camera

[kia]

Hi i'm looking to buy a camera so i can take detail shots of my models and post on here i don't know alot about them, but i'm wanting to spend no more than £70. Ive found one in argos with, x5 optical zoom, digital antiblur, 12 megapixals and lillum battery or whatever it's called and that's £69.99.

I had a look at the argos guide to cameras and come to the conclusion that i should be looking for one with optical zoom instead of digital zoom, the higher the mega pixals the better and one that doesn't take AA/AAA battery's as they eat loads of power and would go through loads, and the lill are the rechargable type packs, is this correct? any advice.

[tornado64]

looking at argos i'd probably say invest an extra tenner for the black fuji compact

the only ones i see for your price are the red kodak and another by G.E.

for cheap versatile good quality compacts fuji take one hell of a lot to beat them

another bonus is this one includes movie mode with sound if you ever require it

fuji compact camera

optical zoom is indeed beter but never get drawn in to the megapixel bulls*** most internet sites reduce quality anyway and in reality 3mp is ideal for internet use

larger megapixels in reality are only of importance for large enlargements and publishing

any of todays cameras are more than adequate for internet use

Edited December 29, 2010 by tornado64

[tornado64]

and here's the test on said camera , the only negatives were " seems flimsy " although later reported surprised at how robust it was

and slow shutter release ( all compacts are ) the only way ound shutter lag is a dslr !!

anyway heres a review of one !!

fuji camera review

[tornado64]

most compacts run off AA rechargeable batteries so budget for a cheap battery and charger pack afterwards

[huntermountain]

If I were you, I'd go for a second hand one. Look on the Internet, and I'm sure you'll be able to find brillant little compacts, sold by people who get caught in the megapixel race. A camera that was top of the range 4 years ago, will still take great pictures now, but you won't be able to blow them up to wall size printouts. I fear you might be worse of buying a bottom of the range new camera.

[tornado64]

If I were you, I'd go for a second hand one. Look on the Internet, and I'm sure you'll be able to find brillant little compacts, sold by people who get caught in the megapixel race. A camera that was top of the range 4 years ago, will still take great pictures now, but you won't be able to blow them up to wall size printouts. I fear you might be worse of buying a bottom of the range new camera.

t's a good suggestion , but alas not without an element of risk particularly if on a tight budget

i always view the what if scenario , what if it gets lost in transit ?? , what if it has high usage ?? , what if it has been dropped at some point ??

besides that you struggle to get anything worthwhile under 50 quid it is worth the extra money for a full years waranty and knowing you got it from a local store

besides which argos has a returns policy whereby if you are not happy with the item it can be returned and money refunded !!

[spejic]

More megapixels isn't necessarily better. And if you want to take pictures of models you need a camera with macro ability and preferably a built-in flash.

I would look at Canon cameras such as the A3100, A495, or A480. Looking at Amazon.uk, they are all in your price range. Almost all Canon cameras have macro ability and they are easy to use. The A3100 is smaller, but it doesn't use standard AA batteries, which makes it more expensive to get backup batteries. NiMH AA batteries are common.

Look at review sites and see the sample images they provide. One that reviews lower-end cameras is:

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

[Hawkeye's Hobbies]

Unless your shooting images for large print format you don't need anything larger than 3-5 megapixels. I shoot my blog pics at 3mp since these images rarely get published at anything larger that 600 pixels in size.

Find a camera that fits your hand and the controls are easily used and understood. Stay away from using digital zoom!

Most of my scale modeling photography is done with my pocket camera or my I am a spammer....please report this post. DMC-FZ50.

http://hawkeyes-squawkbox.com/2010/06/03/e...ng-photography/

[Aaronw]

Both the Canon Powershot, and Nikon Coolpix series have good cameras well within your price range. Have a look and find the one with the features you want. Personally I like those that work with AA batteries because they are easily available, so no problem of having the battery go dead and no spare handy. The new cameras are pretty gentle on the batteries, my first digital might get 20-30 shots off a pair of AAs, the Canon S3IS I bought in 2007 could take hundreds of pics off the 4 AAs. You can get rechargable AAs fairly reasonably and they will last you 1-2 years easily before they start to lose their ability to hold a charge.

The biggest advantage to specialist rechargables is the shape, which allows a much smaller, flatter camera.

[kia]

Hi thanks for all your help,

Tornado the fuji camera you suggest looks good but as i can see isn't it only x3 digital zoom, and as you said optical zoom is better than digital, its a shame because the review looks good. I want to be able to show, in detail the work i do in the cockpits and wheel bays of my models.

[tornado64]

Hi thanks for all your help,

Tornado the fuji camera you suggest looks good but as i can see isn't it only x3 digital zoom, and as you said optical zoom is better than digital, its a shame because the review looks good. I want to be able to show, in detail the work i do in the cockpits and wheel bays of my models.

you didn't read correct it has 3x optical zoom and backed up by 6x digital zoom

fujis usualy have a zoom display that has a bar where the optical zoom goes into the digital zoom

so you are always aware

•12 megapixels.

•Black.

•Metal body.

•37mm wide angle Fujinon lens.

•3 x optical zoom.

•6.3 x digital zoom.

•2.7in LCD screen

so what the data is saying is the camera has both optical and digital zoom , when you are zooming and go over the 3x optical zoom it then goes into digital zoom but there are warnings so you can avoid using digital zoom

although going into the digital zoom will probably never occur photographing models at close quarters it only realy becomes relevant for outside shots

Edited December 31, 2010 by tornado64