# Key Post: Digital cameras



## Marion (31 Jul 2002)

Would anyone be able to recommend a good camera shop in Dublin, or a good website where you can buy digital cameras? I am looking for a Canon Powershot S330.


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## ClubMan (1 Aug 2002)

*US website*

If prepared to go through the hassle of ordering from the US there are serious savings to be made on this site. 

www.buydig.com

I was in the states recently so was able to get the camera delivered to the office I was working in. It suited me but may not be good for you.

Digital Cameras are way overpriced here.


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## gerry (17 Aug 2002)

*digital cameras*

Do the camera's bought in the US work with our pc's?


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## shaggy (18 Aug 2002)

*digital cameras*

and with our electricity?


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## Alastair (19 Aug 2002)

*no worries*

digi cameras from the states (or elsewhere) work just fine here. The only issues are the plug for the battery charger (which usually requires a plug adaptor, not a transformer), and the warranty, which will probably be limited to the US (or wherever). You will also run the risk of having to pay import duty, but even so it often works out cheaper.

I bought a Canon S40 a few weeks ago (when the dollar fell below the euro) for $430. The same camera costs €999 in Dublin. Bizzare price differential between the US and europe on these things.


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## starfish (19 Aug 2002)

*Digital cameras*

Thanks for the recommendations. I also found this UK site.
[broken link removed]
Even with exchange differences it works out a bit cheaper than buying here. They deliver within two days and charge about £10 for delivery which isn't bad.


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## garryks (23 Aug 2002)

*Re: Digital cameras*

Make sure they deliver to Rep.of.Ireland. I bought a camera recently but they couldn't send it to me directly as they said I didn't have a post code and they had problems in the past with deliveries and insurance. (As it happened someone was visiting me from the UK at the time so I had the comapny post it to them and they brought it over with them)


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## Guiseppe (24 Aug 2002)

*Re: Digital cameras*

InternetCamerasDirect are ok with Irish deliveries.   I bought a camera from them last year.  They were quite a bit cheaper than other UK-based websites, and massively cheaper than any Irish shop I found.  They also throw in quite a few extras for free or a small extra charge, e.g. an extra memory card, or batteries & charger.

Mind you, digital cameras is a very rapidly moving are at the moment and stuff is getting cheaper by the day.  The camera I bought last year is now cheaper and quickly becoming out-of-date.


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## sfag (24 Aug 2002)

*the above*

I found InternetCamerasDirect not to be the cheapest in the past. Search using google.co.uk. Buying from America may attract duty on this side. Postage from America is fantastically expensive and you may get hit on this side for both duty and extra postage. It happened to me when I bought small computer speakers and had them delivered to the North. It cost me more than double their original price by the time I got it.  Many US sites will not deliver the Republic.

Digital cameras are well worth the  money even thought they are dear and halve in price each year. I have owned an Epson (crap) and a Canon Ixus (good). Get a small one because then you can keep it in your pocket and snap till the cows come home. Make sure it uses compact flash (the cheapest memory) and note type 1 (common) is different than type 2.  Buy 256mb  from the UK but do not get camera (cannon) brand stuff  - it costs 10 times the price.  
Note printer ink and proper paper is very very expensive and you will probably end keeping your pictures on hard disk where they look better anyway. You can record pictures to cd (vcd) and play them on standalone dvd players like a sort of album movie. 
You probably know this but ignore digital zoom as its worse than worthless. Only optical zoom counts.


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## euroDilbert (24 Aug 2002)

*Additional Memory*

Can I also suggest you look at ebay for buying memory (from the US).
I have a Sony digital camera using memory sticks. I have bought all my additional memory this way at a price of about 1/3 to 1/2 of the Irish price, including postage.

They are ideal mail-order purchases, as they are small and light. Speed is often very fast too - once I ordered on Friday, and had the memory in the post the following Tuesday.

The usual provisos about being careful who you buy from etc. apply.


