New digital camera

[jonnyboy1]

Hi, i'm looking at buying a new camera, probably spend around �200 but need some advice, should i go for a high mega pixel, high optical zoom or high digital zoom and is there anything else i should be looking for

[Goodsoulette]

High mega pixel is all well and good if you want to blow your pics up to an enormous size. 5 is sufficent though.

Optical zoom is more important than digital zoom.

I like cameras where you can adjust the apperture etc yourself easily, but then I like a lot of low lighting pics without flash.

Good lens quality is possibly the thing you need to look for.

I would recommend the fuji finepix f30, you get good control over the pictures you are taking.

[jno]

digital zoom isn't that great (it's like blowing the photo up rather than actually getting in closer; it gets fuzzier), it's optical zoom you need. How much you go for depends how much you like zooming in. 3x is standard (in film terms, roughly 35-100) but you can get up to 12x (35-420). Megapixels depends on how big you want to print photos - 6-7 ought to be plenty unless you print posters. There's also the question of how big and bulky you want your camera to be.

In general it's supposed to be best to go for someone who's been making cameras or lenses for a long time rather than someone whose expertise is in electronics. I've got a Panasonic - electronics, but they've tied up with Leica, who make excellent lenses.

There are reviews of cameras in magazines and on the interrnet; it's worth looking at some (just Google the model name+review) before you splash out a lot of money.

[vehelpfulguy]

Totally ignore digital zoom. It is a waste of time.

All it is doing is increasing the size of the pixels in the centre of the image so it appers to be closer but the image you get is poorer.

Optical zoom is where the lens "zooms" in and out to get you closer to the thing you are taking a picture of, without (much) loss of quality.

Optical zoom good, digital zoom bad.

[Hammer]

I'd go with the Panasonic / Leica lens combo. I've got one myself and the quality is superb.

[fo3nix]

The key questions: what sort of photos are you thinking of taking, and where are you planning on taking your camera?

If you take most of your photos in restaurants and house parties (i.e., indoors), you want good low-light performance and probably a small camera.

If you're going to be taking mainly landscape photos or want a good zoom, you may want to get a different sort of camera.

Also, are you an amateur, or one who wants to have manual controls?

Types of digital camera:
- pocket-size
- mega-zoom with fixed lens
- SLR

the SLR is more for your keen amateur who want more manual controls over everything.

The mega-zoom cameras offer much of what SLRs do, but without all of the control (you can't take the lenses out and replace them with others). However, they do generally have large zooms (10x optical or more -- only look at optical zoom, not digital, as vehelpfulguy says).

The pocket-sized cameras are much smaller but still take excellent photos. However, due to their size restrictions, SLR cameras will always be able to produce better images technically in many circumstances. For the average person who wants to record birthdays, holidays, etc., you will be more than happy with a compact.

Good cameras around now (I'll just list some compact cameras for now, since I'm thinking that they may suit you best):

Fuji F31
Casio S600, S770, Z850
Canon range (pretty much any one), specifically SD800
Nikon
Some Panasonic Lumix

[jonnyboy1]

Thanks a lot people, I'll let you know which one i finally decide on, there's so many!!!

[jno]

there are dozens, and more every day. I got my Panasonic in August and it's now so out of date it isn't even mentioned on the Panasonic website any more. I don't know if other manufacturers issue quite so many new models... but it means the prices come down reasonably quickly, and the older models are still in the shops. That's why I mentioned the value of consulting magazines or internet reviews - to check on the merits of cameras that the manufacturers have already sent to the history books.