[Babette & Andy]

I'm after your advise:-

To join the 21st century, make it far easier to share photo's of our little family and not waste soooo much money on development costs of photo's that turn out to be out of focus :wah - we've finally decided to buy a digital camera :yes

But as we know nothing about them, and don't want to be 'conned' by crafty salesmen telling us about features we simply 'must have', we could really do with some advise from you digital camera users out there.

We're definately not looking to spend more than £200, and aren't looking to win any photograhic prizes. Just need a fairly easy to use camera, that will allow zoom in/out, and upload onto a PC.

Any suggestions and or tips to what we must look out for are much appreciated :nice1

Babette

[marcia]

I have a sony dsc-p93 5.1 megapixels with a 3x optical zoom. It was recommended to me by a computer buff - i am no photograper and only have the basic technical knowledge of these things but it is really easy to use and puting photos onto the computer is really easy and copying to a disc too. A good website to check out prices online is

http://www.pixmania.co.uk

I got my camera and extra memory card etc much cheaper there than anywhere else.

Will let you have a play with it at the meeting in July if you want!

[Bubbles]

I agree with Marcia.

You wont and can't go far wrong with anything SONY. They're dead easy to use and you should be more than happy with the results. The pc interface is USB and the memory sticks are cheap as chips, when you consider how much you can store on them.

Welcome to the 21st century.

John

[clg]

I have to chime in I have a Sony and it was OK, the color was not all that great and I have a friend with the same camera who had it break soon after buying it. I would not buy another Sony still camera but I do have a video camera from them I like as well as laptop I am writing this on and various AV equipment.

I now own a Nikon which I love (but is very pricey) I would suggest looking at Cannon they make very good cameras.

[Dazza]

I have a cannon A85, great camera with loads of features and takes brilliant photos. It got a 85% rating with no bad points in a recent digital camera magazine. You can also buy loads of extras ie. filters, macro lenses, underwater cases etc.

Will be bringing it on the 9th if you want to have a play(that's the camera I mean :laugh ) Will also bring the mag if I can find it.

[xanctus]

As I believe at this moment, Canon is the best for digital imaging.
Even though, my digi. cam is SONY :laugh :laugh
however, in the long run when I buy the 35mm Digi SLR, I would definately go with Canon.

Make sure when u buy digi. cam it has (at least/minimum) of 3.0 or up Mega Pixels.

[kiwidebs]

We've got a Canon S70 which is really easy to use and has great results. I have no idea how much they are selling for - but seeing as its a few months old I'm guessing they will have gone down dramatically in price since we got ours. My friend has the Canon S60 (previous model) which she also loves and finds easy to use.

Debs

[Timbo]

I have a Minolta Dimage S414 (discontinued I think). It cost well under £200 and came with software etc and 64mb CF card. Very easy to use and as far as I am concerned, great results. It is 4 meg with x4 optical zoom plus another x4 digi zoom. A bit on the large side compared to some I have seen, and maybe a tad heavy as well. But it suits my purposes. I got it from empire direct on line for £179

[markkellaway]

Hi Babette,

If it were me I would stick with the Canon, for £200 you should be able to get something like the A95 (5 MP, 3x optical zoom).

I've just had a look and Pixmania:
http://www.pixmania.co.uk/uk/uk/104558/art/canon/powershot-a95.html
have the above for £175. Anne has an A75 (3 MP) and it is excellent. The advantage with the Canon's is that they use Compact flash memory, which is at the moment the most cost effective. Pixmania again do a deal with a 256 MB CF card:
http://www.pixmania.co.uk/uk/uk/110090/art/canon/powershot-a95-compact-fla.html

Hope this helps. :P

Mark. :P

[Diny]

Mark and I each have a Fuji Finepix 4800 zoom. Speaking for myself, I'm certainly NO camera buff but I get some fantastic pics just by aiming and pressing. It also has a video function which will take up to 80 seconds of footage with sound.

I understand that these actual cameras are discontinued and have been replaced by a newer version.

Can't speak for any other makes and models but we're big fans of the Fuji Finepix cameras and can say (beg headedly) that we've had some brilliant results.

Happy shopping.

Diny

[AliJax]

Babbette & Andy, Everyone has posted the same as I would recommend. We have a Canon A85mpixel 3X optical zoom, and its great.

Bought from Pixmania way back before we came out here and its totally reliable.

