I am looking to buy my first digital camera soon,,, not sure what to buy and whats on offer. I dont understand all those megapixel settings etc. I dont want to spend mega dollar, but enough to buy something that will do what I want,
take close up pictures, take moving pictures - not video..
any advice?

[chips]

megapixels is just the amount of pixels in the image the camera takes. So the higher the amount of megapixels = the better quality image.
What will you be using the camera for?
I've got a sony cybershot 3.2 megapixel and that amount of megapixels is more than enough for printing out photos and I use it for pics for the web alot, so I need to compress them anyway.
You don't need to get a camera with 5 megapixels + unless you're planning on blowing up the photos massive and you're a pro I reckon.

[lucidcreations]

I have just bought the Fujifilm finepix s5000 3.1 mega pixel. This camera is built like an SLR and allows you to take macro (close up) and has a 10x zoom. You can also buy extra lenses for it. Because its build like an SLR you can manually control everything like apeture, shutter speed, white balance, continuos shoot, manual focus, 4 types of auto focus, flash control and build in flash and plenty other exposure control. It cost me £299 from the Jessops sale and should have been around £400ish. Oh yeah it'll automatically do all of the above for you if your not up on your photography just yet and want to point and shoot.

I can get about A4 hi res print from my camera at 300dpi, but i need to lower the dpi for an A3 print but im sure you're not going to be doing alot of those.

The best place to check out cameras is www.dpreview.com they pull all cameras to pieces on there. But sometimes I do think that they expect everyone to need a an 11 mega pixel £5k camera.

[Brown]

buy a magazine. i'm guessing that there's something called 'what digital camera?' out there. it'll explain everything you'll need to know about digital cameras and photography. it'll also have product reviews about the latest and greatest and the ones to avoid.

[tomson]

aye www.dpreview.com is a good place to start, decide how much you wanna spend and read as many reviews as possible - try www.steves-digicams.com , www.dcresource.com etc etc.
Then get yourself down to your local camera shop and have a play with a few.

Dont be swayed my pixel count unless you really need it for hi res work, go for a good quality lense and a good set of usable (manual if you need them) features. I use a Canon D30.

[seanf]

I've got a Panasonic DMC LC20. Only 2 megapix, but the Leica lense more than makes up for that. Does macro from about 10cm and I'm pretty happy with it, apart from the weak flash but I think this goes for all these small pocket cameras. Cost just 220 Euros, batteries last ages and a 64MB card holds about 100 pictures.
dpreview is worth looking at, you get real people's views not just 'experts'

Sean

[tomson]

Originally Posted by seanf

... apart from the weak flash but I think this goes for all these small pocket cameras. ...

Defo. I've got a Nikon 2500 which suffers the same.

[andrewparker]

Originally Posted by lucidcreations

I have just bought the Fujifilm finepix s5000 3.1 mega pixel. This camera is built like an SLR and allows you to take macro (close up) and has a 10x zoom. You can also buy extra lenses for it. Because its build like an SLR you can manually control everything like apeture, shutter speed, white balance, continuos shoot, manual focus, 4 types of auto focus, flash control and build in flash and plenty other exposure control. It cost me £299 from the Jessops sale and should have been around £400ish. Oh yeah it'll automatically do all of the above for you if your not up on your photography just yet and want to point and shoot.

I can get about A4 hi res print from my camera at 300dpi, but i need to lower the dpi for an A3 print but im sure you're not going to be doing alot of those.

I've had this camera for around 4 months now (I paid £430 so the price has come down somewhat ) and I'm very impressed by it. To build on what Lucid has already said I should point out that the 10x zoom is optical zoom, not digital meaning there is no degradation in quality when focusing on something from a distance. On top of this it also has a 2.2x digital zoom resulting in a total 22x zoom. Unless you want something very compact it would be a good buy if you want to expand on your photography skills.

[lucidcreations]

oops sorry about the £430 price tagged......hehehe

[pixelpyro]

On a similar not - Anybody have any recommendations for a DV camera - looking to do some homevids to DVD.

I know buy a magazine. 'what digital videa camera? Unfortunatelly after taking a 5 star review for a film in Empire Magazine (which until then I respected there opinion) some years back I prefer personal hands on opinions... (in case your interested the film was "Crash" pile of cack that was - only film I have ever paid to see at the cinema and walked out half way through)

Anyway DV cam - cheers

[Brown]

Originally Posted by pixelpyro

I know buy a magazine. 'what digital videa camera? Unfortunatelly after taking a 5 star review for a film in Empire Magazine...

[shakes head in dismay]

[cyk]

Buy the Canon A70 or A80. Its about £220 - £300. A70 is 3.1mp / A80 is 4mp. They have fantastic macro modes, lots of manual settings, auto too if you want. It does do short 30 secs 640x480 movies too (which can be handy).

Check my site - http://petemc.net and I'm sure you'll be sold.

[lucidcreations]

excellent photgraphy portfolio there mate!

[cyk]

Ta The only thing that lets the A70 down is the zoom. I want more You can buy an addon lens for it, but its hard to get hold of.

thanks for the advice everyone... some intresting stuff here..

At the moment I think I will be looking at buying the Fujifilm finepix s5000 3.1 mega pixel or the Canon A70 or A80, I like the look of the fuhifilm one as its like my old standard style one. I like a bit of weight with a camera.

[Brown]

Originally Posted by oqpo

I like a bit of weight with a camera.

you won't once you use a light one. again, get the magazine. if you're gonna invest a couple of hundred quid in a camera what difference is a few more on a mag gonna make? i come here for advice on design and websites, not cameras. not to say that these are not valid comments but hardly fair reviews of all the products currently on the market.

[aside]my bird told to me to get rubber soles put onto my leather soled shoes. so i went and asked the shoe repair man to do this. he asked why and i said that my bird told me that once the leather had been worn they would be useless. he told me that he could repair the leather and to leave it if i wanted. i told him, again, what the bird had told me. he asked me who i was more willing to belive, my bird or the shoe repair man?[/aside]

(smallbeer, like the story?)

[cyk]

While what you say is quite valid. Picking up the magazine, or reading reviews on websites will tell you one thing. The Canon A70/A80 is a fantastic camera for its price. Everyone I've recommended it to has seen my work, and gone out a bought one, simply because the images speak for themselves. Its what photography is all about. Pictures. I have a wide range of pictures showing what the camera is like, more so than any magazine review tbh.

Saying that, I had a look at the review for the Fujifilm finepix s5000, and it seems quite a good camera. 10x zoom, ccd-raw output, etc. I can garuntee that if you buy the A70 you will have a fantastic camera as you can see from the images. Its not like a film, or a design, it is a given that it can do great photos for its price range. I'd say look around and see what the reviews are like for the Fujifilm finepix s5000, it does seem quite good. Sure hit, A70/A80

[Brown]

Originally Posted by cyk

simply because the images speak for themselves.

what a bunch of arse

[cyk]

Take a pic with a T610 phone and compare it to an A70. What else do you have to go on? Your buying a camera to take photos, the only real thing you have to go on is the quality of the images it produces. Its like the whole point

Do you buy a camera to hit cats with? Do you buy a camera to go with your shoes? Do you buy a camera because its black? No. You buy a camera to take pictures.

Honestly, who are you going to listen to? Someone who buys rubber soles for his shoes or a photographer?

[Brown]

sigh