need a new camera

[asteroid]

I am looking for a new camera, just looking for some opinions

I have a Samsung Digimax 101 which is only a 1.3Mp unit. (bought from Jessops in 2003) its utter poo.

To be honest to quality is fine apart from doing close ups of small things. The thing I hate about it, is the user interface is horribly clunky. It takes ages to switch between record and playback, there are long waits between when pics have been recording. The editing software is truly appaling, its slow, it doesnt thumbnail the pictures properly, you often get pics not displayed right (a thumbnail of the next one down, is shown duh).

I have found this is becoming typical in a lot of gadgets these days, the software that holds it all together appears rushed and full of holes, and needs a few firmware updates before it will work. This samsung unit has no firmware or drivers updates or any better connection software available, really is appaling for such a well known brand.


My requirements are:-
- USB2 for connection speed
- 4MP is fine
- not to bulky
- no little *** tunes upon start up, dont like these gimmicks
- decent brand name: pref a proper camera maker like Olympus, Kodak, etc
- decent user interface that feels like someone really thought out and tested
- rotating switch (which I think they all have) to quickly go between play and record quickly
- Runs on AA NiMH batteries
- would be nice to use my existing SD cards

im not a professional its just for holidays, so dont know anything about SLR or lenses sorry!!


any thoughts or recommendations?

[G-Man]

This camera is a nice starter http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/specpage.html?kod-c330&P=1
It does what you need it to do with no frills. It doesn't excell in one area but it's overall performance is decent and it has no big pitfalls.


This camera is a little more advanced.
http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/specpage.html?KOD-Z730
It's not for the professional snapper but it does take some good pictures. Personally I have found that Kodak make some good robust cameras with very few pitfalls. They aren't the finest takers of pictures (as some reviwers suggest on line tests) but it is remarked that they are easy to use and you don't need a Degree to do "special" pictures.

I personally like the layout also.

[Chewie]

Hmm for a higher spec camera, for the look and feel of the pro, without the cost, I'd probably pick this http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/spec ... -s5600&P=1 (http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/specpage.html?fuj-s5600&P=1)

Its just a more advanced (say 3 years or so) on my Fuji Finepix zoom2800, which while only 2mb cost me £280 when i got it.

And the price is good, if slightly more than those picked by G-man.

No annoying start up gimmik noises for sure. The only real downside, is if if its any thing like mine, it won't like cheap batteries. Yea it takes 4, but a good set of 1800mAh+ batteries will give you plenty of usage.

And as you may have found out with your current camera, they definately don't like cheap batteries.

[freaky]

my wife has got the cheaper kodak shown above, not bad, easy to use, but it is no good for distance shots.

ive got the fuji s5500, the one model down from the s5600, it will do every thing you want, great zoom for distance, works well with macro shots, being a xd card is very quick on saving photos, and will shot in RAW giving a very nice photo. you can also buy add on lenses ive got a cheap set for macro work that i have used to photograph green fly, aphids and ants with.

for me it would be the fuji all the way.

forget the 1800mah batteries, wilkinson sell the uniross 2500mah with charger for £18, and a spare set of batteries are around £9, i have used a set to take 400 photos over a week before they died, but depending on flash useage etc that will vary.

[asteroid]

thanks Gman, I actually bought the Kodak you mentioned, but I got it elsewhere for £53 inc vat,

really pleased with it, apart from batteries get eaten frightening quickly, not sure if its a fault, or if the NiMH batteries (bought about 4 years ago) I used with my samsung which have been fine are iffy.