Cheap Digi-Cam Question

therealnerd2 · 7 Aug 2006 at 18:17

Hi there,

I'm gonna get a digital camera for my gf for her birthday, but only want to spend around 70-80quid.

Sorry this question isn't very interesting, but I was wondering if you people had any recommendations - or links to any roundup/reviews of cameras in this pricerange.

Although I warm to the idea of second-hand, it should be new I think.

Thanks!

IamMed · 7 Aug 2006 at 19:53

£80 new I'd say go with a Kodak or Vivitar, both companies do budget cameras with reasonable features and pic quality.

www.dpreview.com is good for camera reviews

therealnerd2 · 9 Aug 2006 at 10:19

Thanks IamMed for such a quick reply!!

My two contenders are currently the

Nikon Coolpix L4

or the

Praktica DCZ4.4 (as for sale here)

The former has a few good reviews google-able, some of which say shot-speed and low-light performance are slight issues.

The later is slightly cheaper (which matters really), but I cannot find a single review anywhere?

Does anyone have any info on the Praktica? Or opinions on which one to get?

Thanks again!
therealnerd2

IceAx · 9 Aug 2006 at 10:25

I have the L3 and am more than happy with it

I use it as a camera to take clubbing with me.
for its low price the pictures are stunning considering
the dark conditions

Andy

Belly · 9 Aug 2006 at 11:00

therealnerd2 said:
My two contenders are currently the

Nikon Coolpix L4

or the

Praktica DCZ4.4

therealnerd2

You won't find many reviews for Prakticas because anyone who knows anything about photography (film or digital) will stay well clear of a Praktica!

Nikon make very good cameras (so do Canon). I know someone who owns a basic Nikon and it does everything he wants it to do and it has some nice features

therealnerd2 · 9 Aug 2006 at 11:05

Belly said:
You won't find many reviews for Prakticas because anyone who knows anything about photography (film or digital) will stay well clear of a Praktica!

Nikon make very good cameras (so do Canon). I know someone who owns a basic Nikon and it does everything he wants it to do and it has some nice features

Thanks - can you elaborate more on what's wrong with the Prakticas?

-=BAF=-AXE said:
I have the L3 and am more than happy with it

I use it as a camera to take clubbing with me.
for its low price the pictures are stunning considering
the dark conditions

Andy

Ahh excellent - clubbing photos are gonna be an important factor :-)

IceAx · 9 Aug 2006 at 11:20

couple of sa,ples from this weekend

Andy

therealnerd2 · 9 Aug 2006 at 11:26

Wow - impressed by the second one for sure - beats my k750i

IceAx · 9 Aug 2006 at 11:41

therealnerd2 said:
Wow - impressed by the second one for sure - beats my k750i

Cant knock the 750i remeber its a phone

I have some sweet photos and videos from ibiza clubbing
where you cant take a camera

on mine

Andy

Belly · 9 Aug 2006 at 16:25

I know that years ago Praktica produced cheap film SLR cameras and as far as I remember they were built in USSR.

I remember that one test carried by one of the leading photographic magazines had tested the actual shutter speeds against the figure shown on the camera, eg camera shows 1 500th of a second actual speed 1 327th of a second etc, etc, the Praktica came bottom of all tests, mechanical, optical, handling, etc, etc.

I've never known anyone who has owned one but I've seen a few for sale at car boot sales.

You could start a new thread "Does anyone recommend buying a Praktica", that will get you some response.

As far as my friends Nikon goes, I can't remember which model he has (he moved house about a year ago) but it had a nice feature for taking photos of two people standing side by side, the LCD displayed the outline of two people, if you lined them up, the camera would focus on the people and not on the "spot" between the two people, which in a lot of cases, is the cause for out of focus shots - this could be a good feature if your're gifting it to someone who just wants to take snaps without the worry of being too technical

Mohain · 9 Aug 2006 at 17:53

I don't think you can compare Pratika SLRs from the 70s to digital compacts from this year. Besides, Practika bought SLR photography to thousands of people beacuse of their low costs and tank like build. They were/are a great cameras to learn on. I don't think it's fair to bad mouth Praktas too much.

Anyway, check this out for samples from the Prakticas in the OcUK range.

Belly · 9 Aug 2006 at 19:02

Mohain said:
I don't think you can compare Pratika SLRs from the 70s to digital compacts from this year.

Fair comment, but I still wouldn't buy one. He could try creating a thread?

Sure they made tanks (T34/T54/T55/T62/T70/T80) etc, wouldn't buy one of them either especially if I could get an Abrahms!