Buying advice

[MattieC86]

Good evening all,
I appreciate I'm new to the forum and haven't posted a lot. I'm going to try and contribute on a more frequent basis when my work and my wife's visa have both settled down somewhat.
I work as an activity coordinator at a low secure mental health hospital in Somerset. I work across 2 wards, one male acute, the other female acute. The diagnoses we usually have on the ward range across schizophrenia, paranoia, schizoaffective disorder, personality disorder, learning disability, drug induced psychosis and drug or alcohol addiction. Our service users are usually not very unwell when they come to us but can deteriorate to needing a higher level of care. We also have an adult male learning disability ward and are re-tooling a ward to acquired brain injury including dementia. The photography club will be offered across all wards.

I've been given permission to start a photography for the service users and with that in mind, been given permission to buy up to 3 cameras with a maximum budget of £150 each. I don't know much about cameras so need some help in looking. I know this could be difficult but ideally I'm looking for the following:
3 cameras of the same make & model so we can't get the batteries mixed up (alternatively cameras which use AA batteries)
Not have one with detachable lenses. The medication our service users take often gives them tremors making switching lenses difficult.
Have good image stabalisation
Simple to use
Rugged as they might not be treated with great care
Have an easy-to-remove carry strap (this is very important as ligature risks are high)
All use the same type of memory card (SD would be best)
Come with a carry case or be one where a carry case is easily available

If anyone is able to give me some advice one what to purchase as well as where from I would be very grateful.

Thanks all for your time and have a lolvely evening

Matt

 

[Garry Edwards]

Basically, as above.
My immediate question is this - why do you need 3 cameras? That budget is really just about adequate for one. You could, perhaps, spend all of the budget on one camera, and once the benefits have been proved perhaps you could get a similar budget for the other two wards?

Camera straps - I fully understand the ligature risk, presumably you will simply remove the strap, which is always very easy to do.

Image stabilisation requires a high budget. However, this limitation can be largely overcome simply by using a high sensitivity setting (high Iso setting). This will impact on image quality but does this really matter for your needs?

You say that the camera needs to be rugged, but unfortunately most cameras just aren't. The best way forward IMO (which not everyone on here will agree with) is to buy an old professional camera, these tend to be far more capable of withstanding abuse than more modern plastic consumer models and they also have the major benefit of simplicity, with separate dials for separate functions rather than having to change settings via fiddly menu systems, I'm thinking here of something like the Nikon D3 - a £5000 camera for around £400 with a suitable lens.

Pro level cameras can be as simple or as complex to use as you wish, to suit the health and capability of different people.

All professional cameras have interchangeable lenses but I don't see this as a problem as the lenses don't need to be removed and, if removal presents any kind of risk, then a touch of glue will prevent the lens from being removed.

Camera cases are now a thing of the past, but there are plenty of generic cases available at low cost.

Does this help at all?

 

[Adhd.Artwork]

Good evening all,
I appreciate I'm new to the forum and haven't posted a lot. I'm going to try and contribute on a more frequent basis when my work and my wife's visa have both settled down somewhat.
I work as an activity coordinator at a low secure mental health hospital in Somerset. I work across 2 wards, one male acute, the other female acute. The diagnoses we usually have on the ward range across schizophrenia, paranoia, schizoaffective disorder, personality disorder, learning disability, drug induced psychosis and drug or alcohol addiction. Our service users are usually not very unwell when they come to us but can deteriorate to needing a higher level of care. We also have an adult male learning disability ward and are re-tooling a ward to acquired brain injury including dementia. The photography club will be offered across all wards.

I've been given permission to start a photography for the service users and with that in mind, been given permission to buy up to 3 cameras with a maximum budget of £150 each. I don't know much about cameras so need some help in looking. I know this could be difficult but ideally I'm looking for the following:
3 cameras of the same make & model so we can't get the batteries mixed up (alternatively cameras which use AA batteries)
Not have one with detachable lenses. The medication our service users take often gives them tremors making switching lenses difficult.
Have good image stabalisation
Simple to use
Rugged as they might not be treated with great care
Have an easy-to-remove carry strap (this is very important as ligature risks are high)
All use the same type of memory card (SD would be best)
Come with a carry case or be one where a carry case is easily available

If anyone is able to give me some advice one what to purchase as well as where from I would be very grateful.

Thanks all for your time and have a lolvely evening

Matt

Sony cybershot would be a good shout.

They are cheap easy to find cameras that take aa batteries.

No lens changes

20mp

They are might not be everyone’s cup of tea but you can pick them up on eBay for around £50 each check places like Vinted and charity shops for cheap carry cases.

Just my suggestion as it seems to fit most of what your looking for

 

[RyanB]

Something from the Olympus Tough range might fit the bill, they are water and shock resistant. A bit dated now but should still be capable of taking good images.
Depending on the model they even have image stabilization in the more recent(ish) ones.
You could probably source 3 with cases, SD and a new battery for <£150 each if you search ebay for deals.
Like one of these
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