Advice on a digital camera please.

[oceanfroggie]

Photo processor quality v Mega pixals

My main advice is to go for a quality picture processor rather than high mega pixals. I recommend 5mp absolute maximum. I took these pictures with a Fuji finepix 5500 which is only 4mp, but also 10x optical zoom. Now superceed by 5mp 5600.

For me I also wanted something bigger than a cigarette packet for better feel, weight and zoom control. Newer models allow zoom to be controlled by twisting the lens instead of stupid buttons which allows faster compose/shoot sequence.

Many manufacturers have now got cameras boasting 8-10mp which has significant draw backs without increasing quality, not to mention the ridiculous storage space required to store each 10mp image, also the camera needs a lot more cpu time to process 10mp. Fuji's new range will not exceed 5mp. Processing chip speed and quality is more important than mega pixals.

You have to like the physical weight and feel of a good camera so try them out rather than buy blind over the internet.

 

[peterb26]

Re: Photo processor quality v Mega pixals

Again - thanks for everyones input.
(And great photos Froggie by the way).

 

[peterb26]

Re: Photo processor quality v Mega pixals

Stevieee emailed me a link to a much better manual than you get in the box with the camera. And indeed it has got burst mode and multi-burst mode. Plus theres lots of other stuff thats not listed in the boxed manual.

Thanks Steve.

 

[muckypup]

Check on the focus/metering settings. Some cameras look in a grid and try and decide where in the frame to focus on, the same goes for the metering. This can take time. Most modern cameras will allow you to change the focus to spot focus/metering which will focus on the center of the frame. This is ually *much* faster. Also new fangled features such as face recognition will increase shutter lag.

Steve

 

[scubaman]

Second vote for Ixus. I have a 800 IS and it is great. 850 has the added bonus of a widescreen cell, which is nice if viewing pics from a widescreen telly.

IS stands for Image stabilization, which is of the optical (vs. software) kind. This helps a lot when taking pictures in the dark or when shooting video clips. HOWEVER, while this allows you to take pics with longer exposure it doesnt's stop the motion. Ie. if you are shooting, say dolphins, this doesn's help that much.

A friend of mine bought this. It has by far the best quality on big ISO's. This means very sharp pictures of moving objects. This is very useful eg. when shooting under water where light is low (or when shooting fast moving dolphins). Fuji, however does not have an image stabilizer.

From my own experience I know that the delay between pushing the button and the photo being taken is insignificant. I think that Fuji is fast as well.

 

[ontheplane]

Canon IXUS and Powerhot range have the lowest Shutter Lag that I know of.

The problem with most Compacts is they have become far to "advanced" and have forgotten the fundamental reason they exist is to take a good photo when you press the button.

I have just bought the Powershot A710IS and it's truly superb.

7,1MP
6 x Optical Zoom
Underwater mode
Underwater housing available

Best camera I have ever used.

My sister (a professional) has about 5 cameras.

Apart from her Hassleblad, all the others are Canon - and I got her advice before buying mine.

PM me for more info if you like

 

[peterb26]

Thanks for all of these guys.

Since I got the link for the good quality manual from Stevieee I have now solved some of the problems, so I am going to continue with it for a while yet. One of my mates emailed me to say that it won the recent "group road test" in PC-Plus, and the write up in there is glowing.