Re: Cheap (<£100) Digital Camera?

*Nobody* expects the Spanish Inquisition!

I wouldn't argue with your choice, but it's not one I would make. In fact I haven't. I have a Canon EOS 600, with 4 or 5 lenses, a 430 EZ flash unit, filters, tripod, etc. Cost near a £1000 in 1990. I forget the last time I used it, as for the last few years I've used digital cameras. You can't beat the convenience, and £100 is enough to buy a good s/h one on eBay. The advantages are no wasted shots. If you don't like any, you can just delete them, and if you want to take a lot, all you need is a few extra flash cards. You don't have to rely on iffy prints from a photo lab, or mess around with chemicals if you do it yourself. With editing s/w you can crop and doctor an image to improve it's appearance as much as you like. IMO there's no contest. When it comes down to it, a good picture is in it's composition, rather than any small difference in actual image quality, and these days, a good digital camera can match even a good SLR film camera. I think I now have the best of both worlds, after treating myself to a Canon

350D EOS digital SLR camera, baught s/h on Amazon. Means I can use all the lenses, etc from the EOS 600 kit. Mike.

Woss wrong with AAs then? Has the advantage when on holiday that if you can't get to a charger, you can just buy them.

cheers, clive

Yes there is the 'get replacements anywhere' advantage but that seems to be more than knocked out by the bulk, the relative short life of the AAs/AAAs (unless it's a particularly pants *ion battery) and your hotel room always has a power socket. I've found that people don't want to fart around with rechargable AAs either

Ken

I use rechargable AAs for lots of things (headtorch, GPS, PDA), so having the camera use them isn't a problem at all. I don't stay in hotel rooms on holiday either :-)

Maybe for work use the point about rechargable batteries stands, but for personal stuff it's entirely normal to use them.

cheers, clive

That's fine, it works for you. You can get some nice fast-charge batteries these days. I personally haven't been arsed with rechargable batteries since school (which was more than a few years ago!)

As always, mine's just an opinion :-)

Ken

Yes, they used to be shit. NiCds were always crap. NiMH really are an awful lot better - especially in combination with an intelligent charger.

cheers, clive

I nearly got an Exilim, but I bought a Sony Cybershot DSC-W30 instead. 6MP and a Carl Zeiss lens. Takes the MS Pro Duo sticks; fairly expensive in the shops but I eBayed a brand new 1GB one from a guy in Wales for £20 inc. postage... Battery life is good; Sony report 400 shots per full charge and I can't see anything to disprove this.

Nice and compact, too... That EX-S500 is super-skinny though!

I forget what type of cell they are, but I think the ones in my camera are NiMH - bought from Dixons. Could have probably got them cheaper elsewhere, but I wanted them there and then - just went in and asked for the very best ones (AA) for a digital camera - mine (Olympus C-300) used to eat batteries like there was no tomorrow. Got some 2300mAh ones and they last absolutely ages. Several days on end of moderate use, whereas the other ones might last a couple of photo sessions of car ebayage and then conk out. About £13 but worth their weight in gold as long as you're organised about charging them so they'll be charged when you need them....

-- "For want of the price of tea and a slice, the old man died."

Indeed.

-- "For want of the price of tea and a slice, the old man died."