Fuji Cameras ? - One for you Camera peeps . . . .

[Roadkill]

Am looking to purchase a Fuji camera for my upcoming birthday and was looking for ideas . . .

Up to now i've only had compacts but certainly think I have "an eye" for taking pictures so, after pushing my Casio Exlim to the limits of it's capabilities, I was looking to upgrade to a more . . . err . . . "grown-up" jobbie.

I haven't got money dropping out of my ar$ehole so I can't be spending thousands on separate lenses and the like . . . that said the budgets around the £400 mark . . . .

Recommendations ?

The plan is to keep the Exlim for snap-shots, car work and out and about on holidays and stuff and reserve the larger camera for the more demanding stuff when I haven't, necessarily, got to carry it around all day.

[Fieldy]

only because i have experience, you will get amazing pics and within budget whilst being similar to your compact -

Sony HX1 -

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/sonydschx1/

Between £250-£300

[Gator]

nowt wrong with fuji as far as i know

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fujifilm-FinePix-S1800-Digital-Optical/dp/B00342UTPM/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1275033515&sr=1-4

this is highly rated

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Panasonic-Lumix-DMC-FZ38EB-K-Digital-Camera/dp/B002KHMJ78/ref=sr_1_34?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1275034161&sr=8-34

no need to get wrapped up in kit i still use compacts love em infact

[EDGE]

for a compact I'm looking at buying a lumix, they're fantastic bits of kit with a half decent zoom.

[Andy]

Canon fanboi through and through. For an advanced compact take a look at the Canon G10. Very high build quality, high pixel sensor I believe the same software a UI as the 350/400/450 slr range. Too add to that has a hot shoe flash, if you ever want to experiment with flash guns etc. My friend who's a wedding photographer uses one as it's dead handy to have in you pocket.

[F Body]

Quoting: Roadkill

I haven't got money dropping out of my ar$ehole so I can't be spending thousands on separate lenses and the like . . . that said the budgets around the £400 mark . . .

£400  I thought you were going to say £40

£400 should get you a well decent Camera, my 9 million pixel Sony was only £125

[EDGE]

its not all about the pixels...

my nikon d40 was 'only' 6Mp - that took FAR better a picture than a 12Mp compact...

it's all about the size of the sensor, the glass (lens) in front of it and the schmuck pressing the button....

£400 will gt you a nice top end compact, but it will also get you an excellent entry in to dSLR, but you dont have to spend thousands on lenses... right away....

http://www.warehouseexpress.com/buy-nikon-d3000-digital-slr-with-18-55mm-vr-lens/p1032941

thats £340 for a nikon dSLR, new, the lense is plenty wide at 18mm but the zoom end at 55mm isnt much of a zoom.  On a compact its maybe 3 times zoom, its hard to compare like to like.  if you find you need more zoom you 'can' buy a 55-200 lens, in fact, i know someone selling one so i bet you can have the lot for £400.

its a great start, thats the equivilent of my old d40 which i sold on to Baz when i upgraded to my D300.  

all im saying is, theyre worth looking at... get yourself to a jessops or something and fiddle with the cameras, you might prefer the menu system on a canon for example (freak!!)  

but remeber.... NASA give astronaughts a nikon to take to the moon... canon make photocopiers and printers !!!

[Andy]

Ah here we go, Canon Vs. Nikon lol!

At the end of the day a lot of it comes down to ease of use. Specs are great but to the average joe most don't venture outside 'auto'.

It's worth asking yourself whether you want to make it more of a hobby in the future. A DSLR like the Nikon or the lastest eos 450/500 are great entry models and both come with 'kit' lenses which cover most basis. If you then want to open your photographic posibilities the world of lenses flash guns and filters are vast. Compact rarely offer these...

Although the G10 does, top mounted plate at hot shoe flash make it a great compact, as well as featuring a threaded front lens for mounting filters.

Alternatively go to Jessops and have a play

[Big Mouse]

I'd go with a Canon or Nikon entry level DSLR, if you decide on a Canon and want to borrow some 'grown up' lenses I've got a couple you could have a go with.

I'm upgrading my 400 this year

[Andy]

Quoting: Big Mouse

I'm upgrading my 400 this year

Oooh, what you getting? Currently using a 400D, got a couple of Sigma tele lenses.

[HardRockCamaro]

Considering Casio Exilims have a lot of features and are very good I don't see any point in upgrading to just another compact.  You're not going to gain anything, just pointless features like face recognition sand smile activated shutter release.    In auto mode they all produce pretty much the same results.

