To buy or not to buy a digital camera?

PH01

I'm thinking about buying a digital camera but I'm not usre. My big concern is about resolution, as well as the price and the additional hardware I'll have to get - a big expenditure for something that just takes pictures.
I'm looking for some thing above 3m pixels which I'm told will allow me to print pretty good photos up to A4 size.
But I'm not sure. I presently got a pretty good point a click camera and a scanner. And I'm pretty handy with the old scanner and photos from film produce the best resolution.

So should I buy?

Figment

Yes buy!

I got a sony cybershot 3.5megapixels and i love it. It frees you up a lot when you know that you dont have to pay for developing. And you get instant access to what you have taken. The resolution is equal and better to what i used to get from my scanner and when i got them developed to cd.

Bad points:
Takes too long to focus and gives out a strong annoying red light (to help it focus) that often makes people blink for the photo.

Only a 16mb card. Im looking out for a 128 its badly needed.

Cant adjust the exposure.

price: 500

leeroybrown

Digital Camera's are great so long as you don't want to projuce an actual printed photograph from your shots.

They're perfect for web-shots, e-mailing pics and good quality images for storage on your PC tho. You'll save a load of money on development costs that way.

If you just want to take some simple snaps then you could get a very good value for money camera.

If you want better quality then get 3.5 Megapixles or above as this will provide close to normal picture quality at high resolutions.

Mr. Fancypants

As Figment says, the freedom that a digital camera brings you is amazing. You can take pictures whenever you want, never worrying about the cost of film. However, If you are printing your own prints the cost of a decent printer and inks/paper can be quite expensive. There are plenty of places that do prints on the web for a decent price though, and you only have to go get the pictures you *want* printed.

I have a sony F707 and it has the red light to help focus also Figment. It only does it when it is in auto focus and in a low light condition though. If you switch to manual focus you can get rid of it. Ebay has far and away the best prices for 128MB sticks, only got a 16MB stick with mine too and its a 5 Megapixel as you can imagine it doesnt last long. Picked up a 128MB for about €80 about 8 months ago.

leaves2ooo

bit off topic but....

What websites do you use to get your digitial pics printed?
Are they all in the UK or are there any local sites?

Do any of the highstreet photo-outlets print digital pics at a resonable price?

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Mr. Fancypants

I used www.photobox.ie and was impressed with their service. Good prices if you are getting more than 20 prints too. However, i then went out and got meself a Canon S900 and can print as close to photo quality prints as you can get really....
The paper that works best with it (Canon Photo Paper Pro) is a bit of a pain to get your hands on though.

Samba

any film/photo shop will develop them for you, but most of them do not have the equipment on site so they send it away for developing, prices are based on quantity and resolution.


I have had prints made before and i was damn impressed with them.

If you want to produce A4 size prints then go with a 3MP camera, but if you want normal to medium sized ones, just go with a 2mp, personally I have never used over 1024x768 as I find it too big and I have no use for it.

deezoid

The Fuji FinePix S304 is a nice affordable digi-cam. Its 3.2 megapixel output with a 6xoptical zoom. Its probably one of the best in its price range _ E585. I also have a FinePix 1400 (which is about 3 years old) which I have on occasion used the pics for magazine shots ( a little ropey colorwise - but still passable at a small size) and its only 1.2 meagpix!

Vexorg

-> Leaves2000

Lots of camera shops are offering digital printing now.

Pixels (off Henry Street) www.pixels.ie do 50 (7*5) for Eur20

Spectra Photo ... www.spectra.ie alos do digi printing...

Quality from good originals is virtually impossible to tell from a 35mm photo.. to me anyhow.....

V.

PH01

Originally posted by Figment

Takes too long to focus

So, what do you do if you want to take action shots?

I was thinking about getting a Sony CyberShot 3.2m pixels (€500 or less) - looks like a nice camera.

Also, isn't red eye reduction a pointless for digital cameras? Besides, can't you always erase the red eyes yourself via PhotoShop or some other digi-photo editor. But then again you have to be pretty handy with the old PC skills.

And another thing that concerns me about digital cameras and that is storage. Not the memory sticks but where you archive your images. New PC these days have a lot of space so you can store them there, but what if something happens to your PC and you can't retrieve your archive? You could store them on CDs - but won't CD's go out of date some time in the future? Yes, you could always copy your archive up on to the next storage devise but it sounds like a lot of work.
I've been taking my own photos for the past 18 years and i have all my negatives stored in the attic (though I must sort them out one day), but I know I can always access them - I know that I will be able to scan these negatives well into the future (probably for my lifetime). My uncle took some really good photos back in the 60's. He had a really good camera for the time and he use to buy the best film possible. The resulting photos are just fantastic. Some of them are ones of those summer time garden family photos, taken well before I was born, and the quality is unbelievable! Like they were taken just last summer!

I know someday I'm going to have to bite the bullet a buy a digital camera, but I don't want to regret the decision

Samba

If you are looking to get proper SLR features and functions and general Use, you are going to have to spend about 10k on a digital.

I like digital cameras for their sheer convenience but by far prefer SLRs.

PH01

Originally posted by Samba
If you are looking to get proper SLR features and functions and general Use, you are going to have to spend about 10k on a digital.

I like digital cameras for their sheer convenience but by far prefer SLRs.