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## rainyday (27 Aug 2002)

*Re: Digital cameras*

A couple of other considerations;

Watch out for 'shutter lag' - this is the time taken between pressing the button and the picture actually being taken. This is usually between 0.25 to 1 second, depending on how fast the auto-focus works. This isn't a problem if most of your shots will be 'posed' - it just means your targets have to hold their cheesy grins for a second longer. However, it means taking action shots very difficult as the action may well have moved on by the time the picture has been taken. There is really no way round this without going for an expensive SLR camera. However, the shutter speeds vary for different camera's, so check the specs & independent reviews for more details.

Some of the newer SLR digital cameras (e.g. Fuji Finepic 2800) have an electronic viewfinder. This means that when you look through the viewfinder, you're looking at a small LCD screen, rather than looking through a normal camera lens. This has a disadvantage of being slower to react than a camera lens, and this put me off the Fuji. However, it has the advantage of showing you a more accurate image of what's going to be in your final picture.

For detailed reviews of individual models, check out 

www.imaging-resource.com/


For reviews & discussion board, try

www.dpreview.com

Don't bother asking the counter staff any serious questions - Spend an hour or two surfing and you'll know more than they will!


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## shutter happy (30 Aug 2002)

*digital camera*

I recently bought a sony camera P51 from amazon. co.uk and saved over 150 euro.  The camera was here in 3 days.  I found most of the american sites would not post the camera here, or charged exorbitantly for it.


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## ClubMan (6 Sep 2002)

*Digi Camera*

[broken link removed]

<!--EZCODE ITALIC START-->_ Edited by ClubMan to fix link_<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->


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## Joe Nonety (8 Nov 2002)

*Re: Digi Camera*

What I find a bit confusing is the accessories.
There seems to be 3 different kinds of memory: 
CompactFlash cards,
SmartMedia cards,
Memory Sticks.
Is there a big difference between these and do they require you to buy memory card readers in order to use them?

Also for the rechargeable batteries.
Are they like mobile phone batteries that can be recharged while still in the device or are they like AA rechargeable batteries that require a separate charging device?

The camera I'm interetesd in is the Sony DSC-P51 from UK Amazon for 300 Euros which is about 100 Euros cheaper than in the Sony Centres here.


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## rainyday (8 Nov 2002)

*Re: Digi Camera*



> Is there a big difference between ... 3 different kinds of memory:



Not really - I think Memory Sticks are specific to Sony only, the other two are generic. 



> do they require you to buy memory card readers in order to use them?



You need either a card reader (about €50 for SmartMedia or CompactFlash reader) or you need a USB connection on your camera - with the latter, you need to ensure that you have a power adaptor for your camera too, otherwise you're likely to use up a pile of batteries while downloading.



> Are they like mobile phone batteries that can be recharged while still in the device or are they like AA rechargeable batteries that require a separate charging device?



I think it varies between different models/brands. Just don't expect to run it on non-rechargeable AA batteries - These thinks soak up power, so rechargeables are essential.


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## MAC (8 Nov 2002)

*Brilliant value - The Blink Digital camera*

Not sure what you need it for  but if you don't really need a top of the range consider this

[broken link removed]

A colleague bought one this week and since then lots of other have been trying (with limited success) to gte their hands on one. For €65 it is brilliant value - holds 400 images, can be used as a webcam, free & easy to use software etc. etc

Check it out before you buy.....

MAC


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## paulie (8 Nov 2002)

*me want one*

MAC, you say colleagues have been able to pick these up with limited success, are they available in Ireland??

Must say it looks a delightful little bit of kit...


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## MAC (10 Nov 2002)

*Blink miniture digital cameras*

Hi Paulie,

Eventually we got some in Power City but ring first - our local only had a few left.

Good luck

MAC

Otherwise you can order from the US or Uk one the web no problem - Think I saw them for US$ 35 on one site. If you have a problem post back and I'll the the URL


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## rainyday (10 Nov 2002)

*Re: Digital cameras*

No optical zoom and just 2xdigital zoom! Is it really worth paying for something without decent zoom facilities?


