Any camera boffins out there?

[Ciorsdah]

I'm going to save from my salary this month and next and should have enough then. I'm the same as you in term of credit cards, I'm scared of them!!!

I like the excitement of saving up and researching my purchase

I didt know you can hire lens for cameras. That's a great idea, although might be expensive fr a longer term rental.

This trip might turn me into a budding photographer!!

 

[2Tiggies]

I'm going to save from my salary this month and next and should have enough then. I'm the same as you in term of credit cards, I'm scared of them!!!

I like the excitement of saving up and researching my purchase

I didt know you can hire lens for cameras. That's a great idea, although might be expensive fr a longer term rental.

This trip might turn me into a budding photographer!!

I think it's a good idea to hire if you want a really expensive lens and obviously for a shorter period of time. But I can see myself doing a credit card thing on this one ..... OR (and I though of you when I saw this!) I just got my clubcard statement emailed to me and the Voucher Exchange has started and it includes cameras and lenses (as long as they are Tesco Direct stock). Not sure if that would be any help to you. I think you have until 19th June to redeem them so that might offset some of the cost

 

[Ciorsdah]

I think it's a good idea to hire if you want a really expensive lens and obviously for a shorter period of time. But I can see myself doing a credit card thing on this one ..... OR (and I though of you when I saw this!) I just got my clubcard statement emailed to me and the Voucher Exchange has started and it includes cameras and lenses (as long as they are Tesco Direct stock). Not sure if that would be any help to you. I think you have until 19th June to redeem them so that might offset some of the cost

Ohhhh I will have to check out the clubcard thing, I've got about £300 worth of points at the moment, so might be able to snaffle something from their stock!

Thanks for highlighting that to me

 

[london75]

Ohhhh I will have to check out the clubcard thing, I've got about £300 worth of points at the moment, so might be able to snaffle something from their stock!

Thanks for highlighting that to me

Remember you can go to Jessops too with clubcard with arguably much better in store advice and after care. You can easily take a camera back to Jessops if not happy after a holiday and get quality service, Tesco is just a catalogue shop and will almost certainly refuse returns after you've opened the packaging.

You obviously need to have exchanged in advance to buy there (takes about a week)

 

[stubb]

funny, I was at wdw last week and noticed far more people with big cameras then ever before.Loads of Nikon cameras.

 

[bazzanoid]

Another vote for the D3100 if you're looking at it... currrently £400 in Currys/PC World with an additional £30 cashback from Nikon (doesn't apply to the amazon purchase). It comes with an 18-55mm lense which is a great 'everyday' lense, but for the shows you'd probably want a bigger one, such as the 70-300 for that extra zoom factor. Tamron and Sigma make lenses that are Nikon compatible for less than the equivalent Nikon one, but they often have less elements in them and don't have image stabilisers like the branded one. But if you're on a tripod, it's not much of a problem

Pop over to the photography forum here, there's plenty of threads on nikon vs canon, dslr vs point n shoot etc

 

[2Tiggies]

Actually Tamron and Sigma do offer telephoto lenses with image stabilisation. You have to just check that they have it. Same with Nikon (and Canon) lenses - you can buy them cheaper without the IS/VR/OS or whatever each brand describes the feature as. However why anyone would want a telephoto lens without the option of stabilisation is beyond me, unless they happen to shoot almost exclusively from a tripod

funny, I was at wdw last week and noticed far more people with big cameras then ever before.Loads of Nikon cameras.

That's because the public are becoming educated

Seriously though, the Nikon vs Canon debate is an old one but if you each is as good as the other. You buy into a system and you find your way around it and become loyal to it.

 

[zippy99]

I am not a Camera boffin - but we bought DD a lovely Nikon bridge for her 14th

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/5596746/Trail/searchtext>NIKON+BRIDGE.htm

Takes amazing pictures - but man this thing eats batteries for breakfast!!

Make sure you check out the power/battery options available with your chosen model is my advice!

 

[2Tiggies]

I am not a Camera boffin - but we bought DD a lovely Nikon bridge for her 14th

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/5596746/Trail/searchtext>NIKON+BRIDGE.htm

Takes amazing pictures - but man this thing eats batteries for breakfast!!

