Best camera for a beginner

[arlow1]

im looking for one with my ladbrokes winnings was thinking of the cannon a300
power shot 169 in asda,129 in argos has good reviews and works well in low light

http://www.argos.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10001&langId=-1&catalogId=1751&productId=88808&Trail=C$cip=12818>C$cip=12820&categoryId=12820


copy and paste the link its a bit long like my willy

[Dopey Dan]

I highly reccomend any Nikon Coolpix Camera, a coolpix
2100 (2 megapixel) or 3100 should cost between £100 & £150
or even cheaper from ebay.

They are simple to use but use cheap compactflash memory and offer
very good picture quality for the money , they also use standard AA
batteries. It comes with a charger and 2 good quality nikon batts aswell.

Get yourself an intelligent charger & another set of high capacity
Ni Mh batterys and they will save you a lot of money in batterys
if you use it a lot.

I totally agree I have the 3100 and its fantastic. They are a really good size, fits so easily into a pocket. I would go for the 3 mega pixel one, and that way you can print out up to A4 and it still looks good.

This time last year they were top of every review for compact cameras, and Im sure you can get them at a great price.

Dan

[Freaky]

i just ordered a 2megapixel goodmens 2025 from my catalogue just to test out, i had no intention of keeping it i purely wanted to see what it was like, and jesus i WAS surprised by how good the pics were it took, top rez took 15 shots, takes a compact flash card, bad thing tho the batteries didnt even last till the next day

[slartibartfast]

Most digital cameras eat batteries at an alarming rate, mainly due to the LCD screen.

The best soulution is to buy some high capacity NiMH rechargeables, they'll last longer than your standard alkaline's and cost less in the long run.

You can find a few here.

[Pongo]

@chizh .
I've got the s5000 m8. Really pleased with it, the only downside is the time for the ccd to react after pushing the shutter button, but this is common with all digi cameras anway !
Photos are sharp, battery life is fantastic. autofocus is fast AND full manual control if you need it. I've actually stopped using my SLR since I bought it !
The only other camera I'd consider for the same sort of money would be the Minolta Z1
reviews are here http://www.dcmag.co.uk/news/article.asp?SP=&v=1&UAN=328
and here http://www.dcmag.co.uk/news/article.asp?SP=&v=1&UAN=313
hth
Pongo

[Freaky]

The best soulution is to buy some high capacity NiMH rechargeables

ive got some m8 but they wont run the camera, the lcd comes on then goes right off again. and they ARE fully charged

the only downside is the time for the ccd to react after pushing the shutter button

Jesus tell me about it, takes feckin ages between shots

[7698]

Hi, there are a few things that you need to consider. First is how much are you willing to spend? What are your intrests? What are you going to use the camera for?
You can get digi cameras at all sort of stupid prices these days and some are not too bad if you intend to keep it in the car incase of an RTA. Things to look out for :- optical zoom, this gets you closer into the subject matter. However disregard " digital zoom" this is useless. When you use this, you are actually cropping the size of your photo. What type of media does it take? Micro drives are expensive but you can get 2gb cards, lots of capacity= more photos. Then again smartmedia cards only go upto 128mb tops and are very thin and are less likely to break. The most frequently used are compactflash 1+2 and secure digital.
Most people like to take landscape, portraits and macro photos, so look for optical zoom. Watch though, you dont want to get a top of the range camera and then find 6 months later that you dont really use it much. Digi cameras are changing, technology and pixel size fast nowadays. If this your first camera (this includes 35mm and digi), Try maybe CANON POWERSHOT A30/40/70. If you are looking to upgrade from SLR to Digital try FUJI FINEPIX S602(ZOOM OR PRO)/ S3000/5000/7000. THESE ARE THE CLOSEST YOU CAN GET TO DIGITAL SLR, AT HALF THE PRICE.
I hope this helps, and is of some use to everyone.

[Pongo]

Sound advice 7698 !

[user2]

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/produ...duct_uid=56728

[user2]

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/produ...duct_uid=62941

[wizard1974uk]

Ok,

I settled for:

FinePix A120
3.1 Megapixels
Digital Zoom
16Mb XD Card free with it.

£99.90 from Jessops.com

I'll upgrade to an optical zoom camera next year.

[Son]

Just in case you havent already purchased it http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/...357562-3486209
£50 cheaper than everywhere else and 3x optical zoom

[wizard1974uk]

Already got the camera from Jessops.

[wizard1974uk]

Ok folks I'm back again, sorry for bumping an old thread, saves opening up a new one.

I've had my Fujifilm A120 for a year now and I think the zoom sucks on it, need a good camera with an optical zoom, not just a digital zoom to take decent photos with. The camera on my Sony Ericsson K750i is ok, but I want to start taking decent nature type shots.

Tried to take a pictures of a blackbird that flies into my mum's garden everyday and the pictures turned out crap, couldn't even see the blackbird in it.

So any advice on a new camera?

I'm going to take this up as a proper hobby, far more relaxing than staring at a computer screen all day.

[slartibartfast]

Do you have a price range in mind ?

[sniper]

Canon A520 4 MP and 4x optical zoom £140 at ebuyer

[wizard1974uk]

Do you have a price range in mind ?

Ideally £150 - £200, that's if I can scrape enough cash together.

I'm a little dubious about buying from ebuyer with all of the nightmare stories circulating about them lately.

[slartibartfast]

Something like the Fujifilm Finepix S5500 might be what you're after. The 10x optical zoom should be useful for nature type photography, and most reviews tend to be fairly positive about it, here's a couple with sample images, HERE and HERE.

LXDirect appear to have it in stock for £199.

EDIT: I just noticed that DappaBastard has kindly posted a £20+free p&p discount code for LXDirect in Biggys.

[Tradeas1]

Take a lok at the Kodac Z700 plenty of pixels and optical zoom.

Try and stay away from digital zoom as this is just a cheat with electronics. Also have a look at Canon powershot S2 (is) 5.0 meg pixel and plenty of optical zoom.
Hope this helps

[slartibartfast]

Also have a look at Canon powershot S2 (is) 5.0 meg pixel and plenty of optical zoom.

The op stated his budget was around £150-200.

As the original thread is now over a year old and most of the earlier info and recommendations are going to be out of date, I'm locking it.

Please start a new thread if you want any more help.