Best Digital Camera?

francie81

Can anyone tell me what is the best Digital Camera you can buy out there in terms of realiability without paying through the nose?

I mean I have 'Fuji-Film Finepix A700' and I really think am at the end of my tether with it mainly because of its shocking battery life.

Thanks,
Francie

that's an old camera - why don't you just buy extra batteries for it if battery life is bad - or higher capacity rechargeables so they will take extra pics.

if you want a new camera - the choice of digital cameras is almost endless these days - hard to recommend one to be honest - go to dpreview.com and check under what type of camera you want - compact, dslr etc.

francie81

glasso wrote: »

that's an old camera - why don't you just buy extra batteries for it if battery life is bad - or higher capacity rechargeables so they will take extra pics.

if you want a new camera - the choice of digital cameras is almost endless these days - hard to recommend one to be honest - go to dpreview.com and check under what type of camera you want - compact, dslr etc.

I am using higher capacity rechargeables as it is and still nothing doing.

Your probly right abit of a silly question I think I'll just go for a Ni-NH one.

Ok I will go there thanks for that.

Francie

I'd recommend spending 200 - 250 euro on a decent pocket-sized one with a good zoom lens on it - you can get 14 to 16 zoom for that price and pocket-size nowadays. that way it will be a camera handy for lots of situations. if you going through dublin airport dixons there is the cheapest for good cameras as you don't have to pay vat - valid for any flight. another useful feature is hdmi so you can output direct to a tv (cable may not be included tho). panasonic lumix range are decent in that price range.

something like this

http://www.dpreview.com/products/panasonic/compacts/panasonic_dmczs8

should be around 200 euro or a bit more in duty free

francie81

glasso wrote: »

I'd recommend spending 200 - 250 euro on a decent pocket-sized one with a good zoom lens on it - you can get 14 to 16 zoom for that price and pocket-size nowadays. that way it will be a camera handy for lots of situations. if you going through dublin airport dixons there is the cheapest for good cameras as you don't have to pay vat - valid for any flight. another useful feature is hdmi so you can output direct to a tv (cable may not be included tho). panasonic lumix range are decent in that price range.

I'll keep that in mind I mean it doesn't really matter about the features but more the battery life seems to me that ordinary alkaline battery cameras are worthless.

Thanks for advice,
Francie

francie81

francie81 wrote: »

I'll keep that in mind I mean it doesn't really matter about the features but more the battery life seems to me that ordinary alkaline battery cameras are worthless.

Thanks for advice,
Francie

these days a camera will be able to take 300 - 400 shots before recharging so shouldn't be an issue.

francie81

glasso wrote: »

these days a camera will be able to take 300 - 400 shots before recharging so shouldn't be an issue.

Not mine at present though seriously its quite ridiculous.

coylemj

francie81 wrote: »

I'll keep that in mind I mean it doesn't really matter about the features but more the battery life seems to me that ordinary alkaline battery cameras are worthless.

Correct and you will have the same problem if you continue to buy alkaline batteries, they are completely useless in digital cameras. Buy high capacity (>2,500) Ni-Mh batteries, do NOT use a fast charger, keep them in pairs and never mix them up i.e. but a set of four, split them into two pairs and keep each pair together, do not mix them up.

The reason for this is that over time the effective capacity of each battery will change and if you mix them up you will have two batteries in the camera with slightly different capacities and this will reduce their overall life. Keeping them in separate pairs means that you use them together and charge them together so that the batteries in each pair have had the exact same usage. This will maximize their overall life and ensure that you get the maximum usage from each charge.

Read the paragraph entitled Rechargeable Battery & Charger Prices here....

http://www.steves-digicams.com/accessories/batteries/

If you decide to go down the new batteries route, MyMemory.co.uk have a 3-for-2 deal on Uniross batteries, including 2700mah AA ones.

I use DSLRs that have their own specific batteries, but I use these AA ones for my flashguns, wireless mouse, xbox joypads, etc. and I never have a problem with them.


http://www.mymemory.co.uk/3-for-2-Uniross-Value



That said, I'd recommend going down the new camera route if you think this will continue to be a problem. Someone said your camera is 'old', so I did a quick search and seen a review from 2007, so i'd say it was released in 2006/2007? If so, then buying a new camera could be a wise move.

Not that there's anything wrong with your camera at all, but that the technlogy in cameras has been leaping forward over the past few years, so I reckon a new camera could provide much better image quality (Though again, that said, I use DSLRs, so I am not too clued in to the compact market at all, though I would assume that compact cameras have come on a long way in four/five years, too, anyway).

coylemj

Deleted User wrote: »

Not that there's anything wrong with your camera at all, but that the technlogy in cameras has been leaping forward over the past few years, so I reckon a new camera could provide much better image quality (Though again, that said, I use DSLRs, so I am not too clued in to the compact market at all, though I would assume that compact cameras have come on a long way in four/five years, too, anyway).

If anything, compact cameras have developed in the wrong direction on the past few years. The pixel race means that there are too many pixels forced into the same area which increases noise; menus have gotten too complicated with new features which hardly anybody uses and the basics haven't really changed at all.

I doubt if the OP will see any major benefit from buying a new camera given that his biggest beef is power consumption. If anything he will end up with a camera with more pixels which will consume even more juice.

I bought a Canon Powershot S50 (5 Mp) in 2003, by today's standards it's a fairly chunky 'compact'. I bought a DSLR (D90) in 2009 but on a lot of occasions I bring the Powershot S50 which still takes superb photos, mainly because the CCD is much bigger than those in the new compact models so the pixel density is much lower, about a third that of the modern compacts.

I've lost count of the number of people with newer compacts who take terrible pictures simply because they haven't bothered to read the manual and they all have the same problem with batteries because they think alkalines are the answer to everything.

That Duracell bunny has a lot to answer for :mad:

U41

hey guys-
in regards to the original post, does anyone have any suggestions?
i too am looking to buy a camera for around the 200 mark, my first camera for that matter.
any ideas on what i should get, considerations i should take into account?
your help would be greatly appreciated***

U41

hey guys-
in regards to the original post, anyone got any suggestions?

i too am looking to buy a camera (my 1st) and would appreciate any ideas, or considerations i should take into account before buying.

coylemj

Canon Powershot SX210. £169 (sterling) on Jessops, you could pick it up in Newry (Buttercrane Centre) or buy it mail order.

http://www.jessops.com/online.store/products/77155/show.html

lil_tuts

1st i would never buy a camera that runs on AA batteries , get one that comes with a battery made for the camera and a charger . im looking at this camera great for the price :

http://www.elara.ie/productdetail.aspx?productcode=MMEA152056

earth mother

Hi. Sorry. Coming to this thread a bit late in the day, but I have a Panasonic Lumix with a 12X optical zoom.
I absolutely love it. The battery life is great and the quality of the pictures is brilliant. I've recommended it to so many people who have admired the pictures. It's not the smallest camera in the world, but small enough to carry in a handbag or a large pocket!!