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Cheap Digital Cameras: Any Recommendations?

Started by Serge, November 04, 2015, 07:19:18 PM

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Serge

Imagine that I'm a bit of a technological cretin, and I just want a basic, cheap (can go up to £100, but will happily spend far less) digital camera. Just something to take pictures with and not really bothered about extra fripperies that they dazzle you with. Has anybody got any recommendations or any warnings about which ones I should give a swerve?


The Masked Unit

Sorry, don't know much/anything about that end of the market, but this might be a good place to start http://snapsort.com/recommend#!general=price&price=100&type=digicam

Ignatius_S

Quote from: Serge on November 04, 2015, 07:19:18 PM
Imagine that I'm a bit of a technological cretin, and I just want a basic, cheap (can go up to £100, but will happily spend far less) digital camera. Just something to take pictures with and not really bothered about extra fripperies that they dazzle you with. Has anybody got any recommendations or any warnings about which ones I should give a swerve?


I was going to say 'to be honest' but those three words are apt to put the trusting on their guard, so I won't – basically, if you stick to any of the main brands, you'll be fine.

It's a bit hard to point you in a particular direction without knowing what you want (e.g. would you be shooting in low-light a lot) but having a quick look, I think the Olympus SZ-14 Digital or the SZ-15 would be worth considering.  Both are about £100 (on Amazon, there's an offer for the former, 8GB memory care and case for £103) I haven't checked the differences between the two but guess they're pretty much the same – the SZ-14 was well reviewed (although I'm a little wary of just going by reviewers) and customer feedback is excellent at both. There's a very decent optical zoom (x24), performance looks solid, as does the build quality. The camera(s) are aimed at the travel compact market and FWIW, I think that's often an excellent type to look at – simple to use, good versatility (particularly because of the zoom) and very pocketable/portable.

There are point and shoots (e.g. Sony's entry model) for around £60-70 and they would be perfectly decent – however, the zoom would be far less than the one above and suspect that low light shooting wouldn't be as good.

Ignatius_S

Quote from: The Masked Unit on November 05, 2015, 08:34:56 PM
Sorry, don't know much/anything about that end of the market, but this might be a good place to start http://snapsort.com/recommend#!general=price&price=100&type=digicam

Although Snapsort is good for comparing main specs (and it's worth a mention), I think it works best when someone knows what models they're considering. However, sometimes the Snapsort can be a bit misleading (that said, I think there are other similar sites that are more so) because of the reliance on specs and how these are rated – for instance, when it comes to ISO, IIRC, it would rate a camera more highly if capable of a higher ISO than another camera, but not take into account how they actually perform.

touchingcloth

Quote from: Serge on November 04, 2015, 07:19:18 PM
Imagine that I'm a bit of a technological cretin, and I just want a basic, cheap (can go up to £100, but will happily spend far less) digital camera. Just something to take pictures with and not really bothered about extra fripperies that they dazzle you with. Has anybody got any recommendations or any warnings about which ones I should give a swerve?

What sort of image quality are you hoping to get? Documentary, bare minimum sort of thing, or something pretty enough to print off if not publish? Do you have a phone with a camera? If so, what model is it and how far short of the image quality you're after does it fall? Depending on your needs, that £100 might be better put towards a phone with a decent camera rather than a standalone point and shoot.

Serge

I don't have a phone with a camera, and as I'm one of those bastards who think it's bad enough that I even have to have a phone, I'm not going to buy a new one of those until I drop this one down the toilet or otherwise manage to destroy it. I went ahead and bought the basic Sony £59 one from Amazon, it turned up today, and it's just what I want! Simple enough for me to just point it at things and take pictures, nae bollocks. Thanks to everyone who offered suggestions, though!

WesterlyWinds

Quote from: Serge on November 07, 2015, 05:06:51 PM
Simple enough for me to just point it at things and take pictures, nae bollocks.

I'm glad to hear you aren't using it to take pictures of your hairy plums