Another Spec me a camera..

celliott · 3 Aug 2008 at 17:45

My sister's birthday is coming up and as she is starting Photography me and my parents are putting some money together towards a camera.

We have a budget of about £200 Max, cheaper the better. Want something 10MP or so.

Any suggestions?

Mr Jones · 3 Aug 2008 at 18:07

If she's starting photography, assuming A levels? Wouldn't it better to save that money among your family and ask her what she needs?

Maybe then she can use that money and spend it towards a DSLR if she needs it.

celliott · 3 Aug 2008 at 18:12

She's actually only in year 9, but as of next september she will be doing Photography/Media Studies.

She doesn't really know what she wants either so, we are open to suggestions.

syke · 3 Aug 2008 at 19:19

I think a Bridge will be the best bet, although its not one she can put in her pocket obviously!

It'll cover a good focal length, allowing her to decide what she likes taking pictures of, whether close up, far away etc!

It allows you to save money on buying loads of different lenses to do it all, and it gives very good results. Some of them can be fairly compact, but they are also quite chunky.

Mr Jones · 3 Aug 2008 at 20:18

I didn't know secondary schools have photography... My school didn't

If that young, I'd say do what syke suggested, you can easily have a half decent Fuji Bridge Camera for around the 100 mark. But as mentioned, size is a trade off for more zoom (but not necessarily better image quality).

You can also look into the Fuji F30 or the "newer" F31FD if they're still around (they are compact cameras, so 3x zoom only but a lot more manual settings and image quality than the usual). Many of Fuji's bridge camera with Super CCD are based on that model, with longer lens zoom.

The Canon Ixus is also one many people go for, but the price is higher.

p.s. DO NOT buy into the higher megapixel marketing. High MP does not equate to better image quality.

celliott · 3 Aug 2008 at 20:19

Cheers for the suggestions so far guys, I'll start having a look.

Schizo · 4 Aug 2008 at 08:57

fuji s9600.

Nicos Rex · 4 Aug 2008 at 09:06

If you can stretch the budget to around the £230 mark (after cahsback) then get her a Nikon D40. It has all the "idiot" modes of a high end P&S but also allows full creative control so she will be able to learn the technical stuff on it.

deshepherd · 4 Aug 2008 at 10:45

Dr Jones said:
I didn't know secondary schools have photography... My school didn't

Suspect that this is one of the new range of subjects that are increasingly favoured by schools because they tend to result in higher grades than more traditional subjects ... thus helps to boost them up the league tables. However, may not be such a good deal for the students as some Universities have warned that they are becoming more particular on the subjects that applicants have studied rather than just the grades.