Camera Help

[Chilly]

DH and I want to get a new camera but we don't know what to get. Any tips on what features we should look for?

We were looking at this one:

Samsung WB600 14MP Camera

14 mega pixels.

24mm wide angle lens.

15 x optical zoom.

3in LCD screen.

Dual digital and optical anti-blur.

Face detection up to 11 faces.

Red eye reduction.

Memory card compatibility: SD/SDHC.

720p high definition movie capture with sound.

Maximum ISO 3200.

Manual over-ride.

Rechargeable (included).


http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Produ...igital+cameras+and+packages|14419441.htm#tab3

 

[tennisfan]

That looks ok. What is it that you want to get from your camera?

 

[Chilly]

That looks ok. What is it that you want to get from your camera?

We've just a really basic one now.

We would like one with a better zoom and better quality but nothing too big as we know we'd end up never taking it anywhere.

 

[Goofyish]

The Samsung WB600 is only effective 12 Mega-pixel (the sensor is 14mp)

It is a good specification though.

It's also only £188 from Amazon

This is a good site for camera reviews and comparisons:

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/specs.asp

 

[Chilly]

The Samsung WB600 is only effective 12 Mega-pixel (the sensor is 14mp)

It is a good specification though.

It's also only £188 from Amazon

This is a good site for camera reviews and comparisons:

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/specs.asp

Thanks

It's also cheaper in M&S and we've got some vouchers for there.

 

[BethEJo]

DH and I want to get a new camera but we don't know what to get. Any tips on what features we should look for?

We were looking at this one:

Samsung WB600 14MP Camera

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Produ...igital+cameras+and+packages|14419441.htm#tab3

I like the sound of that one Claire

I'm looking for the same sort of thing as you - good features, good zoom but not too clumpy.

I've fallen in love with the new Sony NEX-3 - sort of like a compact DSLR.

http://www.sony.co.uk/hub/dslr/nex5-nex3

But it seems they come at a price around £400 I think. Think I'll have to wait a while

 

[ukstitch]

Things you'd probably want to look for would be:

- don't worry too much about mega pixels. 10 is plenty or you could arguably even go for 8. You only need vast numbers if you're looking to make big poster size prints.

- Not sure how you take your pictures, but personally I'd always look for a camera with an optical view finder. Taking pictures from the screen eats the battery doing it all the time.

- anti shake is always nice to have

- good performance at night and a good range of ISO values without too much "noise". This is generally something easiest found by looking for some reviews, but it's always nice to have a camera that works well at night.

- good optical zoom. Digital zoom is a waste as you can do this yourself easily enough with a computer, but you can't recreate an optical zoom with a computer. 15x is pretty good.

Overall that camera seems pretty good to me and at less than £200 it seems pretty nice. It's definitely a camera I'd consider as a lightweight backup to my main camera if I was after a new one

 

[Goofyish]

I agree partly with the fact that you only need a lot of mega-pixels if you intend to make large prints, bit what a lot of mega-pixels also allows you to crop the pictures and still have enough mega-pixels to get a good print

 

[ukstitch]

I agree partly with the fact that you only need a lot of mega-pixels if you intend to make large prints, bit what a lot of mega-pixels also allows you to crop the pictures and still have enough mega-pixels to get a good print

very true and indeed i forgot to mention that

Having said that - 8 mega pixels which is low by today's standards will let you crop a picture to a picture 1/2 as wide and 1/2 as tall (e.g. crop it down just to the top left "quarter") and give you a 2 megapixel picture.

Looking at a chart of print sizes and how many megapixels are needed to get that print size, it seems you only need 3 megapixels to get a "normal" 6x4 picture

I guess that's why I've stopped caring too much for megapixels - they're nice to have but I'd rather have a good camera that performs better with lower mega pixels

 

[Goofyish]

very true and indeed i forgot to mention that

Having said that - 8 mega pixels which is low by today's standards will let you crop a picture to a picture 1/2 as wide and 1/2 as tall (e.g. crop it down just to the top left "quarter") and give you a 2 megapixel picture.

Looking at a chart of print sizes and how many megapixels are needed to get that print size, it seems you only need 3 megapixels to get a "normal" 6x4 picture

I guess that's why I've stopped caring too much for megapixels - they're nice to have but I'd rather have a good camera that performs better with lower mega pixels

Yep, I agree My first digital camera (Canon G1) was only about 3mp and took fantastic pictures. I even printed them up to A4 and they looked good

There is more to good image quality than pixels - lens quality and the way the camera processes the raw sensor data into to jpg, auto white balance, metering all make a big contribution to the final image quality.