my viewcam really isnt making it with its lo-res images, i`m getting tired of it..

a good friend in london has this incredible ability to get things that fall from lorrys so its time for me to catch some goodness and buy a digital camera..

some reccomendations please, and a bit on whats so good about your camera if you dont mind :P

Nikon D-100. You can use all of the Nikon lenses, RAW image format (12 bits per color component, no compression), internal memory for multiple shots without pausing, support for the IBM Microdrive... the list goes on.

Discussion list

D1scussion is a advertisement free, independent, private discussion list for Nikon's professional digital cameras D1, D1x, D1h, D2 and D100.

The list was founded in December 1999 by Juergen Specht to discuss the Nikon D series cameras with about 1,500 subscribed professionals from around the world.

Don't forget to check out Juergen's home page as well - awesome photos.

But I still use a film based camera - just can't seem to give it up.

The only digital camera I have is attached to my mobile phone.

cstaylor wrote:Nikon D-100.

Looks tasty

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikond100/

I just picked up the Sony P10. Too automatic for my liking, but it's sooo cuuuute.. And that's what's important in Japan.

I haven't had time to really use it yet, but the 5 megapixels to work with might be nice... It just came out, but here's the review of the P9:

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/sonydscp9/

Again, a VERY no brains camera! Depends on what you want..

GJ

kotatsuneko wrote:...some reccomendations please, and a bit on whats so good about your camera if you dont mind :P

Mine's a Pentax "Optio 430RS" which was only 25,000 yen on sale, 4 megapixels, and great BILINGUAL menus/manuals (most menus on digi-cams are Japanese).

Plus side: 5x optical zoom (digital zoom is for tards).
Negative side: like most digi-cams it sloooooow it's to start-up and to take sequence of pix (a loooooong 4 secs)

Hint: I have to get/buy new digi-cam every 6 months 'cause puke out from salt air, static discharge, impact shocks, etc.

thanks everyone for the very usefull links, and info about your cameras! i don't know why, but being here, its weird, i guess i've caught the shutter bug everyone else around me seems to have, brings a little smile taking a quick snap ^^

think i need a hybrid one - a "no brains" and "bilingual" cam ; ] or maybe i`m turning "bi curious"? heh

ill enjoy munching some breakfasts perusing those links, so, really thanks a lot guys!

kotatsuneko wrote:think i need a hybrid one - a "no brains" and "bilingual" cam ] or maybe i`m turning "bi curious"? heh

Most if not all the digi's on the market are multi-lingual. Ask the shop guys to set to English before you leave.

The English Manuals you should be able to download from the company's web-site or you may have to send away for it. Either way you will get satisfaction for your multiple needs.

I have bought two digital cameras in Japan, a Canon S45 and a Casio Exilim, and in both cases the shop staff took out the Japanese manual and CD and replaced it with the appropriate English manual & CD. This was at Sakuraya in Shibuya, Tokyo.

Also, the staff should be able to easily set the camera itself to English, if it doesn't start with a menu that lets you choose.

which one do you reckon eh?

Canon Digital Ixus 400

nikon coolpix 4300

olympus camedia d40 zoom

Olympus Mju /stylus 400

they all look nice.. damn its like choosing a kitty from battersea dogs home..

my 2 yen :

the best and most complete and most powerful i've tried is the nikon coolpix 4500. impressive.

but i'm more than very happy with my canon ixy because it is way less bulky and the pics are very very good.

of course, i'm talking about affordable and "reasonable" cameras...

but i'm more than very happy with my canon ixy because it is way less bulky and the pics are very very good.

Agreed. Very happy with the Canon.

I have the S400 too. I love it. Easy to use, small, great pics. SUPER!

another small one is the pentax espio S

I myself have a Kodak DX3900, which isn't all that impressive anymore. 3.1 MP, CompactFlash for image storage. Haven't found a way to use a different lens with it (my only gripe with it.) Its one really great feature is the amount of abuse this thing has taken and the fact that it still works flawlessly. I can't remember how many times its been dropped, exposed to nasty weather (and widely varying temperatures) or squished in my overstuffed backpack, and it hasn't had any loss in performance. If you're looking for something durable, this is a good model series to look into, but probably should be passed up if you want a ton of features or really high resolution.

heh my bro has one of those hard ass kodaks..

right, ive finally decided on the ixus 400 - it can fit into a pocket or at least take up hardly any space in a bag, and the wife could use it easily..

last iddle biddle question - which manafactures compact flash cards would you reccomend? many of the review sites mention cards that fail, so as i will be buying 2x 512 cards, one for me, one for the wife, i do want to be getting reliable ones.. ermm cheers!

DPReview has an extensive Buyer's Guide to Digital Film, you might find that helpful.

GP this ji sake is so yours ^^ cheers !

