Digital camera advice

[chris_askham]

I'm looking for a new camera for the wife's birthday, and wondered if anyone knew much about this from Argos. It's only needed for the odd holiday snaps and general use, and the price for this seems spot on, especially as she's after an ultra-slim model.

Any advice?

Link: http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/5607415/Trail/C%24cip%3D1500006538.Photography%3EC%24cip%3D1500006547.Digital%2Bcameras%3EFC%24Brands%3DSamsung.Samsung.htm" target="_blank">Samsung L600

[Banners]

Dunno about that, but for £92, PCPro gave the Canon PowerShot A460 a Recommended award in its August issue. Or, for slightly more, they rated the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W35 even higher.

M@

[Peter Wolf]

 I dont know what your budget or ceiling is pricewise but i wouldnt consider anything less than the Panasonic lumixes that have Leica lenses.

 Failing that the Sony cameras are a lot cheaper and are very good.Zeiss lenses no less.Sony is the best bet as the panasonic leicas are about 250 quid .

[thinky]

before you splash your cash you should probably factor in buying a 1GB or 2GB memory card, as the 20MB it comes with won't hold a massive amount of pics

thinky

[Matt Timson]

Something with a high optical zoom is better than digital zoom.  Try looking at 10 x optical zoom.  Digital zoom tends to be a bit shit.

[chris_askham]

All helpful tips, thanks, although of course the main factor to bare in mind is how easily it fits into a handbag - hence the 'ultra-slim' Samsung.

Plus, i don't really want to go over the £100 mark on this.

[Matt Timson]

Tell you what I'm not seeing there, Chris- a battery charger.  Does that mean it runs on regular batteries that you have to replace, or do you have to buy a charger separately?  Worth checking out.

[Peter Wolf]

  If you shop at Argos be a bit careful as they have a dodgy policy on returning of faulty goods.


  They apparently say that they cant take an item back if its faulty and has been removed from the packaging.

  This doesnt make sense as you wouldnt know if it was faulty if you hadnt removed the item from the packaging.This policy is actually illegal but i thinks it is an american style of doing things.I know someone who had this problem with a printer bought there.

 Just check before you buy anything.

[IndigoPrime]

If you can go a bit higher cost-wise, look at the Fujifilm cameras (such as the FinePix Z5s). They're still very slim (well, some of them are), but in that part of the market, the image quality is better than anything else. You should be able to pick them up for £130 or less if you shop around.

Link: http://www.trustedreviews.com/digital-cameras/review/2007/04/03/Fujifilm-FinePix-Z5fd/p1" target="_blank">Review of the Z5

[gnilleps]

Speaking purely from my own experience of Argos, I bought a scanner from them that didn't work. The only problem was that I couldn't find the damn receipt. The woman behind the help desk helpfully asked if I'd paid by card and was able to deal with it like that. Opened box, but everything put back in it. Returned no problem.

I'd suggest these people for memory cards, never had a problem with them myself and they have a 2GB card cheaper than Argos' 1GB.

http://www.mobymemory.com/SD-memory.asp

No experience of that camera myself, but it looks like it's a proprietary battery as opposed to using AAs or AAAs.

It's probably good for what she wants, but I'd be inclined to get something that uses batteries you can buy from a newsagent.

[James]

I once took a knackered toasted sarnie maker back to Agros. Thing is, I bought it about 2 years earlier in a completely diffent shop in a completely different town.


They swapped it for a new one straight away.

[chris_askham]

I was assuming (maybe wrongly) that the Li-lon battery is a lithium battery, much the same as you find in ipods and the like, and you'd just charge it by usb? I've been down the route before of using AA batterys and they don't seem to last five minutes.

[gnilleps]

I use rechargable AAs and some have longer charges than others, the ones that last do me proud.

But then I don't have anything (like a laptop) to take with me to charge up from. Assuming you do, it will hopefully be fine. Couldn't see any proper reviews of it online though sono idea if it will just charge of a laptop or if you need to take a charger.

[chris_askham]

Well, I've decided not to be so tight, and i've gone with the Fujifilm Z5. Not only is it slim, but they also do it in pink. That's pretty much all boxes ticked.

[vzzbux]

Check pixmania out they are always having deals on cameras etc.....