Neshi

I am wanting to buy a digital camera (you can hardly get a non-digital one these days) but I have zero experience with them. So I would like to ask you guys for advise..

I will be using it because I am moving to New Zealand in January for my studies, and to keep the homefront updated on my life there, with some pictures about the scenery and my life.
And to show you all the cool hardware I'm getting there

So it will have to shoot some quality pictures, but I don't want it to be too expensive.. I have no idea what to look for in a camera and I don't think taking the one with the most megapixels is the best approach to this..

If you need more info about my wishes with the camera to be able to advise me better, ask here and I'll answer.

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temeteus82

In what prize range you are looking for???

Now if the PowerShot G11 or G10 is in that range I would recommend you to get one

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Zardon

post your budget and I can help more.

Neshi

hmm.. I guess I don't want to spend over 200 euros. ~250 max. I am so clueless to camera's, I don't even know what is a reasonable budget. I mean, when looking at camera's online I see them in all price categories.

I am not going to shoot professional photo's, but I want the ones I do shoot to look nice. I want some reasonable zoom on it. It doesn't have to be small..
I don't know what more to say about it to be honest..

__________________
If one does not attach himself to people and desire, never shall his heart be broken. But then, does he ever truly live?

The only guarantee in life is failure, to achieve success you have to take risks.

Tipstaff

If you want something that you can purchase new lenses for, say a semi pro camera, and aren't worried about "older" technology, look around for a Nikon D60, or a Canon XTi (of note: the XTi uses Compact Flash). You can usually find those units as kits (body and lens, sometimes you can even get the IS lens with the Canon) for that price. You could also look for the Nikon D90 or the Canon XSi, but both of those will be harder to find for that price. Not impossible, but hard.

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dj_stick

for those outside of the Americas, the XTi is the EOS 400D, and the XSi is the 450D (great camera this one, I have one myself)

with that said the 400D with an 18-55mm lens would easily suit you, and unless you're going to be taking low-light photos handheld, IS (image stabilisation) really isn't that useful (it can adversely ffect the sharpness of photos when not required)

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Neshi

The 450D would cost me almost €900. That's a little over my budget
The 40D is a little less, but still €700..

I guess I'm looking at relatively cheap camera's. One thing to note is probably that stores in Holland like to go with a 1:1 conversion rate with US prices, even though 1 dollar is officially €0.70...

I've been looking at the Sony Cybershot DSC-H50 (€259), Canon Powershot SX120 IS (€219), Fujifilm FinePix S2000 HD (€188)

Do you guys have any experience with, or know somethings about these?
There have been several reviews about the Fujifilm which are all praising.. But I'd rather hear it from the experts here

__________________
If one does not attach himself to people and desire, never shall his heart be broken. But then, does he ever truly live?

The only guarantee in life is failure, to achieve success you have to take risks.

Zardon

Its a pretty tight budget and I can honestly say I have very little experience with pocket prosumer cameras as I tend to always use SLR's.

Your best advise is to make a shortlist for yourself from this site Digital Camera Reviews and News: Digital Photography Review: Forums, Glossary, FAQ and check for prices locally. These guys really know what they are talking about and if you get say a shortlist of 5 cameras in the price range you want with the featureset you need then get the one at the best deal locally. there are also images to download from there for each camera which is a great real world test to judge yourself if you like the image quality.

Tipstaff

Stay away from Sony unless you want a little more blue hue in your photos. Personally I'd still choose the Canon (I love their cameras), but the Fuji is pretty nice from what I heard (a bit heavy, and performs better outside than inside).

BTW, take a look around for the cameras that were suggested. In my case I bought my camera (the Canon XTi/400D) used from Canon for $400 Canadian, which is around the price you mentioned in Euro (and mine came with the original non-IS lens). That was a year ago, and these days I've seen places online selling it for the same price with the IS lens new (and now the XSi/450D used for the same price).

Also, another site to look at on top of the one Zardon suggested would be Steve's Digicams website. It's one of the most trusted websites for camera reviews.

