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By (user no longer on site) OP
over a year ago
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Hi
im looking to buy a camera that is easy to handle and great at closeups - i did look at the new olympus pen but i wasnt sure it was the best in its range
does anyone here know of a good easy to use camera but a step above the normal point and snap ones?
ta xxxx |
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By *-and-KCouple
over a year ago
Back of Beyond |
Most of the point and shoot digital cameras have a macro facility nowadays. Thats a switch setting to let you take ultra close-ups, if you want to photograph a fly for instance. Just go for the one with the biggest megapixels you can afford. |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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If your not short of dosh, a good buy at the moment is the Panasonic Lumix GF1... will do all you want & has an in built flash...
It comes with a choice of lenses.. a 14-45mm mini zoom... or for general use, a 20mm. |
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High mega pixels can be a mistake.
Two types of macro, normal for 10 to 20cm distance, and Canon do super macro down to 1cm.
Canon S5IS at £230'ish gets my vote (got the s3is and have used for a few years). The auto mode is good for those used to point and click, but has all the modes needed for great pictures as you get used to the camera. |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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depends what your budget is, you can pick up a great camera if your prepared to buy second hand, if your buying new and you want really good macro photography you'll need something with a cesent lens so maybe 200 250 for a bridge camera.
you can get cheaper ones that will do the job though not as well, so you need a budget really. |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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Canon compacts are pretty damn good, and I have found perform better than most other compacts in low light conditions. (out in the evening type situations).
As a previous poster mentioned, Megapixels (MP) are not what you should look for. Anything over 8MP in a compact camera is more than good enough. In fact higher MP can result in noisy pictures because they are just dividing the same sized sensor into smaller squares.
To look for:
*Optical Zoom, the larger this number is generally the better. This may be quoted in mm also, see fov next.
*Field of view (fov) - this is how "wide" a picture the camera can take fully zoomed out. So for instance a cameras with a poor wide fov means you have stand further back to get the whole scene in.
The fov is usually quoted in millimetres, a smaller value means better field of view. My panasonic Lumix is 28mm which is bang on the money, the canon is 37mm which means it's a pain to get a group shot without standing back a few more metres.
The optical zoom for my panasonic Lumix is up to 280mm, which is x10 28mm, hence a x10 optical zoom.
If you find two cameras you like and the difference is in the fov, go with the one with a better fov, although you may sacrifice zoom.
*Video, most cameras do this, if you are interested in videos make sure you pick one that does HD(720p, 1080i or 1080p).
Bored yet?
The site: http://www.dpreview.com/ is good to get reviews and specs of a camera.
And trusted reviews that are more accessible to most people:
http://www.trustedreviews.com/digital-cameras/
I personally love the canon as it is tiny and fits in my pocket easily, has good colour reproduction (for a compact), the Panasonic Lumix is great for daytime shots and has a very nice leica lens and has given me some stunning wide shots. However it's night-time performance is a bit poor with quite a bit of noise creeping into the picture.
So if your budget is less than £250 go for a compact with a good optical zoom, there is little point spending more unless you are "seriously" into photography in which case you are moving into SLR or hybrid territory (big cameras with changeable lenses)
What I'd personally do is look at the new cameras out on a review site (say trusted reviews from above). Look at which one suits my needs/budget then shop around for it. Amazon is quite good, but consider your local camera shop may have a good sale on for the previous model at a cheap price; but this does mean you need to check out the review for the previous version to check it wasn't a turkey. Trusted reviews usually have a link to the previous model review when talking about a new one which is quite handy.
Memory cards:
Buy a few smaller ones instead of one big one. So for instance I have three 4GB cards. This is so I loose one/it dies I've not lost everything. Also anything over 2GB will be called a SCHD and are typed into "classes" for performance. A higher class means the card can read/faster which means there should be less of a delay between taking pictures (Assuming camera can keep up). Also means quicker to copy files off onto your PC. I go for class 6 or higher cards, you are talking about £15 for a decent 4GB card, if that!
Wow you made it to the end, gold star for you!
x |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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Fuji's finepix range are quiete good & are great low budget bridge cameras take a look at the S1600 or S1900.
I'm saving my pennies for a Nikon D3X but need loads & loads of pennies lol
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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"you guys have blown me away with your help thank you so much for your notes and your pvt emails
xxxx
thanks again "
so what you getting as i need one too xx |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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Canon EOS 40D is a nice bit of kit, mine's about 3 years old now but still is a damned good camera.
We also have a small Samsung L313 which we stick in our pocket whilst on holiday, nice, compact, easy to use with very good results |
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By (user no longer on site) OP
over a year ago
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"you guys have blown me away with your help thank you so much for your notes and your pvt emails
xxxx
thanks again so what you getting as i need one too xx"
will let you know im going to jessups tomorrow to try a few out! |
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