Is it possible to get a good compact 4MP camera for £200

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jem.

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Hi im new here:):wave:

Ive got to £200 to spend on a point and shoot camera,But im having trouble finding a good one that meets my needs

What i need:

4Megapixel

Fast shutter/Lag Time

Be albe to take good low light pictures

I wouldn't want to spend £200 on a decent camera only to find the printed picture isn't to good at all.

So what will i be using the camera for:

I will be printing quite alot of pictures out because i will be taking pictures of my child,I will be taking pictures of my kid being still-ish mainly,But at odd times they would be moving around but not fast moving like opening birthday/xmas presents,The only time i would say she would be moving around faster than normal is sports day which is once a year,And of course day out trips which would be out in the sun,And at odd times i will be taking pictures in low light.

So is it possible to find a 4MP camera for what i need

Thanks:)(y)
 
I got a 5mp Ixus about 4 years ago for that much! That was a really good camera for a compact. I would suggest you can get considerably better now for a lot less. I bought my youngest a 6mp Samsung for £120 18 months ago and have seen the same camera for £75 since. Have a look at www.buyacamera.co.uk
 
jem. said:
So is it possible to find a 4MP camera for what i need Thanks:)(y)
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Yes you can get quite a bit more than 4MP for £200 now, you could have a look at something in the Panasonic TZ range ie Panasonic TZ5 9MP 10x optical zoom, image stabilizer plus some other nice features, you can pick one up for about £180, or the Panasonic FZ8 slightly bigger but can be had for about £160 7MP both take very nice photos though.
 
I aslo bought a Canon A720 IS, for my Dad, the results are excellent, highly recommended.
 
Just Dave said:
My wife Julie got her Canon PowerShot A720 IS for £128 and she love it, Some of the photos she took with it

Here it is at Jessops £140
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Thats some nice looking pictures but have they ever been printed out on 4x6?

Someone told me the if you have to many megapixels then you have problems because you end up with more and more of the sensor being devoted to boundaries between pixels and less and less of the sensor area is available to catch light falling onto it. The net result is that the ratio of electronic noise in the sensor and camera electronics, relative to the strength of signal captured from the light, increases, making the image noisier and noisier the more megapixels you force onto the sensor chip.

Thats why im after a 4MP camera
 
It very much depends on how big & advanced the sensor is, so don't just limit yourself to 4MP IMO! :D
 
Ok i see what you are saying:)

What size sensor would be ok? can the Canon A720 IS cope with it?

The printing is important because most of the pictures will be printed and put in the photo album:)
 
Most cameras will have variable file sizes though. My point-and-shoot has 7.2Mp, but most of the time I shoot at around 5MP or 3MP to save space. A lot of people who don't know much about cameras think that the number of megapixels is all that matters, and as a result manufacturers keep increasing the numbers in some kind of pixel race... I doubt there are ANY new cameras on the market with only 4MP anymore, regardless of the fact that it's more than most people will ever need anyway!
 
jem. said:
Ok i see what you are saying:)

What size sensor would be ok? can the Canon A720 IS cope with it?

The printing is important because most of the pictures will be printed and put in the photo album:)
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There's a review of the A720 here, and you can see sample images here. I'd image that most modern point-and-shoots will look fine printed, I've printed 7x5 s from my sony and they look good!
 
chris321 said:
A lot of people who don't know much about cameras think that the number of megapixels is all that matters
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Yes i was one of them untill i started reading up:)


chris321 said:
Most cameras will have variable file sizes though. My point-and-shoot has 7.2Mp, but most of the time I shoot at around 5MP or 3MP to save space. !
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Thats what i didn't know so im best to find a camera that will do that...:)

chris321 said:
I doubt there are ANY new cameras on the market with only 4MP anymore, regardless of the fact that it's more than most people will ever need anyway!
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I dont belive there is ive looked but i cant find any,There is a canon thats 5MP but the shutter time is quite slow:thumbsdown:
 
Canon IXUS 80? I have found that as long as you do not use the flash the shutter time is pretty good for a compact. The Panasonic TZ series as mentioned above have a decent shutter time, slightly quicker than the IXUS 80 for example, however it is a little bit bigger. After that, you are into bridge / hybrid camera territory.
 
I think there's quite a selection for you, almost every camera (I think) will have to option to lower the resolution. And a 5MP camera will probably be a few years old, so there'll be more shutter lag and so on. I think the thing you're best off doing is going to a currys or jessops, explain what you're after, and try a few of them out! Take a few photos with them, and you'll be able to see what the shutter lag is like. You'll probably be pleasantly surprised, gone are the days of pressing the shutter button and waiting a few seconds before the photo actually takes, modern cameras are generally much more on the ball!

Chris
 
Thanks Chris

I read the review sounds a good camera to have,Yes i think ill have to go into a shop and have a play around.

I think if i wanted to get a real good camera i would have to think about a DSLR,But i dont think thats going to happen because they are more money/To Big/

The other camera's i was looking at was the Olympus MJU 1030 SW/Sony DSC W80
 
Do you need the toughness of the 1030SW? If not, I would consider the mju1010 as its optics are better than the 1030's resulting in better image quality. Remember the Olympus compacts use XD cards which are nearly always more expensive than an SD card.
 
Ill have a look at that one:) because i dont need the toughness,last one what do you think of the Sony DSC W80

The shutter lag is better on the sony
 
jem. You wouldn't be known as jezzerr on another forum, would you?

If so, don't kneejerk in response to my remarks on that forum about too many megapixels being bad. It's true that too many are, but to go from 12 MP down to 4 MP is a bit extreme. 4MP will exclude the latest technology and the good things that modern cameras can offer. If you are jezzerr, the question you should be asking is....

"What compact camera can I buy for £200 that has excellent high ISO performance (low noise) and a fast focus and shutter response time, for photographing children indoors and out?"

The point of interest is the high ISO performance, not the absolute number of megapixels that the camera has. You want a camera that delivers "clean" images at 800 ISO, or as clean as can be hoped for from a compact.

The Sony DSC-W300 has received some pretty favourable reviews and you can find some review summaries and links in the web pages here....

- http://www.digitalcameratracker.com/sony-cyber-shot-dsc-w300/
- http://www.cameratown.com/reviews/review_listing.cfm/hurl/id|4382

If you're not jezzerr then sorry for butting in.
 
I got a Sony Cybershot DSC W300 for £189 from Amazon. Ok, so it has 13.6mp BUT you can reduce size as people have already said and like others I shoot at 5mp. For me it was about how it looked and the features it had rather than the mp.

It takes lovely pictures and as a complete newb myself I have to say - I just love it :)
 
jem. said:
Ill have a look at that one:) because i dont need the toughness,last one what do you think of the Sony DSC W80

The shutter lag is better on the sony
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Oh and before having the Sony DSC W300 I had a Sony DSC W55 which although was pretty featureless compared to the W300 it was a pretty good camera taking fantastic photos each time I pressed the shutter :)
 
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