Camera question
 

I’m heading to the UK in May and I’m torn between what sort of camera to buy.
I’m not taking a laptop so if I go digital I have to factor in the cost of at least 256MG if not more. For the cam I’m looking for something that’s about $400-$500 and 3MP (no idea what I should get though).


Orrr should I go for a one off film camera and spend $250-$300 that I am probably not going to use again after travelling (also I no nothing about what film is best).


Any suggestions..?

My first (and only) suggestion would be to use the abbreviation "MB" for megabyte rather than "MG".
It just looks better.


I'm sorry, it's too early in the morning

I'm looking for the same sort of thing. Looked at a couple of reviews and past threads on here, and the Canon A80 looks pretty good. Around US$350

Clicky

MegaGigs!

www.dpreview.com for all your camera needs :)

With digital at least there wouldn't be any worry about customs and x-rays (I was paranoid on my trip to SA - I was carrying a lot of slide film).

But I love the whole film thing, the waiting to get the photos back. It also makes me think about each photo more.

Depends whether you're solely looking at the practical side or the whole photography thing I guess.....

Re: Camera question
 

You can get a Canon A70 for under $500, 3MPix, 3x optical zoom, takes good pics. Rated well at www.dpreview.com

This camera uses 4 x AA batteries (Get 8 x NiMH + Charger) which makes batteries readily available and reasonably cheap.

The A70 uses CF cards for storage, the cheapest and best way to go.

These guys:
https://secure3.ozhosting.com/powerm...nt/default.asp
sell CF cards at a good price, $95Aus for a Ridata 52x 256MB card. A couple of 256MB cards plus freight would cost about $205Aus and only take a day or 2 to get to NZ.

This would be a handy camera to own for a lot longer than your 6 month trip.

For reference' sake, here is a picture of my dinner, taken with the Canon A-70, on 'auto' mode. I've only has this camera for two days, and I'm still waiting for a chance to go and take some 'real' photos... (if you go digital you really will want to get rechargeable batteries - although if you're going to be out of NZ, you'll also want to have power converters for the chrager...)



This wasn't really just an excuse to post a photo I've taken now that I can... really.

My god, your food looks so damn good.
You sir are a bastard.

I got an A70... been very happy with it.. takes good pics

(Resized to 33% of full size, with level 8 compression in photoshop)

Damn it now I want to know who wins.

God I miss those nachos :(

what settings are you using on your canon for the close up of the praying mantis (iso, apature etc)

is that with the macro mode? i bought myself a g5 and alway keen to find what other canon users are fiddling round with :)

DPReview is a great place to start looking at options however I've found that I have to look a little farther afield to get a full roundup of all the cameras that are out there. Other sites include (in no particular order):
Megapixel.net
Steve's Digicams
Imaging Resource
Digital Camera Resource

Popular Photography & Imaging had a 2004 roundup of their top 5 Digital Compacts and top 5 "Cute" Digital Cameras in their Dec 2003 issue. They look to be a little more pricier than what you're looking at spending however, just out of interests sake (cos I know that somebody might be interested) I'll list them all here for you to have a look at anyhow. I've used DPReview as the prime link however where they don't list a camera I've just gone with one of the other sites at random.

• Canon Powershot A80 - NZ$639.00 on Pricespy
• Fujifilm Finepix F410 - NZ$649.00 on Pricespy
• Nikon Coolpix 3100 - NZ$549.00 on Pricespy
• Pentax Optio 555 - NZ$1399.99 (whoa!!!!!) on Pricespy
• Sony Cyber-shot DSC-P92 - NZ$619.00 on Pricespy
• Casio Exilim EX-Z4U - NZ$768.00 on Pricespy
• Minolta DiMage Xt - NZ$649.00 on Pricespy
• Nikon Coolpix SQ - NZ$599.00 on Pricespy
• Pentax Optio S4 - NZ$749.00 on Pricespy
• Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-U50 - Not found on Pricespy

Also mentioned as comparable to the cameras above but not rated in any top 5 were:

• HP Photosmart 812 - Not found on Pricespy
• Minolta DiMage S414 - Not found on Pricespy
• Canon Powershot SD100 Digital ELPH - Not found on Pricespy
• Olympus Camedia D-560 Zoom - Not round on Pricespy
• Minolta DiMage E323 - NZ$591.33 on Pricespy
• Samsung Digimax V3 - couldn't find a URL in the sites I listed above - doesn't mean one doesn't exist.
• Canon Powershot S50 - NZ$946.59 on Pricespy
• Minolta DiMage F300

Are you going via Singapore at all? If so, and you've got more than 4hours there, you might consider jumping in a cab and go to a place called Sim Lim Square. It should cost you around S$15.00 each way but once you're there, you'll find six floors of electronics stores. If you can stay away from the flashing lights (I never can) you should be able to find a camera there and be able to haggle the price down to cheaper than NZ. I can just hear everybody screaming "What about warranty issues?" but if you ask first, you'll be able to find out if international warranties are available or, if you know somebody over that way *cough*me*cough* you could always use them. Some people in SE Asia *cough*me*cough* are down in Singapore every 4-6 weeks as part of their job ;)

Worth considering anyhow.

I've decided on a Cannon camera, but for the life of me can't decide between an Ixus 400, an A80 or an S50.

The S50 is around $750 on Pricespy, the Ixus $50 cheaper and the S80 $50 cheaper again.

Any comments?

