Looking for a cheap camera!

So I have been in some of the supermarkets, and found something which suits,
but when I asked about more information I was told I have to buy a memory
card, so why the hell don't they include that in the camera in the
beginning, sounds like a scam, to make the camera look cheap but in fact it
isn't!

Alan

On 8/12/12 3:42 PM, in article , "Alan
Holmes" wrote:


So I have been in some of the supermarkets, and found something which suits,
but when I asked about more information I was told I have to buy a memory
card, so why the hell don't they include that in the camera in the
beginning, sounds like a scam, to make the camera look cheap but in fact it
isn't!

Alan

A long time ago, when I was working a retail camera store (remember those?),
a long-time customer walked in wanting to purchase a (then) new digital
camera (D-30?). When he told me the same thing that you are complaining
about, I reminded him that his old SLR had not come with any film. The look
on his face was precious. AFAIK, to this day, NO digital camera of any value
has included a memory card.

"Alan Holmes" wrote:
So I have been in some of the supermarkets, and found something which suits,
but when I asked about more information I was told I have to buy a memory
card, so why the hell don't they include that in the camera in the
beginning, sounds like a scam, to make the camera look cheap but in fact it
isn't!

Alan

All my cameras have built in memory. Decide on pic size cause that matters
more for storage, but storage is cheap these days.

Greg

On 12/08/2012 21:42, Alan Holmes wrote:
So I have been in some of the supermarkets, and found something which suits,

How do you know it suits? Buying on price alone isn't at all sensible!
If you said which one you were considering it would help.

but when I asked about more information I was told I have to buy a memory
card, so why the hell don't they include that in the camera in the
beginning, sounds like a scam, to make the camera look cheap but in fact it
isn't!

Alan

1GB will store about 80+ high quality 12Mpixel JPEGs or 30 raw images
depending on compressibility and costs much less than a roll of film. If
you shop around you can just about get 8GB sD for under £3 now.

Memory cards these days are well under 50p per GB and laarge fast ones
for video are all under £1/GB. See for example Amazon.co.uk:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_...+cards&x=0&y=0

You would do well to buy your camera there too. Better prices much more
detailed specifications and customer reviews online to help you avoid
the cheap nasty lemons that the supermarkets sell to clueless punters.
Supermarkets and even computer selling sheds are not the best place to
buy memory cards unless you need it to use *instantly*.

Be careful buying large memory cards as there is a good chance your
cheap and nasty supermarket camera will not be able to use them. Very
rarely the supermarkets do have real end of line bargains but you have
to know what you are doing to find them.

Even in the early days when memory was expensive digital cameras did not
come with free memory thrown in although you could usually get them to
give you something extra on a £1000 deal. The earliest digital cameras
like my old Kodak DC-120 had a small amount of built in flash memory so
that it could do in shop demos without risking theft of a then expensive
"small" CF memory card (remember those)!

Regards,
Martin Brown

On Sun, 12 Aug 2012 16:26:37 -0500, George Kerby wrote:

On 8/12/12 3:42 PM, in article , "Alan
Holmes" wrote:


So I have been in some of the supermarkets, and found something which
suits, but when I asked about more information I was told I have to buy
a memory card, so why the hell don't they include that in the camera in
the beginning, sounds like a scam, to make the camera look cheap but in
fact it isn't!

Alan

A long time ago, when I was working a retail camera store (remember
those?), a long-time customer walked in wanting to purchase a (then) new
digital camera (D-30?). When he told me the same thing that you are
complaining about, I reminded him that his old SLR had not come with any
film. The look on his face was precious. AFAIK, to this day, NO digital
camera of any value has included a memory card.

Well, not quite true, Canon throw in a very modestly sized card with at
least their lower lines. I suspect this is so you can start to shoot right
away (sort of like those cameras that include a useless built in small
memory).

"Martin Brown" wrote in message
...
On 12/08/2012 21:42, Alan Holmes wrote:
So I have been in some of the supermarkets, and found something which
suits,

How do you know it suits? Buying on price alone isn't at all sensible!
If you said which one you were considering it would help.

but when I asked about more information I was told I have to buy a memory
card, so why the hell don't they include that in the camera in the
beginning, sounds like a scam, to make the camera look cheap but in fact
it
isn't!

Alan

1GB will store about 80+ high quality 12Mpixel JPEGs or 30 raw images
depending on compressibility and costs much less than a roll of film. If
you shop around you can just about get 8GB sD for under £3 now.

Memory cards these days are well under 50p per GB and laarge fast ones for
video are all under £1/GB. See for example Amazon.co.uk:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_...+cards&x=0&y=0

Thanks, will look at that!


You would do well to buy your camera there too. Better prices much more
detailed specifications and customer reviews online to help you avoid the
cheap nasty lemons that the supermarkets sell to clueless punters.
Supermarkets and even computer selling sheds are not the best place to buy
memory cards unless you need it to use *instantly*.

Be careful buying large memory cards as there is a good chance your cheap
and nasty supermarket camera will not be able to use them. Very rarely the
supermarkets do have real end of line bargains but you have to know what
you are doing to find them.

Even in the early days when memory was expensive digital cameras did not
come with free memory thrown in although you could usually get them to
give you something extra on a £1000 deal. The earliest digital cameras
like my old Kodak DC-120 had a small amount of built in flash memory so
that it could do in shop demos without risking theft of a then expensive
"small" CF memory card (remember those)!

Regards,
Martin Brown

On Tue, 14 Aug 2012, Dave Cohen wrote:

On Sun, 12 Aug 2012 16:26:37 -0500, George Kerby wrote:

On 8/12/12 3:42 PM, in article , "Alan
Holmes" wrote:


So I have been in some of the supermarkets, and found something which
suits, but when I asked about more information I was told I have to buy
a memory card, so why the hell don't they include that in the camera in
the beginning, sounds like a scam, to make the camera look cheap but in
fact it isn't!