€10,000 for a digital camera! or maybe €1,000 might be closer to the mark.
It's a pìsser they're so expensive. You'd get a real hot SLR for that price.
But digital cameras are so handy especially for web site family albums and the like.

rob1891

Digital SLRs are v+ expensive:

EOS 1D[Canon] £4,499.00
EOS 1DS[Canon] £6,999.00
EOS D60[Canon] - Body Only £1,899.00
......
D100 + 17-35mm F2.8 AFS[Nikon] £2,899.00
......

all sterling, a bit less that 10 grand, but a good bit more than 1!!!

https://secure.ffordes.com/shop/store/StockList.asp?Type=new&Sub=0&code=DC

Rob

The_Conductor

I have a decent SLR manual camera for when I have time to worry about exposure settings, focus, shutter speeds, aperture etc. and also a digital camera for those quick snaps.
I use a Fuji-finepix A202- got it along with a 128Mb Smart media card thrown in for E258. Resolution is 2.2 Megapixels- and A4 prints are decent on A4 (even using a crabby HP 845C printer). Of big importance when printing the A4s is the quality of the paper- I find the Matt paper has a better finish than the high gloss. Picked up a few 25 page packs in the sales at Euro 10 a piece- Kodak paper, and it works a treat.

If you have the time and want professional photos, stick with your good old 35mm SLR. For speed and convenience, with acceptable quality- digital is fine, but it will never meet the shots you take with your E05 etc.

DadaKopf

Originally posted by Samba
If you are looking to get proper SLR features and functions and general Use, you are going to have to spend about 10k on a digital.

I like digital cameras for their sheer convenience but by far prefer SLRs.

Samba, when did you get into photography seriously? You must show me your stuff.

I was thinking of getting a digital for sheer cost reasons - no developing. Also, yeah, I wanted to be freer in the way I took photos. Then I realised they're still pretty poxy unless you're willing to spend a fortune so I stuck with film and bought a Lomo. I'm much happier I stuck with film.

Also, there's a good place on Abbey St., near Wynne's Hotel, that does good quality digital prints for good money. So you can take your photos (digital or analogue), dick around with them in Photoshop and get them printed A4 on proper photographic paper for about €8.00. But www.photobox.ie is dead cheap.

Samba

6,999.00 GBP = 10,548.12 EUR


Ive been learning for the past year, I posted a few pics a while back.

Will show you the portfolio sometime

PH01

Originally posted by smccarrick
I have a decent SLR manual camera for when I have time to worry about exposure settings, focus, shutter speeds, aperture etc. and also a digital camera for those quick snaps.
I use a Fuji-finepix A202- got it along with a 128Mb Smart media card thrown in for E258. Resolution is 2.2 Megapixels- and A4 prints are decent on A4 (even using a crabby HP 845C printer). Of big importance when printing the A4s is the quality of the paper- I find the Matt paper has a better finish than the high gloss. Picked up a few 25 page packs in the sales at Euro 10 a piece- Kodak paper, and it works a treat.

If you have the time and want professional photos, stick with your good old 35mm SLR. For speed and convenience, with acceptable quality- digital is fine, but it will never meet the shots you take with your E05 etc.

Would a 2.2 megapixels really be that good? If it is then i might save me some money. It would also get me going digis until I have to upgrade.
What's the resale like for DCs?

I reckon I've spent about €1,500 on developing over the past 10 years. A dc might just save me a little cash

Samba

Or you could get your own dark room together if you have a spare room, that gets little use.

The_Conductor

2.2 Megapixels is not as good as a decent SLR- but its not bad at all. You will not loose any definition printing. Do remember to use half decent paper. Printing costs incl. ink (which costs an arm and a leg) works out at under 2 Euro per A4 page.

You are never going to match the quality of even a mediocre SLR with a budget digital camera. There are always going to be pros and cons. Weigh the options up and decide. One big plus is you can view your pictures there and then on the LCD read-out, and toss any you don't like. You only print those you like. You can easily store them to CD. The list goes on. The con- regardless of what I say, or anyone else says, for you and me, on limited budgets, we are not going to get the same quality, however we get a hell of a lot of convenience.

I tried to attach a sample jpg to this message but the 100k limit stopped it, there was no point in lowering the quality- it would not have given you a realistic idea of what to expect.

conZ

i wouldnt have baught one only for i won it.
i got a canon powershot a200 - think theyre about 300€ to buy.
Theyre well worth it , awful handy for about the house.
Its got a nice lcd, but eats batteries
takes pics at 1600x1200 aswell
Light, compact.

4.0x digital zoom, movie mode, 2.0 mega pixels.
Usb out, and a DC in for about the house.

You can also get the canon printer for it, a special compact one. Havent used it, but might get one in the future.

oh ye, mine only came with an 8mb memory , gotta upgrade

wobble

Just want to add a site to the list of where u can get cheap prints developed online.

20c a print + EU2 for post not bad eh!

www.bonusprint.ie

Ebonyks

Have a look at
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=&threadid=115665

I have the use of a Canon Powershot S45 (brothers cam ). GREAT little dig cam, has to be one the best out there, the S50 is out at the mo though. Features are good and its nice n compact.

That LIDL offer is tempting IF i can get it.

innisfree

Bullshít about a decent digi SLR being 10grand. If you shop around (on the net), you can pick up some bargains. I'm about to get a Canon body, 1gb microdrive and a standard lens for 1,500.

rob1891

manners!!

You might notice that this thread is quite old and neither the Canon D10 or D300 were for sale when it was started.

so stfu :P

innisfree

I just get excited easily True, though their imminent releases were well known back then. I just wanted to set that straight incase the info prompted someone to avoid digital slr's.

sci0x

You could try the FinePix A210 Zoom, an entry-level camera with three-megapixel output. Its available for €279.99.

If you want something more powerful you could try the FinePix S5000 Zoom retailing for €699.