Was on ISO 400, apature was 2.8 with a 1/500 shutter speed - and yeah, that was with the macro mode

Mantis.... our cat isn't very bright

Come round some time then... give us fair warning to buy more and I make nachos :)

I got a Canon S45 last year, and had the same decision to make. Basically it was a choice between features (S45), and size/weight (IXUS). Features won in the end. Pretty happy with the camera all round, and I hear the S50's got a few more improvements.

For the price range you're looking at, riven, I'd go for the Canon A70. In fact, I did. It is a brilliant little camera with lots of manual options, and very good picture quality.

It is easily the best 3megapixel digicam in that price range.

Don't bother with the A80, it's just the A70 with a tilty LCD, and in my experience the more moving parts the more likely they are to break.

I've not got one complaint about the A70 yet and I have been using it for 4 months now. And definitely get some NiMH batteries. Once you put those in the bastard goes on forever. I put mine in around December and I am still using them (over 350 images and some avi's). The 2nd set has been charged and sitting around for months.

All in my opinion, of course.

What sorta memory did you get Mabd?

I'm thinking one 256mb card for $99.95.

I've only got a 16meg atm (which came with the camera), but I download to my computer often.

Also, I'm running it at 1024x768 res and superfine quality (3.2mp) and each picture comes to around 450k+, so I get around 30 shots per download.

I'm looking at getting a 128meg card, I feel that's more than enough for what I use it for.

Out of 10 people I traveled with at one point I was the only one who didn't get robbed and that's only because I'm a paranoid bastard. If you're going to take a camara make sure it's one you wont be gutted if you lose.

ive got an A70 and i like it. it does fully manual which is cool. at the time i was also thinking about a Sony DSC-V1, or a Canon G3/G5. I tried out the IXUS II/400 but i hated it (no manual control).

I also got a 512MB CF card which I fill up occasionally when taking movies.. if I didn't take movies it'd have to be a pretty good night in order to fill it up though

Apart from the size, mind you, the G5 takes really nice photos. If I didn't want to carry a brick around with me I'd have one of those.. nice cameras (G3's also take nice photos)

Apparently it also has a metal shell, as opposed to the A-70's plastic shell. I didn't feel it was worth the extra ~$100 either.

Imma probably gonna get an A80 soon.

I don't really like the look of the S50, and the G5 is a little too expensive.

What inparticular swayed you towards the A80? (This isn't a build to rip apart your reasoning - I'm genuinly curious.

Nevermind this $900 BS, you can get a Canon PowerShot S50 for $750 from several parallel import places. Parallel Imported Ltd., there's a place on Queen St. too (I forget the name... e-town or something?).

The S is better than the A because it has a lithium-ion battery which lasts a lot longer.

On the subject of parallel importers, has anyone dealt with www.flashcards.co.nz ?

I'm leaning towards an S50 over an A70 or 80 because it's slightly more compact overall (longer, but lower), and is made out of metal rather than plastic (even the A80 has more plastic bits). Also it comes with a battery, although if you get good rechargeables for an A70/80 it's actually supposed to last longer.

Yup.. I got my 256MB Kingston CF card from them (was $116 or something at the time)

Turned up a couple of days later.. very efficient.

Can't say the same for Etown.co.nz, where I got my camera from.. took them like 2 weeks (after about a dozen phonecalls) to get their shit sorted...

Or buy a Creative MuVo2 MP3 players for about $500, gut it and remove the 4Gig CF microdrive inside :D

Of course, Microdrives aren't so good for camera's: too slow. But it could be handy for archiving photos on a long trip.

arg, i'm so screwed.

Uhhh, NO.

Check the chart at the bottom of this page:
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canona70/page9.asp

The A70 on 1600mAh batteries lasts very well. Imagine it on 2200mAh AA batteries!

Check the S50 on the chart at the bottom of this page:
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canons50/page10.asp

The S50 comes with a Lithium-Ion battery with 3.9Wh of power capacity, 4 x 1600mAh AA batteries have 7.7Wh. For $25.90 from Pak'n'Save you can get 4 x Energiser NiMH rechargeable batteries with 1850mAh which adds up to 8.9Wh of capacity.

The Lithium-Ion batteries do NOT last longer, their big advantage is that they weigh less. AA NiMH batteries cost less, last longer, are easier to find at any store.

Of course my camera uses a Li-Ion pack, it didn't stop me from buying the camera but it wasn't the reason I chose my camera either.

- Reasonably priced, flip out lcd screen, decent lens.
- Plus I want to get into photography, and it has a lot of manual features.
- Looks good.
- I know someone else who has one, and they recommended it.

I guess there isn't much difference between the A70/A80.

I have nothing usefull to add, but we recently got a Cannon G5 (5 megapixel), and its a very nice camera.

I actualy had a play with both today. The A70 is physically smaller, less fat and less tall and lacks the flippy out LCD of the A80. The A80 also has a different lense, both are 3x but they have different numbers next to them (I'm not photography expert). Both are kinda half plastic, half metal in construction. Plus of course the A80 has the extra megapixel.

Not sure if it's worth the extra ~$150ish, probbaly not. Guess I'll go back to watching the prices for a while.

Bah, I'm looking at getting a G5 now.

Just trying to find a decent place to buy it from online in the U.S.

Also, will I or won't I have to pay GST once it arrives here?

looking at a cam for someone - nikon coolpix 3100 seems good.
compact flash = win win.

I read a review on one of the sites posted above that rated the Canon A70 as a better buy at a cheaper price than the Coolpix 3100, so you might wanna check that out. The canons also use compact flash.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/

Yes you most likely will have to pay GST. On packages worth less than $400 NZ they don't bother to charge the GST as it costs more to collect it than the amount they collect.