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Neshi

hmm, with the prices above, it seems I looked at the wrong stuff.

the 400D is EOL, and the 450D can be bought for €479,-

And that is still a little too high for my liking. but thanks for the advise.
I will take a look at the site Zardon mentioned.

edit:
Found the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ6 (€269) and the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ28(€319) and the Canon PowerShot SX10 (€329)

Going to the local photo-shop tomorrow to ask the guy there if he can advise me and to comment on my findings here today..

__________________
If one does not attach himself to people and desire, never shall his heart be broken. But then, does he ever truly live?

The only guarantee in life is failure, to achieve success you have to take risks.

deBelly

I bought Panasonic TZ2 two years ago and I'm not too pleased with it. Everything above ISO 400 sucks. Pink color is smearing, objects look flat, granulated etc. It's good for outdoors, though, and zoom is really nice. But like you I didn't know what to expect so maybe that's OK for cameras in this price range? Still, I think next time i'll try Canon.

Neshi

hmm.. I've read several reviews about the TZ6 and they were all quite taken away with the camera.. Maybe they've improved since the TZ2.
Thanks for warning me though, I hope I can test each camera

__________________
If one does not attach himself to people and desire, never shall his heart be broken. But then, does he ever truly live?

The only guarantee in life is failure, to achieve success you have to take risks.

RoyBatty

You might check out Fuji cameras with their new EXR sensor. F70EXR should be good at high ISO...

craig5320

I'd go for a nice Canon compact, IXUS range, would easily find one in your price range, decent 1GB or 2GB SD Card, rocking. I have a IXUS 900 Ti slightly older model than what's available now, great little camera tho. The PowerShot range from Canon are slightly bigger cameras you said size didn't matter so check them out too.

check this one out PowerShot: http://www.play.com/Electronics/Elec...archtype=genre

Or Ixus: http://www.play.com/Electronics/Elec...a/Product.html

I like the IXUS because of their look, and quality feel, they also come with battery packs, as opposed to AA batteries, because cameras eat AA batteries.

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Neshi

At a local photo/camera shop I found the Sony DSC-H20 in a sale. €199 for this camera.
I think it's a great deal and really thinking about buying it, reviews I've seen are good too!

Checked out the camera you said RoyBatty. It's a great camera too, but when I compare the features to the Sony, and compare the prices 199 vs 249 (or more). I think I'll keep those 50 bucks in my pocket and go for the H20..
Besides, I like to little more robust look (and grip) of the H20.

Thanks to all for helping me!

__________________
If one does not attach himself to people and desire, never shall his heart be broken. But then, does he ever truly live?

The only guarantee in life is failure, to achieve success you have to take risks.

RoyBatty

The H20 lens begins at 38mm, it's not that bad, but for a landscape photography it's better to be as wide as possible. You can see the FOV difference with various focal lengths here: Tamron - Focal Length Comparison

Neshi

thought about that, but I don't think landscape photo's will hurt much because of that. Asked the guy in the store and he said that it would be noticeable in close quarters mostly.. I will do mostly outside photographs and zoom is more important to me..

__________________
If one does not attach himself to people and desire, never shall his heart be broken. But then, does he ever truly live?

The only guarantee in life is failure, to achieve success you have to take risks.

Tipstaff

The Sony DSC-H20 isn't too bad a camera. Sony listened to all the complaints about the H10 (a terrible camera, btw), and fixed (or at least tweaked) a lot of things that were bad with that camera.

2 things: 1) Fool around with the Dynamic Range Optimizer. My friend swears by that thing, keeping it set to D-R all the time, and 2) take a look around the net for tweaks in regards to getting the camera to take sharper pictures (my friend brought this up when he bought his, and it's that the camera, by default, tends to take "soft" looking pictures). You may find that you have to use some editing software to get the pictures to a level of sharpness that you like.

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Neshi

I'll definately look into it.
I've taken a few snapshots just out of the box, will post em up on heavenly visions..

__________________
If one does not attach himself to people and desire, never shall his heart be broken. But then, does he ever truly live?

The only guarantee in life is failure, to achieve success you have to take risks.