Digital camera advice please?

[JanH]

DD1 has seen a Samsung digital camera at Argos, this one - 4m pixels, only £85, offer ends tomorrow, it sounds like a good deal but does anyone know if it's likely to be a reasonably good camera?

Hi JanH - found this hope it helps, look forward to your new photographic career

I have no personal experience of the camera (I should qualify that from the start) however a brief look at the specs/reviews it seems to be a fairly good entry-level digital camera at a good price. Depends what you want it for, really

Oh, btw, as with all digital cameras, if you can afford it get a bigger memory card to go with it. The one that comes with is always pitifully small.

Thanks, ladies - it's actually for DD1 herself (for Christmas), when she was away this summer all her friends had digital cameras and she has been converted.

I want one too but was thinking of spending a bit more! Any recommendations for me?

How interested are you in photography, JanH?

For a very good "snaps but can do more if you read the manual" camera, I can thoroughly recommend the Canon Ixus (any version - depends on budget). I love mine, and even though I've got more serious about photography I still carry my Ixus II out everywhere and get some very nice results with it.

If you like to change settings more but can't afford a digital SLR type then the Canon G5 is superb. I can honestly say it's the most precious belonging I own outside of my PC (um... actually, that sentence sounds quite sad, really!)

Can you tell I like Canons?! I would say the only disadvantage Canons have overall is that their red-eye flash isn't as good as it could be. Otherwise they are very nice kit for a very nice price.

Funny you should recommend Canon, GA - I was talking to SenoraPostrophe's dad at her wedding (he took all the pics), he had a digital SLR and a nifty pocket one and they were both Canon; atm I have a Minolta compact 35mm and a Canon non-digital SLR (EOS or something?), both quite new, and there is a local camera shop which does good trade-ins, so I might go for your G5!

I am not as interested in photography as I used to be, but am fed up with pictures not turning out the way I thought they would, when I get them back from the shop. I like the idea of manipulating them myself!

Yes, it's so much better having a digital camera - it makes such a difference simply to be able to crop in a different place, let alone mess with exposure etc!

If you've got a local camera shop the best thing to do would be to ask their advice, handle all the cameras you like the look of and ask LOTS of questions. I have a friend who swears by Nikons for example, but I really don't know enough about their digitals other than to know they have a very good reputation. I personally preferred the look & feel of the Canons (and having got used to the Ixus, the menu was very similar in the G5).

For doing proper printing of digital pics I can recommend Photobox - they're fairly reasonably priced and do good prints.

For excellent software for photo editing (although I think you get basic photo editing stuff with the camera, so play with that first) if you want to do more fancy stuff Paintshop Pro is the one I use (although I have version 8 - you may find v8 at a cheaper price now the new one has come out).

Oh, I bet that digital SLR he had was a Canon EOS 20D - seriously nice camera. My uncle-in-law is a professional photographer and has just invested in one. If ever I win a load of money, it's going to be my very first purchase!!

JanH, I thought that you were Queen of the Internet? I would have thought that you would have found this review site which is excellent. After umming and arring for over 10 months I have just bought an Olympus C765 Ultra Zoom (4megapixels, 10x optical zoom). It was £205 at Amazon. I had originally wanted the C750 but that was £300+, so I waited until the price had come down - and by then Olympus had brought out a new model!
It arrived last week and I haven't stopped playing with it yet. You can get brilliant 40x shots (lovely one of a robin in our garden), but you need a tripod cos it is v blurry if hand held.
Rowlers bought the C770 and we had a thread about it here

HTH

bump for janh

My nikon is poorly and think I might just treat myself to a canon after reading this. I'll take the nikon to be fixed but I'm not over keen on it anyway tbh. I still miss fiddling with my old style canon but they're just so heavy.

Ooh, thanks, GB! My IQ (Internet Queenliness) disappears in the face of 100s and 100s of different makes and models and options so personal recommendations are the only way to go - that review site is fab! Have also been looking at the professional reviews on pricerunner but they all seem to be too "on the one hand/on the other hand" to be any help to a complete beginner and technonumpty.

GA, I do like the look of your G5 and it was one of Which's recommendations too - it's available with various amounts of extra memory for up to another £80 here but I'll have to check out the local shop first and see what they can do. The more I read though the more confused I get....

OTOH DD2 has decided she may prefer some GHDs for Christmas instead of a camera so that's one less thing to worry about!

I have the original canon ixus APS camera, which I love dearly, but in a digital camera I wanted something this time that I could play with, not just point and shoot.

JanH, may be cheaper to buy memory cards seperately - I did all sorts of permetations before I bought the Olympus and found the cheapest was still Amazon.

Another vote for Canon G5. When we were looking, dh found this one, and asked one of his colleagues who'd been researching them what he thought, and he went quiet and said 'It's the 'smokiest' camera on the market!'. He was very impressed! The only thing about it I've found, is it doesn't always focus on the subject reliably. Usually it's fantastic but just occasionally it focuses elsewhere. GeorginaA - if you've found any way to combat this, I'd love to know!

I like the sound of Nikon Coolpix 4100 and Canon Ixus i - someone mentioned the Ixus i on Rowlers' thread I think? They're both 4mp though and the G5 is 5. hmmmmmm

(wyb I'm supposed to be working? Have no self-discipline anyway, worse when I'm on a mission )

Oh, and compact flash cards are v cheap compared to XD (the Olympus uses XD memory cards) and the USB card readers are about £7 in PC World.

Now you are speaking in tongues, GB.

I bought the Canon Ixus i after my brother recommended it and it is great (not that I know very much about cameras) - really easy to use and the photos when printed come out I think better than my canon ixus APS camera. The video function is pretty good too ! I bought from this place ask which seem to be cheaper than a lot of places - they have some shops but think all in london

tortoiseshell: I know what you mean. I haven't had the issue lately, but I'm wondering if it's because I've been using it daily recently and I'm just getting used to its little foibles and subconsciously adjusting . I know I changed the Ixus auto focus setting to just centre focussing after using the G5 so both cameras were consistent.

Ah, I think I know what I do, I just pay careful attention that particularly when zoomed in that I put what I want to focus on RIGHT in the centre of the pic, press half way then move the camera to put the picture back where I wanted it. Does that make sense? I know once I'd sussed it that I stopped the Ixus "guessing" the focal points for me.

Oooh Janh, I know I've tried to convert you before, but do consider the Canon EOS 300D (which may have been the one you saw, not that I'm arguing with Georgina ). I think it's utterly, utterly fab. I'm also a big Canon fan, but even so I had no idea how marvy this camera was going to be. Review here and they've come down in price.

I know this thread is meant to be about dd1's camera, so apologies to her but I couldn't resist.

LOL... we're not arguing, we just both think Canons are ace

sorry JanH, but remember I spent 10 months umming and arring.....am now digicamera anorak...(apologies to anorak)