# What Camera Is For Me?



## suggsy (Aug 25, 2008)

Could anyone point me in the right direction please?

I'm thinking of getting a new camera, the thing is there is so much choice and so many different makes and models that are similar spec etc.

Now, I would like a 'go anywhere' camera, that will take decent photos pretty much anywhere out and about, but also half decnt watch photos.

What are a good point and shoot camera and would it do what I require, or should I wait to pay what seems like extra money and get a DSLR thingy, and would it be worth it for what I want?

Thanks in advance, I don't really know what to pay for a 'half decent' one, I'm thinking maybe Â£250, are the Panasonic Lumix any good, and if so what model, Lx3, Lx5 ETC.or Nikon, ooh I don't know, so many choices and I haven't a clue lol

Thanks for reading my babble


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## gaz64 (May 5, 2009)

suggsy said:


> Could anyone point me in the right direction please?
> 
> I'm thinking of getting a new camera, the thing is there is so much choice and so many different makes and models that are similar spec etc.
> 
> ...


suggsy

go for a panasonic... by the best featured one you can within your budget and you wont be disapointed


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## citizenhell (Jul 12, 2010)

Just my opinion but I've been doing the same search for my wife & have narrowed it down to the following options;

Point & shoot compact - Lumix TZ10 or Fuji F300EXR

SLR style Bridge Camera - Lumix FZ38, FZ45 or Fuji S200EXR

Won't go far wrong with any of these & all have detailed reviews at TrustedReviews internet site.


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## jasonm (Nov 22, 2003)

I think its hard these days to get a bad one, the Lumix always gets good reviews, as always though, its how you use it not what it can do .......


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## suggsy (Aug 25, 2008)

Thanks for your comments, I'll look further into Panasonics


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## Chromejob (Jul 28, 2006)

Very easy to narrow your best choices by price at www.dpreview.com. Superb reviews, can be very technical, but the summaries and "pros & cons" can make quick work of it.

I'm partial to Fujis for their color fidelity and ease of use. Minus is that they usuall require less common memory (xD).

At your price range you might be able to get a pro-am model that does everything from full auto to manual modes for more control. Deciding factor for me in sticking with Fuji models was Camera RAW, which saves everything the camera can.


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## gaz64 (May 5, 2009)

suggsy said:


> Thanks for your comments, I'll look further into Panasonics


i`ve got an fz7 and a tz3 wouldnt buy anything else


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## DMP (Jun 6, 2008)

Find yourself a good review site (CNET (electronic goods in general), Imaging-Resource (camera specific), most photography magazines have a website etc etc) and start reading. It is almost impossible to buy a bad camera these days, but it's a good idea to know what sort of features you want (e.g. is manual control of camera functions important or do you prefer auto-everything?). To photograph watches a good macro ability is desirable and manual focus and aperture setting very useful. In the compacts, more megapixels does not necessarily mean a better picture - 8mp is more than sufficient unless you intent enlarging your photo's to poster sizes. Personally, I prefer a viewfinder - something which is becoming increasingly difficult to find on a compact digital camera these days. I find LCD screens are hopeless for composing photographs outdoors, but with most compacts that's your only choice these days.

If you stick to the main Japanese brands (though the camera won't be made in Japan.....) Sony, Panasonic, Pentax, Canon, Nikon, Olympus etc, you won't go too far wrong but do your research first before you part with your hard-earned.

In regard to reading reviews, you will often get a better feel for a camera by paying attention to it's "user" reviews rather than the "editors" reviews. "Editors" often tend to focus on the technical competencies, whereas users tend to focus on how easy it is to use in a more general sense.

Good luck with your hunt!

Cheers

Dave


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## HappyLad (Oct 28, 2009)

Canon G12 is about as good as it gets for a compact.

- well... without going into Leica territory .

edit: The G12 can be had for less than Â£400 - not the Â£540 quoted on Canons web site


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## suggsy (Aug 25, 2008)

Thanks Dave for your informative reply, I have done a fair bit of research but as you say the hardest thing to decide is what I actually need it for.

I agree about 8mp being enough, as my HTC Desire HD mobile phone is cool for 'quick snaps' out and about, and does excellent 720p video recording.

However, I also have a Samsung S1075 10.2 mp and never use it now as I personally think my phone takes better snap shots out and about.

So after some research, I think I need a good optical zoom, good macro, incidentally when I push the button for macro on my camera nothing seems to change, it's probably me but don't feel the camera is good enough for me.

Oh and another thing, I like the idea of an HDMI socket.

