Digital Camera - HELP !

Hi All

My brain is scrambled looking at all the different digitals out there.
I basically want on that I can point and fire, that takes the shots immediatly(currently have a camera that has red eye reduction and takes ages to take so I miss the moment I am trying to capture) and that has a good zoom feature.

Will probably not be using the manual functions initally but would like to have a few incase I decide to get more into it..

Am looking at the Olympus C765 Zoom....
Anyone have any comments on ths one ?
I'd really like to have a good zoom facility (take pictures of the kids close up during a football match etc) and good quality photos that I can print to standard size and mabye a bit larger for a couple of shots

any advice greatly appriciated
thanks

Just bought a Panasonic FZ20. 12X optical zoom with a 4 x digital giving 48x total.

You can read a review .

This is my third Digital camera and easily the best so far.

I bought it on tottenham court rd in London for £385 including a 128MB SD memory card, but I've seen even better deals on Ebay

Another very helpful site is www.dpreview.com.

Reviews on the Olympus C765 [broken link removed], and a full review of the Panasonic FZ20 here. Or compare them side by side [broken link removed].

Must say the Panasonic looks very nice, albeit a bit more pricey. Leica are acknowledged to be among the finest lens manufacturers in the world...

Dr. M.

Thanks for the replies....i do like the look of the panasonic but its a bit out of my price range.

I like the idea of the good zoom but am I going to have a problem with camera shake ?(I notice the panasonic has an Optical Image Stabilizer to overcome this which the Olympus does not have). Is it worth the extra money to get this ?

I have never had a digital before and won't be in a position to upgrade over time, so I want one that will do the basics for me now but allow me to do more if I get better.

Do you think the Olympus C765 will fit the bill ?
How much of an issue is the camera shake ? will it affect the quality of my 'zoomed' pictures?

digital camera

The biggest problem with the early 'mega' zoom digital cameras is camera shake. Basically it means that when using the zoom, your images will be blurry. This effect tends to kick in once you get above 6x optical zoom. Image stabilisation systems get around this issue and enable you take sharp, clear pictures at high zoom.

Digital Cameras - Zoom

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sorry

Er sorry.

guess you cant put local images into a message......

p

Re: sorry

Thanks for that penang

I suppose I'm really just an amateur photographer and will never go to the bother of a tripod etc...

Perhaps I should forget about the zoom and go for a more basic type camera..something like the Cannon powershot A75 or A95 or the Sony cybershot DSC P93.

I'll probably never use the manual features of many of the more expensive cameras so its probably not worth spending too much money.

Penang, would you be familiar with any of the above cameras ?

Re: sorry

I'm afraid I don't know the cameras you listed in you last post. A couple of friends of mine have Sony Cybershot cameras ( don't know the exact model) and seem very happy with them.

The last digital camera I had was a Fuji Finepix f700 and this was a really great little camera. it had a few problems that made it look poor value for money but i've seen deals around Dublin selling this camera with extra storage for €299. I originally ( in 2003) paid €600 with a 64MB upgrade.

The reason I changed was that the f700 was nicked and once the insurance paid up I decided to upgrade to the fz20 mainly for the lens performance I have to say.

Re: value

I've had a Finepix S5000 for about a year and have been very happy with the results — got a friend to bring it home from the States for $250/€200... It's now been superceded by the 4Mp [broken link removed]. Main difference from the S7000, apart from price, is that it uses xD memory cards rather than a hard drive (great storage, but delicate, and heavy on battery power). And memory cards have gotten very cheap of late — try www.7dayshop.com.

When you're shooting at 350mm~400mm or higher, you're bound to get a bit of camera shake, unless you keep the shutter speed high — it's the single greatest cause of 'spoiled' snapshots, and often the real culprit for fuzziness that's put down to poor lens quality.

The old rule of thumb for 35mm SLRs was to set the shutter speed at a minimum of 1/focal length (i.e. 1/250th for a 200mm lens, 1/500th for a 400mm or 500mm lens, etc.). So you need to use the 'S' (shutter priority) mode...

Most digital cameras are so much lighter than their old film counterparts that — oddly enough — camera shake is probably a bigger problem than it used to be (it's actually easier to hold a brick rock steady for a split-second than a pack of cigarettes!) I can't be arsed carrying around a tripod either, but if I'm using the zoom at full stretch I always try to use the highest possible shutter speed and/or steady the camera against something when shooting.

Re: value

I have a canon ixus 400 and very happy with it.
picture quality excellent - uploaded to bonusprint for hardcopies and got excellent copies.

Hi Holly23: My daughter has an OlympusC760 Ultra Zoom and she has taken beautiful photographs with it. I've used it and found it good but I got the camera 'shakes' too but consider that my own fault. I'm going to check out all the other replies you got about how to deal with this fault. You can discard any bad photos anyway when you have a look at them on the computer.