Digital Camera Recommendations

[acompton]

I'm in the market for a new digital camera - mostly home and family use. Personally, I'd prefer an SLR, but I suspect practicality will steer me towards a compact.

[pinbrook]

what features do you want?

i use a Fuji FinePix s5600 - but i choose it for the 10x optical zoom

[jont]

It is well worth taking the extra leap and going for the SLR ... better optics, expandability and the sensors are over twice the size so less noise.

For SLR's look at Pentax K10d, Canon 400d or Nikon D80 .... brother has just bought the Pentax with a twin zoom kit and this prints A4 images brilliantly.. it also has all the ease of use of the compact scene modes.

If you go for a compact (or better a bridge camera) go for one with a resolution of 6/7MP .. anything more looks good as a sticker on the camera but results in increased noise due to the small sensor sizes. Look for face detection and vibration reduction if being used for family pics.

[dave_finlayson]

Also just invested in a Pentax K10D and couldn't recommend it highly enough, if you do go down the SLR route.

[Mike Hughes]

These days digital SLRs will take stunning pictures. If you like to produce 10" x 8" prints and hang them on the wall for people to admire then an SLR is the right choice. Canon or Nikon are both excellent and very good value.

On the other hand, if you'll mainly be printing 6x4s for family albums then a compact camera is more than good enough. The good ones have excellent picture quality and being much smaller you're more likely to take it everwhere. They also have the advantage that most will take video as well.

The Canon A series are very good and Casio also do some good ones. With Casio you need to be a bit more careful choosing though.

I went through the same dilema last year and ended up buying a small Casio, the S770. The camera has been great for me. I carried it in my pocket all the time while skiing in February and took some great pictures I would have missed if I didn't have it with me. The videos of the family skiing and sledging are very good quality and priceless. Being small also meant it didn't break and it didn't break me either. Despite being fallen on more times than I like to admit.

My advice would be to buy the compact camera first. They're very cheap these days and you can always buy an SLR later if you want to.

Mike

[leehack]

SLR = Service Level Requirement?

My Sister has a 7MP Sony compact camera and it is stunning. The screen size is a good inch bigger than anything ive seen before and it makes such a difference when reviewing photos. No idea what the model is but it comes in black or silver and is about 300 scadoonas. Battery life monitor on screen and it simply lasts forever it would appear. Video very good too.

[los_design]

I just love my Kodak Z650 with the easy share dock...printing off piccies is a breeze, edit on your pc then fire them off with bluetooth...sweet.

Nice and clean pictures with many settings.

Worth a peek IMHO

[JSnow]

It is well worth taking the extra leap and going for the SLR ... better optics, expandability and the sensors are over twice the size so less noise.

For SLR's look at Pentax K10d, Canon 400d or Nikon D80 .... brother has just bought the Pentax with a twin zoom kit and this prints A4 images brilliantly.. it also has all the ease of use of the compact scene modes.

If you go for a compact (or better a bridge camera) go for one with a resolution of 6/7MP .. anything more looks good as a sticker on the camera but results in increased noise due to the small sensor sizes. Look for face detection and vibration reduction if being used for family pics.

Ditto. If your budget allows you to go large... go large!

[Goz]

I've just bought an Olympus E-510 and, although early days yet, results are better than I hoped for (and hopefully not as the result of low expectations!).

I looked at the E-410 which is functionally identical apart from not having built in image stabilisation (and perhaps 1 or 2 other minor bits). But then it was £140 cheaper. The E-410 is the smallest DSLR on the market.

[acompton]

Thanks for all the quality advice. Plenty of food for thought. I'm always amazed at how quickly people reply on this forum. Haven't you all got jobs to do?

[pinbrook]

Haven't you all got jobs to do?

sadly yes, but any excuse....

[leehack]

I spend about a quarter of my days uploading, sod all to do in the interim apart from play checkers, poker, skype a few friends and read the forum. I did start a 2 system working practice, but it was far too eficient and i got to have no fun.

It's an evil place though, bit of a time warp, great place for designers to get their work done for free though.

[pinbrook]

I spend about a quarter of my days uploading,

i got caught in this time warp today, i was trying to do 2 things at once whilst waiting for an upload, the result.... I then had to do everything all over again as i lost my train of though and couldn't remember what i was doing and where i was doing it. So for an easy life don't multi task, its better to sit around and play poker

[leehack]

LOL Croccy, quite clear you are on your wind down period.

[pinbrook]

True, i'm off on my Hols next week