Repair 35mm or buy cheap new digital camera?

Have a look at 7dayshop.com and look at the Nikon 3100. It's a very nice
camera. I have one as my pocket digital camera. Images get a bit noisy in
low light levels but I find the noise acceptible. I believe that's going for
£110. I paid £235 for mine, last June and had a bargain. Look for one in the
£100 - £150 range and you'll get it. It's 3 megapixels which gives a super
photo with up to A4 sized prints.

IMHO the only problem with digital is slides no longer exist unless one uses
a digital projector.

--
Yours

Zebedee

(Claiming asylum in an attempt
to escape paying his debts to
Dougal and Florence)

"Matthew" wrote in message
om...

I went to my
local camera shop (Jessops), and he insisted that the only thing that
mattered was the number of pixels. When I told him I wanted to produe
6x4 prints, he said that in that case 2mexapixels would be fine, and
that all of the cameras were the same, had the same quality lenses,
and there was no real reason to buy one rather than another....

Anyway, I am sure this is not true, but I have struggled to find a
simple 'best-buy for £150' (or less - do I need to spend this much?
more?). Any suggestions? And whether the quality of lenses varies much
between manufactuerers?

It's not literally true, but it's probably true enough for the purposes of
4x6 prints. Here's one that would probably do the trick for $49 (after
rebate):

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...&CMP=AFC-AFFIL

Though I don't suppose they ship to the UK. Still, there ought to be other
comparable deals to be had over there if you keep your eye out. As for
photo quality -- I'd suggest checking the various camera review sites
(dpreview.com, dcresource.com, etc) for reviews and samples of any camera
you might be interested in.

If you are willing to spend £150, though, you ought to be able to find a 3
or 4MP camera with a 3 or 4x zoom. I see the Minolta 414 for around $200
from time to time.

Mark

"Matthew" wrote in message
om...

I went to my
local camera shop (Jessops), and he insisted that the only thing that
mattered was the number of pixels. When I told him I wanted to produe
6x4 prints, he said that in that case 2mexapixels would be fine, and
that all of the cameras were the same, had the same quality lenses,
and there was no real reason to buy one rather than another....

Anyway, I am sure this is not true, but I have struggled to find a
simple 'best-buy for £150' (or less - do I need to spend this much?
more?). Any suggestions? And whether the quality of lenses varies much
between manufactuerers?

It's not literally true, but it's probably true enough for the purposes of
4x6 prints. Here's one that would probably do the trick for $49 (after
rebate):

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...&CMP=AFC-AFFIL

Though I don't suppose they ship to the UK. Still, there ought to be other
comparable deals to be had over there if you keep your eye out. As for
photo quality -- I'd suggest checking the various camera review sites
(dpreview.com, dcresource.com, etc) for reviews and samples of any camera
you might be interested in.

If you are willing to spend £150, though, you ought to be able to find a 3
or 4MP camera with a 3 or 4x zoom. I see the Minolta 414 for around $200
from time to time.

Mark

Zebedee wrote:
[]
IMHO the only problem with digital is slides no longer exist unless
one uses a digital projector.

Use your PC, perhaps with a video-out connection to your TV.

Cheers,
David

Zebedee wrote:
[]
IMHO the only problem with digital is slides no longer exist unless
one uses a digital projector.

Use your PC, perhaps with a video-out connection to your TV.

Cheers,
David

Quoting (Matthew) regarding Repair 35mm or buy cheap new
digital camera? in a message dated 25 Jul 2004 08:51:56 -0700:

So should I fix it in Bangkok (in chinatown, somewhere else? anyone
know how much it will cost?), or buy a new one?

I would go digital all the way. And I was an extreme 35mm SLR bigot for a long
time. I thought one could never replicate the crispness/clarity of 35 MM SLR
but I was wrong. Furthermore, they're a lot easier to deal with in Airport
security (no film to fog etc.). And if you bring a laptop with you when
traveling, you can download the pics and have "instant gratification" of sorts.

Anyway, I am sure this is not true, but I have struggled to find a
simple 'best-buy for £150' (or less - do I need to spend this much?
more?). Any suggestions? And whether the quality of lenses varies much
between manufactuerers?

It really depends on how crisp or how detailed you want your pictures to be.
I think most people could do with 2-3Mega pixels, perhaps even less. It sounds
like that's what you're looking to spend. I'm not sure about lens quality as I
have little with which to compare. I bought the Mavica CD-500 most recently.
It performs the best in close up shots actually but we'll see how things go.


__________________________________

Regards,
Arnold.

(E-mail address altered, to prevent spamming. :-|
Remove all asterisks and the *hates*spam* to get true address.)

Quoting (Matthew) regarding Repair 35mm or buy cheap new
digital camera? in a message dated 25 Jul 2004 08:51:56 -0700:

So should I fix it in Bangkok (in chinatown, somewhere else? anyone
know how much it will cost?), or buy a new one?

I would go digital all the way. And I was an extreme 35mm SLR bigot for a long
time. I thought one could never replicate the crispness/clarity of 35 MM SLR
but I was wrong. Furthermore, they're a lot easier to deal with in Airport
security (no film to fog etc.). And if you bring a laptop with you when
traveling, you can download the pics and have "instant gratification" of sorts.

Anyway, I am sure this is not true, but I have struggled to find a
simple 'best-buy for £150' (or less - do I need to spend this much?
more?). Any suggestions? And whether the quality of lenses varies much
between manufactuerers?

It really depends on how crisp or how detailed you want your pictures to be.
I think most people could do with 2-3Mega pixels, perhaps even less. It sounds
like that's what you're looking to spend. I'm not sure about lens quality as I
have little with which to compare. I bought the Mavica CD-500 most recently.
It performs the best in close up shots actually but we'll see how things go.


__________________________________

Regards,
Arnold.

(E-mail address altered, to prevent spamming. :-|
Remove all asterisks and the *hates*spam* to get true address.)

[]
IMHO the only problem with digital is slides no longer exist unless
one uses a digital projector.


In the digital world, everything is a "slide" when viewed on a
monitor.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Some people claim that there's a woman to blame, but I think it's all...

Richard's fault!

Visit the Sounds of the cul-de-sac at www.richardsfault.com

[]
IMHO the only problem with digital is slides no longer exist unless
one uses a digital projector.


In the digital world, everything is a "slide" when viewed on a
monitor.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Some people claim that there's a woman to blame, but I think it's all...

Richard's fault!

Visit the Sounds of the cul-de-sac at www.richardsfault.com

"Zebedee" wrote in message
...
Have a look at 7dayshop.com and look at the Nikon 3100. It's a very nice
camera. I have one as my pocket digital camera. Images get a bit noisy in
low light levels but I find the noise acceptible. I believe that's going
for
£110. I paid £235 for mine, last June and had a bargain. Look for one in
the
£100 - £150 range and you'll get it. It's 3 megapixels which gives a super
photo with up to A4 sized prints.

IMHO the only problem with digital is slides no longer exist unless one
uses
a digital projector.

I hope you don't consider a projection at a maximum of 1280x1024 pixels to
be the equivalent of a 35mm slide. Or even an APS slide.

--
Martin Francis http://www.sixbysix.co.uk
"Go not to Usenet for counsel, for it will say both no, and yes, and
no, and yes...."