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 

[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 

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 

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

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

[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