Digital Cameras:

[Spastik_Roach]

Hey everybody.

Soon i'm gunna be in the market for a digital camera and I want your guys opinions on what I should get. My Budget is NZ 500 dollars (Preferably a bit under) which is 286 Euro, 356 US Dollars and 189 pounds.

I've got my eye on this because it has alot of zoom (My mum wants lots of zoom and its got to appeal to her) and it seems to be a generally good camera.

Any suggestions or opinions would be appreciated.

Thanks.

[McReis]

Always go for a Sony, no matter what they tell you. Sony's are great, complete and easy to work with.
Technically they don't seem that much appart form others, but when you a see the pics... it just can't be compared...

[Spastik_Roach]

http://www.noelleeming.co.nz/webapp/...03-10066-10073

This one is in my budget... zoom doesn't seem very good though...

[Matt]

Originally Posted by McReis

Always go for a Sony, no matter what they tell you. Sony's are great, complete and easy to work with.
Technically they don't seem that much appart form others, but when you a see the pics... it just can't be compared...

As far as automatics go, I completely agree.

[nopassn]

Originally Posted by McReis

Always go for a Sony, no matter what they tell you. Sony's are great, complete and easy to work with.
Technically they don't seem that much appart form others, but when you a see the pics... it just can't be compared...

I agree also. I've used several canon and kodaks, as well as a few other brands... I've owned 2 Sony cameras (DSC-S50 and DSC-P7) and used 3 other Sony cameras (Mavica CD-500, F717, F828) and I've got to say - the only camera that I find takes better (overall) pics is my Nikon D100 (which is SUBSTANTIALLY more camera) - bottom line: go with the Sony, you won't be dissappointed.

[Spastik_Roach]

I'll make sure I take a good look at all Sony's...

[VtecMini]

Spastik, that Fuji that you're looking at is the one I have, I think it's great. The only thing is that it only comes with 16mb of memory. Which as I'm sure you're aware, is sod all. The camera only accepts Fuji memory, which costs around twice as much as an equivalent sized SD card.

I think it's a pretty great camera for the money, it doesn't do stupidly huge resolutions, but then I don't think they're really necessary, 4 million pixels is enough for anybody. It is quite bulky and doesn't come with a bag to put it in, so you'll either have to put the neckstrap (supplied) on and have it dangling round your neck, or have a backpack or something to keep putting it in. I'd take a picture of mine with something next to it for scale... but I can't actually think how...

Here's a few pics I've taken with it. They're not great, but that's more down to me than the camera. A few came out rather nice.

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/p.tyler3/stmsl/
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/p.tyler3/classic/

[Spastik_Roach]

Damn only accepts Fuji memory, that sucks

[McReis]

Originally Posted by Spastik_Roach

http://www.noelleeming.co.nz/webapp/...03-10066-10073

This one is in my budget... zoom doesn't seem very good though...

That one has the problem of having a digital zoom and not analogic, I guess.
Try to find a store wich has an older model. Models that are no longer in production. It's usual to find them here. They get cheaper but most have Carl Zeiss lens.
Anyway, other makes dont seem to be keeping sony's pace. But if you think of another make, then Olympus is good.
I'd advise you a Sony P93 if it wasn't out of your budget. It costs a bit more, but it's a very, very good machine.

[McReis]

Originally Posted by nopassn

I agree also. I've used several canon and kodaks, as well as a few other brands... I've owned 2 Sony cameras (DSC-S50 and DSC-P7) and used 3 other Sony cameras (Mavica CD-500, F717, F828) and I've got to say - the only camera that I find takes better (overall) pics is my Nikon D100 (which is SUBSTANTIALLY more camera) - bottom line: go with the Sony, you won't be dissappointed.

What do you think of the F828? Your Nikon is a very serious machine...

[nopassn]

if you'd like to see some pics taken with my cameras visit my website: www.rjdigital.net (a shameless plug, but it has a good selection of pics of different subjects in a variety of lightning situations)

[Matt]

Originally Posted by McReis

What do you think of the F828? Your Nikon is a very serious machine...

I think for the same money, you should step up to a fully manual. The F828 tries to look and act like a manual, but strips you of that oh-so-important control.

[Matt]

Originally Posted by nopassn

if you'd like to see some pics taken with my cameras visit my website: www.rjdigital.net (a shameless plug, but it has a good selection of pics of different subjects in a variety of lightning situations)

And it still doesn't have my goddamn MG pic on it!!!

[McReis]

Originally Posted by Matt

I think for the same money, you should step up to a fully manual. The F828 tries to look and act like a manual, but strips you of that oh-so-important control.

For the kind of use that a total amatteur does, you can't ask for more.
And a manual sometimes doesn't have little gizmos of the automatics that help you to get it right all the time. And the 828 is manual enough for my photo knowledge...
I'm happy with it, and only wanted to know the oppinion of a conoisseur like nopassn. Not yours!

[nopassn]

the 828 is a serious as it gets for a manu-matic, would-be-dSLR... but if you want/need/desire the full control that is offered with a dSLR, you might as well get one, as the cost jump to dSLR from the 828 is not too huge. Especially when you are already spending that much money... but, the 828 is a nice-ass camera... I've been thinking about canning my Sony-P7 as a back-up and getting the 828... but it a lot of money for a "back-up" camera...