Digital camera on a budget

[mike(liverpool boys)]

Im looking for a camera to take to LM this year that will take a decent shot of a moving race car and just general other snaps.

Im a total amature with cameras and dont know a thing about what to look for.

Im looking at a budget of around £200 max.

Any ideas???

Mike

[nickliv]

Mike

You'll get a decent compact for that, or a bargain DSLR if you're lucky.

One thing to check though if you're tempted by a compact, is the time taken between you telling the camera that you'd like it to take a photo, and it taking it. Our sony compact takes .5 to 1 second, even if you've got it ready by pressing the button 1/2 way down. This doesn't seem long, but in reality is an age if you're trying to snap a car at 150 mph, or an energetic child.

Try them out in a shop, don't leave this to chance.

[nickliv]

Mike

You'll get a decent compact for that, or a bargain DSLR if you're lucky.

One thing to check though if you're tempted by a compact, is the time taken between you telling the camera that you'd like it to take a photo, and it taking it. Our sony compact takes .5 to 1 second, even if you've got it ready by pressing the button 1/2 way down. This doesn't seem long, but in reality is an age if you're trying to snap a car at 150 mph, or an energetic child.

Try them out in a shop, don't leave this to chance.

easy cheat around that and that is to half depress the shutter first and then take the shot.

::) ::)

[Brian(Liverpool boys)]

Mike, have a look on amazon uk, one link here
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fuji-FinePix-S9500-Digital-Optical/dp/B000ARP06W/ref=sr_1_46?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1208198088&sr=1-46
Brian

[Ade]

Mike,

I've got one of these : http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fuji-FinePix-S6500-Digital-Camera/dp/B000IHYS2Q/ref=pd_sbs_ce?ie=UTF8&qid=1208198088&sr=1-46

My photos taken with it here : http://www.flickr.com/photos/13953963@N04/

Newer version is here : http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fujifilm-FinePix-S8000fd-Digital-Camera/dp/tech-data/B000UUHL2K/ref=de_a_smtd?ie=UTF8&qid=1208204689&sr=1-7

Ade

[mike(liverpool boys)]

Cheers guys,that gives me a good idea of what im looking for.

Ade,whats the delay like on your camera for catching a moving car???

You have a PM as well.

Mike

[Brian(Liverpool boys)]

What did you do before you found CA, thats advice on speaker rattles and now digital cameras ;)

[mike(liverpool boys)]

What did you do before you found CA, thats advice on speaker rattles and now digital cameras ;)

I used to buy crap that was no good and get angry and hit things that rattled  ;D ::) ;D

[Ade]

Ade,whats the delay like on your camera for catching a moving car???

Mike

I've only used it twice for motorsports so I don't really know.

All I did to take those photos was to:
i)   set the camera to shutter priority
ii)  focus on the part of the track I wanted to take the photo
iii) 1/2 press the shutter button to lock the focus & aperture
iv) hold the shutter button down, look up the track for a car, pan with car
v)  when car was where I had pre-focused fully press shutter button.
vi) pray  ;D

Ade

[Ade]

Try these sites for camera reviews

http://www.dpreview.com/

http://www.steves-digicams.com/

And as nickliv said "Try them out at the shop".

Ade

[nickliv]

What did you do before you found CA, thats advice on speaker rattles and now digital cameras ;)

I used to buy crap that was no good and get angry and hit things that rattled  ;D ::) ;D

Ah, the time honoured tactic of percussive maintenance.

[mike(liverpool boys)]

What did you do before you found CA, thats advice on speaker rattles and now digital cameras ;)

I used to buy crap that was no good and get angry and hit things that rattled ;D ::) ;D

Ah, the time honoured tactic of percussive maintenance.

More like destructive maintainance,that subwoofer that used to rattle in my boot now lives in my shed in several bits. It recieved a swift smack with a hammer one day while trying to stop the rattle ;D

[nickliv]

Could be worse, you could have tried to fix the rattle by introducing a can full of expanding foam.

Why haven't you put it back together with gaffa tape?

Hammer, tin of expanding foam, and gaffa tape - the staples of any tooklit

[Kev_mk3]

Could be worse, you could have tried to fix the rattle by introducing a can full of expanding foam.

Why haven't you put it back together with gaffa tape?

Hammer, tin of expanding foam, and gaffa tape - the staples of any tooklit

B F I = Brut Force and Ignorance ;)