Digi Cameras

Saab, I thought that you'd taken them. I was about to show you enormous respect.

Where is the web site? Who is the girl?

 

I take better pics than that!

click on take 3d tour

http://www.panasonic.co.uk/digital-cameras/dmcfx7b/index.htm

 

Ok...latest thoughts as I home in on what I need and get serious about how much I want to spend.

Yesterday I had my heart set on a Nikon 5700, today I read Steves review for the Olympus C5060 on steves-digicams.com which made me think again. Below are some thoughts on each from what I've read…

Nikon…seems to have as many negative comments as positive…the owners opinions on dpreview seem to be full of gripes although there is plenty of praise generally for the camera. Its highly recommended both by Steve and Phil Askey over on dpreview yet there seem to be plenty of negative comments around. Is this because people expect a lot from Nikon and they are under more scrutiny? The zoom is the main benefit on this camera I can see compared with the Oly.

Olympus….this seems like a nice camera that has plenty of positive owners reviews on dpreview and a good review by Steve. It's a shame the zoom is only 4x but everything else seems very positive…apart from the mechanical defects which have affected some irate owners.

So which should I go for?!
I'm looking for something that takes lovely pictures that can be blown up to A4. Something with good macro capabilities (this is the reason I shelved the Fuji S7000 as the sample pics of super macro on dpreview are pretty distorted)
Something that has plenty options to play with as I learn.
Something that is nice to use as this will be my first proper camera although I intend to use it for more than just p+s.

I've posted this on steves and dpreview forums although I'm bearing in mind what you guys have said about dpreviews forums. I fear some Nikon zealots are going to hijack my thread.

 

Here's a dpreview "side by side" comparison:

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/com...side&cameras=nikon_cp5700,oly_c5060z&show=all

..which lets you compare the features etc.

Even though I'm an Olympus man I'd probably go for the Nikon in this case on the basis of, as you say, almost double the zoom range and all round "photography" features being slightly better (slightly faster lens, can use ISO 800, closer focus range, slightly better metering options etc).

I wouldn't worry too much about the negative comments in the forums, they're probably very unrepresentative as angry people tend to join forums to complain whereas happy customers generally don't.

I see you posted in the Open Talk area where you're unlikely to get much response to that kind of post. OTOH when I was deciding between my Oly E-10 and a Minolta Dimage7 (the contemporary competition) I made the mistake of posting a "which should I get" thread in both the Oly and Minolta forums and got flame grilled on both sides

Michael.

 

I have been looking at the Pentax *istD, as I already have LOADS of pentax lenses, and a couple of 35mm bodies. The *istD will be perfect for what I will need it for (weddings and still life), and will definatley be getting the battery grip, after the last wedding my arm was aching from holding a my 35mms at 45deg!
I would always shoot in RAW mode, then convert after, this is because you don't loose so much quality, and also, you don't have to get the camera to start compressing etc when you need it quick as a flash back for another shot.

This is an example of one of my 35mm shots . It is on the South East coast of the UK, can't remember the name of the place though

BTW, this photo has not been through photoshop, or any image editing software, it was scanned from the negative, and put straight (after sizing) on the web.:



and this one again, did not get edited in any way, just threw the background waaaaaay out :


attatched is a shot from the most recent wedding in Johannesburg South Africa
(c)Greenphotos

enjoy

 

Thanks Michael. I've now posted in Nikon and Olympus talk as I haven't had any response so I'll see what happens.

I think I'll lean towards the Nikon for the reasons you stated. It seems to have the edge as far as features go. Also there have been a few on ebay going for less than £200 so I might go for that option.

Saying that I'm still keen on the wider angle and the remote control offered by the olympus so I'll have a look in the shops to see which one gives me the right vibe.

 

That's what I was about to suggest. You might find one is irritating to use for whatever reason and go for the other. However, do try to spend as long as you can playing with them. What might seem like an irritation to begin with will either grow and become intolerable, or you might find that when you get used to it, you can never go back. I found a few things that irritated me about my EOS 3 when I first got it. My previous EOS 5 had been easier to use in ways, and seemed to get better results for less effort. But the 3 is a professional tool rather than a serious amateur camera. It forced me to pull my socks up and lift MY game in using it, putting more effort it. And the results of that are things that it would have been very hard to achieve with the EOS 5.

 

Just bought No.2 daughter a Sony DSC-T3 for her Matura (cruelly hard Swiss university entrance exam) present. This is an incredibly skinny thing with a huge screen on the back and Zeiss optics that don't telescope out of the camera. There was a good price on them in a shop just across the way from me.

The results come out tomorrow - part of me hopes the little wretch'll fail, so that I can have it, but the chances of that are so slight that I've already gift-wrapped it.

P.S. She didn't, so she has it. Great little gadget.

 

Just this very second ordered a Nikon Coolpix 5200 for my folks. Just hope it gets delivered in-time for xmas now! And hoping to track down one of these £50 cashback vouchers....

 

l currently own a Sony DSC-S85 which takes a great photo due to the Carl Zeiss lense but it has 1 big flaw, way too much shutter lag. l have taken so many photos of the kids where by the time the shutter goes, they are half out of the frame. Its time to ditch the Canon EOS film system too since l am very happy with the digital shots, they print up very nicely at the local lab. So both are going to be replaced by a very good digital camera, the one thats caught my eye is the Nikon Coolpix 8800;

http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/CP8800/CP88A.HTM

Its a new release with a heap of great features. Are there any users here?