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## rheinie (10 Nov 2002)

*digicam*

Was thinking of getting one for xmas some suggested a Hewlett Packard320 anyone got any views on this model as I know nothing about any of them.


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## Impish2001 (12 Nov 2002)

*Re: digicam*

Bought a Nikon Coolpix 885 last year.  Great little camera, very good quality pics.  Check it out!


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## joanmul (21 Nov 2002)

*Digital Cameras*

How would I fare out if I asked my cousin in New York to buy and send me one - would I get one cheaper still?   I would be paying of course.

I am interested in them but would need to find out a good bit about them first.


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## ClubMan (13 Dec 2002)

*Re: Digital Cameras*

There should be plenty of information (both about the technology generally as well as specific reviews) . I presume there are also specialist magazines for digital photography as there are for "normal" photography.


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## rainyday (13 Dec 2002)

*Re: Digital Cameras*



> How would I fare out if I asked my cousin in New York to buy and send me one - would I get one cheaper still?



Yes - It may be cheaper, but you may be caught for VAT or other duties at the point of importation.


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## liamog (18 May 2003)

*memory cards*

try www.MX2.com
for memory cards at great prices, much cheaper!!!!!!!!
also paper for photos and inkes,
snap on
liamog


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## ClubMan (18 May 2003)

*Re: memory cards*

The _Irish Times_ yesterday mentioned www.dpreview.com as a good site for checking out reviews and comments (including discussion forums) on a huge range of digital cameras. Might be worth checking before buying.


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## Drexxo (19 May 2003)

*Zoooom!*

You HAVE to get at least a 2,3X optical zoom , if you want to take good pictures.. Just got a Fuji Finepix 602Z in Prague, Great camera - always good o buy from a company with a camera history .


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## XXXAnother PersonXXX (2 Aug 2003)

*argos*

Has anyone bought the Argos Polaroid 3035 - the one for €149.99? I'm thinking of getting one.

No optical zoom, but 3.2m pixels.
Looks Ideal for holiday snapshots.


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## Mike (11 Sep 2003)

*Online store*

I recently purchased through [broken link removed] who is getting alot of good reviews. Even when you pay the vat, you still are saving alot of €s. Their support is good, though mind out for differences in exchange rates from what the CC company use and the website, but you still save.

Also he has a small selection onsite, but if you are looking for something else, email them and they should be able to help out.

Just another alternative for people to consider.

Cheers

Mike


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## whippet (20 Sep 2003)

*How much was VAT??*

Hi Mike,
Checked the site looks alright.
Just out of interest, how much extra was charged for the duty, or at what percentage?


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## DR (21 Sep 2003)

*Extra charges*

I've been waiting to bite the bullet on buying a camera for a while and mcneelys.com does look good, however they say that no extra duties to be paid on arrival in
our overpriced nation.
Does anyone have any experience from this site, is it included in the orginal price  or is that just wishful thinking?


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## DR (21 Sep 2003)

*more cyber shopping*

Have also checked out two German based sites cam-ireland.com and ny-camera.com (misleading names), but their prices seem very competitive with no extra duty involved.A Thank Q EU.
Cheesy designed websites with attractive prices, anyone have any comments on these or others


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## nick (17 Feb 2004)

*internetcamerasdirect*

I ordered a camera from internetcamerasdirect last week.  However, 3 days later they came back and said they were having courier problems with the south of Ireland and cancelled the order.


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## applet (19 May 2004)

*digital camera*

Hi, amazon uk have an olympus c-220 zoom camera on special offer for 80 sterling, its a 2 meg pixel x 3 optical.
Anybody have any experience of this camera. Thanks


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## din0saur (2 Jul 2004)

*some more internet camera sites*

I'm looking at buying a digital camera and have asked around, some of the sites people have used are:

[broken link removed] - free shipping but some items are out of stock
 - most items in stock, charges about Euro 13 for shipping

These seem to be located in France so manuals are in French but english version can be downloaded.