Alan

A long time ago, when I was working a retail camera store (remember
those?), a long-time customer walked in wanting to purchase a (then) new
digital camera (D-30?). When he told me the same thing that you are
complaining about, I reminded him that his old SLR had not come with any
film. The look on his face was precious. AFAIK, to this day, NO digital
camera of any value has included a memory card.

Well, not quite true, Canon throw in a very modestly sized card with at
least their lower lines. I suspect this is so you can start to shoot right
away (sort of like those cameras that include a useless built in small
memory).

Yes, my Cannon from about four years back included a 128meg or 256meg SD
card. I thought it was quite thoughtful.

Yes, no film camera came with film. Wait, I'm sure there were kits that
included a box of film, along with a case and maybe a cloth to clean the
lense. But at lest film has the point that it has an expiry date.

I remember when I got my first floppy disk drive, spending about $500
Canadian for the drive in a case with power supply, and a controller. And
then I realize I can't use the thing, I have to go out and get a floppy
disk first. That was 1984, I still have the bill for the first box of ten
that I bought, just under fifty dollars. Yes, you could buy single floppy
disks back then, I think I did, but the company could have bought in bulk
and tossed in a floppy to get you going.

The flip side is that a lot of electronic stuff does now come with
batteries. Not just flashlights, but I cant' think of anything that's
come in here new in recent years with a remote that didn't ahve batteries
for the remote. It means one can get going without fussing, and surely
doesn't add much to the cost.

Cannon probably got the cards cheap, buying up as they became less
valuable, everyone wanting bigger SD cards.

Michael

On Sun, 12 Aug 2012, RichA wrote:

On Aug 12, 4:42*pm, "Alan Holmes" wrote:
So I have been in some of the supermarkets, and found something which suits,
but when I asked about more information I was told I have to buy a memory
card, so why the hell don't they include that in the camera in the
beginning, sounds like a scam, to make the camera look cheap but in fact it
isn't!

Alan

Spend more on a camera than a 24 of beer, you cheap clown.

Why?

There was a whole wave when people lived off disposable cameras.

Most people lived with generic viewfinder cameras, sometimes even 110
film, but sometimes 35mm. Those were often bought at drugstores or
supermarkets, they were generic cameras for people who didnt' want to fuss
over the equipment, they wanted to take some snapshots fast. Probably
Polaroid cameras fit in there, for most people.

Digital cameras, except for the 9.99 ones, are bound to be better than
those cheap film cameras. At the very lesat, they provide more control
over the shooting process. They are oddly enough infinitely more
complicated than those cheap 35mm viewfinder cameras.

One flyer recently had Kodak (I think it was) 12 or 14mp cameras for fifty
dollars. That's the sort of thing being sold at grocery stores, except
those horrible 9.99 ones with no memory slots.

Michael

On Sun, 12 Aug 2012, George Kerby wrote:



On 8/12/12 3:42 PM, in article , "Alan
Holmes" wrote:


So I have been in some of the supermarkets, and found something which suits,
but when I asked about more information I was told I have to buy a memory
card, so why the hell don't they include that in the camera in the
beginning, sounds like a scam, to make the camera look cheap but in fact it
isn't!

Alan

A long time ago, when I was working a retail camera store (remember those?),
a long-time customer walked in wanting to purchase a (then) new digital
camera (D-30?). When he told me the same thing that you are complaining
about, I reminded him that his old SLR had not come with any film. The look
on his face was precious. AFAIK, to this day, NO digital camera of any value
has included a memory card.


That's not true. Early digital cameras had no expansion, so their only
memory was built in.

That Apple camera from the early nineties that I bought at a garage sale 3
years ago for five dollars, that has no memory slot. So the tiny amount
of built in memory (offset by the low definition of the camera so each
picture takes relativley little space) is all there is. One then has to
hook it up to your computer with the serial port to transfer the pictures.
It even has an LCD display, but not for picture viewing, for info things
like the number of pictures left.

That Intel camera I found a few years ago that dates from the early 2000s
is a combination webcam and digital camera, again relatively low density.
But it has no memory slot.

On the other hand, some cameras barely made use of memory slots. That
DSLR someone gave me, it uses ancient memory cards, I guess "smartcards",
and even at 1.6MP, the card fills up pretty fast. The only point of the
external memory is that one could use a higher density card, offset by the
cost and the fact that other cards came along before density got really
big.

Michael

On Sun, 12 Aug 2012, Alan Holmes wrote:

So I have been in some of the supermarkets, and found something which suits,
but when I asked about more information I was told I have to buy a memory
card, so why the hell don't they include that in the camera in the
beginning, sounds like a scam, to make the camera look cheap but in fact it
isn't!

Just be glad that things have settled out, so you can easily get a memory
card and quite cheap.

I paid 2.00 for an older digital camera at a garage sale (yes I knew what
i was buying), but then realize when I get home that it uses an XD card.
Unless I find one of those used (or in the garbage) there's no way I'll
use that camera, I'm not spending the money on a card that's at least ten
times what I paid for the camera. The camera isn't anything special, not
worth investing in.

Yes, I later found a much better digital camera in a box of junk on the
sidewalk, no battery for that one and it's a special battery. Too much
cost when I have a couple of better digital cameras that are fine for me.
The XD card in that junker was something like 1gig, but the 2.00 camera
doesn't recognize it, I assume because it's too old to deal with that
large a card.

Wait for a sale in the flyer, and buy a memory card then.

Michael