Time to look at Japanese better cameras me thinks


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## suggsy (Aug 25, 2008)

citizenhell said:


> Just my opinion but I've been doing the same search for my wife & have narrowed it down to the following options;
> 
> Point & shoot compact - Lumix TZ10 or Fuji F300EXR
> 
> ...


Thanks for hat, I have found a TZ10 for Â£180 which I think is a good price


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## PaulBoy (Dec 2, 2007)

My son was after a compact & after a bit of research we found the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX60 great spec & has a wider angle lens than most (25mm instead of 28mm on most 'wide angle' compacts) - Not aware what the spec of the TZ10 is?

Cheers

Paul


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## suggsy (Aug 25, 2008)

The specs of the TZ10 are in this link but I don't know what I'm really looking at but seems ok to me, is it any good? :

http://www.panasonic.co.uk/html/en_GB/Products/LUMIX+Digital+Cameras/Super+Zoom/DMC-TZ10/Specification/3377878/index.html?trackInfo=true


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## PaulBoy (Dec 2, 2007)

Lots of reviews here (note the camera is known in US as a ZS7: http://www.dcviews.com/_panasonic/zs7.htm

I've dipped into a few & here is a typical conclusion ...

The Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ10 is one of the newest and one of the best travel-zoom cameras available, although it is slightly more expensive on launch and slightly more complicated to use than its popular predecessor. There aren't too many compact cameras that offer such a compelling combination of size, features, image quality and handling, easily making the TZ10 deserving of our Highly Recommended award

Cheers

Paul


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## Barreti (Apr 18, 2008)

I have the Panasonic TZ6 which is the non-HD video version but otherswise the same as the TZ7

Its a great little camera and if left on completely Auto produces great pictures but it has loads of features such as auto tracking of a moving object.

As with a lot of compacts it isn't so great indoors - unless you can get everyone to stand completely still while you take a photo !

As for macro - how close do you want to get?

Straight out of the camera










Cropped from the picture above but not altered in any way


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## suggsy (Aug 25, 2008)

Thanks for the help and comments guys.

Those pics of the Datejust is fantastic, so I'm thinking I may get similar results with the TZ10, if so then Â£180 I think is a good price 

Or I may go for the TZ6/7 ooh the choices lol

To be honest, the best pictures I've taken so far, and don't laugh, is the ones I took with my mobile phone of the PRS17 I just sold in the sales section, for an 8MP phone they are not too bad, but I want better


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## citizenhell (Jul 12, 2010)

If you're going for a Panasonic TZ (& why not, they are GOOD) & you have the budget, just get the TZ10. Don't see the point in saving about Â£20 & not getting all the whistles & bells.


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## Chromejob (Jul 28, 2006)

Imaging Resource, another great review site. I'm usually unimpressed with Cnet and ZDnet reviews, they depend so heavily on advertising, that I don't think they're all that objective.

Another criteria that I forgot, some cameras have a high optical zoom (4x, 5x), while others have low optical zoom (2x, 3x) but try to compensate with high digital zoom. Digital zoom IMHO is worthless, it's simply cropping the image down to less pixel-resolution. Yawn. I like my Fuji 9MP camera (takes some great macro shots with all those pixels), but almost went for a competing model with a 10x optical zoom (but had no Camera RAW capability).


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## suggsy (Aug 25, 2008)

Thanks, the saga continues,the TZ10 I found was on feebay, and I'd rather buy from a local outlet, in which case the price is Â£240, which is fine but now for that price I've seen this:

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/panasonic-lumix-dmc-fz38-digital-camera-03635613-pdt.html

I assume this would be better?


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## citizenhell (Jul 12, 2010)

suggsy said:


> Thanks, the saga continues,the TZ10 I found was on feebay, and I'd rather buy from a local outlet, in which case the price is Â£240, which is fine but now for that price I've seen this:
> 
> http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/panasonic-lumix-dmc-fz38-digital-camera-03635613-pdt.html
> 
> I assume this would be better?


Out of the two I would pick the FZ38 (see recomendation in a previous post) but it depends of whether you want a pocket camera or a neck camera.

I prefer the SLR style but each to their own.


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## PaulBoy (Dec 2, 2007)

citizenhell said:


> suggsy said:
> 
> 
> > Thanks, the saga continues,the TZ10 I found was on feebay, and I'd rather buy from a local outlet, in which case the price is Â£240, which is fine but now for that price I've seen this:
> ...


As Bridge cameras go the FZ38 is a great one but as suggsy says do you want something this size or a compact that fits in your pocket? - I also see from the spec that it is 'only' 27mm at the wide end & imho that's a few mm short ... Paul


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## suggsy (Aug 25, 2008)

citizenhell said:


> suggsy said:
> 
> 
> > Thanks, the saga continues,the TZ10 I found was on feebay, and I'd rather buy from a local outlet, in which case the price is Â£240, which is fine but now for that price I've seen this:
> ...