Compared prices to the Argos catalog last night and couldn't believe it - the prices Argos quote are *double* those available online!

_Update: Did some old fashioned browsing at the weekend and the prices e.g. in The Digital Camera Store while better than Argos are still ~100 euro more expensive than those sites above._

Update #2: In the end I went for a Canon ISUS IIs + 256MB SD + case from Amazon UK (decided it would be nice to have english manuals and irish plug) for e400 all told. It would have cost me the same price here for the camera alone.


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## agtech1 (17 Aug 2004)

*reading up on digital camera lingo*

Bought an Olympus Camedia C750 Ultra Zoom recently on ebay. Turned out a great buy but you want to do your research first on how to use this site.

Also know what you want to buy, here's a link to a very informative article i found
[broken link removed]

A


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## Jim Bob30 (19 Aug 2004)

*some more internet camera sites*

I bought a Nikon Coolpix 3100 recently and am happy out with it so far. After some research, I found www.7dayshop.com to be the best value (EUR 160)
They delivered within a week with nothing extra to pay on this side when it arrived.


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## CGorman2004 (23 Jan 2005)

*Re: reading up on digital camera lingo*

I ordered a Casio Z55, case, and memory card from  last week for my aunt - she saved €120, after taxes. It arrived literally witin 24hrs of dispatch. It did come with a french manual - but the english version is available online. About the electricity - they packed a free compact Continetal/UK&Ireland adapter. So for excepting no English manual,  (the camera is easy to use regardless) she saved €120. I  don't know about you - but I was v. impressed (especially since she gave me €20 for all my help finding such a good deal online!)


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## Monsieur Bond (24 Jan 2005)

*Re: Digi Camera*

*What I find a bit confusing is the accessories.
There seems to be 3 different kinds of memory:
CompactFlash cards,
SmartMedia cards,
Memory Sticks.
Is there a big difference between these and do they require you to buy memory card readers in order to use them?*

You will find that CompactFlash and SmartMedia are on the way out as they are large, bulky, slow, insecure. They are, however, cheap.

IMHO, you are better off with the newer, smaller and more widely supported formats such as MMC/SD (SD = MMC + Security) or the new XD format.

Check out [broken link removed] for an explanation the formats.


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## soy (26 Jan 2005)

*camera memory*

Apart from Sony which uses memory sticks XD and SD memory appear to be the dominant formats. 
On a happy note, memory prices are predicted to go south in 2005. Some of this has already happened. The XD format is still relatively expensive but you can get 128mb SD memory cards for $15 in the US at the moment.


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## bluebean (1 Mar 2005)

*Good site for buying an SD card?*

Hi all, 

Recently got a Canon a400, but need to buy either a 128 or 256mb SD card - anyone know where the best deals are for one at the moment?

Thanks.


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## car (1 Mar 2005)

*..*

youd be doing well to beat next day, free delivery in ireland from shop4mem


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## bluebean (1 Mar 2005)

*re SD*

Nice one car, nice one. Prices look v good even after just a v quick look.
Thanks!


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## CCOVICH (17 Mar 2005)

*Re: ..*

Argos are selling (on special offer) a Fuji FinePix F610 for €265 (50% reduction on previous).  Looks like a good deal (based on spec-6m pixels, 3x optical zoom).  Haven't been able to find it cheaper online.  Any views?


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## oulu (21 Mar 2005)

*610*

Just bought it really easy to use I am very happy with it, checked alot of reviews before I bought it and all were good, only 16 mb but can buy 256 for 50euro with amazon uk in dixons it sells for 80 euro,


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## ericphipps (22 Mar 2005)

Try www.ebay.com
Make sure sellers will post world wide.

I have had 3 Canon cameras- Powershot S10 ,S30, and Ixus / Elph- All seem to have a similar fault- Slow shutter speed- Canon batteries are useless and expensive- & do not hold their charge for that long.

 MY suggestion- The brilliant Pentax Optio S30-sells for about Euro 200. Terrific sharp clear shots and colour is so natural.