Cheers Simon

 

http://www.imaging-resource.com/IMCOMP/COMPS01.HTM

This is quite a useful tool. Compare sample images between 2 cameras. Would be good if you could compare a whole load but its pretty good anyway.

Latest update:
The Panasonic FZ20 has crept on to my radar recently due to its speed of use and zoom although the noise is a bit of a worry for larger prints.
Slightly worried about some of the comments I've had on the Nikon which is leading me to lean towards the Olympus 5060 again.
Should be hitting the shops over Christmas as I'll be at my folks in Bath so I'll be doing the all important test driving of my shortlist.
Getting the hang of the lingo and what to look for now which has made me realise that I'll be getting a dslr at some point…can't believe how little noise there is on the 300d compared to the units I've been looking at. Don't need one just yet though. I've got a lot of learning to do.

 

Hi HM,

The Panasonic does look like a great camera and at 2/3rds the cost of the 8800 is a tempting alternative. What have you heard thats bad about the 8800?

Cheers

 

Sorry Mondie, bit misleading there...I've been looking at the Nikon 5700 which I have on my shortlist. Not looked at the 8800 so have a look at the reviews on steves-digicams.com and dpreview.com for starters.

 

HM, saw your thread over on dpreview.com - you any closer to getting an E-10? The replies there mentioned the excellent colour of the E-10 which was something I forgot to mention.

Michael.

 

Michael...
Had a long chat with the guy in the classifieds and he was very positive about it. Has 2 of them. Anyway I offered him £250 just as a long shot but he wasn't keen...not surprised as it sounded mint. I decided i'll get one from jessops or another shop so I can get some kind of warranty on it unless its stupidly cheap in a private ad. Jessops 30 day return is pretty useful too. Now I'm back in civilisation (away from west Wales and back in Bath) I spoke to a guy at length about cameras generally today...he said the E-10 eats batteries...to the point that he thought it was unusable. Haven't heard that before...you have any probs?

Anyway he almost talked me into getting a film SLR as he had recently gone back to film and medium format after using digital for 2 years. I guess this is the vinyl vs CD equivalent of the photographic world and everyone will have their view. Although he had some good points about preferring to go out and shoot and get them developed rather than shoot everything and choose your favourite while hunched infront of the pc. All very familiar traditional vs digital arguments that crops up in plenty of hobbies I suppose! Was food for though though so I won't be rejecting film as an option in the future especially as a nice 2nd hand slr can be picked up pretty cheap. Medium format cameras are lovely things and look as though they can be very rewarding if you know what your doing.

I think I'll have a look around the camera shops to walk off the turkey and check my shortlist with the E-10 still in mind. I've had to write off the D30 because of the cost of lenses...not something I can justify quite yet. The E-10 seems like a cheaper option as far as add ons goes.
Cheers
Tom

 

Regarding going for a film SLR...no, no, NO, NOOOO, NOOOOOOOO!!!!!

Switching to digital was what re-kindled my interest in photography after my film SLR had been lying dormant for years, only to be pulled out for holidays etc. With digital, the fact that you can do all your own "developing and printing" gets you involved in the whole creative process from taking a shot to ending up with a gorgeous looking print. Having it all so immediate just makes it all so much better. Anyway, I don't really want to do a digital vs. film argument here

The E-10 does not "eat batteries". It can use either 4xAA rechargeables, or 4xAA lithiums or 2xCRV3 lithiums. 4xAA lithiums or 2xCRV3 lithiums costs about £15 and will last at least 350 shots, depending on how much you use the LCD review and flash. For a long time I'd been using lithiums rather than rechargables because my photography tends to come in bursts (ie whole weekend doing nothing else and then 3 weeks not touching the camera) and RCs tend to lose their charge when not in use.

However (I posted on dpreview in the Oly SLR forum aswell) I'm now using Uniross 2300mAh RCs and they are lasting as long, if not longer, than lithiums and they don't seem to be losing any significant charge when not in use. I always carry a set of lithiums around as emergency spares though.

I would say the E-10 is on a par with most other D-SLRs in the battery stakes. There was a "battery pack/portrait grip" available for the E-10 called the B-HLD10. It's rather large, was pretty expensive then (no idea now) and is now probably not worth it with the advent of high power RCs.

Michael.

 

Michael...
Made the call to get the E-10 and then realised the 16mb memory card is way to small so got to budget for a new card and also batteries! What card you recommend to use i.e what type...I haven't looked at cards at all yet so its a whole new ball game! Also the uniross batteries you mentioned...are they just the 2300 type you can get from Argos? Any good sites for these bits.
Might try and get a deal when I go to Jessops but what should I be spending on a 256mb card and batteries?
Cheers,
Tom

 

7dayshop are usually good for batteries - e.g. 8 x AA 2000mAh Ni-Mh rechargeable batteries and a charger for £11.49.

http://www.7dayshop.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=99120

 

Does 2300 just mean it will last a bit longer than the 2000 ones? That 7day deal looks pretty good!

 

In generaly, the higher the mAh (milliamp hours) rating of a battery the longer it will last from fully charged. However, when tested batteries show quite large differences and there isn't always a strict correlation between how long they last and their mAh rating.

The 2300mAh Uniross ones I got are the bog standard ones that you can get in Dixons (or Argos I guess). Mine came with a charger.

I use a 256Mb Lexar CF card. I've no idea what they cost now other than they're bound to be a lot cheaper than when I bought mine! btw, don't splash out for an ultra fast CF card, the regular ones will be fine as with the E-10 the limiting factor is the E-10, not the card speed.

Michael.