a camera for a total amature

Mint Sauce

hey guys dont know an alful lot about about photography, but was looking for some pointers on a new camera, usally take my compact (a bulky 5yr old cypershot), or camera phone (SonyErricsion k800i) along to social events, holidays, or if i see an interesting scenic site when out and and about and have either handy i might try and take a pic for my screen saver or desktop

but now would really like some thing more suitable to get better pics when out and about, was at the rally in november, and although the pics i got weren't to bad (in my own opinion) for a 3x optical zoom, 3 megapixal, could have been better, on many ocasions, the image was blurred, or might have missed the shot, was having to take the pic a second or two before target was in shot,

living on the west coast, was trying to get some pics of the big waves we got last month, and with my 3x optical zoom, just couldn't get the big waves before they hit the coast,

now as i'm not into this seriously, and may not be using all the time, dont want to be spending to much money, was looking at something maybe between a compact and an SLR, one i had seen was the sony cypershot DSCH3, a 'big zoom compact' (marketing discription, not mine)





description

any good, anything similar you recomend

thanks in advance

5uspect

What you want is a "Bridge" camera. I'm not sure whats good tho.

Mellor

irish-stew wrote: »

something maybe between a compact and an SLR, one i had seen was the sony cypershot DSCH3, a 'big zoom compact' (marketing discription, not mine)

5uspect wrote: »

What you want is a "Bridge" camera. I'm not sure whats good tho.

The one he posted is a Bridge camera.
http://www.pixmania.com/ie/uk/1660/xx/xx/1/1/criteresn.html
Some more there

sheesh

have a look at the canon powershot A series or fuji finepix bridge they are meant to be good.
I have a canon powershot a620 myself was reasonably priced and takes nice shots in good light certain amount of manual control as well.

I wouldn't knock the sony as they got alot of their stuff from konica minolta. I used one of their bridge cameras a while back and it took great pictures.

dpreview.com is your friend.

Mint Sauce

sorry, not sure what yous mean by bridge camera, would that be similar to my description of somewhere between a compact and a SLR



had a look at the link as well

sheesh

thats exactly what it is. manual controls but a fixed lens normally have a large zoom.

Mint Sauce

sheesh wrote: »

thats exactly what it is. manual controls but a fixed lens normally have a large zoom.

cheers, was just looking it up, like i said, abit of an amature

jon1981

spend time looking at this site
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/read_opinions.asp?prodkey=sony_dsch3

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

liveforphotos

Probly the best camra for an amature wood be the Cannon 400D.

Sebzy

liveforphotos wrote: »

Probly the best camra for an amature wood be the Cannon 400D.

Or

Mint Sauce

Sebzy wrote: »

Or

mmmm, i'm not that bad

SmashingPilot

Sorry if I'm kinda hi-jacking this thread. I'm a bit of a novice myself when it comes to photography. After being in Australia, I've really got into big time now. Places such as The Great Ocean Road and the views there showed me what I could be capturing in my own way/style, whatever that is. I picked up a Sony Cybershot DSC-H9 on my way home, in Taipei.

So what would be the best for a novice to get some experience?? Should I just head out on my own and start taking pics, read up about things on the internet, take some sort of course??

I didn't think there was much point in making a new thread for this as it deals with a similar topic.

5uspect

Certainly get out and take pictures.
Aperture and Exposure priority modes are your best friends. See what these do for you when you vary the exposure of aperture.
Books and courses will be recommended by others. (Are they in the sticky?)

Mint Sauce

well got my camera today, picked up a cypershot DSCH7, manager in the shop knocked off €100 and threw in a carry case :cool:, now all i've got do to is go out and take some pics, and learn all the settings and controls, thanks for the tips guys, and hopfully some of my pics might be good enough to grace some of these pages

Borderfox

Best of luck with it, and dont forget its digital so experiment..

5uspect

Get out shooting and then post some shots for abuse!

SmashingPilot

I'm really looking forward to just getting out there and playing around with the camera. Hopefully I'll get a chance today or tomorrow. I'm located in Bray and was wondering if anyone could recommend some places to take a few shots?? Any ideas? I'm a total newbie to this. I was just thinking about maybe heading down to the beach or something.

I'm only seventeen and my Dad probably won't let me take the car off on my own to head out and none of my friends are really in to taking photos.

EDIT: One other little question. My camera came with a lens hood, think thats what its called. Should I always leave that on the camera when heading outside to take pictures??

sheesh

just go for a walk and take your camera and if you see something that might make a good shot take a picture then think about framing the shot take another picture then try a third.
continue.
take them home and take a look at them. see how the results differ from what you thought they would be. you'll get used to your camera and figure out what works wel and what does not.

5uspect

You shouldn't need to go far. Close up and macro shots of random things are always interesting. The lens hood will stop lighting entering at wide angles causing flare and other problems. Or do you mean a lens cap?

SmashingPilot

5uspect wrote: »

You shouldn't need to go far. Close up and macro shots of random things are always interesting. The lens hood will stop lighting entering at wide angles causing flare and other problems. Or do you mean a lens cap?

I just checked on the box now for the name. Its a lens hood and by what you said, looks like I should use it.

I just thought I'd link you all to my flickr page while I was at it. There are already a couple pictures which I took while I was over in Australia. I just took them with my parents little digital camera, before I bought mine on the way home.
Let me know what you all think. I know that one or two don't have names or descriptions. I'm working on that.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/thepazy/