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## ericphipps (22 Mar 2005)

*Re: ..*

Fuji colour can be a bit vivid


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## onekeano (20 Nov 2005)

*eBay Camcorders - is this a scam?*

Looking to buy a camcorder for occassional use but know little or nothing about them. Was checking out eBay earlier and there seems to be loads available for what seem like ridiculously low prices. Could someone with some knowledge let me know if the spec below is substandard and if so what are the pricipal things to be looking for when buying. 

Thanks
Roy

Incidentally eBay says the spec below has a MRP of £400 STG and is for sale at a small fraction of that!!!


PRODUCT FEATURES 

12.0 MP (INTERPOLATED) 
8X DIGITAL ZOOM 
2.0 INCH COLOR LCD SCREEN 
270 DEGREES ROTATEABLE SCREEN  
WEBCAM FUNCTION 
MP3 PLAYER 
EARPHONES (INCLUDED) 
Li-Ion RECHARGEABLE BATTERY  
MOVIE FUNCTION WITH PLAYBACK  
BUILD IN 16MB FLASH MEMORY 
SD CARD COMPATIBLE 
EXPANDABLE MEMORY up to 2GB (SD CARD) 
BUILT-IN MICROPHONE 
VOICE MEMO / RECORDING 
SUPPORTS VIDEO/TV OUT 
8 LANGUAGES SUPPORT 
IMAGE/VOICE/RECORDING(MPEG4) 
OUT/IN PUT (CABLES INCLUDED) 
USB PORT(USB CABLES INCLUDED) 
MASS STORAGE 
1 YEAR FULL WARRANT


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## BBB (20 Nov 2005)

*Re: >>Digital cameras*

I have a Canon IXUS 500 purchased a year ago. The auto focus won't work properly now as some dust got into the mechanism, so photos are fuzzy. I've been quoted 250 euros by a camera shop in Tallaght to repair this. Any ideas where else I could try for a cheaper repair? The camera cost me about 350 euros. Worth repairing or just buy a new one??


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## RainyDay (21 Nov 2005)

*Re: eBay Camcorders - is this a scam?*



			
				onekeano said:
			
		

> PRODUCT FEATURES
> 
> 12.0 MP (INTERPOLATED)
> 8X DIGITAL ZOOM
> ...


No mention of optical zoom? This is much more important than digital zoom, as you lose quality when you use the digital zoom. Obviously, you'll need a much larger card than 16 MB. Now that I think of it, 16 MB seems amazingly small - Are you certain that this is a real camcorder, and not just a digital still camera with a capability of recording short movie clips?



			
				BBB said:
			
		

> I have a Canon IXUS 500 purchased a year ago. The auto focus won't work properly now as some dust got into the mechanism, so photos are fuzzy. I've been quoted 250 euros by a camera shop in Tallaght to repair this. Any ideas where else I could try for a cheaper repair? The camera cost me about 350 euros. Worth repairing or just buy a new one??



I doubt if it's worth repairing. These things are effectively becoming 'disposable' items now (which is probably why the WEEE charge is needed). What's the price of an equivalent new model today?


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## onekeano (21 Nov 2005)

*Re: eBay Camcorders - is this a scam?*



			
				RainyDay said:
			
		

> No mention of optical zoom? This is much more important than digital zoom, as you lose quality when you use the digital zoom. Obviously, you'll need a much larger card than 16 MB. Now that I think of it, 16 MB seems amazingly small - Are you certain that this is a real camcorder, and not just a digital still camera with a capability of recording short movie clips?
> 
> Good points Rainy - thanks for pointing them out. That rules out that particular items, thanks for the advice.
> 
> Roy


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## onekeano (21 Nov 2005)

*Question for Rainyday*

Rainyday - apologies for posting directly to you in the forum but triem to send you a PM but link did not work.

Just wondering if you see any obvious flaws with this baby http://www.dealtime.com/xFS-~PartnerId-2681~FD-410~KW-Sony DCRDVD7~IsPrd-0~linkin_id-2072595~


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