Make sure you check out the power/battery options available with your chosen model is my advice!

I've heard that that is a really really nice camera! It looks really good too

I can't understand why, WHY, WHY!!! in this day and age cameras are still being manufactured to run on AA and AAA batteries instead of lithium rechargable. That was the ONLY reason I started looking around when I had the bridge camera - I lost patience with the constant changing of batteries.

With my DSLR I turn it on when I get up, have it round my neck almost all the time and no kidding, I have done 18 hours at a stretch and not drained the battery.

A few years ago our Tesco was having a clearance and I spotted some mobile phone chargers (the on the go kind) in what I call the Rummager's Bins, lol. Anyway it was for a motorola or something and they wanted 10p a piece. Stacks of them. What I did spot was that they came with 4 of those Energizer Lithium Digital (those high powered ones for techy gadgets and things) batteries. So I bought about 25 of them and we ran on those for a couple of years

 

[zippy99]

I've heard that that is a really really nice camera! It looks really good too

I can't understand why, WHY, WHY!!! in this day and age cameras are still being manufactured to run on AA and AAA batteries instead of lithium rechargable. That was the ONLY reason I started looking around when I had the bridge camera - I lost patience with the constant changing of batteries.

With my DSLR I turn it on when I get up, have it round my neck almost all the time and no kidding, I have done 18 hours at a stretch and not drained the battery.

A few years ago our Tesco was having a clearance and I spotted some mobile phone chargers (the on the go kind) in what I call the Rummager's Bins, lol. Anyway it was for a motorola or something and they wanted 10p a piece. Stacks of them. What I did spot was that they came with 4 of those Energizer Lithium Digital (those high powered ones for techy gadgets and things) batteries. So I bought about 25 of them and we ran on those for a couple of years

We live in rechargeable battery central in our house - we have 40 x AA batts and have a charger that does 8 at a time - plus we found pound land does rechargeable batteries .... Oddly enough a £! however, they do not hold up in the camera but great for pc mouse, keyboard, remote controls and even the flip video camera. Probably need to bite the bullet and just buy some decent AAs although DD Beth is too scared to take it I case she damages it!

 

[london75]

On the other hand, everywhere in Disney sells AA so if you run out buy more. Nowhere sells the custom pack for cameras except camera shops and even then they come 20% charged so not immediately useful.

I had a Pentax K-r for a while, brilliant camera which had a lithium battery but had a special cage that took AAs into the same slot for emergencies, great idea. In reality with a life of 600-800 shots it wasn't ever necessary but still.

Re IS, I have a Sony A77 now with IS in the body so all lens stabilisation is redundant. Unfortunately Tamron realised and charge the same for the non IS lens for Sony claiming other enhancements were required, thats not the case for all lenses or manufacturers but is for some.

If you want a DLSR, I highly recommend the Sony A57 if you want a good all round camera. Full phase detect (arguably the best type) autofocus during video which is full HD at 60 fps (think good quality or slo-mo, either possible) 12 frames per second shooting with full autofocus between shots. If you have kids this almost guarantees a good shot. Good viewfinder although not the same as the A65/A77 which is stunning. Loads of second hand lenses are available on ebay at great prices if you want to expand later.

If you don't mind a huge camera then the A77 is excellent and a whole lot of camera for the money. Weatherproof too so going to be great for those downpours in the afternoon.

 

[london75]

Wouldn't call myself a camera boffin more a camera geek. Got excited today when I saw that Sony have given the full press release for the A37

http://www.dpreview.com/previews/sony-slt-a37/

Worth a look if you feel like something a bit more versatile than a point and shoot. It will have all the ace features that Wayne mentioned earlier such as sweep panorama (do panaramic shots by just pressing the shutter and pan the camera, all done), high quality video with full time auto focus and very good continuous shooting speeds. It ought to be around 400 with lens, certainly is in America if you can wait or might be a touch more over here.

The quality edge of dslr (technically dslt but I won't bore you) over point and shoot in most cases is significant.

