Nacktschnecken omlet Cube

[Gertie]

Its my partners birthday in September and I would like to get him a nice digital camera. He likes to take photos of the things he sees about in the garden (deers, plants, snails, birds etc!), so a camera that can take close ups would be good but something that just has one lense and isn't too bulky would be preferable.

 

Anyone got any recommendations?

[snowberry]

I love my Sony Cybershot. It takes nice closeups and quite honestly I use it more than my DSLR.

[Cinnamon]

Fuji Finepix.

Easy to use,great quality & compact - most places recommend them as the best to get.

[Mr Rhode Island Red]

I have a Fujifilm Finepix S, and I love it. Takes amazing quality shots and isn't bulky

[RyanR]

A bridge camera, a bridge because its between a Compact and a DSLR. The best of both worlds good for macro through to landscapes.

You can't really go wrong with any of the big manufacturers.

 

The Canon SX40HS, and Fujifilm FinePix HS30EXR,

are two I have used and can recommend.

 

Google Bridge Cameras.

[stu]

I too use a Sony Cybershot DSC-H10 bridge camera, and love it.

It has great point and click auto's as well as a simple to use manually adjusted setup.

It does great macros, which I take with the digital zoom off.

 

I tried a Canon, which was very nice too, but the only advice I would give is don't get any of the compacts... they're great for holidays, but for a nicer quality picture..? yes... a bridge.

 

Note... I don't like sunsets when taken on my Sony, but I should use a tunnel for them, so that's my fault. I also have a tine little tripod that I got from the €2Shop, which is great for close-ups too, as I wobble quite a bit.

[cyclonetog]

The "tog" in my forum name refers to the fact that I am a professional photographer.

 

My recommendation is to take your other half to a camera shop and make sure he likes the camera you are intending to buy.

 

MEGAPIXELS MEAN NOTHING! I can't stress this enough, if somebody tries to sell you a camera based on its pixel count then they either don't know what they're talking about or trying to have you over.

1.5MP probably fills your computer screen, 6MP is easily enough to print A3 posters, too many more MP is likely to just waste you hard drive space.

 

ISO is much more important, it's too much to go into detail in a forum post, but as a rule of thumb a camera that goes to the highest ISO will have better picture quality at a lower ISO. (if one goes up to ISO1600 and the other goes to ISO3200 the one that goes to ISO3200 will look better at ISO800 than the one that goes to ISO1600). If you don't understand that just get the one with the bigger numbers

 

ZOOM RANGE. Bigger doesn't necessarily mean better (actually probably means worse). 12x zoom has a bigger difference between wide and telephoto than 5x, but is much less likely to be sharp and distortion free at any part of that zoom range. 12x doesn't mean you can zoom in more than 5x, you need to look closer at the specs to be sure. I have a lens with 2.7x zoom than beats my 11.1x zoom in every aspect because it has less compromises in the design.

 

SENSOR SIZE is ver important, a camera is better than a phone because it has a bigger sensor, DSLR's have bigger sensors than compact cameras and that makes better pictures. The problem here is that you are unlikely to find anybody in a shop that can tell you which compact has a bigger sensor but if you can find out then great.

 

I hope this will help in some way, but believe me this is a massively complicated subject with many factors to consider. I have barely scratched the surface here. I've been learning about photography and cameras (separate subjects) for 6 years, shooting professionally for 3 and learn something new every day.

[Gertie]

Wow! Thanks for all the recommendations and the very comprehensive advice! That's really helpful as there is sooo many to choose from. As its not a surprise I can easily take him to the store to make sure he's happy with it. That will be the job for the weekend. Hopefully we will get someone knowledgeable to help us. Maybe I might post about the potential choices and you can all let me know what u think!

[percy049]

I hear Canon's are the best, but I don't really know much about cameras, although I do like my photography

I just use the camera on my iPhone as its decent enough for what I want and I take it about everywhere with me

[craftyhunnypie]

Fuji fan here! Although, have you seen those Nikon cameras you can get now? With super duper zoom out lenses!!! Cor!!!

