 unless your a professional.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I see. Theres a 6.6 one a bit cheaper so i think i will go for that. Also i was wondering what the best batteries to use are? I think im going to invest in some rechargeable ones as i remember my last digicam used to rince the betteries
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Don't get cheap batteries which will only last for a few hours or so.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    yeh get rechargable ones. they use up battery power so quickly. i bought a battery charger that came with 4 batteries from argos for i think £10.

    if you go into some shops they'll let you have a look at the camera quality.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Don't buy any batteries until after you find your camera. Many P&S cameras these days will use rechargable blocks that are specific to the camera rather than batteries, so you'll be wasting cash.

    If it does need batteries, then the rechargable high power ones last much longer than alkaline ones.

    Edited to add - www.dpreview.com has a selection of user and site reviews of cameras. I've heard good things about the Canon S3IS, - and the S2IS might be a good buy if you can find one - and the A620 I think it is.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Get one with a decent lens rather than a huge number of megapixels. Any digital camera will give you enough resolution to fill a large computer monitor, so I'd say go for a 6 megapixel camera with a quality lens ahead of a poorer quality 8 megapixel camera. Read professional reviews if you want to find out how good they are. Also find out how good they are in low light and indoors.
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    JsTJsT Posts: 18,268 Skive's The Limit
    The Canon A620 recommended by Mist above is the one I have and its absolutely brilliant. It works well in every condition, and has the benefit of being amazingly simple for the amateur and can be a lot more advanced for those who know how to fiddle.

    Get a decent set of rechargables (2000 mah minimum) and they'll last for years. I also tend to keep a set of normal AA's with me should my rechargeables run out. The worst thing I can imagine is having a set battery and having it run out!!
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Thanks for the advice.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Can i get an opinion on this one?

    http://www.aria.co.uk/ProductInfoComm.asp?ID=14780
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    JsTJsT Posts: 18,268 Skive's The Limit
    Never heard them, and Google etc brought up absolutely nothing.

    Digital cameras are the kind of product where you get what you pay for.

    Maybe worthwhile paying a little extra or something a little better known.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    looks liek i'll have to save a for a little longer then
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Yeah, looks like a pretty basic model. Only has a USB 1.1 connection, which suggests it's pretty old. And no optical zoom either. I would suggest at that price range you should be looking at something between 3 and 4 megapixels. My phone is 2 megapixels and those pictures come out at 1600x1200 pixels, which is the resolution of a 20" computer monitor, so I wouldn't worry too much about that.

    Take a look at this one:
    http://www.empiredirect.co.uk/content/products/details/index~modelcode~FUJ-FPA330.htm

    Or if you can afford to spend a little more, this one is a more compact model, and in my opinion, a better brand:
    http://www.empiredirect.co.uk/content/products/details/index~modelcode~MIN-DIMAGE-XG-RED.htm

    Or this one, if you're not bothered about having a zoom and want a bit higher resolution:
    http://www.empiredirect.co.uk/content/products/details/index~modelcode~OLY-C180.htm

    And remember whatever you buy, you'll probably need a decent sized memory card to go with it.
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    JsTJsT Posts: 18,268 Skive's The Limit
    My flatmate has that FUJI - a very good camera for the money.

    Minolta make good cameras but they can sometimes have problems.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    JsT wrote:
    Minolta make good cameras but they can sometimes have problems.
    I had a 35mm one. It was brilliant until I lost it one drunken night in Blackpool. It was always really good in low light.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Jonny8888 wrote:
    Can i get an opinion on this one?

    http://www.aria.co.uk/ProductInfoComm.asp?ID=14780

    My opinion would be that it's not worth it. The advert falls close to mis-selling, as the camera isn't actually a 6MP camera at all, it's a 3MP camera, but allows you to use "interpolation" to get to 6. That's just a fancy word for making pictures bigger by inventing data on the inbetween pixels - in other words, when you download to your computer, your image has already been resized to 200%.

    Of course, you don't *need* 6MP, you can squeeze an A4 print out of around 4MP, and 3.2 will give you a 7x5 print reasonably well. Yeah, a lot of the newer cameras around now are up around 7-10 MP, but, if you're considering a cheaper compact, then the quality per pixel is going to be less than a more expensive camera would have given you from 3-4MP. You're more likely to see chromatic noise and fringing, because the increased number of megapixels are being recorded by a sensor whose size hasn't changed since the 3MP days.

    I'd take a 3MP camera any day from a decent camera maker like Canon, Nikkon, Minolta etc over a 6MP camera from some company I'd never heard of.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Have a look here http://www.warehouseexpress.com/ that's where I got my latest camera from and where my professional buddies have been known to purchase from.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    If anyones interested, in the end i bought a samsung S600 for 100 quid.

    Domino-1.jpg

    money well spent i think
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I didnt want to start a new thread abt cameras again but if any1 knows a good camera thats under £80 but does the video clip thing really well, like more than 3 mon clips, I want to start putting stuff onto youtube and need a camera for this,I dont really want a camcorder
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Jonny8888 wrote:
    If anyones interested, in the end i bought a samsung S600 for 100 quid.

    money well spent i think

    I got my Aunt the S500 about 6 weeks ago for £89 from tesco

    really nice as well I think exactly the same as the S600 except 5 mega pixels - but now pc world has 7 mega pixel one for £89
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