 

[london75]

Sorry, last time I post but just saw a bargain today, it's the Olympus waterproof shockproof everything proof camera I own at a great price as a new model has just come out £129

http://www.warehouseexpress.com/buy-olympus-tough-tg-610-black-digital-camera/p1523697

 

[dazzling]

deleted

 

[2Tiggies]

J i went into the shop to look at the model I'd chosen only to find I didn't actually like the 'feel' of it when I held it, the buttons were all in the wrong places for me.

This is excellent advice. It made me think how I love a 'solid' camera. I have a Nikon D90 which is a fairly heavy camera. While I like this, most of my friends and family could think of nothing worse than something 'bulky and heavy'. It's a very individual thing but the feel of a camera is enormously important. It's like buying shoes - you can get the right colour, size and style, but that does not necessarily make them feel comfortable.

 

[Disneynutinlondon]

OK all you obviously techno savvy camera people ..... what do you think of the Samsung wifi cameras ?? http://www.jessops.com/online.store/products/84402/show.html

 

[paulh]

not on the camera front, just a photo Technic we have used over the years,
watch the photopass photographers how and were they take there photos in the parks and resorts and pinch there ideas(they will also take a photo after there shot with your camera as well
Paul

 

[london75]

OK all you obviously techno savvy camera people ..... what do you think of the Samsung wifi cameras ?? http://www.jessops.com/online.store/products/84402/show.html

Is Wifi something you want? I love a gadget but can't think what I'd use that for when it's always going to be quicker getting pictures off the memory card, wireless will never be as fast.

If you like the Samsungs, my money would be on the WB750, it's a better sensor, longer zoom by a long way, much better video (full HD) rather than 720p (sort of 2/3 HD) and fast burst FPS which is great for kids sports days and jumping in the pool shots! All that for £10 more.

The ST200 is smaller but it depends how important that is.

 

[Disneynutinlondon]

Is Wifi something you want? I love a gadget but can't think what I'd use that for when it's always going to be quicker getting pictures off the memory card, wireless will never be as fast.

If you like the Samsungs, my money would be on the WB750, it's a better sensor, longer zoom by a long way, much better video (full HD) rather than 720p (sort of 2/3 HD) and fast burst FPS which is great for kids sports days and jumping in the pool shots! All that for £10 more.

The ST200 is smaller but it depends how important that is.

It was just one of those "spur of the moment" of "How cool" thoughts but thinking about it it's probably just as easy, if not easier to take a photo with my phone to load it straight onto Facebook.

I'm really a Canon person having had various Ixus over the last 10 years. The last one I bought was touch screen and I absolutely hate it so I'm looking to replace it.

 

[london75]

I too was a Canon person but began to find they were dropping behind on some of the extra features yet charging more than anyone else. It's like their DSLRs, they are not the best quality unless you spend a fortune, they have generally fewer features and image quality is slightly better than middle of the road.

In camera's I'm a Sony convert now, what they lack in heritage they make up for in innovation and technological progress. A friend has one of their point and shoots and just little things like doing a panoramic shot by just turning round, it takes the shots for you so no lining up or stitching required. Another friend has a NEX model and while it doesn't appeal to me as the balance feels all wrong (small body with huge lens on the front) they are cracking cameras. The SLTs which I've got are fantastic by working like an SLR but without a moving mirror or prism that has to flip out of the way for every shot, they are extremely fast at focussing.

From what I've read of the wifi cameras, it's far from being a must have feature, they are difficult to configure and more likely to cause you grief, I've got the iphone/ipad camera connection adapter ( I got the real one as I had a voucher to spend but there are loads of cheaper clones on ebay) which gets any of my photos onto the phone and emailable in seconds. I'd argue it will be much quicker than the wifi.

The only thing with wifi I think sounds interesting is the potential to have it set to allow the iphone (other phones are available ) to act as a shutter release, however, not all cameras allow that so check. If you have a camera with a shutter release socket then there is https://triggertrap.com/ which I can't wait to get for doing time lapse photography.

Finally, this is what I'm waiting for, it's a concept camera at the moment but a lot of people are praying it will be made at some point!
http://www.redmondpie.com/great-concept-of-how-apple-would-hit-the-photography-market-images/