For photography where you want a decent camera with overrides of the automatic controls, the Canon G3 looks like a winner. Photo.net put up a not so nice review of the G5, and apparently the G3 has fewer image quality problems. A lot of great contributions to the site have also been with the G3. It's always interesting to see what top photographers are using.
http://www.photo.net

Personally, I use 3 film cameras, and am planning to get a good slide/negative scanner soon. I'm not yet satisfied with the price/quality ratio of the digitals (Digital SLR? $2000+ Cheaper camera: Hope you like shutter lag and confusing controls, too) so I think this is a good way to go. Spend the money you save on a decent lens.

you know, i *love* the ease and speed of a film camera, the eos 1000 my dad in law gave me, along with the phat ultrasonic zoom lens he gave me along with a nice velbon tripod from his collection at new years is a joy to use..

the hassle is that i love taking photos, and i cant afford to use film all the time due to developing costs etc, i just dont have the money...

when my mate gave me the sharp camcorder, i used it more as a camera than a camcorder, freedom really, to snap whatever i wanted , without worrying about cost

thats really why im getting a digicam, i would love to get the canon eos digital as i think i could use my slr lenses on it, not sure, but even at blackmarket prices - half price thats still out of my price range, as it is, my tax refund will cover a normal digicam, spare batter, mains, 2 memory cards and a coupla 200 gig hds..and 2 gig of ram to beef up this under nourished deck..

will check that link, thanks, its def appreciated..my mates not going shopping till the weekend..

btw, i saw on tv that you can bring a card into places like fuji and theyll bung the pics onto photos and cd, mate did this with an aps film and the scans were incredible.. could i bring a cd of jpegs into a photo box and have them developed? anyone try this?

cheers!

Most of the photo developing places in Tokyo will take any kind of digital media (CF, SD, Memory Stick, CD-ROM) etc and generate prints. They will also scan film negatives and put them on CD-ROM at various resolutions. I am gradually doing this with all my pre-digital pics.

I am extremely pleased with the quality - 10x15 prints of 4 megapixel files have the super-sharp look I associated only with film. I do a bit of photoshopping to boost dynamic range, etc before printing and the pics look great.

Film is still ultimately a bit better (at least, better than my current camera) but I just find I take many, many more pictures, and my chances of getting a really good one are that much higher. (For example this one and this one.)

With a 512MB card I just shoot away. Friends have said that they have taken more meaningful pictures in one month with a digicam than in years with a fancy SLR - simply because you take more of them.

went for the ixus 400, just waiting for a pair of 512 cfs to come thru and the spare battery then itll get shipped over here with my scanner finally!

thanks for all the advice, in the end, i guess the size, features and price made the ixy stand out..

weird thing - in the uk, it sells for £450 in shops, £350 online... i got it for £225 blackmarket price, tho i dont see how there can be such a huge online/shop price difference, that kinda stinks.. and is why i make the most of my b/m contacts.. ^^

Good choice of camera. I haven't read this thread too carefully sorry so if you have already mentioned it, why did you choose to buy in the UK and ship here?

From what I read there is almost no advantage price wise. I got my 400 for 44,000 from the local computer store and they threw in a 128 mb cflash, weatherproof action case, extra battery and a hip pack type carry case. All this plus I can take it in anyime for cleaning.

Just interested to hear your thinking.

i had no idea the camera was cheaper here!

man you got a good deal with all those freebies! i havent seen any shops in sapporo that would do anything similar to that...! i guess even tho nagoya is full of strange people - i met several weirdos at work in london, and many people have mentioned them being only second to ppl from hiroshima in the weirdness / differentness factor (then again i'd challenge any prefecture to have people as cold as hokkaido)- the camera shops are on a whole different plane to the typical bic/yamada/yodobashi horrible service places we get up here...

a few months after moving here, i got a tax rebate, and that cash has been sitting in my uk bank account, i dont really have any yen to spend here, certainly nowhere near the cost of the camera, so for me, it makes sense to use those pounds and pay half of retail for it , accessories and some other computer parts..

im getting a load of my books and computer parts sent over anyhow, so the camera and other shopping will just sit in the same crate..

really am looking forward to it!

i have a sony DSC-p72

it's fine for most things but as usual with sony the software sux....doesn't really integrate well with microsoft

i would go for a decent zoom over huge resolution (ie 5 plus mega pixels) for most stuff you just want to e-mail stuff to your friends so no need to go over the top.....memory stick is ok compared to other mediums

got it thru the post today, is sweet ^^

the manual only mentions cf cards up to 256 megs tho,

mr B if youre reading, can it take a 512 meg card do you know?

ta for the reccomendation btw think i'm gonna love it, specially with the easy to use manual functions...!

512 MB - no problem - got one in my camera right now. There seem to be many slight hardware variations - which one do you have. I say take a photo but that would be a bit cheshire cat right so maybe a scan from the manual.

The review over at Steve's Digicams says it can take any capacity Type 1 CF Card.

wow u guys are up early!

on the reg plate it says pc1038 its a ixus digi 400

seriously thinking bout asking my mate to get me the waterproof case for the winter here.. tho even with that it may not be a good idea as most of the time in winter its below the cameras operating temperature...

wow just had another shake, had 2 last night , tho none as bad as fri morning... yet! got the gas turned off just in case...!

cheers for the replies guys! got that link to steves, cheers! but knew that mr B had the same cam so who better to ask? ^^

plan on getting 2x 512 cards, and a spare battery...

oh btw what works out better, getting a cf reader, or the ac adaptor and trans the pics thru usb? the manual seems to say you get more info etc by doing it thru the cam...

thing i like about the cam is that it feels like its built like a tank.. !

when im out for the day , will still carry a slr, but its so nice not having to use the horrible rez of the viewcam to take snaps now...

cheers to everyone who gave opinons here

I've also got the IXUS 400 (IXY 400 here in Japan). Also just purchased the new Canon Kiss Digital.
The IXY 400 is a great point and shoot camera. looks good, small, light and takes great pics! Haven't had a chance to play with the Kiss yet.

My father-in-law has got the Canon 1Ds and think my cameras suck, but then again he's a fat, ugly, overpaid tosser!!!