bbishop Posted September 22, 2012 Share Posted September 22, 2012 Guys, The time has come to go digital. However my photography is pretty well limited to holday snaps, preserved railways and I would like to post my work in progress on this forum. So I may as well buy something near the bottom of the range. So I went up to John Lewis this afternoon to look at their offerings. And got utterly confused by the information on display. But I did take notes! They seem to be going on about: Mega pixels - is 16.1 sufficient? What is "digital image stabiliser" Cameras seem to offer "face detection" or "scene recognition", which would be more important for me? Is a lens width in the order of 24mm to 25mm satisfactory? However, the price of the cameras seemed to be a function of the optical zoom, and I think I know what that means. So 8x costs c.£80, 15x costs c.£150, 16x costs c.£200 and 20x costs c.£220. But given my requirements above, what degree of zoom would be sufficient for my purposes? Help, pretty please. Bill Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold beast66606 Posted September 22, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted September 22, 2012 Don't be dazzled by higher number of pixels, it doesn't necessarily equate to higher quality. Digital Image Stablisation is (very simplified) taking multiple images and overlaying the best to get a stable image. Face detection helps focus / exposure by assuming the face is an important part of the scene, however it's not always the best focus point so be wary, as long as it can be switched off it's a bonus, same with scene. Only you know what zoom is suitable for you, try some cameras in a shop and see - but ignore digital zoom, the computer can do that just as well. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Katier Posted September 22, 2012 Share Posted September 22, 2012 Beast has broadly covered things fairly well. Regarding the zoom, like megapixels there is definitely an element of more doesn't always equal better. You don't mention budget and DPReview is playing up for me ( so it's hard to be accurate with recomendations as I use dpreview as a fairly accurate judge of quality) but I know Panasonic have a decent reputation for digital compact cameras. The Panasonic DMC-FX90 which is around £200 seems to be on paper a good choice - decent range of zoom ( 24mm-120mm equivalent is good for most of the photography you mention), it's also a pretty quick Leica lens two more plus points and is a 12mp camera (plenty for anyone). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnd Posted September 23, 2012 Share Posted September 23, 2012 Hello whilst I agree with the above post I would think that you could purchase a suitable camera from the Panasonic range for a good deal less, have a look at the Panasonic DMC-SZ1 currently available fom Comet on-line at £115.92( pick up at your local store ) or Amazon. Think it would be suitable for you use and not cost as much. Features include 10x optical zoom ( equivalent to a 25 to 250 zoom ) 16 meg pxl, macro facility ( for close up pics of detail ) and a host of other features for general use plus it's small an light enough to go in a shirt pocket. The Leica lens and Panasonic electrics range I consider to be among the best and yet others tend to recomend camera producers like Nikon,Sony,Canon,Pentax. Have a look at Amazon and read the user reviews they can give you a good idea about each model but in the end it's the user that pruduces the pics, just take plenty and you will get good ones. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Stationmaster Posted September 23, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted September 23, 2012 As well as shopping for features you might want the important thing is to buy a camera which you feel comfortable with and which produces results which satisfy you. Some of that can be divined from the 'net but the only way to find out is a camera sits nicely in your hands and that its balance feels right for you is to go and grab hold of one in a shop - online shopping might save money but you can't get the feel of the goods that way. And all the better if you can find a really good photographic shop where the folk who run it know what they're talking about and know what will suit what you are looking for. I wanted a decent but inexpensive telephoto lens before I set off on holiday recently and I got very good advice and just what suited me at a price I was prepared to pay after asking in an independent photographic shop I frequent occasionally (actually it's the same Tamron lens that Katier referred to in an earlier post and despite past bad experiences with a Tamron lens I tried it on the camera and bought it on their advice - £150 fairly well spent: nothing like a top quality lens but it wasn't a top quality price either) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Oldddudders Posted September 23, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted September 23, 2012 As I posted last week in another similar thread, do think very carefully about how the camera will perform in taking moving shots of preserved railways. In the shop, the backlit screen will look bright and clear - but take it outside (with their permission!) into the sun and you will be squinting to see much. If you can find one within your budget, try a model with an eye-level viewfinder of the traditional sort, although it will probably be electronic - these are so much easier to use for moving subjects, and you can frame the shot exactly as you want, check the horizon is indeed horizontal, all those key things to making a good shot. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Katier Posted September 23, 2012 Share Posted September 23, 2012 Hello whilst I agree with the above post I would think that you could purchase a suitable camera from the Panasonic range for a good deal less, have a look at the Panasonic DMC-SZ1 currently available fom Comet on-line at £115.92( pick up at your local store ) or Amazon. I like the one I posted because it has a fixed, fast, aperture lens so will work in fading light better than your suggestion. Indeed it shows the difference, the SZ1 has a longer zoom BUT will have a poorer lens overall. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian Posted September 23, 2012 Share Posted September 23, 2012 One other thing you may wish to consider if you are switching from film to digital and that is start up speeds and shutter lag, there are noticeably slower with digital and vary quite a bit. It really depends on your requirements. I was after a camera for quick snaps of the kids and other ad-hoc moments. The Panasonic has some nice features but nearly 1/2 sec shutter lag, I ended up going with the Sony WX-10 as the shutter lag was less than half that of the Panasonic and the startup speed, time taken between turning it on and ready to take a photo, was pretty quick as well. The Sony does have a nice feature with the face recognition in that it can detect smiles as well and trigger the shutter based on smile detection. So rather than using a timer we set it on smile mode, you can select small smile, big smile or huge grin. As soon as the camera detects the smile it takes the picture! Great with kids but trying to get the dog to trigger it was fun!! A useful site I found for comparing spec is snapsort, decide on what it important to you and it will filter out a few choices for you. http://snapsort.com/recommend#!general=price&price=160&shutter=no-lag&type=digicam Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.