Can you help me buy a Camera?

[PavlovtheCat]

I have £250 to spend (saved up for such a long time!) on a camera for my birthday. I have wanted a good one for ages and have spent some time looking into different types. But, there is so much choice my head spins.

I want it for fun family photos, good enough quality to enlarge into frames for the best ones, ability to take action, close up, distance, good zoom etc. I also want to use it for business purposes - I don't have my business set up yet, but preparing to do so and when I do I will want to use photos to advertise on my website and blog, so the quality needs to be good enough for that, but, my work is not art or photo based so it doesn't need to be ultra professional (can't afford one of those cameras!). I will be taking photos when out and about and using it straight onto my website.

These are my thoughts:
New iPod Touch - means I can have a camera linked to internet, I can carry this around with me easily and use it easily to take snapshots, upload to internet and blogs easily. It also means I get to finally replace my old lost iPod nano for the gym, so doubles up! The quality of the new version just out appears good in terms of camera, but is it good enough quality to have enlarged photos printed or to use on blogs and websites?

Good quality/top range digital camera - we had a fab digital camera a while ago, unfortunately it got sand damaged! It was a Lumix. If we got an equivalent this would be sufficient for photos to be reprinted, and also website use, but it is professional enough for website use? And, can you get them to be internet capable? If I get a digital camera, what make, model etc would you recommend?

SLR - I have always wanted an digital SLR. But, can I get one that is good for £250? Is it worth the money if I top it up? It's not hugely practical in terms of taking around with me wherever I go, but, it will give me fantastic results, amazing quality for my blogs, different options for zoom etc, but are the differences worth the extra expense and the reduced portability? What make will you recommend for this?

What do you use and why?

I can't help with your camera choices I'm afraid, but I think you'd get more chance of help if you re-posted this in Geeky Stuff.

Good luck

There's an old adage, the best camera is the one you have. All "bridge" cameras will give you good images but good composition will give you great pictures.

I tend to stick with Canon but all are much of a muchness.

The iPod touch has a great camera but, composition is everything.

Google Ben Long, he does some great composition tutorials and is a really funny guy.

pesto you reckon geeky, rather than arty? I was thinking along the lines of photography being art, but, I guess it's geeky too

thefallenninja I woud agree with that in principle, but, really, honestly, the one we have right now is shockingly shite. It's a Sony, bought to replace the broken one, just so we have a camera, and I don't like it one little bit - the photos are flat, they have no real life to them it bits up details of the wrong things, so I can't take close up shots as it will focus on a weed behind a beautiful flower for example! There is hardly any choice to change the settings so it's really portrait, snow, or landscape , and it's appalling at taking shots of moving children. Oh, and very, very slow.

going to google Ben Long now.

The Canon EOS 1100d is an excellent buy, loads of features and control when you want it.

Google Canon cashback, this should help stretch your budget a bit.

oh oh oh! I was just about to send a link, and that is the one I think!
do you mean this one?

i am googling, and that doesn't actually seem like a hugely impressive deal, it seems I can get one for around this price anyway? Can you link me to the right one, as there are some different versions

Have a look at te Nikon d3100.
I got one for my birthday - it's a DSLR and was £300 but had £30 cash back on it so only slightly out of budget. The auto mode is great and the manual mode should let me fiddle about a lot! :)

ah, my BIL recommended a Nikon.

oh I like that.

Yep Pavlov, i reckon a lot of peeps 'hide' Arts & Crafts, but I reckon geeky, techy types are who you need really in this instance.

I shall ask for it to be moved then! I didn't really think about people hiding topics!

Morning,

Pavlov has asked for us to move this into a different section so we're just letting you know.

MNHQ.

With a budget of £250 I would recommend either the Panasonic G3 or if you can possibly stretch your budget slightly more then the Nikon D3200

The G3 is a perfectly good little camera which isn't as bulky as a proper DSLR. The D3200 is a very good camera for the money and will be a good foundation if you ever want to get into photography more.

Hope that helps

www.canon.co.uk/promotions/

ah ok! I love the D3200! wow. But, I cant stretch that far .

thefallenninja I can't see the 1100 there

JulieMN thank you

just read a really in-depth review of the Lumix G3. It sounds pretty ideal for what I want - upgrade from 'point and shoot' but not quite into the world of professional photography!

We have to get a new camera to replace our old Canon EOS 20D - was a refurb one about 8 years ago, getting frequent error messages now.

DH is looking at a Lumix, can't remember which, was an article on a US site called DP review. Are they going to give as good quality as our old Canon? Thinking they will as technology has moved on? Like the idea of being able to add lenses rather than just a compact camera