I am interested in a 'pocketable' digi-cam with reasonable quality (for typical indoor / outdoor 'snapshots'), good battery life (ideally replaceable if not std cells) with expandable memory and not a fortune (so ~£100 etc) please?
Better pictures than yer typical camera-phone[1] and not as bulky as what you might take out for real 'photography'?
It doesn't need to be truly rugged or waterproof as such (but it would be nice if it still fits the remit above), the sorta thing you might carry with you to record those before and after d-i-y / work shots and not need to really mollycoddle (but not meaningfully abuse ether of course).
What is in *your* pocket? ;-)
All the best ..
T i m
[1] I know some phones have pretty good cameras on them now days but we don't have / want such a phone ta.
A mate of mine has a ruggedised camera that is reasonably pocketable, a Panasonic one of some variety I believe. Not sure of the price or model, but it does seem to have resisted a fair few knocks, scrapes, splashes and bumps. It's black, with the screen pretty much filing the rear. may find it.
Sony DSC-N2. This is a very good camera for its purpose - typical of what you describe. Unfortunately,like a lot of things, the price is heavily marked up in the UK. I bought mine for the equivalent of about £130 duty and VAT free outside the UK.
Thanks to all who have answered so far. I will have a closer Google on each when I get a mo.
To Cupra, thanks for the links etc and I have some Q's re the F20 LE if I may. Argos show it as the F20 LE and seem to be the only supplier of it in that form. Any idea what the differences (apart from colour) between the F20 and F20LE models please?
Something I spotted on a spec somewhere was an ability to take two shots, one with and one without flash and display both side-by-side. Does the LE do that do you know?
Also, what sort of real world battery life have you got out of it (both in intense use plus when just 'left' unused / uncharged for a few weeks).
A Fuji would be handy because we have had them in the past so have some xD cards already.
I carry a Minolta XG everywhere. It's the right shape for my pockets i.e. flat with no protruding lens to play up, and the battery goes on forever. £30 ish on EBay
>>> For a cheap camera it feels quite 'solid' and well made.
To be brutally honest.... I'm not sure either! A quick Google seems to indicate that it is a 'limited edition' and hence the colour difference - others may know!
I'd have to check when I get back home....
I've taken about 100 pics without hitting battery low (they quote 300 per charge), not left it unattended as I've only had it for a month but the last Fuji I had (with a Lithium battery) seemed to hold the charge quite well over a longish period.
For 1/10th of your budget: I have a Fuji FinePix A204 (it was ~130GBP in
2002), you can buy on ebay for around 10 pounds these days. I got it as a gift and it has been my only digital camera apart from a Nikon D70.
It takes xD cards (5 pounds for a 128Mb) and 2xAA batteries (I use rechargeable and they last for a few hundreds pictures). It's a 2 MP but it has a great white balance almost in every condition. I use it in the kitchen (full of flour etc), and when taking pictures of DIY achievements with my hands too dirty to use my other DSLR. You can print up to 13x18cm (7x5), no problems. An italian cake:
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waiting for dinner:
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also take it with me when I don't want to carry heavy gear. I put some examples here in various conditions of light indoor and outdoor (as you can see there is no editing):
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camera fell a number of times, it's dirty, full of dust, stains, etc, and I am tempted to buy another one as a backup...
I've used also a Canon Ixus 400 (not mine), I like the way it "feels": it's quite compact and it seems of solid built, but I prefer the Fuji for the pictures. Just one thing: don't play the megapixel game! MP is just one measure, but it's much better to have a 6MP camera like the Nikon D70 than a 10MP camera with a small sensor. Forget about mobile phone cameras, even if they are 5MP, the sensor is too small and too noisy unless you have plenty of light (and I mean *plenty*, clear sky at 3000m is just about the minimum). This is probably the best you can get with a 3MP Nokia N80, compare with the 2MP above...
Yes I've one of these too and mine too has had a hard life for three years and is still going strong
Its USP was that it is equally good at taking view shots and closeups, which is important for me. Most cheap cameras are better at one or the other I'm told
Canon Powershot A85 bought as a refurb from the Canon outlet on eBay. It has been superseded but I strongly recommend that you take a peek at their site to see what is available if you want a perfectly effective camera that you can treat as disposable.
Don't know if this link will work, but search eBay for 'Canon Outlet' if it doesn't:
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buy at auction but they trickle about 5 or 6 out each day. My first one was dud - focus didn't work - but they refunded the money instantly.
Further to my previous posting; I wouldn't consider buying any digicam that would not focus in low or no light. I dissmissed a Fuji Fine Pix solely for this reason. It must, IMO, have a focus illuminator to be properly useful.
It would also be good to know what the latency is like on the various cameras being suggested. I've used a couple of digital cameras which produce superb pictures of static scenes but have too much delay from pressing the "shutter release" to "taking the picture" for anything that's moving (kids diving into pools, etc)
Latency is a common problem for all compact digital cameras, even the most expensive ones. They are good for walls, cakes, still nature. For kids and anything else moving (weddings, animals, etc) I'd go for a (D)SLR, no doubts.
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