The Sony cybershot cameras are also very good.

Emma.x

[cyclonetog]

I hear Canon's are the best,

 

you hear wrong

 

But, to quote Ansel Adams

 

"The single most important component of a camera is the twelve inches behind it."

[Angie]

I'm another fujifilm finepix S ,fan here , tried other hold and shoot cameras but didn't always get a decent pic so bought the fuji and i love it .

If i could afford another camera it would be a Nikon with a few decent lenses, but the finepix is brilliant.

[gongladosh]

MEGAPIXELS MEAN NOTHING! I can't stress this enough, if somebody tries to sell you a camera based on its pixel count then they either don't know what they're talking about or trying to have you over.

 

Couldn't agree more - most compact cameras have a sensor capable of a high pixel count (12 megapixels for example) but rarely have a lens that's good enough to do make the best with it, also some sensor resolutions are better than others.

 

My camera is a Canon S-95 and I love it - sharp images, reasonable battery life and a number of nice features. It replaced a Panasonic Lumix model that went in for repair 3 times in the 18 months I had it. Panasonic's customer care was appalling - they ignored my complaint about the camera, then ignored my complaint about them not replying. I'll never buy Panasonic again.

[AJuff]

Canon ixus gets my vote

[Spinning Top]

Loving Cyclonetogs advice - thank you!

One thing to consider if you go for a compact is get one with a view finder you can put your eye right up to rather than just the big screen on the back. All well and good in the shop but if you take them outside on a sunny day you can't see the blooming thing

[cyclonetog]

Good Point Top!

 

I only use DSLR's so didn't consider the viewfinder.

 

You're dead right, camera makers are quietly removing viewfinders from compact cameras to save on production costs and as you say LCD's are pretty useless in sunlight.

[scubababe]

I love my Nikon D90...unfortunately I've fiddled with the controls and now it doesn't take as good photos as it used to take

 

It's a fab camera but sadly far to technical for me to understand what i've done!!

 

So my advise is to buy something you understand and can use

[RyanR]

I love my Nikon D90...unfortunately I've fiddled with the controls and now it doesn't take as good photos as it used to take

 

It's a fab camera but sadly far to technical for me to understand what i've done!!

 

So my advise is to buy something you understand and can use

 

Have you tried setting the camera to default setting, and also reformatting your memory card.

[RyanR]

I love my Nikon D90...unfortunately I've fiddled with the controls and now it doesn't take as good photos as it used to take

 

It's a fab camera but sadly far to technical for me to understand what i've done!!

 

So my advise is to buy something you understand and can use

 

Have you tried setting the camera to default setting, and also reformatting your memory card.

[scubababe]

Yep. I've tried resetting to factory defaults! There's just too many switches and settings

 

Will take it into Jessops and get them to service it & get them to sort it out. It's such a shame as when I got it it took FANTASTIC photo's so I know it's not the camera...it's my fault

 

Might even see about getting something less technical

[cyclonetog]

On the D90 there should be 2 buttons with a green dot on or very near to them.

 

Press and hold these buttons for a few seconds to reset the defaults. (We call it a 2 button reset).

 

Can you describe what it is about the photo's that has changed? Are there any that are online that I can look at?

 

It's very unlikely that you need to send the camera in for repair or service, they're very robust.

[scubababe]

Cyclonetog, Thanks but done that Rather than hijack this post will pm you and maybe you can set me straight

[Gertie]

All very informative, thanks for the the leads. I'm probably going to have a look this week. I saw a canon one with 12x optical zoom advertised on tv. I think I'm going to see if that might be any good (as it was in the sale). It can be a starting point! I've got lots of things to look out for thanks to all you guys!

[scubababe]

oooooo sounds all exciting. Don't forget to let us know what you get

[TAJ]

I have a Panasonic Lumix G2, which is a 4/5th size DLR, great camera, but you do need a separate zoom lens for close ups. I bought my daughter a GE camera via Amazon for Christmas - for around £100 and that is fantastic - really versitile, great zoom on the fixed lens and it does as much as other camers at 4 times the price.

 

Tracy