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Digital Cameras Forum Discuss compact digital cameras or ask general digital photography questions - what camera to buy, memory cards, digital camera accessories, etc. You may also want to look at the Digital SLR forum, or the Camera Manufacturer forums.
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  1. #1
    Junior Member
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
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    2

    Choosing first digital camera

    Hello,

    i'm a beginner and i want to buy a digital camera. I never had it before, now i'm usind a camcorder for making home video, but the quality of photo pictures is awful...

    Well, what i basically need is a simple point-and-shoot, but maybe with some manual settings, if i feel the mood for it. The price range is up to 400 $. The aim is to make high-quality pictures, to print them in A2 format, maybe bigger. It must be a quite small camera, to fit in a pocket.

    First i was planning to buy Panasonic FX50, but the reviews say it has much noise. Now i'm considering the Fuji F10 or F30 camera. As i understood, it's one of the best simple cameras. What could you suggest?

    Thanks
    Igor

  2. #2
    Captain of the Ship Photo-John's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2001
    Location
    Salt Lake City, Utah, United States
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    15,422

    Re: Choosing first digital camera

    Igor-
    I wouldn't worry too much about the noise. People are a little too fixated on the noise issue. The truth is, all compact digital cameras have obvious noise at ISO 200 and above. However, at normal print sizes and low ISO settings (ISO 100 and 200), it's not really a problem. I believe it's more important to consider camera usability, features, and fit. If image quality is your highest priority, you should be buying a digital SLR. But you want a pocket camera so you'll need to compromise some quality. But you can still have a camera that will make photos that look great. I've used all kinds of compact cameras and in reasonable lighting conditions, most pocket-sized cameras make great photos for prints up to 8.5x11 inches.

    I haven't used a Fuji compact digital camera for a while and the last one was a 5-megapixel camera. I'm not a fan of the 5-megapixel sensors so I wasn't really happy with the image quality from that camera. However, the F10 and F30 are known for having excellent image quality. We actually have a pro review for the Fuji F10 and some user reviews from some very picky photographers. Generally, the concensus is that image quality is excellent for a point-and-shoot, but the photographers would like a little more control:

    Fujifilm FinePix F10 pro review >>

    The Fuji F30 should be the same, but with even better image quality. I've been hearing very good things about the F30's low light photo quality.

    Canon's SD cameras have excellent image quality and are among the most popular digital cameras. They don't have much in the way of manual control, though. They are pocket-sized and they have a couple of models that also have image stabilization, which will mean better photos.

    I don't know how much control you want, but I like to have full manual exposure controls. For that reason, I am partial to the Casio compact digital cameras. They will fit in anyone's pocket and the high-end cameras have full manual exposure controls. It's about a year and a half old now, but I did a review of of the Casio Exilim EX-Z750 and I loved the camera. It's very quick, has great controls, and it was easy to always carry. They've updated that camera to the EX-Z850 now. It has an 8-megapixel sensor instead of the 7, like the camera I reviewed. But the camera is pretty much the same and my review will still tell you most of what you need to know:

    Canon Exilim EX-Z750 pro review >>

    That should give you something to compare to. I'm not sure how much manual control you want. But it's good to look at both ends of the spectrum. I do also like Panasonic digital cameras. They have excellent camera controls, although the pocket-sized cameras are a little simple for my taste and I also agree that the image quality isn't the best available. Still, I think I like using the Panasonics more than the Fuji cameras I've had in my hands.

    Hope that helps. Let us know if you have more questions. We'll be here to help.
    Photo-John

    Your reviews are the foundation of this site - Write A Review!

  3. #3
    Junior Member
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
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    2

    Re: Choosing first digital camera

    John,

    thank you very much for the quick and insightful reply! It's a nice surprise!

    The Casio camera looks nice, i'm going to find out if it's available. You know, i live in Russia, and not all cameras are available here. Unfortunately, i'm limited in the choice...

    The amount of manual controls i wish to have is not critical. It's an option, and not a must. Maybe for my first camera it's better to be very simple and easy to use. The main things is the size, the quality of pics, the good battery, and the standartised memory card (SD?).

    I will study your reviews of Casio, Fuji and others more carefully. As for now, i'm tending to Fuji F30 in terms of pic quality and to Panasonic in terms of design and style. Gotta think it over!

    Thanks and merry Christmas!

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