What Digital Camera

goods

ok so i know there has been a few similar threads but here goes

im buying a digital camera, my first one, just for general use, if i get more into it then i will buy a better camera,
iv got about 300 euro to spend, (want to buy it in argos as iv got a voucher for €250) anyway any sugestions as to what i should buy ?
any particular brands i should stay away from ?

Morlar

I really dont know about non slr cameras so cant help on that there are bound to be others here who will have more info on that.

Dont mean to thread spoil but considering there is one of these kinds of threads at least every other day perhaps we can have a sticky for the forum which has camera brand/model recommendations for certain price ranges ?

elven

Morlar wrote:

I really dont know about non slr cameras so cant help on that there are bound to be others here who will have more info on that.

Dont mean to thread spoil but considering there is one of these kinds of threads at least every other day perhaps we can have a sticky for the forum which has camera brand/model recommendations for certain price ranges ?

Ditto... without being rude, it's kind of difficult to say, well, we made an attempt to help out answering this question the last six times someone posted it so try reading those threads instead...

A sticky that's really obviously for basic p&s review sites and reccommendations might be handy because as far as I can tell, all that stuff is in the existing one but nobody seems to read it.

peter1892

€300....compact for general use, something like a Canon Powershot A520/A530 would do the job. the Canon IXUS range is good too, less in the way of manual control but it sounds like you won't really need it.

The question has arisen a few times recently - I'll just point you to www.dpreview.com & www.steves-digicams.com for reviews of the various cameras out there, if you're buying in Argos then check out their catalogue to get an idea of prices.

antifuse

Ok, some basic words of wisdom to live by:

1) Megapixels aren't that important, especially for a first digital camera. You're not going to be making 16x20 prints from these images, so 4 megapixels (if you can find it - seems most of even the most basic P&S cameras are up to 5 megapixels now) is plenty. You don't need an 8 megapixel point and shoot, you really don't.

2) Try to stick with the traditional camera makers. Canon, Nikon, Fuji, and Olympus, even Kodak are all pretty reliable, and Sony is making a pretty good name for themselves (hell, Nikon uses Sony chips in their DSLRs!). You're better off avoiding brands like HP or Dell.

3) The internet is your friend. Do a google search for "[Camera model] review" inserting the camera model you are interested in, and read some reviews. You won't really care about the details, so generally skip to the end of the review and check the pros and cons listed.

4) Memory card formats. There are way too many of these. Get something that uses either SecureDigital (SD) or CompactFlash (CF). Most of the other formats are proprietary and only used with one or two brands, which makes it a pain if you want to upgrade in the future.

goods

cheers peter. it seems the cannons are quite popular alright , might go for one of those so

leinsterman

Hi,

I know you have a voucher for Argos ... but they are not the best for prices, I can give an example from personal experience quite a few years ago I bought an early verison of the Canon IXUS in New york for around €300 ... the same camera in Argos was "on sale" for €699 ... this is pretty crazy stuff ... but boy was I happy when I saw this ...

All I'm saying is be careful to shop around on the internet first. Even if you are buying in Argos ... at least make an informed purchase by checking the model somewhere else for reference prices ... beware that model numbers vary sometimes from US to Europe .. e.g. the Canon "Ixus" brand is not used in USA. Here are some reputible sites where you can cross referenece the Argos price -

USA - www.bhphotovideo.com
Germany (usually cheapest in EU) - www.technikdirekt.de
UK - www.jessops.com

The tips given in the previous thread are good. But you also need to think what usage you will be making the camera. Answer these questions -

What is the primary usage for which will you need the camera ?
e.g. do you need it to be pocket sized so you can carry it around town or is it more for holiday snaps and therefore something a bit larger is good. Nikon make some very find pocket sized compacts in their

Do you need a zoom ?
most compacts cameras do at least 3:1 ... this is fine for general work

Where will you be using the camera ?
Some of the compact Nikons take AA batteries ... this is useful if you plan to use the camera for extended periods of time where it is not easy to charge it ... in my case I need this occasionally because I travel to remote places. Alternatively the Canons (which are generally better but overpriced) use proprietary batteries which are expensive if you are buying a spare. You can get cheapo black market batteries on ebay though.

What features do you need ?
Most of use SLR users buy our camera for the flexibility of interchangable lenses and manual features for greater artiistic control ... This is completely different for compact cameras here you will find a bewildering array of features such as video, shooting modes like sepia, burst mode, panoramic mode ... beware in you price bracket most camera have very little manual control, so you will be very reliant on the camera making all the decision for you ... which is not always good.

What size prints will you be making ?
This affects the number of pixels you need ... standard size does not need major pixels.

Don't forget the memory supplied with the camera is generaly abysmal ... you will need to budget ofr a case and memory separately. I also recommend getting the biggest you can afford.

Anyway that's my two cents.