Buying a digital camera for my girlfriend

T

The Amazer

Member
Mar 31, 2003
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Well, seeing as no one really wanted to look in my revived thread that Winny made, I decided to create my own, as I'm still needing a bit of help.

At the moment, this is what I'm going for:

http://www.digitalcamerawarehouse.com.au/prod2680.htm

with a 256mb SD card. $350 it'll cost me all up.

For those who didn't read the other thread - this is for my girlfriend's 21st. I'm looking for the best possible picture quality at about $300 - $350... don't care about video or anything like that. Best possible picture quality is what I'm after... she's very very good at photography, so I'm not after a 'beginners camera' or anything like that.

Any other recommendations?
 
I know my old Pentax Optio is FUCKING UNREAL and thus Pentax is probably the only brand I'll buy in the future. Although it sometimes sucks not having a normal view finder. In bright and low light it can be a hassle. Just something to think about.
 
Oh, also worth noting - she's going back to Mildura to work massive to save up to buy a mammoth good camera - in the $1500 - $2000 range, so this is just the 'best quality' for a 'happy snaps' camera. One to take to gigs, or to parties, etc (when lugging around a $2000 camera is a *tad* risky).
 
I remember thinking that one was too expensive - but $370 isn't too bad... how many photos will it store on internal memory? Because I'd most likely have to couple it with a memory card, which is another $30 just for 128mb...

Hmmm...
 
$370 is less than I paid for mine! Dick Smith charged me $599 for it. Anyways, at 5MB it stores about 36 pics from memory, but if you use 1.8M it takes about 100. I don't know because I use a memory card now, but the internal memory will store about 40mins worth of video, so it's rather good.
 
Oops, I forgot to reply to the other thread... :(

A 6mp camera for $350 is pretty cheap, the pentax does look quite good. If I remember you were also looking at an Olympus cam? If my browser is correct it was the Olym. FE-110, which seems to be quite good. Samples:

http://www.steves-digicams.com/2005_reviews/fe110_samples.html

As for the Kodak, you might want to go play around with it - what's the size like? It seems a fair bit bigger than the other compacts on the market.. The Z740 apparently is a really quick camera to focus as far as the compacts go (if I remember correctly the Oly was a little slow).

http://www.steves-digicams.com/2005_reviews/Z740_samples.html

Best thing to do would be to google the one you are after and look for reviews.

Also check out www.dirtcheapcameras.com.au - i got my digi SLR from them for a good price!
 
The Pentax eats batteries, but is otherwise not a bad little camera. It won't cope too well in gig situations though - for that the Fuji F10 is your man. It has a maximum ISO of 1600 and general verdict on the camera overall is that it is awesome. A little bit chunkier than the Pentax though. You might find good pricing on this at the moment as Fuji are about to release the F11. Other cameras to consider (as your girlfriend might find aperture and shutter control useful) would be the Canon Powershot 'A' series, the a510 is 3.2mp, the A520 4mp, and then you still have the excellent A95 on the market which is 5mp. Any of those would give you great images, and they will give your girlfriend an SLR level of control. I can only give you UK prices - the Fuji F10 - £199.99, Canon A510 - £149.99, A520 - £169.99, A95 - £199.99. Not sure if they fall into your price range or not though. Hope that helps. :)
 
Dreamy, how is the noise issue at ISO 1600 for the F10? I'm using a Canon 10D, the noise at 1600 makes most pics pretty difficult to use, so I'm wondering how a compact would be (though the 10D is pretty old as far as things go)..

To add to what Dreamy said - the Canon Powershot cameras are good, from the ones I've used...
 
Im not a expert or anything but in my opinion, don't worry about to much about the nubmer of megapixels, 4 is plenty, worry more about the lense, the bigger is usually better.
Also a lot of digital cameras have a annoying lag, press the button and a second later they take the picture, try to avoid cameras that do this.
Try to get one that takes XD or SD cards as smart media and compact flash are dead.
hope i have been of some help.
 
Yeah don't worry too much abotu the megapixels, especially if you are using it mainly for happy snaps.. About the lens though - even if the lens has a big zoom on it, you have to bear in mind that it can be quite difficult to get sharp pictures on the furthest telephoto zoom of the lens, purely because it is so long as such..
 
MeKaChrOme said:
As for the Kodak, you might want to go play around with it - what's the size like? It seems a fair bit bigger than the other compacts on the market.. The Z740 apparently is a really quick camera to focus as far as the compacts go (if I remember correctly the Oly was a little slow).
Click to expand...

It's not exactly "compact" as it's about half the size of a CD, but it has loads of features including a "manual" aspect that allows you to change shutter speeds, f-stops, etc.
 
You wouldn't believe it!

I've decided on the Kodak Z740, as it has many features for a very capable photographer and the photo quality seems outstanding (not to mention the zoom!). I rang up and got a verbal quote of $333.00!! I was shitting my pants with joy...

until what happens? They're out of stock and it will be 3 weeks before they can order any in. I have to have it by Thursday next week (the 8th).

So I'm phoning around and stuff trying to see if anyone has any in (none yet!) and if they will match the price.

Good luck to me!
 
I have a Pentax Optio S5i.

Its sleazy. I ilike it alot.

As I said in the other thread.. Go To JB and just ask what the best price they can do, and then say... Hmm, take $100 off that and its a deal. They are comission based so they will do whatever they can to get your business
 
Paxtons seems to be a Sydney only place...

I'm in Adelaide unfortunately!

I'm thinking the Pentax Optio S60 with the SD card... see what the best price I can get for that is.
 
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