Looking for a Camera - £200 Budget ($310)

WeatherMan

WeatherMan

Active Member
So my Sony Cybershot (a few months old) gave up the ghost, the internal memory is somehow no logner being recognised, luckily I sent it back under warrantly and got a full refund, including shipping! Thankyou Ebuyer :)

I've got a limited budget, i'm looking for new kit only, so I know even a K100D is out of the question... Been wanting to get into photography for a while now but never really persued it, this will be my first camera that 'learning / experimenting' with.

Looking around for one now because I'm off to the German Grand Prix in July for my 18th, and would like to get some nice shots.

I have around 3 weeks to make my decision, know I'll have to stick with point & shoot, but would like to stay away from the whole 'compact digital camera' thing, personal preference really..

I'm all ears to suggestions, I know theres a lot of guys on here good with camera's.

Looking for the camera to generally just be good all round, I'm interested in macro's, will obviously need to be good with fast moving objects due to the race, will be taking pictures in and outside etc..

Things I'm looking for are,

Rechargable Battery
Avoiding Compact if possible
Good macro capability
Full Manual Mode
RAW Capable
Manual Focus

I don't any manufacturer preference.

I'll through in a few camera's ive been looking over so far.
Would like to know which one is considered better & why if possible, and i'm open to all suggestions.

..................................................................................


Kodak EASYSHARE Z1015 IS 10mp 15x Optical Zoom

finalkodakslr.jpg


Rechargable Battery - Yes
Avoiding Compact if possible - Yes
Good macro capability - ?
Full Manual Mode - Yes
RAW Capable - Yes
Manual Focus - Yes

.................................................................................................


Fujifilm Finepix S1500

0462_fujifilm_finepix_s1500.jpg



Rechargable Battery - No
Avoiding Compact if possible - Yes
Good macro capability - ?
Full Manual Mode - No
RAW Capable - No
Manual Focus - No


...................................................................................................


Fujifilm Finepix S2000HD

Finepix_S2000hd_Large.jpg



Rechargable Battery - No
Avoiding Compact if possible - Yes
Good macro capability - ?
Full Manual Mode - Yes
RAW Capable - No
Manual Focus - Yes

..............................................................................................



Olympus SP 565

olympus_SP565UZ.jpg
oly.jpg



Rechargable Battery - No
Avoiding Compact if possible - Yes
Good macro capability - ?
Full Manual Mode - Yes
RAW Capable - Yes
Manual Focus - Yes

.............................................................................................


Nikon Koolpix L100

nikon-coolpix-l100.jpg




Rechargable Battery - No
Avoiding Compact if possible - Yes
Good macro capability - ?
Full Manual Mode - No
RAW Capable - Yes
Manual Focus - No?

This is the camera I least like

..............................................................................................

Right now im more inclined to go with the Kodak, mainly just because of the batteries. How long would camera life be on 4 x AA batteries?

Also, 'Manual Focus' Is that a 'twisting the lense with your hand' focus?

Basically I just want a camera that will take good quality pictures for the price, will let me much around in photoshop, and just really get some experience :)

Looking forward to any comments!

Thanks for reading

PS: Here is an image I took with my old Sony

dsc01058c.jpg


I'm looking for macro focus range as good / better than that.
 
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I used to have a Fuji, the FinePix S700:

Fujifilm_S700.jpg


It was an awesome camera. Basically, any long-zoom P&S will be good for macro. I would personally go with a Fujifilm since I'm used to their menus and stuff. Either one would be fine though.

I don't know if they're fast enough for sports though.
 
Cheers for the reply, My 2 faves right now are the Kodak & Fuji, I like fuji as a camera company aswell, heard quite a few mixed reviews about the Kodak..

How long did the batteries last in your fuji? Thats the only thing thats putting me off really, it has everything else that I want, If I went Fuji I'd pick up an S2000HD

Not too worried about the shutter speed, 1/1000 seems like it'd be great? Looks like one of the best on my list
 
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That doesn't seem too bad really, I suppose I'm just used to compact camera's running out fast on 2 x AA's. I can always have a spare set handy :)

I forgot that the Fuji's I've listed won't shoot in RAW mode, are there any big disadvantages to that?
 
Well, it depends how each camera processes their JPEG's. You probably won't need RAW support but that's something you should answer for your self I guess.
 
Alright then.

I am pretty tempted by RAW support, I'm looking for flexibility, So Jpeg can be used for Sports when speed is needed, RAW when doing macro's ect.

