Need help/advice on new camera (6mp+)

[isaw]

Hey guys,

I'm new here and am looking for some advice or help.

Basically I have had a Casio Qv4000 4.1mp camera for the past 3 or so years (picked up from Heathrow duty free for £600 at the time!) and only recently it has decided to pack in, sadly. It now only takes complete black images and the lcd screen no longer works. I figure for what it might cost to fix it, I can get a new one with a higher resolution. It served me well, and while I am not a daunting professional photographer, it produced (what I thought to be) great pics and images.

But now I must move on. And I am looking at the 6mp+ range of cameras, with a budget of around £450 or so. Why 6mp+? Well, i figure with £450 to spend, why not? But I am open to advice/suggestions in this area..

I was specifically looking at the Powershot s70 camera, mainly because my friend has an older Canon and it seems to be great. I especially like how his connects to the PC for image transfer - very clean, and quick.

My problem is - i *really* don't know what is/isn't good. I would like a higher res camera, but am unsure as to which has the better image quality as reviews online are often sketchy. I'm trying to avoid a Sony, not because I dislike them, but because they use the mem sticks and I already have several compact flash cards from the old camera and well as other devices which i can use.


So, if some kind people out there with worldy wisdom could give me some advice, I would appreciate it. Personal opinions, suggestions, all is welcome.

Thanks!

 

[gabriella]

Dear Iasw

Quadophile is the man for this one and I am sure he will reply to you.

Gabriella x

 

[isaw]

Heh, I thought so, from reading thru the threads

Hope you can hear my pleas, Quadophile!

 

[floppybootstomp]

I'd say the Canon S70 is a good choice.

I was thinking recently of changing from my current Canon A40 to a Nikon 5200, the Nikon is 5mp & £240.00 atm.

From there, it seems the Nikon range jumps to two 8mp models, the 8400 & 8700. Both around £550.00 each. I'm very tempted by the 8700, have just read some reviews of it.

Not much help I'm afraid, but thought I'd throw that one in

 

[isaw]

hehe thanks!

I have been leaning towards that and have been tempted to pick one up.

 

[Quadophile]

Heh, I thought so, from reading thru the threads

Hope you can hear my pleas, Quadophile!

I am here!

Now where do we start from? I basically I try my best to give advise to people based on what I would buy for a particular amount of dough.

In order to understand your exact requirements could you please tell me what type of photography you do? This will help me short list the models for you? I need to know if you are inclined towards macro or landscape, portrait or still like and so on and so forth. As you know a particular type would need particular feature on the camera to do justice to that aspect of photography.

If you can pick a few models that you fancy do let me know that too. Since you already have owned a digital camera you have sufficient knowledge of what to get on your own because you know the limitations of your Casio and that way you can surely come up with a list of what the new camera should have.

With the budget you have, finding the right model is not very difficult.

Lastly, do not be in a hurry to decide.

 

[isaw]

Heya!

Okay - what sort of photography do I do? Well, I am not a professional or even an amateur. I simply enjoy taking pictures of the places I go when I travel. And being the sort of person I am, I enjoy the best quality of an image I can get. I like having stunning full quality images to do whatever I want with later when i get home, in say, photoshop, etc.

Also, I (used to) do a great deal of drawings and artwork - I lot of black & white, pen & ink architecture drawings (some colour) of which i take pictures of to send digitally. So, I like having my art taken in as best quality as I can (afford!) and the original images i work from as well. Say I am in France, I love old gothic cathedral architecture and love taking pictures of it in order to work from them later. So i would like a fairly high res camera for that.

I have been leaning towards the s70 for a while as several colleagues at work have canon's and 2 have the s70 and think it's great for what they need - and it does appeal to me - but being the non-expert, i dont really know. I like how its much less bulky than my old Casio - which was more of the traditional camera look. And the images i have taken - i mean, from my eyes, they look great. A lot of sites talk about the purple/blue outlines on shadows against a blue sky (or something similar) and I didnt really notice with the test pics i did - but then, those are test pics. And being the 'non-photographer', would I really notice such issues?

Hope that helps in terms of what I do with it.

 

[Quadophile]

Have you considered the Olympus C-8080? It is an alternative to the Nikon 8700 at around 460 quids.

When you talk of high resolution the Canon S70 is way behind both Nikon 8700 as well as Olympus C-8080 cameras.

The olympus boasts a good 28-140mm lens whereas The Nikon 8700 will give you a better reach since it has better telephoto capability at 35-280mm. Nikon traditionally is also better at macro photography. Olympus has an edge when it comes to landscape photography where a wide angle lens is more suited.

Let me know what you think.