Digital Camera, Questions...

[Ben-BSH]

I may get attacked quite violently for making this post, and being a cheapskate!

 

Very simply, i am an apprentice, so money is not available to be rolled in, however, i am a big fan of Photograhy, and have been making do with my "point and shoot kodak £50 job" for quite some time, it has served me well, even in my Photography work at college.

 

Time has come to move to something better...

i would LOVE a Digital SLR, but do not have the money, nor do i spend enough time out taking photos to warrant spending the kind of money they cost.

 

So, as a alternative, i have been looking at the camera's which bridge the gap.

 

FujiFilm Finepix S1500

FujiFilm Finepix S1000fd

FujiFilm Finepix S2000HD

 

Those are the three i have been looking at, and seem to offer most of what i would like, here is where you guys and gals come in, PLEASE can i have a teeny bit of your time to offer some sugestions, and advice.

 

What i need :

 

• Budget around £150 MAX (ideally more like £120)
  
• needs to have a manual shutter speed, ideally 1/2000 of a sec to about 8 or even more
  
• decent minimum focus, so i can take nice Macro images
  

 

Basically, i want to be able to take photos like these below using the shutter speed, and on occasion, Macro close ups. ( i live on the coast, in Falmouth, Cornwall) so have SO much right in my back garden to photograph

 

flickr.com/photos/jon_bradley/294542323/

flickr.com/photos/tonymangan/611780383/

 

if any Edugeekr's have redundant cameras which they are selling, please also shout, but again, my budget remains sorry

 

Thanks for any help and advice i can be given. i love my photography, but am sure there are FAR more knoledgable people on this forum, i mean, heck, im not sure if the cameras i have listed there allow me to manually set shutter speeds?!

 

Thanks in advance

 

Ben.

Edited March 31, 2010 by Ben-BSH

[RinSewand]

Personally with that budget I'd save up another £30, and then hit ebay for a second hand SLR. It'll last you longer in terms of its features, and from the sounds of it you won't get the easy of manual control you want from one of the Fuji type cameras.

 

I'm a Canon shooter - so I don't know the Nikon examples, but a 350d with kit lens goes for under £200 on ebay. I'm sure there's a Nikon equivalent at that price.

[Ben-BSH]

i cant seem to see anything 350d with a lens which will go for under £200.

 

anything which will sell (at final auction time) seems to be body only for under £200

 

Sorry, i may just be being an idiot.

 

*should mention, for a DSLR, like the 350d, i would go to 200-210, but really cannot afford more than that*

Edited March 31, 2010 by Ben-BSH
added a note

[webman]

Like RinSewand said, have a good look for a second-hand dSLR, it will probably be the best thing you can do. The Nikon D60 will fit nicely in your price bracket if you expand it a bit and is a good camera. In the future you add lenses as and when you need, and later upgrade the body to a newer model.

[dhicks]

[*]Budget around £150 MAX (ideally more like £120)

[*]needs to have a manual shutter speed, ideally 1/2000 of a sec to about 8 or even more

[*]decent minimum focus, so i can take nice Macro images

 

For the kind of thing you want to do, but on the cheap, you could consider a cheap, second-hand Canon PowerShot running CHDK:

 

CHDK Wiki

 

We currently have some lenses spare for the Canon EOS 350D / 400D, I might be able to sort you out one of those.

 

--

David Hicks

[Ben-BSH]

I think you guys have managed to make up my mind, i would love a Canon 350d, that is my dream camera anyway (used one during my photography A Level and LOVED it)

 

So now begins the search, seems the cheapest i can find, is about £220 second hand with a lens.

[RinSewand]

If you can - try and blag the accessories with it too (however cheap you find it) the CF cards and a bag can add up the price significantly...

[enjay]

Recently bought a Canon PowerShot SX120 here, first impressions are very good - obviously not SLR quality, but not SLR price either!

[ICT_GUY]

[ame=http://www.amazon.co.uk/Canon-300D-Digital-Camera-EF18-55mm/dp/B0000C9VZN/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1270033686&sr=1-4]lots of second hand good kit out there, [/ame]

 

At the weekend there was a pentax DSLR 6months old for £225.

 

Keep looking,

 

On an aside I bought a £200 canon compact at the weekend, it got returned within the hour because of terrible chromatic aberration.

[MYK-IT]

Based on your very limited budget alone, how about the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ65 on offer at £149 here?

[Ben-BSH]

Canon EOS 350D Digital Camera with 18-55mm lens +extras on eBay (end time 01-Apr-10 06:28:30 BST)

 

For the £224 the seller wants, this would seem to be a steal, should i "snap" it up ?

[DAZZD88]

I'd say it looks like a canny deal. I was thinking a while ago of getting a DSLR but I have a short attention span and would most likely never use one enough so for me I'm going to save up for a Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ7.

 

On a side note the Panasonic bridge cameras like the FZ28 and possibly older cameras should be able to do manual shutter speed. I'd imagine most bridge cameras will do this.

[ICT_GUY]

The 4 main non technical reasons to buy a DSLR.

 

Image Quality (far exceeds digital compacts)

Fast photo taking (almost instant focusing, multiple shots per second)

Far superior build quality.

Higher iso settings and less noise.

 

These 4 reasons alone are worth spending an extra £100 over a good compact.

 

Then there is the fact that you will not be limited by lens / flash / creative options.

[MYK-IT]

I'd say it looks like a canny deal. I was thinking a while ago of getting a DSLR but I have a short attention span and would most likely never use one enough so for me I'm going to save up for a Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ7.

 

On a side note the Panasonic bridge cameras like the FZ28 and possibly older cameras should be able to do manual shutter speed. I'd imagine most bridge cameras will do this.

 

DAZZD88,

 

If you don't need the HD video recording option, the TZ65 offer i listed above for £149 @ DSG, has the same specification as the TZ7 except HD video recording.