What Digital Camera for £450?

[mauvais]

Cheers MM - something else to consider!!!

Sorry if this is a stupid question though, but surely, if the DSLR presents you with a "truer" image, that is surely what you want over something that has been digitally messed with?

Or am I missing the point?

Yeah, it's a very good thing - but what it gives you is a weaker image. It's easy to take a very subtle and almost watery image with a dash of colour, and make it bright. It's not so easy to do the reverse - a bit like painting; you can always add more, but you can't take it away.

It's not so much a question of it being "truer"; it's more a question of flexibility. The camera doesn't know what the subject is so it's safer to take a picture that you can then decide what to do with yourself. This means it's possible to take say a wintry scene and keep it very low saturation but nice and crisp, or really bring out the colours like Velvia yet keep it a touch softer.

In exchange for this flexibility, you have to take a little bit more control. Note also that 'true' images are often pretty flat, but get made more contrasty and colourful by the camera, photographer or printer.

 

[editor]

Mainly for "travelling" and holiday shots - landscapes and buildings and shots of interesting places/events

All of the cameras mentioned (dSLR and compact) so far should give you enough resolution for reasonably large sized prints.

I would suggest that size might be important: while a D50 may produce better quality pictures, the quality won't be that noticeable in many situations and it's a lot, lot bigger and bulkier than something like the Canon S80/Lumix LX1 digicams so you may find yourself not taking it as many places - and thus miss some great shots!

FYI, the vast majority of shots in the urban75 photo galleries were all taken on digital compacts...

 

[The Groke]

I would suggest that size might be important

FYI, the vast majority of shots in the urban75 photo galleries were all taken on digital compacts...

We do have a Canon Ixus as well, for those "keep in your pocket at all times" moments!

MM - thanks for the explaination.


Cheers very much to all of you knowledgable Urbanites - I will update this thread when the purchase has been made and let you all know how we get on!

 

[The Groke]

The Deed is done!

Well.......

We received our vouchers from Jessops and we are now the proud new owners of...........

A Nikon D50 kit along with an additional Tamron 70-300mm lens.

We tested a range of them: The Canon Eos 350 was nice and compact, but I thought the viewfinder seemed small and unclear compared to the Nikon.

At one point we wavered and were actually on the verge of dropping the SLR plan and buying the Canon Pro Shot 1......we weren't sure if we had the money to invest in more lenses and kit to give the Nikon the range and functionality which is standard in a "pure" digital camera and the Canon was a really nice bit of kit.

After a long chat with the store manager and a brief break for coffee and discussion, we came back and realised that the Nikon just felt right.

We knew it had excellent image quality, great battery life and all the other things that we had been accustomed to in our old Canon and expected to get even more of this time round.

Aside from these points and along with the excellent focus and shot time and the huge flexability the DSLR gives you, one thing swayed us more than anything:

Unlike all the others, it felt like using a "big-boys" camera!



Sounds stupid I know, but in a time where it is probably quite hard to buy a shite digital Camera these days - especially in that price range, the fact that when I used it I felt like I did when I was 10 and my dad would give me a go on his expensive SLR swung the vote.


Now all we have to do is learn the real skills behind proper photography!

Hopefully you will see some worthy efforts on here at some point.

Ed, MM & Chris - thanks so much for your sage advice - it really helped give me confidence in what we were buying.

 

[chriswill]

Brilliant,

Sounds like you got a good deal.

Now all you need is to get out and get inspired.

 

[GarfieldLeChat]

What does it take? - we already have 1x1Gb and 1x512 compact flash for the defunct Canon

go for the 350 d it's interface is one you'll be familar with and it's simply a better more robust camera mine was recent twatted by a by trunchion and only has a graze on the filter to show for it although the editor managed to make it blur that was a rare occurence and might have been more to do with his state than the camera's!! a mate of mine had a d70 and it fell from a height of about 4 inches on to a sofa (from the sofa arm) and that was it twatted, expensive repair job...

having played with both the d70 and the d50 i'm still not conviced the interface is that great and they seem limited in their functions i might have had to spend a little more time with them but they didn't feel as nice i dunno why?

