Buying a Camera
Monday 27th November
I just posted this advice on another site, but thought I’d share here… it’s worked quite well for me for nearly all consumer electronic goods in the past…
Q: Which digital SLR camera should I buy?
A1: The Simple Answer
The best one you can afford without too much financial hardship.
A2: The More Involved Answer
Really… they’re all pretty good – you’ll often see bias between Canon or Nikon, but I’d recommend, you get an idea of a budget, and a wishlist of features together. Check out prices of relevant cameras on the ‘net.
Then take that info (budget in your head, features written down) to a shop and hold their cameras. Look for one that feels right in your hands. Can you reach the controls? Does it do everything you want it to do? (They mostly will – as I said… they’re all pretty good).
Don’t let the shop assistant pressurise you, and go away for a coffee while you decide.
While you’re sipping your coffee, work out whether you want to pay the extra to have it from the shop (with local advice and service if anything goes wrong) or whether you’d prefer the discount of the net.
Buy your camera.
Enjoy!
a particular detail that i have noticed…
power supply.
i’ve had a AA battery powered camera and i now have a lithium rechargeable unit one.
i prefer the rechargeable one for all the obvious reasons.
if i had to buy another camera i would NEVER get a standard battery one.
henry
27 Nov 06 at 5:30 pm
how interesting. I always look for one with standard batteries cos when it croaks in the middle of taking a dozen night piccies you can slap in some new ones. Also if unable to get to a power supply you can keep going.
I’ve needed this zero times since I made the rule, and once before I made the rule (doh)
sweavo
27 Nov 06 at 5:51 pm
I always used to give people one bit of advice for digital cameras : buy one from a “camera company” (Nikon, Canon, Fuji) rather than a “computer company” (Epson, HP, Sony).
But then Canon do everything that Epson and HP do, and they do it rather well. And Sony make sexy laptops.
Sam
27 Nov 06 at 6:02 pm
What about the lens quality? Surely some do better lenses than others. A salesman told me Sony were good cameras because they had Carl Zeiss lenses. Any pointers here?
Rich
27 Nov 06 at 7:15 pm
Actually ignore that previous comment. You’re probably talking about proper digital cameras rather than consumer pocket ones. My mistake.
Rich
27 Nov 06 at 7:16 pm
Oops. I never mentioned SLRs did I?
Now edited.
stu
27 Nov 06 at 7:23 pm
But I think it does apply to most pocket cameras and, as I said in the article, most consumer electronic goods.
stu
27 Nov 06 at 7:25 pm
I too agree with Sweavo about batteries. Buying replacement rechargeable (lithium ion) batteries is vair expensive, whereas AAs are not so vair expensive, and you can also buy rechargeable ones of those, so as to be environmentally something or other.
Carol
28 Nov 06 at 9:44 am
I’m ambivalent on AAs. I like a _good_ LiIon battery with in-device charger. But then again, I haven’t travelled anywhere the voltage isn’t 230v. AAs are handy in the GPS because, as you say, you can get off to a local shop and restock your energy requirements.
My digi SLR takes about 1500 shots on one charge, so although it’s an out-of-camera charger, I really don’t notice the inconvenience due to the rarity of charging.
stu
28 Nov 06 at 9:59 am
I’m about to buy a second hand Canon 350D off a friend. My first SLR! Yay…
DoGGa
29 Nov 06 at 9:58 am
Ooh… that is _dead_ exciting! You’ll like it.
If you ever want to play with some lenses, and we happen to be in the same place at the same time…
stu
29 Nov 06 at 10:14 am
Oh cool, YEAH! I’ll hold you to that…
DoGGa
29 Nov 06 at 11:36 pm