Looking to buy a new Camera...

[Flic]

Ok, the impulse buy bug has bitten me again! The last one resulted in my MacBook lol but I've no regrets!

Now I'm looking to buy a nice (fairly cheap, £100 - £200ish) camera, all I really want is a 'point and shoot' kinda thing with good quality results. I'm not too hot on very complicated gadgets, but a few nice features would be good.

One camera that has caught my eye is the Casio EXILIM EX-Z1050

http://www.johnlewis.com/Audio+and+...High+Performance+/3992/230415722/Product.aspx

Not ONLY because it's pink (yay! ;D) but also quite cheap for 10.1 mega pixel, no? Plus I get 12% off everything in John Lewis, so that's a bonus!

Does anyone have any experience with this camera? Is it rubbish? Any recommendations for a decent starter camera?

Any advice is, as always very appreciated.

 

[Bill_Gates]

I'd take a look at the Canon Powershot SD1000 if it's available to you in the UK (which I imagine it would be). I don't have this camera, but I have had a chance to fool around with it. IMO, Canon makes a darn fine camera and I have had various Canon's in the past that I absolutely loved.

It's a mighty fine point and shoot and priced well (although it's not pink! )

dpreview.com is a great site for camera reviews.


Now we can wait for a real camera expert to chime in...

 

[gilesjuk]

If low light is important (e.g. photos at gigs without flash) have a look at the Fuji F31.

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/fujifilmf31fd/

 

[OSURico112]

I'd second the Powershot SD1000. I have a powershot s410 as my secondary point and show and canon makes very good point and shoot cameras.

 

[macAttack]

Buy a canon. There the best. They have superior processors, sensors glass, electronics, capabilites technoligies support and prices.

 

[Ruke]

look into a fuji ps. i hear their ps cameras are really good.
mega pixles arent everything so dont make them effect your desision.

 

[fleurya]

Canon consistently gets good reviews, especially the SD series. I've heard varies responses to the Exilim cameras; not as good as Canon.

 

[Craig]

If low light is important (e.g. photos at gigs without flash) have a look at the Fuji F31.

This is the camera that I bought last month. It's brilliant. It has the Fuji SuperCCD which is the best sensor you will get in a small p&s atm. The Gadget Show (here in the UK) did a comparison of the fuji, canon and sony compact cameras. You can watch it by following the link, and scrolling down to the bottom where you can click for the video review.

http://www.fujifilm.co.uk/digital/cameras/f31/index.php?page=press_reviews&nav_link=yes

 

[MartinS]

Sony Cybershot DSC-W100. £180 from Argos.

 

[fleurya]

This is the camera that I bought last month. It's brilliant. It has the Fuji SuperCCD which is the best sensor you will get in a small p&s atm. The Gadget Show (here in the UK) did a comparison of the fuji, canon and sony compact cameras. You can watch it by following the link, and scrolling down to the bottom where you can click for the video review.

http://www.fujifilm.co.uk/digital/cameras/f31/index.php?page=press_reviews&nav_link=yes

Would you mind sharing the end results? The video cut off just at the moment towards the end when the pros were judging the photo shoot pics. I'm sure the Fuji won, but I wanted to know what they decided made the pictures better.

 

[Craig]

Well in the end they ranked the cameras,

1st: Fuji
2nd: Sony
3rd: Canon

Basically they concluded the Fuji was the best performer in all the categories they tested in (autofocus, exposure etc), especially in low light and the performance of the intelligent flash. There is a non-video review on the site aswell (see link below). It is not laid out excellently and has ads in it (which I hate) but it is readable.

http://gadgetshow.five.tv/jsp/5gsma...id=265&pageid=535&show=s5e11&section=Consumer

Edit: Also, the opinions at the end of the review:

Canon, poor image processing in low light, jpeg artifacts, under exposed and noisy.

Sony, better. But poor exposure balance, some underexposure and highlights blown in flash pictures. A little soft in areas, but better.

Fuji, good in all aspects. Some shots '...wouldn't double take at in someones's portfolio.'

 

[Odin_aa]

If I were in the market for that kind of camera, the Canon and Fuji are what I would look at just because of the sensors they use.
I would not get a Sony that only accepted their memory stick.

 

[coledog]

I have a Canon a520 in great condition that I would like to sell.
$100 anyone?? Offers...??

 

[SIDTURBO]

Don't fall into the more pixels is better trap ! You can have millions of pixels but if the lens is rubbish the image will never get to that 10 megapix sensor.

Have a look on thgis website for advice:
http://www.imaging-resource.com/

 

[fleurya]

Coledog, there's a buy/sell/trade forum if you want to sell. I don't know the rules for it though.

Thanks for the summary, Craig. I wanted to know the pros opinions since I wasn't sure about the host. Just the way he was holding the cameras with his arms extended made "noob" flash in my head. Maybe he was just using the cameras the way most users usually do. Right now I'm having trouble making the plunge into getting an SLR, but if I ever get a P&S for fun, the Fuji sounds like a good choice.

 

[Flic]

Thanks so much for the replies everyone! I'll take the time to look into all suggestions fully tomorrow when I am off work! But I really appreciate all the advice from everyone

 

[Audio.Trench]

I just picked up a Kodak EasyShare Z710 with a G600 Photo Printer/Dock yesterday, a 2gb SanDisk SD card, AND 4-year extended coverage, for around $500 tax-in (CDN)

Both devices are OS X compatible.

It's a 7.1mp camera, has adjustable aperture and shutter speeds, among other things. It's a very nice all-round camera IMO.

The camera itself is about $250 CDN.

I just printed a picture within 2 minutes of having it opened and the quality is amazing!

I'm loving this thing so far and would recommend it to any beginner/amature photographers.

 

[MacHeadCase]

I'm a Canon girl.

I don't know if this is more than what you want to pay for your camera purchase but just to let you know that Canon introduced this week the Canon PowerShot S5 IS which uses the new image processor DIGIC III.

If the improvement between the DIGIC and DIGIC II is any indication of this newer image processor version's improvement, this will be a terrific camera for sure.

Here's another article on this camera.

 

[Stretch]

Hey, what happened to the S4 IS?

 

[MacHeadCase]

Hmm. Somebody dropped the ball on that one.

LOL