The Kodak is looking like my best bet, over the non raw supporting Fuji's & the Olympus with a slower shutter speed, ) ..Think F1 cars..

It really has everything I'm looking for, and comes with a nice price, I'll check out some reviews, I'm interested to see if there are any other alternatives aswell.

Rechargable Batteries
RAW Support
Fully Manual + Manual Focus
Fast shutter speed

Pretty much another kodak, but not a kodak. Lol

I stumbled upon this website last night - http://www.whatdigitalcamera.com

Looks like its praising the S2000HD.... If only it had raw support :(


Wait just a second..... I think I've been thinking about this wrong.

What is the better shutter speed
1/1000s
1/2000s?

I take it thats 1 One thousanth and 1 Two thousanth?

So the 1/2000 is 2x as fast?

The Olympus listed looks pretty sweet.

2 x faster shutter, 8 min bulb mode over 16 s from teh kodak, Much nicer looking, 20x optical Zoom over 15. Supermacro, has a longer focal range & it also supports Raw capture. Damn, If I bought the kodak and only just found all that out i'd be pissed :P

I think all of that is worth it over a .5" Bigger screen :P

I've also turned my head on the Rechargable battery, I was thinking, if the Rechargeable goes when wanted / im unable recharge, I'm ****ed! With standard AA, they're more costly, but just stick a new set in and away I go :)
 
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Here are a few sample shots that others have taken..















What do you guys think of the image quality? Manual settings are in the exif data.

Also, funds limit me right now to a 4GB micro SD card, I'm gonna be taking quite a few pics, (say 300) and would like to store around 40minutes of 640x480 Video, is that gonna be enough?
 
All those shots look pretty good, but for a professional photograph it must be easy to get high quality shots with a cheaper camera. I have taken a couple (one off's) of awesome photo's with my 2MP phone camera. Go to a Jessops or Boots or something and hold the camera's - see the quality etc.

And don't let that bad experience with the Cybershot put you off a Sony, I have a 3 years old ish 6MP point and shoot and it is still good and take better photo's than alot of my friends newer camera's.

Doug.
 
Thanks for that link, You have some really nice pictures there :)

How much did you pay for your camera?

I've decided to go with the Olympus now, will probably order it at the start of next month :D Will give me just over a month to get some experience with it before I go to the track.

I've been reading up on Photography, ISO, Shutter speed, Aperture, exposure etc, theres a ton of new stuff to learn! I think i'll do better actually practicing and learning with the camera than reading

Have you thought about uploading some of your images to Interfacelift?
 
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Okay so my money should arrive in my account tomorrow.

Should hopefully have the camera next week, will have a full 5 weeks to play with it before the GP :D
 
Alright I should be ordering today, finally. lol

Ebuyer finally have it back in stock, albeit a bit more expensive, But hey at least its next day delivery xD
 
I can tell you one great camera I ordered a fujifilm s5700 (i think ) and it is a great slr it only cost me £99 its 7 megapixels 10X zoom (Optical ) and digital 2.5 inch screen I love it its the best present i ever bought myself I would definetly reccomend it
 
That's the same as the S700, which has been recommended. It is a great camera for the price, although, it is NOT an SLR.
 
Bootup05 said:
Thanks for that link, You have some really nice pictures there :)

How much did you pay for your camera?

I've decided to go with the Olympus now, will probably order it at the start of next month :D Will give me just over a month to get some experience with it before I go to the track.

I've been reading up on Photography, ISO, Shutter speed, Aperture, exposure etc, theres a ton of new stuff to learn! I think i'll do better actually practicing and learning with the camera than reading

Have you thought about uploading some of your images to Interfacelift?
Click to expand...

Thanks, and sorry for the late reply... I've been a little inactive on the forums as of late.

I got it off Amazon for $160 a year or two ago. It's a great camera for what it is (that being a bridge between PAS and DSLR.) That being said, you'll grow out of really any bridge camera and want to move on to the DSLR world eventually, but it's great for someone getting into photography who can't spend the money on a DSLR.

I'd highly recommend going to your library and checking out the book "Understanding Exposure" by Bryan Peterson... great book, I've learned a lot from it.

Never really thought about it... maybe when I get my DSLR this summer (I'm probably getting a GX-20, which is the Samsung version of the K20D) I'll do that though, as PAS cameras have some noise issues, making them not so great for making wallpapers.
 
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