If you want to improve your photos you need more control over the process and more creative possibilities.  This means an SLR.  You need a quick and easy way of flicking to manual focus, and quick and easy way to change aperture and shutter speed.  A (very) few hybrid cameras aside the only way to do this is an SLR.  And as hybrid cameras cost almost as much as an SLR sand are almost as big I don't see the point of them.

I'd suggest one of the following:
http://www.warehouseexpress.com/buy-nikon-d3000-digital-slr-with-18-55mm-vr-lens/p1032941

http://www.warehouseexpress.com/buy-canon-eos-1000d-with-18-55mm-dc-non-is-kit/p1030429

http://www.warehouseexpress.com/buy-sony-alpha-a230-with-18-55mm-f3-5-5-6-dt-lens/p1032017


This leaves enough room in your budget for a bag, tripod and whatnot.

Or if you expand your budget by another £60 or so you could probably get an extra (55-200) lens.


They're all great and will produce roughly the same results.  Buy whichever you find the easiest and most intuitive to use.
Personally I'd buy either the Nikon or Canon as their resale value is higher and there is more stuff available for them.
In actual fact I would buy the Nikon as Canons 18-55mm kit lens is nowhere near as good quality as Nikons 18-55mm kit lens.  I also prefer the controls on the Nikons and find Canons slightly confusing, but that's just me.  You may prefer the Canon.

[Big Mouse]

Quoting: Andy

Oooh, what you getting? Currently using a 400D, got a couple of Sigma tele lenses.

Its a tough choice for me, I've got a 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM that I use for motorsport pictures but the 400D is outweighed by it - the lens is so much heavier than the 400d it makes its a pain to pan with and I could do with a higher fps to take advantage of the capabilities of the lens itself. I've taken some good shots with the 400D but missed a few due to the low fps; saying that it is/was a great entry level dslr and wouldn't knock it at all other than I've moved past it and need something with bigger balls.

The 550D is a newer spec but still only 3.7fps but coupled with a shockingly high 18.1 mp; the logical step should be the 50D which is baseline pro but is older technology with a lower 15.1 mp but 6.3 fps.

The next step is the 7D with 18.1 mp and 8 fps but my wallet shuts quicker than a dolphins ringpiece when I look at the price but it although that would see me through the next few years.

I still don't understand why canon, and nikon for that matter, added the HD capability to a dslr which brings nothing to the party imho

[EDGE]

Quoting: EDGE

for a compact I'm looking at buying a lumix, they're fantastic bits of kit with a half decent zoom.

just bought the lumix tz10 after playing with it in the shop, its an AMAZING bit of kit... i think its rrp is £329 but panasonic are doing a £30 cash back, plus warehouse express do it a £269!  so £239 after cash back.. happy days, for a compact camera it does EVERYTHING !

[Roadkill]

Quoting: EDGE

just bought the lumix tz10 . . . . . for a compact camera it does EVERYTHING !

[EDGE]

I'll be doing some testing with it as soon as Ive bought an SDHC memory card  the camera's got a bit of built in memory but you cant use all the features as there's not enough space !!  I'm about to order a couple of 4gb sdch card, should be here tomorrow for a weekend of snapping

[Gator]

any good Edge ? thinking of getting er indoors one for when we go to the big power meet

and as an extremely late bday pressie

[EDGE]

well....

just going on the built in memory (as the sd cards havent turned up yet) the pics look ok to me

When the cards arrive I'll take some test shots / video and post them up for you to take a look at

[Roadkill]

Quoting: EDGE

When the cards arrive I'll take some test shots / video and post them up for you to take a look at

[Gator]

Quoting: EDGE

should be here tomorrow for a weekend of snapping

[EDGE]

yeah, i know, the cards should have been here friday BUT due to the tax loop hole with shipping things out of Jersey (ffs) it couldnt be sent as a single package on a next day service as the total £ value would have been too high.  So they've been sent on a slow boat via china, individually to dodge the vat by the look of it....  how they get away with it is beyond me....

[Andy]

7Dayshop.com ftl!

Took them about 2 weeks to get my firewird card reader here!

Their express service does actually become worthwhile if you need anything in a hurry.

[EDGE]

ah no, i order all my memory cards from picstop, they're usually very good and if you're getting stuff over £20 a piece the next day delivery is spot on, and the stuff is STILL way cheaper

[EDGE]

FOOKING ROYAL SNAIL...

where are my SD cards !!!!!!1111one

[Andy]

Royal Snail? Must be another firm, Royal Fail always deliever late for me

[EDGE]

wooohooo... cards are here.....

but now snowed under with work