Thanks again, I agree I like the look of the FZ38 better, and looks like the specs are pretty good too.

I'm so close to tredging through the snow on foot up to Currys and getting one, unless I can find on cheaper but doesn't look like it


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## suggsy (Aug 25, 2008)

Another part to the saga, I've been tredhing around walking in the snow to various shops and had a look/feel of cameras.

I have just got back home and now have a headache with all the choices lol

However, I have reduced it down to two cameras, the Panasonic FZ38, and the Nikon Coolpix P100.

After finishing my cuppa I'm going back to Jessops where the very knowledgable and helpful (and patient) lady gave me excellnt information on different cameras and I keep coming back in my mind to the Nikon.

So, I'll go back and 'possibly' get the Nikon at Â£269

http://www.jessops.com/online.store/products/77234/show.html

Thanks everyone for all the help and comments, I'll report back when I've bought one


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## citizenhell (Jul 12, 2010)

suggsy said:


> Another part to the saga, I've been tredhing around walking in the snow to various shops and had a look/feel of cameras.
> 
> I have just got back home and now have a headache with all the choices lol
> 
> ...


Piece of well intentioned advice - Read the reviews of the fz38 & P100 on TrustedReviews website before you make that decision.


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## suggsy (Aug 25, 2008)

Thanks, I did read those reviews and also others on various sites, it was so close for me personally between the two.

So in Jessops, the lady is a professional photographer and I got her at it, in the sense that I got her to take some makro shots of her watch in various shades of light, the result of which I was impressed with the Nikon.

She also took some random snap shots of around the shop and her rainbow bright coloured scarf, and I was also impressed.

Obviously I don't yet know how these shots would look when printed in the size of 6x4 but she did say it would be excellent.

I can register my purchase online and get a free extra year's warranty (making it 2 years in total) and also 300 6x4 prints in Jessops free within the next 2 months.

So, here it is and now time for me to start playing/learning, once again thanks to all for the help and comments, and I do realise there are good and bad reviews of just about any camera so went with the one that felt 'right' for me in my hands.

The next camera purchase will be a DSLR, but the reason I didn't get one straight off was the price of makro lenses for them :jawdrop:

Pictures below were taken with an HTC Desire HD mobile phone:


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## citizenhell (Jul 12, 2010)

Congrat's on the purchase - look forward to seeing the results.


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## suggsy (Aug 25, 2008)

citizenhell said:


> Congrat's on the purchase - look forward to seeing the results.


Thanks, it's on charge while I've been trying to learn the functions and a bit of light reading of the manual, and it says it could take 3 1/2 hours to fully charge so should be ready to play about 8.30pm


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## suggsy (Aug 25, 2008)

One quick question for anyone who may know the answer please, while I'm waiting for it to charge.

Could anyone please tell me that once I've recorded a 1080p movie in video mode, how do I then get that onto disc and still have it in 1080p?

I know about video editing etc with movies of various formats and converting etc, but I want to record in 1080p, and then put it onto dvd disc then watch it on my 1080p tv in 1080p format.

I was rather hoping that there was a burning software programme with the accompanying discs but alas not.

Thanks in advance.


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## DMP (Jun 6, 2008)

Congrats on the Nikon mate, nice little camera and you'll have a lot of fun with that - looking forward to some shots. Can't help you with your video question yet as I'm still learning about digital video recording myself with my new Sony A55!


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## suggsy (Aug 25, 2008)

DMP said:


> Congrats on the Nikon mate, nice little camera and you'll have a lot of fun with that - looking forward to some shots. Can't help you with your video question yet as I'm still learning about digital video recording myself with my new Sony A55!


That's cool thanks anyway.

I have downloaded a trial of a video converter and it works great, if I want to buy it it's $25 which is ok, but what it does is convert the 1080p format to dvd format, which defeats the object.

The camera does the video recording in a format known as (.mov) which I am familiar with and is an Apple format, but I can't help thinking there must be a way to keep the 1080p resolution and then burn to disc, obviously if this is possible I realise it will only play in a stand alone bluray player which would be fine.


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## suggsy (Aug 25, 2008)

So far picture wise I'm well chuffed, and can't wait until proper natural daylight in the morning to play even more taking pics


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## image_doctor (Sep 29, 2010)

I had a Nikon prosumer model ... on which everything just started to fail after a couple of years.

Would never buy another.

Panasonic Lumix has proved reliable so far .


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