camera recommendation

botheredbothered Manchester UK
edited December 2003 in Internet & Media
this is mrs bothered cos mr bothered has gone to work, i want to buy a digital camera for 100 can anyone recommend a good one

Comments

  • panzerkwpanzerkw New York City
    edited December 2003
    For $100...that' a toughie...maybe this one, or a cheap Kodak like this one.
  • GnomeWizarddGnomeWizardd Member 4 Life Akron, PA Icrontian
    edited December 2003
    olympus d-390 i got mine for 120 thats a good camera too!
  • botheredbothered Manchester UK
    edited December 2003
    Mr bothered here, I'm at work and have just phoned Mrs bothered. She means £100 not $, Woman eh?
    It's for one of our sons, It doesn't need to be top of the range but decent enough so he can print some.
  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited December 2003
    I dunno, bothered. I thought that the £ would've been a given, considering you guys are in England...

    Anyhow, that's something like $175-$200...

    What size did you want to print them at? 3x5, 4x6, 8x10..?
  • EnverexEnverex Worcester, UK Icrontian
    edited December 2003
    Realistically, £100 ends up being about $100 (try finding some things in each country and seeing how much they cost and you will see my point). Kodak aren't generally as good as Canon, Fuji and Olympus, so I would look for one of those 3 main makes first if you can. I rememeber seeing the Canon Powershot A40 for cheap the other day, and it takes really good pictures, so I would look into that.
  • botheredbothered Manchester UK
    edited December 2003
    panzerkw had this to say
    For $100...that' a toughie...maybe ].

    Quote-
    I dunno, bothered. I thought that the £ would've been a given, considering you guys are in England...

    Apparently not. :)

    Some useful things to look at there guys, Thanks.
  • Straight_ManStraight_Man Geeky, in my own way Naples, FL Icrontian
    edited December 2003
    For a younger person, a Nikon or Fuji, probably 3 MP range, something that was excellent but now is near end of product cycle. In this case, you need a balance of durability, decent CCD, and lense. Nikon makes some of the best lenses in the world, other than Bosch and Lomb or Zeiss for longer range panoramics adn deep zooms, and a once-highend of that would probably give you a good balance as they tend to be sturdy field cameras also. Fuji should be cheaper, and soem of those have swivel lense housings that will swivel back into a sturdy case so you do not have to deal with always partly protruding lenses and lense caps. For someone who has not gotten used to conventional good cameras, a Fuji or a camera with a slide-over lense cover is probably best.

    For someone who is used to conventional some, an older gen Olympus Camedia might be a very good thing to look at, but NO refurbs please of any of these. Too many refurbs are NOT mfr refurbed now, for that age of camera, and refurb might in truth mean USED and refinished body.

    If you have a Canon printer, the Canoin might be an option simply for the color matching functions in the software, but otherwise Canon is a mid-grade mfr. Kodak quality I hate, but it easy to transfer pics and charge if you get the OPTIONAL cradle. For easiest kind of memory for a camera for general use, get something that takes a Compact Flash module, probbaly in the 128 MB range, as those and the 64 MB modules are relatively close in per MB cost. Most of the cameras you are talking will come with a 16 or smaller module unless you buy a bundle. Plan on a camera that uses or will accept rechargeable NiMH AA batteries, and expect it to want up to 4 for decent length shotting sessions or a picky photographer who looks and looks.

    For a novice to photography totally, I would say a point and shoot tuned camera, and Fuji and Nikon have decent ones of those. If your son can contribute, consider a pooled buy of a Nikon, if not, probably Fuji is best overall buy now, unless you can find someone closing out a Camedia new in box that is of the 3 MP generation and not a hyper light mini-cam as those have limited size CCDs and will not take real good edge to edge shots.

    I cannot remember who made the S30, that is a good beginners camera, and S20 is a decent 2 MP camera. Camedia in 3000 series would be a good buy if can find still in original container and new in box, but expect to pool buy that and like what you get. Avoid anything below 2.1 MP actual for decent printing above 3x5" (say 8x14 cm about). There were some 2.3 MP intermediates in the brands I mentioned that were surprisingly good, but for those 4x6" was max for real good results.

    If your son is detail oriented and a perfectionist, get a camera with manual override settings, otherwise get a point and shoot until he proves he needs a combo camera with both options. If you folks can pool funds and get a 3 MP if he is REAL interested in photography, that would be best overall, he might then be happier for a year or two or three if you get him a Camedia. My Camedia 4000 is super, inside and out, my neighbor, whose wife got the photo (outdoors) bug likes a Nikon as she can get lenses galore later. The Camedias will hold wide angls and lightweight zoom lenses down the line if real cloes or real far is part of what he shoots most.

    Do not know enough about tastes to personalize this, so will do a shotgun thing for now.

    John.
  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited December 2003
    So bothered, what size prints does he want? And is Ebay an option?
  • Straight_ManStraight_Man Geeky, in my own way Naples, FL Icrontian
    edited December 2003
    Here's a decent link for a starting point:

    http://www.steves-digicams.com/hardware_reviews.html

    IGNORE his prices and links, review prices are orginal price, and price recommended links are sponsors and about 10-20% high. But the site has been up a long time, and the guy is an experienced photographer both digital and normal film kind. for you all, would see what http://shopper.zdnet.com/ has to say in reviews and what http://shopper.cnet.com/ has to say, then see if zdnet has a uk shopper or cnet does. That will give you an idea of close to street (real market) pricing over there for what you think is reasonable. AND, a photogragher who does digital work over there might be a good person to get to know for an idea on a real balanced camera that was introduced 2 years ago or so and was very good then.

