Camera recommendation please

[Punch]

MOH would like a handy digital camera from Santa so I was wondering if anyone has recently bought one and would care to comment?

 I doubt if I could stretch to a Pro SLR type but somewhere midway between the cheaper boxy type and an SLR would be good. Simplicity of use is a MUST.

 

[Alan Zoff]

When I was looking around, I found this review website helpful.  http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/fujifilms6000fd/    The link will take you to the Fuji S6000 (S6500 in Europe) review but you will find several other camera reviews from there. If you don't want to read all the technical stuff, choose the conclusion page from the drop down menu.

[mossie]

We bought a Canon Powershot SD 850 IS  recently (also somtimes called an IXUS850 but not in France I think).  Now I am no expert, but not a complete beginner either and I really love my camera and it is soooo easy to use and I get lovely pictures from it.  I did quite a bit of trawling around on the internet looking at stuff and was quite overwhelmed with the amount of choice.  So then I narrowed my choice down (fairly arbitrarily) to three or four models and looked for reviews of them.  This one consistently came out good.  Anyway, we paid about 315 euros for it which I believe was a very good price however I couldn't recommend the company we bought it from (Photocaz. fr)  they were a nightmare to deal with, you could never get them on the phone and they took about 6 weeks to deliver it (without a word of explanation for the delay), despite the fact that they advertised it as delivered within 2-4 days.  They also took the money off our credit card the day we ordered.  We ended up ringing the credit card company (which is a feat in itself to actually find a person to talk to) and we were on the point of claiming our money back from the credit card company when the camera arrived.  I hope this is helpful.

[kimg]

i would suggest you set a budget and then look at whats in that range.

go into the shop and feel them and then go to the net, look at a dedicated site such as jessops or 7dayshop.com and research futher.

theres not much to choose, panasonic is a maket leader in the mid range, and looks trendy or for a dslr canon or nikon.

ignore digital zoom, check whats the latest media card to use and look for the costs of those cards as you will either not be supplied with a memory card or it will be of small capacity.

remember its unlikely to come with a case..

i have a sony which is easy to use

hope it helps

kim

[David_Janet]

You would probably get more useful recommendations if we knew what your budget was.

David

[Russethouse]

Cannon Ixus 60 works for me - and would probably be even better if I really concentrated on all the options.......

[Frederick]

I use a Sony Cybershot 5 mega pixel..it also has a  long running video facility that is very good  should you want it .

[Le Chant]

Firstly, set a budget. Then think about buying the camera that offers the largest number of megapixels. Don't consider anything under 4 megapixels if you want to print off decent quality enlargements. The higher the number of megapixels, the better quality image at a large size you'll be able to print. As for memory cards, buy the highest space memory you can afford. It's worth it. Otherwise you have the choice of forever downloading to your pc, or compromising on image quality to fit more onto the memory card.

The Fujifilm Finepix S6500 is a fine camera with plenty to recommend it. It's like an SLR in looks & feel, although you're stuck with just the one lens. They go for reasonable prices these days. Optical zooms these days are quite good, and if you have a camera that offers something around 10x optical zoom, then it's worth having. Videos when taken on these digital cameras soak up the memory, so they're only any good when you don't have a dedicated video camera with you. Don't worry if the camera you buy doesn't have this facility, you possibly won't ever use it anyway.

Hope that helps.

[Rose]

My OH bought me a new camera as a 'moving to france' present... gave it to me the day we left the UK.  He has a large digital SLR camera which whilst very good isn't exactly convenient... so it doesn't get used a great deal. 

My new camera is a Sony Cyber-shot DSC-N2 and I love it. 

It's very small and easily fits into my pocket.  It has a great big screen, almost the size of the camera, lots of functions, takes fantastic pictures, I think it cost around £200 and I would recommend it 100%  [:D]

 

[Nearly Retired (I am now)]

My 10 cents worth.

Dillions of megapixels are of no use whatsoever if you haven't got a decent lens. I would stick to manufacturers of real cameras not those from electronics firms. Canon though is an exception. What do Sony, Panasonic etc. know about photographic lenses? Using this approach you can soon cut down on the enormous choice out there and start to home-in on something desirable.

[raindog]

[quote user="Nearly Retired"]

 I would stick to manufacturers of real cameras not those from electronics firms. Canon though is an exception. What do Sony, Panasonic etc. know about photographic lenses?

[/quote]

I have a Sony Cyber-shot - a superb little camera.

It's fitted with a Carl Zeiss lense. [;-)]

[Pierre ZFP]

I have a Centron which is actually a Leica in different clothes.  Leica built it for Minox a couple of years ago but then they had a bust up and sold them off cheap.  Got it at Jessops - superb.

I'm just about to buy one of my boys a Fuji S9600 as I think it does everything he wants it to.  Now here's the thing,

Amazon UK want 202 pounds (call it 300 euros)

Amazon DE want 416 euros

Amazon FR want 501 euros !!!!

not rip-off Britain this time I think!!

[Le Chant]

Sony, Panasonic et al do know a thing or two about decent lenses, as well as the electronics that wrap around them. Don't forget that Sony & Panasonic were the frontunners in small

zoom lens manufacturing when they first brought out video cameras. If what you're after is a cheap-ish, but still decent camera, then there's no problem whatsoever in buying a Sony, Panasonic or whatever. They're well worth the dosh.

[Gemini_man]

Hi Punch,

my opinion: I'm on my second Fuji digital now (F30) and I absolutely love the picture quality and ease of use. I love taking photos but can't be bothered with settings so I just use AUTO and have always been delighted with the results interior shots and exterior. The same for my daughter, she is on her second Fuji also. However, as repair costs for out of warranty digitals are usually prohibitive I would recommend taking out the Fuji extended warranty for a further 2 years at a cost of some £30 odd depending on the model - peace of mind even if a little expensive. The UK price tends to be quite a lot cheaper then the Euro price but I would buy wherever the price is best - Amazon Uk and Amazon France tend to be good guides. Extended guarantee is available on the Fuji UK site and is taken out after you have taken delivery of the camera and needs a UK address. Repairs or replacements have to be made to a UK address. Heres the link for Fuji Digital:      http://fujifilm.co.uk/consumer/digital        then go "Advanced Compact" or "Fun and Easy" according to your budget. One further comment: beware the real light weight cameras in my opinion - we men need something to get hold of and not just a wafer thin matchbox.  The only other digital I have tried was a Canon and it just didn't feel right for me, too clumpy all together !!!

Good luck [:)]

[Nearly Retired (I am now)]

Punch,

As you can see we're all right and we're all wrong. It depends on what you want / need. Try:

 http://www.whatdigitalcamera.com/buyingadvice/p40_choosingacamera.pdf

[dwmcn]

Ours is an Olympic that we bought several years ago and we are happy with it, although I wouldn't mind a few more pixels. We bought it because my old SLR is an Olympus OM1, which is now kept as an antique, and because we liked the look of it. As somebody else said, don't get digital zoom. There is plenty of choice.

[manchemec]

canon sure shot good-reliable camera wont break the bank.slr top end canon eos but thats a lot of money.