Best Digital Camera for under R4500

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Dovi

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Getting a new digital cam at the end of the month, and been eyeing the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-N1. Saw it the other day and loved it. 8MP, 3" touch screen. Getting it for about R4200.

So just before I go get it, is there any other brand or specific module I should be looking at in this price range that may be better?
 
IMHO (very humble) NIKONs are the best. But thats purely from experience. Never had a Sony.
 
Stay away from Sony, Beware of Compacts

I agree that Nikon are probably the best, but pricey. I am very happy with my Canon 350D , but it's a R10000 digital SLR.

I have some experience in digital photography, but I will gear my advice to the average user.

1. Don't get drawn into the marketing specs of camera's. Some manufactures have made us believe that megapixels are the most important stat. It's NOT! Sony is good at selling camera's not making them.

2. The most important thing in a camera by far is the lens. Far more important than the megapixels. The larger lenses are always better (lets more light in ). Compact camera's have got tiny lenses. They don't catch enough light. You won't get good photo's indoors and you will get distorted color and "fuzzy" edges.

3. The difference between 6 and 8 megapixel is not perceptable to the average user. Going for a Good 6 megapixel is far superior to an average 8 megapixel. Place more emphesis on the lens size and quality when choosing.

4. Always get a camera with a normal viewfinder in addition to the LCD. you cant see what is on the LCD if you are in direct sunlight. Also, don't get drawn in by huge LCD's they draw power, lots of power.

5. You can never have enough zoom. Ignore any digital zoom figures. Only look at Optical. the typical 4x-6x is never enough, even for the average user. Look for something with 8x minimum.

I would seriously look at the Canon S3 IS. It's a 6 megapixel semi-pro camera with a powerful 12x optical zoom and optical image stabilizer. That will give you a clear picture if your hands are not as stable as a surgeon's . SaCamera.co.za has it for R4599. It would be my pick as the best camera in the price range.
http://www.sacamera.co.za/proddetail.php?prod=CANCAM020

If you are looking for something more compact (keep in mind the moment you go compact you loose a large amount in photo quality). I would look at the Nikon Coolpix S4. It's swivel design better utilizes the interior space of the camera to accomidate better lenses. It's about R3500. Also, it requires no additional software to get the photo's off. Less software on a PC is always a plus. Especially if it is the rubbish software sony and canon design/buy. My first Digital Camera was a similar swivel design Coolpix 4500. it is 4 years old now and still feels as solid as the first day. Nikon's are exceptionally well built
http://www.sacamera.co.za/proddetail.php?prod=NIKCAM012

My friend recently bought a Panasonic DMC-TZ1. It has 6 megapixels and 10x optical zoom with image stabilizer. I have not work with the camera myself, but I can see from the photo's that he has sent me that it is a great camera. It sells for about R3600 with a 256mb memory card.

I had a look at the sony a while back. STAY AWAY.
1. The 3x zoom is class-lagging, the lens is Tiny
2. In 2 years time, you will have a broken and scratched touchscreen because of the missing stylus. Stick with buttons, they work.
3. At least it has good electronics, but so does Canon and Nikon.
4. O and the memory for it is twice as expensive as the competition's.
5. It does not take standard AA batteries. One day when you are on vacation, you are going to get a flat battery with nowhere to recharge it. You are going to curse yourself for not being able to buy normal alkiline AA's.

anyway, my "Chinese math is better than Telkom math"'s worth
 
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I agree with Sapphiron on the Canon S3 IS. Not sure if the S2 IS is going for a better price right now, but from what I have seen on certain sites where they compare the 2, they are virtually the same. Might be able to pick one up for a steel.
 
Sapphiron said:
I agree that Nikon are probably the best, but pricey. I am very happy with my Canon 350D , but it's a R10000 digital SLR.

I have some experience in digital photography, but I will gear my advice to the average user.

1. Don't get drawn into the marketing specs of camera's. Some manufactures have made us believe that megapixels are the most important stat. It's NOT! Sony is good at selling camera's not making them.

2. The most important thing in a camera by far is the lens. Far more important than the megapixels. The larger lenses are always better (lets more light in ). Compact camera's have got tiny lenses. They don't catch enough light. You won't get good photo's indoors and you will get distorted color and "fuzzy" edges.

3. The difference between 6 and 8 megapixel is not perceptable to the average user. Going for a Good 6 megapixel is far superior to an average 8 megapixel. Place more emphesis on the lens size and quality when choosing.

4. Always get a camera with a normal viewfinder in addition to the LCD. you cant see what is on the LCD if you are in direct sunlight. Also, don't get drawn in by huge LCD's they draw power, lots of power.

5. You can never have enough zoom. Ignore any digital zoom figures. Only look at Optical. the typical 4x-6x is never enough, even for the average user. Look for something with 8x minimum.

