Digital Cameras

[Bittern]

Unfortunately for me I've been stuck having to use a phone camera for taking pictures. I've now decided I want a proper camera and to take up Photography as a hobby, but obviously, I need to get a proper camera!

Now I've looked around, checked out reviews and pictures taken on flickr, but am still at a loss. I want a camera that's of a high standard and within my £150 budget.

Anyone able to recommend any to me?

Thanks.

 

[GB]

Maybe something along the lines of a Fujifilm FinePix?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fujifilm-Fi...?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1291050410&sr=1-17

 

[mumrar]

Unfortunately for me I've been stuck having to use a phone camera for taking pictures. I've now decided I want a proper camera and to take up Photography as a hobby, but obviously, I need to get a proper camera!

Now I've looked around, checked out reviews and pictures taken on flickr, but am still at a loss. I want a camera that's of a high standard and within my £150 budget.

Anyone able to recommend any to me?

Thanks.

This is not meant to sound snobby, or big headed etc. but parts of your post do not square with each other. "Proper camera" "high standard" and £150 just don't mix well together I'm afraid. If you want high standard, be prepared to pay more, if you stick with that budget there will be some compromises to be made. I'm not saying these make those cameras unuseable, but you get out what you put in with photography as a hobby, and this goes for time and effort, not just money. Perhaps you could clarify what sort of photos you are after and whether you will be fording any streams or climbing mountains in wanting it to be a hobby.

 

[Bittern]

By "Proper Camera" I mean just that - a "proper camera". As in, not a "phone camera" or the like and of course I meant a "high standard" for that budget. I thought that was obvious.

 

[rail-britain]

The S1500 looks good, but is not HD
I noticed Tesco now sell a replacement for the S2000HD which I have, the S2200HD with a higher specification and just £160
This will also allow you take videos of up to 15 minutes, the batteries lasting long enough to take up to four of them

 

[mumrar]

By "Proper Camera" I mean just that - a "proper camera". As in, not a "phone camera" or the like and of course I meant a "high standard" for that budget. I thought that was obvious.

Whilst I could have assumed that, I thought it better to ask and make sure.

 

[Oracle]

May I ask a stupid question please? I want to buy my enthusiastic son a camera for his birthday! I used to have an Olympus digital that saved images as jpegs on my PC. Do the Fujifilm digitals save as RAW data, and is there a conversion software packaged with the cameras or how can the data be converted to jpeg or tiff please?

 

[rail-britain]

Do the Fujifilm digitals save as RAW data, and is there a conversion software packaged with the cameras or how can the data be converted to jpeg or tiff please?

No, the images are saved in JPG and the videos in MP4 format
You can then decide on the camera whether it is saved on the internal memory or the SDHC memory cards
You need to connect via USB cable to export from the internal memory
For the memory card you can use either USB cable or remove the memory card
No conversion is required, connecting via USB cable shows the camera as an external storage device

 

[Bittern]

The S1500 looks good, but is not HD
I noticed Tesco now sell a replacement for the S2000HD which I have, the S2200HD with a higher specification and just £160
This will also allow you take videos of up to 15 minutes, the batteries lasting long enough to take up to four of them

I'm pretty sure I could stretch the budget by a tenner if need be. Thanks.

 

[Bevan Price]

See my comments to a similar question under the "Replacement Camera" thread: -

http://www.railforums.co.uk/showthread.php?t=38437


If you want to photograph moving trains, you need to be able to control the shutter speed.

Bevan

 

[87015]

I have had a S1500 since February time, no major complaints although I'm not very good at remembering to change the white balance back when I've been playing about. A shameless plug it produced the images on www.redcow.fotopic.net although they are scaled down. I've printed some off at A3 size straight from camera jpg and no problems at all with the prints.

Oh yeah, one thing is the lens cap is a very feeble job and easily lost/dropped - my one remains somewhere in Bulgaria!!
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

If you want to photograph moving trains, you need to be able to control the shutter speed.

Most can do fine on auto, I've never had any issues unless the light is dismal. I find a viewfinder rather than just a screen important for moving things though!

 

[rail-britain]

I have my S2000HD set to 16:9 8MP

The S2000HD has a SPorts program
I find this is great for photographing trains at speed
All the photographs of Pendolinos at Rugby and Rugeley Trent Valley were taken using this setting

At other times I use the AUTO program, especially when using the macro or supermacro settings, or flash

There is also an option to take continuous photos
This is great for taking lots of photos of a train as it passes
You can then select the best and discard the rest
My previous Minolta X-300 had a power winder, and the continiuous photo option puts one photo every half a second to shame!

 

[Oracle]

Thanks for the advice. Mt poor Olympus has taken a lot of shots in its time, and some have been published, including in RAIL. It used a mini USB to USB cable and the PC recognised the images in jpeg form which I could then save as tiff or jpeg. I also used to take the card out and inserted it into USB-connected readers.

The Fujifilm S2800HD looks ideal for us...but what a disparity on prices! Amazon
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fujifilm-Fi...2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1291064158&sr=1-2

and yet Tesco are £20 more! My daughter works for Tesco so she gets 10% off so I might be tempted to buy from them nevertheless.

 

[matt]

I would certainly recommend the Fuji "bridge" cameras. I had (and still do have) a s5600 which I used for a few years before I bought my SLR.

 

[rail-britain]

The Fujifilm S2800HD looks ideal for us...but what a disparity on prices! Amazon and yet Tesco are £20 more!

It must depend on the specific Tesco store; maybe it was a S2800HD, I only looked at it briefly, but I was amazed at the price such that I checked the model on the label and it matched; £160

 

[Oracle]

This is the page that I found:

http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.208-8213.aspx