Advise on Purchasing a Digital Camera

[pootle]

Hi

Could anyone offer any advise please? Looking to buy a digital camera for Xmas, 5meg+, under £200, not too big and quite light. Any suggestions?

Pootle x

[Parrot of Doom]

www.dpreview.com

[Andy M]

www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=328020&f=109&h=0

[pootle]

Cheers, Just seen the thread.

[GetCarter]

Best tip: Ignore the amount of mega pixles... means nothing - just hype.

[spitfire-ian]

GetCarter said:

Best tip: Ignore the amount of mega pixles... means nothing - just hype.

What is the best thing to lok for then as I'm thinking of getting a new camera and have no idea where to start.

[john185k]

I got a Kodak Z740 at the beginning of the year for £170. I like it for my level of craft.

[vipers]

GetCarter said:

Best tip: Ignore the amount of mega pixles... means nothing - just hype.

Must admit I am confused by your answere here, surely it depends on the size of the prints you hope to print, supose for the average punter who only ever does 7 x 5 doesnt matter, but for the larger, say A4 it would matter, else why do the likes of Nikon etc bother to do 11 or more migapixel?

[CarMac]

The maximum size you can print off an image depends on lots of things, not just the pixel count.

[lazyitus]

john185k said:

I got a Kodak Z740 at the beginning of the year for £170. I like it for my level of craft.

Now THATS a good picture (in my uneducated opinion) for a £170 camera !

[vipers]

CarMac said:

The maximum size you can print off an image depends on lots of things, not just the pixel count.

For the same size print, doesnt the higher pixel count make for a clearer print?, must be honest I dont know an awful lot about this, I just leave mine on "Auto" and shoot anyway, but at the highest setting.

[GetCarter]

vipers said:

CarMac said:

The maximum size you can print off an image depends on lots of things, not just the pixel count.

For the same size print, doesnt the higher pixel count make for a clearer print?, must be honest I dont know an awful lot about this, I just leave mine on "Auto" and shoot anyway, but at the highest setting.

Yea but no but yea but: The thing to realise is that CCD sizes vary enormously. Tiny little point and shoot cameras now have a quillion pixels all fitted onto a ccd the size of a nats tit.

A Fiat 500 reving at 4k won't generate the power of a Viper at 4k.

Pixels are good - but they are just one of the variables.

[GetCarter]

...actually a Fiat 500 reved at 4k will probaly explode causing serious injury to most of southern Europe, so that probably wasn't the best analogy

[spitfire-ian]

GetCarter said:

vipers said:

CarMac said:

The maximum size you can print off an image depends on lots of things, not just the pixel count.

For the same size print, doesnt the higher pixel count make for a clearer print?, must be honest I dont know an awful lot about this, I just leave mine on "Auto" and shoot anyway, but at the highest setting.

Yea but no but yea but: The thing to realise is that CCD sizes vary enormously. Tiny little point and shoot cameras now have a quillion pixels all fitted onto a ccd the size of a nats tit.

A Fiat 500 reving at 4k won't generate the power of a Viper at 4k.

Pixels are good - but they are just one of the variables.

But would something a little up the range a bit like the Fujifilm Finepix S9600 be worth going for? I don't really want to go to the additional expense a SLR would bring.

[CarMac]

I wouldn't recommend the S9600 if it's anything like the S9500 (which it is!!!) Mine went back after a month. Was not impressed at all.

[GetCarter]

tech apart... one gets what one pays for.

If it's cheap, it'll end up cheap... no matter what the blurb says. (I know to my cost... I bought a French car once )