Camera Recommendations

[Barmaid]

I promised Mr BM we would buy a really nice Digital SLR camera for our forthcoming "Italian Campaign". Any recommendations, please?

[Zacs-Master]

What's your budget Barmaid? You might find an SLR a bit cumbersome to travel around with. You can get some excellent compact cameras which will fit in your pocket.

[1ndex]

DSLR have million pixel counts that is heavy for transferring photos online. Sony Alpha is neat at £430

http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk/reviews/dslrs/129409/1/sony-alpha-58-review

[Buenchico]

"Really nice" isn't a very precise specification for a camera, Barmaid!

If you're looking for a 'bee's knees' job, as used by professional photographers, then you need to be looking for a DSLR camera. Start here
http://www.techradar.com/news/photography-video-capture/cameras/best-dslr-top-cameras-by-price-and-brand-944543
but remember that DSLR cameras use interchangeable lenses, so you'd need to pay a great deal more for one or more additional lenses.

If you want something rather similar but with a single zoom lens, you need to be looking at 'bridge' cameras. Start here:
http://www.whatdigitalcamera.com/equipment/advice/501485/best-bridge-camera-of-2013.html

However if you want something which you can easily slip into your handbag (which you certainly can't do with either of the above types of camera) look no further than the mighty Olympus SZ-14
www.amazon.co.uk/Olympus-SZ-14-Digital-Super-Camera/dp/B006Q9J438/
It's available in red, black or silver and has an amazing specification for the price. That's not written solely through a bit of googling. I bought one from Tesco earlier this year and I think that it's an incredible piece of kit. (It's no longer on the Tesco website but it might be worth checking out their stores. They've charged anywhere between £99 and £139 for it, with the price changing almost weekly!).

[Barmaid]

lol, ok so "really nice" doesn't really fit a description but I knew what I meant. Mr BM has been nominated as "Official Photographer" for the family tour. Camera will NOT be going in my handbag due the fact that I am not taking one! (If I take a handbag it will become a dumping ground for everyone else's junk).

We've both got "compacts" which aren't really up to all that much. We will largely be taking pics of villages/towns/graveyards/people. Mr BM has said he would like a "Bridge" camera, whatever that means. I don't really want to spend more than £500. Does that help?

And thanks so far to Zacs, 1index and Chris. x

[jno]

bridge cameras, as Chris says, are similar in size to a DSLR but have a fixed lens so you don't have to carry multiple lenses with you and pick the one you want for each photo.

This one sounds reasonably awesome

Amazon.co.uk User Recommendation

you can probably photograph an ant on the moon with a 60x zoom. If you dont' want to do that, Panasonic do less zoomier cameras which I've always been happy with.

And I imagine the one Chris recommends would be good too, small but with the sort of zoom capability that used to require a lens the size of a tank's gunbarrel.

[sara3]

a bridge camera isn't a DSLR, missus.

there are a few "entry level" DSLRs in that price range, I've got a Nikon D3100 which is under £300. Canon have a few options too.

http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/cameras/digital-cameras/digital-slr-cameras/344_3757_31522_0_xx/1_20/price-asc/xx-criteria.html (note that not all have lenses with them!)

[Stephen_G]

I have this one at the mo

Amazon.co.uk User Recommendation

[Stephen_G]

Ignore that text, BM. That's not the camera. I bought this Fujifilm HS30 Bridge Camera. Up to 60x zoom

Amazon.co.uk User Recommendation

[jomifl]

My Sony A850 does just about everything, but I chose it because I already had a range of compatible lenses for my Minolta(sony) film camera. Most of the big manufacturers DSLR models are compatible with their pre-digital lenses which can be obtained cheaply off Ebay. I bought my Sony as ex-display off the web. In fact the packaging had never been opened as all the seals were intact, it is a way of selling thing cheaply withou upsetting the manufacturers.

[ebayfan]

We bought a Samsung Galaxy, it is a Camera, a Phone, Tablet all in
one, an amazing camera, cost around the £400 mark and the case for it was extra.
Great, read your emails in the graveyard !

[ebayfan]

Jessops are selling these cameras, £399, £299 without the phone, have a look .