Repair 35mm or buy cheap new digital camera?

Have a look at 7dayshop.com and look at the Nikon 3100. It's a very nice
camera. I have one as my pocket digital camera. Images get a bit noisy in
low light levels but I find the noise acceptible. I believe that's going for
£110. I paid £235 for mine, last June and had a bargain. Look for one in the
£100 - £150 range and you'll get it. It's 3 megapixels which gives a super
photo with up to A4 sized prints.

IMHO the only problem with digital is slides no longer exist unless one uses
a digital projector.

--
Yours

Zebedee

(Claiming asylum in an attempt
to escape paying his debts to
Dougal and Florence)

"Matthew" wrote in message
om...

I went to my
local camera shop (Jessops), and he insisted that the only thing that
mattered was the number of pixels. When I told him I wanted to produe
6x4 prints, he said that in that case 2mexapixels would be fine, and
that all of the cameras were the same, had the same quality lenses,
and there was no real reason to buy one rather than another....

Anyway, I am sure this is not true, but I have struggled to find a
simple 'best-buy for £150' (or less - do I need to spend this much?
more?). Any suggestions? And whether the quality of lenses varies much
between manufactuerers?

It's not literally true, but it's probably true enough for the purposes of
4x6 prints. Here's one that would probably do the trick for $49 (after
rebate):

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...&CMP=AFC-AFFIL

Though I don't suppose they ship to the UK. Still, there ought to be other
comparable deals to be had over there if you keep your eye out. As for
photo quality -- I'd suggest checking the various camera review sites
(dpreview.com, dcresource.com, etc) for reviews and samples of any camera
you might be interested in.

If you are willing to spend £150, though, you ought to be able to find a 3
or 4MP camera with a 3 or 4x zoom. I see the Minolta 414 for around $200
from time to time.

Mark

Zebedee wrote:
[]
IMHO the only problem with digital is slides no longer exist unless
one uses a digital projector.

Use your PC, perhaps with a video-out connection to your TV.

Cheers,
David

Zebedee wrote:
[]
IMHO the only problem with digital is slides no longer exist unless
one uses a digital projector.

Use your PC, perhaps with a video-out connection to your TV.

Cheers,
David

[]
IMHO the only problem with digital is slides no longer exist unless
one uses a digital projector.


In the digital world, everything is a "slide" when viewed on a
monitor.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Some people claim that there's a woman to blame, but I think it's all...

Richard's fault!

Visit the Sounds of the cul-de-sac at www.richardsfault.com

[]
IMHO the only problem with digital is slides no longer exist unless
one uses a digital projector.


In the digital world, everything is a "slide" when viewed on a
monitor.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Some people claim that there's a woman to blame, but I think it's all...

Richard's fault!

Visit the Sounds of the cul-de-sac at www.richardsfault.com

"Zebedee" wrote in message
...
Have a look at 7dayshop.com and look at the Nikon 3100. It's a very nice
camera. I have one as my pocket digital camera. Images get a bit noisy in
low light levels but I find the noise acceptible. I believe that's going
for
£110. I paid £235 for mine, last June and had a bargain. Look for one in
the
£100 - £150 range and you'll get it. It's 3 megapixels which gives a super
photo with up to A4 sized prints.

IMHO the only problem with digital is slides no longer exist unless one
uses
a digital projector.

I hope you don't consider a projection at a maximum of 1280x1024 pixels to
be the equivalent of a 35mm slide. Or even an APS slide.

--
Martin Francis http://www.sixbysix.co.uk
"Go not to Usenet for counsel, for it will say both no, and yes, and
no, and yes...."

I hope you don't consider a projection at a maximum of 1280x1024 pixels to
be the equivalent of a 35mm slide. Or even an APS slide.

Slide projection is so passe.

I used to enjoy it in the 1980s, and I would probably still enjoy it, but it's
just a hassle with the projector and the screen.

I had a 35mm SLR which I repaired ($150), and bought a 3 Megapixel digital,
and took them both to Nepal with me.

The SLR was heavy, and used about $100 worth of film and $200 worth of
processing (including digitising onto CD).

I then looked at the photos and selected the best 50 for an album, and the
best 10 for enlargement (10" x 8").

Of the 50, all but a few were digital; all of the best 10 were digital.

Digitals are lighter, cheaper, easier and better than film cameras in almost
every respect. I regret spending the money on fixing the SLR, I particularly
regret humping it half way around the world.

Get the most pixels you can - 2Mexapixels is OK up to 5" x 7", but 4 or 5
Megapixels will give you bigger enlargements. Optical zoom is worth having -
digital zoom is not.

Cheers


Peter Webb




"Matthew" wrote in message
om...
I have a 35mm Olympus mju zoom 105, bought three years ago in Bangkok.
Now it has stopped working (the lens is no longer moving in and out,
and is stuck about 1cm out). Here in the UK it will cost £50 or more
to repair it.

So should I fix it in Bangkok (in chinatown, somewhere else? anyone
know how much it will cost?), or buy a new one?

If the answer is to buy a new one, how much do I need to spend to get
something that will have the same quality or better? I went to my
local camera shop (Jessops), and he insisted that the only thing that
mattered was the number of pixels. When I told him I wanted to produe
6x4 prints, he said that in that case 2mexapixels would be fine, and
that all of the cameras were the same, had the same quality lenses,
and there was no real reason to buy one rather than another....

Anyway, I am sure this is not true, but I have struggled to find a
simple 'best-buy for £150' (or less - do I need to spend this much?
more?). Any suggestions? And whether the quality of lenses varies much
between manufactuerers?

If you're about to travel, but a digital duty free. You'll probably get
better deals and new models in Asia. Go for the features you'll use, rather
than paying for things you'll never need. While travelling back from
Bangkok to Sydney earlier this month I was looking for a small flat digital
camera and was prepared to have lower pixel size as a sacrifice for small
camera. In Singapore I got the small camera I wanted with 5MP and a much
better price than in Sydney. It's a Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-T1 and very user
friendly.

"Matthew" wrote in message
om...
I have a 35mm Olympus mju zoom 105, bought three years ago in Bangkok.
Now it has stopped working (the lens is no longer moving in and out,
and is stuck about 1cm out). Here in the UK it will cost £50 or more
to repair it.

So should I fix it in Bangkok (in chinatown, somewhere else? anyone
know how much it will cost?), or buy a new one?

If the answer is to buy a new one, how much do I need to spend to get
something that will have the same quality or better? I went to my
local camera shop (Jessops), and he insisted that the only thing that
mattered was the number of pixels. When I told him I wanted to produe
6x4 prints, he said that in that case 2mexapixels would be fine, and
that all of the cameras were the same, had the same quality lenses,
and there was no real reason to buy one rather than another....

Anyway, I am sure this is not true, but I have struggled to find a
simple 'best-buy for £150' (or less - do I need to spend this much?
more?). Any suggestions? And whether the quality of lenses varies much
between manufactuerers?