    John.
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited December 2003
    That's a DAMN good link, Ageek. Thanks for posting that. :D
  • botheredbothered Manchester UK
    edited December 2003
    Cheers guys, Some very good pointers, no pun intended.
    I don't know what size prints he's after, probably stuff he can stick on his wall for a while. I don't want to do Ebay. I like presents to be new and have a guarantee. I'll spend an hour this morning looking around those links Ageek,
    Thanks all.
  • botheredbothered Manchester UK
    edited December 2003
    Hmmm, Nikon coolpix 2100 or Fuji A405 might suit the bill. Both 2.1MP and both around £160.
    More later.
  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited December 2003
    How much were you going to spend? There's a fairly substantial difference (£60 to be precise :D) between £100 & £160...

    You won't find anything that takes photos good enough to print for £100. £160 you probably can, though.

    On a totally off topic note:
    How do you guys insert the "£" symbol? Does it just replace the "$" or what?

    And what the hell is the ASCII code for it? I'm getting sick of copying and pasting the damn thing...
  • CammanCamman NEW! England Icrontian
    edited December 2003
    Geeky1 had this to say


    And what the hell is the ASCII code for it? I'm getting sick of copying and pasting the damn thing...

    The like "ALT+ whatever" code for it is ALT + 0163

    £ <- tested, yup, it works

    but the "ASCII code" for it would be some hexadecimal value....
  • EnverexEnverex Worcester, UK Icrontian
    edited December 2003
    The £ symbol is Shift+3 for us, where as you have # there instead. My laptop has a US keyboard and no Alt-GR button, so that sucks.
  • Straight_ManStraight_Man Geeky, in my own way Naples, FL Icrontian
    edited December 2003
    Here is a link for anyone wanting a ref and conversion chart for ASCII to decimal, ASCII to Hex, ASCII to Octal, and background on ASCII:

    http://www.jimprice.com/jim-asc.htm

    Printing this page might be worth it, it says most of what needs to be known about ASCII and Extended ASCII if you use characters foreign to your keyboard's native keystroke table a lot.

    ALT tosses the HEX pair 00 at a box that uses Extended ASCII, then the key pressed with ALT held down is added to the 00 pair tog et what comes up on screen. Note the Windows ASCII table, those of you who use Windows, but expect Linux to use the standard ASCII in US versions.

    John.
  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited December 2003
    Ok, well I just asked a friend of mine who is a camera/photography nut (He knows as much about cameras as I do about computers, possibly more).

    He recommended the Hewlett Packard Photosmart 635. Said that it was the best thing you'd be able to find for $100-200 (which is apparently basically the same as 100-200 GBP). I did mention the Nikon and the Fuji, and even though he has a Nikon 995 (I think... it's some 5 megapixel thing) he said the HP was better.

    So...
  • EnverexEnverex Worcester, UK Icrontian
    edited December 2003
    £112 from Pixmania - http://www.pixmania.com/dev/gui_web/shopping/?fuseaction=voir_fiche_article&article=32930&oldlangue=uk&oldlangueparle=uk&&srcid=37
    In Stock. £9 for next day delivery - £127.61 total ($220 - See what I meant about converting).

    EDIT: $224 US Dollars. If the USD falls anymore I have a feeling there could be a crash....
  • CammanCamman NEW! England Icrontian
    edited December 2003
    Geeky1 had this to say
    Ok, well I just asked a friend of mine who is a camera/photography nut (He knows as much about cameras as I do about computers, possibly more).

    He recommended the Hewlett Packard Photosmart 635. Said that it was the best thing you'd be able to find for $100-200 (which is apparently basically the same as 100-200 GBP). I did mention the Nikon and the Fuji, and even though he has a Nikon 995 (I think... it's some 5 megapixel thing) he said the HP was better.

    So...

    I have the HP Photosmart 320, I like it a lot, takes pretty nice/clear pictures, I'm assuming its around the same type of thing since both are 2.1mpx HP cameras
  • botheredbothered Manchester UK
    edited December 2003
    I avoid HP after my monitor fiasco. The first monitor I had was a HP, it developed a fault, which I told them was a degausing problem. I spoke to their 'monitor expert' who tried to tell me that that model didn't support degausing! Then they lost it in the post. Six weeks without a monitor.
    I don't fancy a HP.
  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited December 2003
    Bothered, I hear ya, but it's supposed to be the best camera in your price range. I give any company 3 chances anyhow. Your monitor was strike one.
  • botheredbothered Manchester UK
    edited December 2003
    I know you're right Geeky1, I know.
    I'll give it another look.
  • botheredbothered Manchester UK
    edited December 2003
    Right Geeky1, I've done it. Ordered a HP735 3.2MP and 64M memory card.
    It's guarenteed delivery on or before Christmas eve. We'll see.
    Thanks everybody for all your advice and help.
  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited December 2003
    Hope ya like it! Be sure to let us know how it goes... if it turns out that you don't like it, this guy lives 10 minutes away from me on foot (<5 by car)... I'll go over there and smack him upside the head for ya, if necessary... ;)
  • botheredbothered Manchester UK
    edited December 2003
    Cheers mate.;D ;D:thumbsup:;D;D
Sign In or Register to comment.