 

[editor]

....and only has a graze on the filter to show for it although the editor managed to make it blur that was a rare occurence and might have been more to do with his state than the camera's!! :

That was art, mate.



The Groke: you got a great camera. Now get out there and start experimenting and taking some pics!
Garf: the Canon and Nikon are both great cameras and both are capable of great results!

 

[GarfieldLeChat]

That was art, mate.



The Groke: you got a great camera. Now get out there and start experimenting and taking some pics!
Garf: the Canon and Nikon are both great cameras and both are capable of great results!

i'm sure i just couldn't get the one i was given to do what i wanted to with out a great deal of faffing (the side effect of being given a camera to try with no manual as much as anything) i couldn't change the iso as quickly as i wanted or the a-dep

as for art ... with a little help from optic verves maybe you are right...



edited to add tho there are a good deal to many arms than i would like to see in a photo there

 

[sleaterkinney]

I was going to post up a new thread but I might tag along the end of this one. I'm looking to get a compact digital, <£300 and I'm strictly a point and shoot merchant, I had a minolta SLR last but it was just too bulky to carry around, I tend to take lots of shots of landscapes and buildings.

 

[chriswill]

A great site for reviews of any make and model you can think of is


dpreview

Yous should check out editors thread on a couple of compact tests also.......


but i cant find it.

 

[sleaterkinney]

I know, but it's all gobbledegook to me, I think I'm looking at the Sony P200 or the Fuji F10. Are either of these cameras suitable for landscape stuff?. They don't come with usb ports do they?

 

[editor]

I know, but it's all gobbledegook to me, I think I'm looking at the Sony P200 or the Fuji F10.

The Fuji F10 is fine for landscapes and has exceptional resolution.

It connects to your PC via your USB port (although Fuji have complicated the process unnecessarily with a stupid 'break out box').

It's a great camera though and won European Camera of the Year earlier.

 

[editor]

Here's what a user had to say about the Ricoh on dpreview.com

i really enjoy using the camera. its nice having the convenience of a compact camera after years of luggin' around a SLR (which still has its place). Couple things i've noticed in the last few weeks of use: (not in any particular order!)

1. build quality and handling - this is how a compact camera should be built! feels good and controls are exactly where they should be. i especially like the configurable adjust button/dial.

2. power on/focus noise - the power on/off noise is not really all that bad, its the focus that drives thats a bit on the noisy side. in some situations, it could definetly be a bit distracting.
3. metering - works surprisingly well. area and spot work as they should

4. white balance - inconsistent. i usually set it to the presets or use the detail adjustment (great feature)

5. screen/viewfinder - i wish i bought the optional viewfinder hood. its a bit difficult to see in bright sunlight (especially trying to determin if exposure is correct).

6. focus - multi mode works great, spot is a bit slower (for some odd reason). snap is a great feature and seems to work well (limited use). the infinity would be great, but everything that i shoot in this mode comes out fuzzy. all i can think of is that the camera is focusing a little past or short of infinity. bummer. it would also be great to be able to move the focus point around in spot focus mode, but this only seems to be possible in macro mode.

7. battery - i love the fact that you can use AAA's in situations where you have run out.

8. shot to shot times and lag - shutter lag is a non-issue. In JPEG mode, i've never run into the buffer (even at 1 frame/2 sec); its as fast as i'd ever need it to be. but the raw performance is well... useless. takes 13 seconds to write before i can take the next shot.

 

[sleaterkinney]

The Fuji F10 is fine for landscapes and has exceptional resolution.

It connects to your PC via your USB port (although Fuji have complicated the process unnecessarily with a stupid 'break out box').

It's a great camera though and won European Camera of the Year earlier.

I tell you what, you've got to love amazon, I ordered the camera after this and it was on my doorstep the next morning. I'll have a play with it over the weekend - It's so much smaller than my SLR as well and no fiddling about with films.