What Digital Camera?

[SC-UK]

I don't think I have ever taken a photograph that hasn't been done using a mobile phone but as time goes on I realise that I need a proper digital camera more and more.

I don't want to spend a fortune as it will be my first proper camera and I want to have a play with something cheap before I get into it and start spending a fortune.

Looking at a budget of approximately £100 what would be a decent digital camera to buy? What should I be looking at feature wise that makes a camera worth having?

Thanks

Tom

[mac_shinobi]

Canon IXUS at home the 55 one and has been working for a couple years now great - Canon do some cracking ones now.

Worth while checking Sony and some other manufacturers and comparing - that or get a magazine that compares digital cameras and am sure they will give you a reasonable run down on features , prices etc

[somabc]

Panasonic DMCLZ10 Digital Camera - Silver (10.1MP, 5x Optical Zoom) 2.5 inch LCD £99 from Amazon!

Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ10 Review - PhotographyBLOG

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0018J76JU/ref=ord_cart_shr?_encoding=UTF8&m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE

[SC-UK]

I've heard a lot of good things about the Canon cameras of late I will admit. I did buy a camera magazine but for somebody that knows absolutely nothing about cameras, it seems to imply you need to spend a fortune so you can take some good shots. They don't seem to cater for the, just want something better than my phone, market!

[mac_shinobi]

I've heard a lot of good things about the Canon cameras of late I will admit. I did buy a camera magazine but for somebody that knows absolutely nothing about cameras, it seems to imply you need to spend a fortune so you can take some good shots. They don't seem to cater for the, just want something better than my phone, market!

My partner has a samsung Jet S8003 camera phone now which has a 5 mega pixel camera and is pretty good but she still uses the canon IXUS 55 we have as its just a lot better and you dont have to worry much about holding the camera steady like you do with the phone she has.

Worth while purchasing an extra battery and a case though and a larger SD Card from somewhere like crucial ( RAM Memory Upgrade: Dell, Mac, Apple, HP, Compaq. USB drives, flash cards, SSD at Crucial.com ) assuming its an SD Camera otherwise the correct memory card type obviously

[Netman]

This is a very comprehensive group test from the end of last year: Budget Camera Group Test (Q4 2008) Review: 1. Introduction: Digital Photography Review
The Panasonic LZ8 won and from the ones I've used they do seem to be making some excellent compacts...

[dhicks]

I've heard a lot of good things about the Canon cameras of late I will admit. I did buy a camera magazine but for somebody that knows absolutely nothing about cameras, it seems to imply you need to spend a fortune so you can take some good shots.

We bought Canon PowerShot A470s for school because they were small, had a 3.4X optical zoom rather than the more standard 3X, took SD cards so you can record video as well as photos, and took standard batteries so you can use standard rechargables or use cheap AAs if you want. With any camera, budget for a new 4GB or bigger SD card, a decent battery charger and 4 AA batteries and maybe a decent (£20?) case (the standard one is perfectly good but has no pockets to hold extra batteries or cards). Get an SD card reader for your PC, throw away any software that comes with your camera - all modern operating systems can handle images and video from an SD card just fine, bundled camera software is just annoying.

I think the up-to-date version of the A470 is the A480, although you can probably get earlier models off eBay for cheaper than the newest model. It's worth pointing out that the actual image quality of the A470's video is pretty good but the frame rate is a bit poor, as is the sound - I think newer models do video a bit better. £100-ish for the camera plus extra bits should be pretty do-able.

Also, look at CHDK, which lets you use SLR-like features on your compact Canon camera. You might like to check their hardware compatability list before you buy so you know if you're buying a camera that can use CHDK.

--
David Hicks

[srochford]

I don't think I have ever taken a photograph that hasn't been done using a mobile phone

That makes me feel really old :-( (and just be quiet all those at the back muttering "that's because you are really old :-))