If your coming through Singapore, there are heaps of techy shops there, you may also be able to pick up the camera, additional memory cards & batteries (4x AA)much cheaper! :nice1

See the pictures i took in the Lounge of the Coromandel - with my Canon Powershot A85.

[Biddy]

Go with Canon - brilliant.

Best piece of electrical eqt I've EVER bought. :clap
I have the Ixus 500 which is idiot proof! Small, 5m pixels, good quality and easy to use.
Get whatever Ixus you can for under £200 and you won't be dissapointed!
Mike

[Babette & Andy]

Thank you all so much for your input :clap :clap much more valuable to me than just having a sales person in the shop trying to sell me the latest model with the highest commission (I know, they're just good at their jobs :mrgreen: )

Will check the links provided and make a choice within the next few weeks. Thanks for offers of 'having a play with it on the 9th' ;) but think we may have bought one by then.

Cheers again
Babette

[Rimbo]

Mine is the older version of AliJax's camera (A60 @ only 2MP).
I bought it from Amazon.co.uk on offer for £100 cos it was end of line and had been superseeded by new models, A70, A85 etc
i would do as you would with anything else new and technical, buy the one that has been on the shelf for 12 months at a discount, everybody else has tested it for you and your getting it at half price of the latest oki cokey 2000 model!
Agree with Ali, 4aa batteries for cheapness and ease (although heavy), great camera..... you've seen the results ;)

John :cool

[Jon]

My camera is over the £200 limit, but I'm give it a mention anyway. I've got a Fujifilm F810, which is brilliant - its 6.3 megapixels and a 4 optical zoom, very easy to use (which helps a great deal).

Its perhaps not something you'll be looking at, but if anyone's got a little higher price range I'd recommend it!!

Cheers
Jon

[jo b]

Fuli finepix F401 is mine too was £250+ but a great camera.

Jo

[xanctus]

Oh, if anyone interested in buying digital cameras or other electronic stuffs; you might want to check this www.cnet.com to see reviews.

[SteveR]

I always used to buy my cameras and stuff from here http://www.7dayshop.com/catalog/default.php?cPath=777
they are based in Jersey or Guernsey and were the cheapest around and never had any problem with delivery. check their price when you find the camera you like. I have a Fuji s5000 and I highly recomend it although it is a SLR style and so is larger than your usual pocket size but it takes brilliant photo's and has a large zoom and attachments for different filters or wide/telephoto lens. I think the latest equivilant is the S5500 and its under £200.

[Timbo]

Just seen advertised, Fuji fine pix x10. 6.3 mega pix, x3 zoom and a 2.5 inch screen. Video caprure with sound etc. etc.
www.dabs.com selling for £219.

Also, worth a read if you are still unsure of the gizmos, Junes issue of computer active mag has an easy to understand introduction to digital cameras.

[PhilDanger]

Hello

Boots have 2 very special offers on at the moment for Canon and Nikon cameras - I'm considering the Nikon myself.

http://www.boots.com/shop/product_list_new_template.jsp?&classificationid=10 30916&slmRefer000&firstIndex=21


PhilDanger

[sweetpea]

I just bought a Fuji FinePix A345 for US$179. My main criteria were <US$200, 4 or so megapixels, optical+digital zoom, big LCD screen, easy interface. Too many extras and I just get confused and frustrated!

I don't see any need for more than 4 megapixels, really.

I'm very happy with it so far. It was easy to figure out right out of the box (who needs pesky directions!).

Editing to add: bored at work, so I looked it up on dabs.com £120 incl. VAT. :nice1

[Babette & Andy]

Well we've gone and done it today: -

We're the proud owners of a Cannon Powershot A85, as recommended by many of you.

Got it for an absolute bargain at Argos. They say the RRP was £229.99, in the sale last week they reduced it to £169.99 and today it was reduced even further to £149.99 including a leather camera case for free. We also had £15 worth of Nectar points, so got ourselves a wonderful new 'toy' for £135 :P :P

All we need now is a new PC/Laptop to able to upload pictures onto :laugh

Thanks again all, for all the advice given.

Babette

[Timbo]

I am considering upgrading to a Panasonic Lumix DMCFZ5b, 5meg with x 12 OPTICAL zoom. It also has the new panasonic auto stabiliser system to counteract any hand movement. best price I have found so far is £272, so I think I will wait a while.
It comes highly commended by a guy who uses one for semi prof. shots.

[pleccy2000]

I love my canon IXUS 30 - £135 @ ebuyer.com