Repair 35mm or buy cheap new digital camera?

I have a 35mm Olympus mju zoom 105, bought three years ago in Bangkok.
Now it has stopped working (the lens is no longer moving in and out,
and is stuck about 1cm out). Here in the UK it will cost £50 or more
to repair it.

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

If the answer is to buy a new one, how much do I need to spend to get
something that will have the same quality or better? 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?

I had a 35mm SLR which I repaired ($150), and bought a 3 Megapixel digital,
and took them both to Nepal with me.

The SLR was heavy, and used about $100 worth of film and $200 worth of
processing (including digitising onto CD).

I then looked at the photos and selected the best 50 for an album, and the
best 10 for enlargement (10" x 8").

Of the 50, all but a few were digital; all of the best 10 were digital.

Digitals are lighter, cheaper, easier and better than film cameras in almost
every respect. I regret spending the money on fixing the SLR, I particularly
regret humping it half way around the world.

Get the most pixels you can - 2Mexapixels is OK up to 5" x 7", but 4 or 5
Megapixels will give you bigger enlargements. Optical zoom is worth having -
digital zoom is not.

Cheers


Peter Webb




"Matthew" wrote in message
om...
I have a 35mm Olympus mju zoom 105, bought three years ago in Bangkok.
Now it has stopped working (the lens is no longer moving in and out,
and is stuck about 1cm out). Here in the UK it will cost £50 or more
to repair it.

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

If the answer is to buy a new one, how much do I need to spend to get
something that will have the same quality or better? 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?

I had a 35mm SLR which I repaired ($150), and bought a 3 Megapixel digital,
and took them both to Nepal with me.

The SLR was heavy, and used about $100 worth of film and $200 worth of
processing (including digitising onto CD).

I then looked at the photos and selected the best 50 for an album, and the
best 10 for enlargement (10" x 8").

Of the 50, all but a few were digital; all of the best 10 were digital.

Digitals are lighter, cheaper, easier and better than film cameras in almost
every respect. I regret spending the money on fixing the SLR, I particularly
regret humping it half way around the world.

Get the most pixels you can - 2Mexapixels is OK up to 5" x 7", but 4 or 5
Megapixels will give you bigger enlargements. Optical zoom is worth having -
digital zoom is not.

Cheers


Peter Webb




"Matthew" wrote in message
om...
I have a 35mm Olympus mju zoom 105, bought three years ago in Bangkok.
Now it has stopped working (the lens is no longer moving in and out,
and is stuck about 1cm out). Here in the UK it will cost £50 or more
to repair it.

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

If the answer is to buy a new one, how much do I need to spend to get
something that will have the same quality or better? 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?

If you're about to travel, but a digital duty free. You'll probably get
better deals and new models in Asia. Go for the features you'll use, rather
than paying for things you'll never need. While travelling back from
Bangkok to Sydney earlier this month I was looking for a small flat digital
camera and was prepared to have lower pixel size as a sacrifice for small
camera. In Singapore I got the small camera I wanted with 5MP and a much
better price than in Sydney. It's a Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-T1 and very user
friendly.

"Matthew" wrote in message
om...
I have a 35mm Olympus mju zoom 105, bought three years ago in Bangkok.
Now it has stopped working (the lens is no longer moving in and out,
and is stuck about 1cm out). Here in the UK it will cost £50 or more
to repair it.

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

If the answer is to buy a new one, how much do I need to spend to get
something that will have the same quality or better? 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?

If you're about to travel, but a digital duty free. You'll probably get
better deals and new models in Asia. Go for the features you'll use, rather
than paying for things you'll never need. While travelling back from
Bangkok to Sydney earlier this month I was looking for a small flat digital
camera and was prepared to have lower pixel size as a sacrifice for small
camera. In Singapore I got the small camera I wanted with 5MP and a much
better price than in Sydney. It's a Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-T1 and very user
friendly.

"Matthew" wrote in message
om...
I have a 35mm Olympus mju zoom 105, bought three years ago in Bangkok.
Now it has stopped working (the lens is no longer moving in and out,
and is stuck about 1cm out). Here in the UK it will cost £50 or more
to repair it.

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

If the answer is to buy a new one, how much do I need to spend to get
something that will have the same quality or better? 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?

Matthew wrote:

I have a 35mm Olympus mju zoom 105, bought three years ago in Bangkok.
Now it has stopped working (the lens is no longer moving in and out,
and is stuck about 1cm out). Here in the UK it will cost £50 or more
to repair it.

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

If the answer is to buy a new one, how much do I need to spend to get
something that will have the same quality or better? 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?


Most important is to get a high class GLASS optical system.

Without that it does not matter how many million pixels you get.

In order to print with 'good enough' quality on A4 size paper the
experts say 3-4 Meg pixels should do the job.

But be sure to get a high quality optical system, plastic can never do a
good job!

/Anders


--
Remove the obvious part before replying by mail please!

I was also thinking of buying the same camera in Singapore. Can you give
me some idea of price in US dollars and when you bought it. Also, what
kind of warranty did you get. Lastly, have you had a chance to shoot any
video, I'm especially interest in your experience with indoor video.

Thanks....


Viviane wrote:

If you're about to travel, but a digital duty free. You'll probably get
better deals and new models in Asia. Go for the features you'll use, rather
than paying for things you'll never need. While travelling back from
Bangkok to Sydney earlier this month I was looking for a small flat digital
camera and was prepared to have lower pixel size as a sacrifice for small
camera. In Singapore I got the small camera I wanted with 5MP and a much
better price than in Sydney. It's a Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-T1 and very user
friendly.

"Matthew" wrote in message
om...

I have a 35mm Olympus mju zoom 105, bought three years ago in Bangkok.
Now it has stopped working (the lens is no longer moving in and out,
and is stuck about 1cm out). Here in the UK it will cost £50 or more
to repair it.

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

If the answer is to buy a new one, how much do I need to spend to get
something that will have the same quality or better? 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?

"Viviane" wrote in message
u...
We bought on 12 July and paid S$856, which translated to AUS$720 - don't
know what that is in US$.

About $503 USD......

"Viviane" wrote in message
u...
We bought on 12 July and paid S$856, which translated to AUS$720 - don't
know what that is in US$.

About $503 USD......

Thanks very much.....

William Graham wrote:

"Viviane" wrote in message
u...

We bought on 12 July and paid S$856, which translated to AUS$720 - don't
know what that is in US$.


About $503 USD......