New digital camera?

[streetster]

not sure if this is the right section tbh, but i'll ask anyway

my dad has been given £350 worth of John Lewis vouchers, which he is wanting to spend on a digital camera, what do people recommend for this kinda price range, and why ,

the reason for getting a digital camera is that he wishes to replace his current 'normal' camera with something more compact - but wishes to get something with a decent set of features (ie decent zoom factor + wideangle, stuff like that), i dont know anything about cameras, and even less about digital ones, but i'm sure there are some knowledgable folk on this board who can give me some recommendations

cheers, and merry christmas

mark

[Russ]

http://www.digi-darkroom.com/ < they'll spend it for you hehe.
very nice bunch of lads

[Merlin]

Fujifilm Finepix S5000 - a very nice camera, £349 in John Lewis, I was looking at one for my dad the other day! Shame you have to spend at JL though, as it can be had for £280 elsewhere.

[unrealrocks]

I would recommend Olympus or Nikon for the higher quality optics ... cameras around that price range seem to have mad pixel counts but can't take advantage of it because of there sub standard optics!

[streetster]

Shame you have to spend at JL though, as it can be had for £280 elsewhere.

yeh it was a present for him spending 25years at IBM seemed a better choice than a barometer or clock or something still i would've asked for £350 cash ... cheers for the link Russ, might post there later, he's also talking about getting a high resolution printer aswell... cheers for advice guys i'll have a mosey around the net to see whats what perhaps, or maybe just have a snooze instead

mark

[duongnt]

I think you can go for the Canon A70 and 256CF card. the aèà is arguably the best 3.2mp camera out there.

For other camera revviews, you can check out www.dpreview.com, lots of user opinions there to see

[Jonny M]

Originally posted by Merlin
Shame you have to spend at JL though, as it can be had for £280 elsewhere.

John Lewis department stores pricing policy
We set very competitive prices for all John Lewis department stores.

Each branch routinely checks prices in local shops. If we find the same goods being sold at a lower price, we automatically reduce our local price to match.

If you find the same item you have just bought from us selling for less at another shop in the UK, we will refund the difference.

[Howard]

That only means high street stores though AFAIK Caged.

I'm with Trash.. Many "cheaper" cameras with mad pixel counts like 4 or 5 megapixels aren't as good as a higher quality camera with a lower count. Canon, Olympus and Nikon are the best camera manufacturers IMHO. Stay away from Kodak, they're cameras are crap also IMHO.

[Jonny M]

Yer high street only, but it's not bad as far are price promises go.

[unrealrocks]

Howard - thats the 2nd time you've called me Trash ... why?

I have a kodak camera - I wouldn't say its great but for £150 I can get full A4 printouts ... it isn't a bad camera, main thing was its small, lol!

[Howard]

Oh bugger

I dunno.. Your avatar and sig when catching my eye looks slightly similar to his somehow

I apologise

[streetster]

oi stop thread trashing and find me some cameras (j/k) , glad we're all in the christmas spirit.. i was shocked to look at the clock and realise its almost 9pm (hexus time) doesnt seem so late. anyhow.. do you think £350 is excessive for a camera? maybe he should spend £200 and the other £150 on something else, or do you need to spend the extra to get a *decent* (ie high quality, uber zoom and all that jazz) camera

cheers again

mark

[Rabs]

Get a Fuji M603 and a 1Gig Microdrive (3.1 mp, 2 1/2 inch TFT, cradle etc). Not sure what price they are at JL though, £349.99 for the two everywhere else tho.

Just bought my gf one for christmas and its mega (I'll probably use it more).

[streetster]

Fuji M603 is £250 on JL, i'm not sure about a microdrive tho.. maybe ebuyer might stock some? keep the suggestions coming

thanks

mark

[unrealrocks]

It depends totally on what you wanna use the camera for ... some people would say £1300 is about right for a camera, although some people find a £30 is enough!

[Spritzup]

Also remember the accessories you're going to need. I work at a photography store and most people don't realize that digital camera's need more than what's in the box. Figure on getting at least a 128 meg card, batteries/charger (NiMh), and possibly a camera bag. If you're looking for a well laid out, easy to use camera I would reccomend the Nikon 3100 (it sells for the same as the Canon A-70 in Canada). The Nikon comes with a 2 year warranty (don't know about U.K.), batteries and charger. They are small, use CF cards and have nice lenses (Nikkor). If you want something a little more advanced, try the Nikon 4300, very similar camera but more feature laden. I'm personally not a big fan of the Canon's, but they are good cameras. The other name mentioned (olympus) while being a good camera, is difficult to use in relation to other models. Like others have said, stay away from Kodak, HP, etc. Basically stick to known camera manufacturers. Fuji I'm a little iffy on, but that's just me. Hope this helps.