I would seriously look at the Canon S3 IS. It's a 6 megapixel semi-pro camera with a powerful 12x optical zoom and optical image stabilizer. That will give you a clear picture if your hands are not as stable as a surgeon's . SaCamera.co.za has it for R4599. It would be my pick as the best camera in the price range.
http://www.sacamera.co.za/proddetail.php?prod=CANCAM020

If you are looking for something more compact (keep in mind the moment you go compact you loose a large amount in photo quality). I would look at the Nikon Coolpix S4. It's swivel design better utilizes the interior space of the camera to accomidate better lenses. It's about R3500. Also, it requires no additional software to get the photo's off. Less software on a PC is always a plus. Especially if it is the rubbish software sony and canon design/buy. My first Digital Camera was a similar swivel design Coolpix 4500. it is 4 years old now and still feels as solid as the first day. Nikon's are exceptionally well built
http://www.sacamera.co.za/proddetail.php?prod=NIKCAM012

My friend recently bought a Panasonic DMC-TZ1. It has 6 megapixels and 10x optical zoom with image stabilizer. I have not work with the camera myself, but I can see from the photo's that he has sent me that it is a great camera. It sells for about R3600 with a 256mb memory card.

I had a look at the sony a while back. STAY AWAY.
1. The 3x zoom is class-lagging, the lens is Tiny
2. In 2 years time, you will have a broken and scratched touchscreen because of the missing stylus. Stick with buttons, they work.
3. At least it has good electronics, but so does Canon and Nikon.
4. O and the memory for it is twice as expensive as the competition's.
5. It does not take standard AA batteries. One day when you are on vacation, you are going to get a flat battery with nowhere to recharge it. You are going to curse yourself for not being able to buy normal alkiline AA's.

anyway, my "Chinese math is better than Telkom math"'s worth
Click to expand...

Okay, you have some very good points. BUT you also have some not so good advice:

"Also, it requires no additional software to get the photo's off" What? All digital cameras work as virtual USB flash drives. You don't need to use the supplied software for Sony, Canon or Nikon.

" It does not take standard AA batteries." Not always a plus. AA batteries lag in terms of size and power. NiMH batteries do not have a stable discharge curve, so it is difficult to judge remaining power. Li-ion batteries discharge linearly, so that you can judge how much power you have left. The Sony Li-Ion system even lets you know how many shots you have left (according to your usage). - So it is horses for courses. Also, Alkaline batteries last about 3 shots on a modern digital camera because of the high current drain so it is not really a real alternative.

"I would look at the Nikon Coolpix S4. It's swivel design better utilizes the interior space of the camera to accomidate better lenses" - based on what? The S4 lenses are just as **** as those used on the Canons and Sonys.

"I would seriously look at the Canon S3 IS. It's a 6 megapixel semi-pro camera with a powerful 12x optical zoom and optical image stabilizer. " No it's not - it's a consumer camera. The Canon 30D is a "semi-pro" camera.

"5. You can never have enough zoom. Ignore any digital zoom figures. Only look at Optical. the typical 4x-6x is never enough, even for the average user. Look for something with 8x minimum."
er..no. you can never have a wide enough angle. High magnification is easy to manufacture on a digital camera (because the sensor is so small), big numbers of magnification are as much marketing hype as megapixels. A good camera has a reasonable resolution (6+ megapixels), and a good wide angle coverage with a zoom factor of 3 or 4 is generally enough unless you're taking pictures of wildlife (and then you shouldn't be spending R4500).
 
My suggestions

Undoubtedly the best site for digital camera information is www.dpreview.com.

What will you be using the camera for?
I have used Sony, Nikon, Canon cameras and have been bitten by the Sony bug - they are the easiest to use, very stylish, loads of features, best colour reproduction (sometime can be too bright), and have very good image quality (only surpassed by Canon).

The N1 is a great camera, with the touch screen and 8MP. One of the advantages of the Sony batteries is that they last a long time and they are intelligent - the camera will tell you how many minutes of battery life are remaining. I almost bought one, but settled on a W7 (7.1MP) - reason being that it accomodated my older memory stick, and also took normal penlight batteries as well. I think this is a good camera that will cost around R2999.

Anyway, my Sony W7 was stolen, and I had to re-evaulate my situation. Having had at least 6 cameras (4 Sony), I can recommend one thing- GET A SMALL AND LIGHT CAMERA. I now have the Sony T9 - beautifully styled, very light, good battery life, great movie resolution. It also has the new imge stabiliser feature. Apparently replaced by the newer Sony DSC-T30.

I can highly recommend the Sony credit card size cameras - they only have two drawback:
1. Due to the lens being so close to the flash, you have a high percenage of red-eye photos indoors at night.
2. They don't have a very powerful optical zoom.

Good luck...
 
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FWIW

Fujifilm Finepix S5600 R2490 in the UK
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-N1 R2940 at Walmart

If you are prepared to wait, these things can be bought cheaper overseas, even with shipping, VAT and clearance fees or friends who are traveling back.
 
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