Camera Peeps

[plowsie]

The Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX2, is it a good camera?

I'm on a budget of around £250ish on one, the cheaper the better, obviously. I wanted a D60 but I'm not good enough to use one :lol: And it wouldn't get used too regularly. Seen this looks pretty good and has got some good reviews, what do people think to it?

Also, recommendations of other cameras are good too :) I use them pretty much when I go and do something good, like go away, go to events, out on the bike, so its used for pictures of various things if that matters. Landscape pics are something i like to take pics of. The LX2 has a widescreen feature which is what caught my eye.

Cheers for help guys :)

[gettin2dizzy]

try www.dpreview.com

[fizzwheel]

When you can buy a D40 like I've got at this sort of money, I wouldnt buy what you're looking at. It has an auto mode so you dont have to be a genius to get good pics with it.

I use my SLR all the time. In fact I use it more than I ever did my little compact.

http://www.buyacamera.co.uk/xsearch.asp?RecId=NIKCA723&pt=f

[plowsie]

try www.dpreview.com
Thats where I got the review for the LX2.

Fizz I didn't realise there was a 40 :) Thanks mate :)

EDIT: Problem with the 40 is that its 6.1 Mega Pixies, I'm already using 7.1 on my A550, If things are zoomed on it, it looks cr@p on mine, is the D40 going to be better?

[fizzwheel]

Theres a D40 and D40X the D40X is 10 mega pixels, where the D40 is 6 mega pixels, TBH unless you are printing out massive pictures i.e A4 sized then from what I've read 6 mega pixels is fine.

Jessops are doing the same sort of deal for ?249 with cash back from Nikon so if you wanted to buy from shop rather than online they might be worth looking at to.

[STRAMASHER]

Got a Panasonic Lumix Black TZ-3? for £185 offa Amazon in November.No bag or decent memory cards with it though.

Loving it so far. x10 optical zoom with great switchable stabilizers and wide angle lens (38mm) are my favourite features.

Only thing I would say is don't get caught up in the mega-pixel bull****.

:)

[fizzwheel]

Thats where I got the review for the LX2.

Fizz I didn't realise there was a 40 :) Thanks mate :)

EDIT: Problem with the 40 is that its 6.1 Mega Pixies, I'm already using 7.1 on my A550, If things are zoomed on it, it looks cr@p on mine, is the D40 going to be better?

Mega pixels is not the way to judge an SLR, you've seen the pics I took with my D40 make your own mind up.

Better off looking at the lens and the quality of the lens as thats what makes the quality of picture rather than the number of mega pixels.

[plowsie]

Mega pixels is not the way to judge an SLR, you've seen the pics I took with my D40 make your own mind up.

Better off looking at the lens and the quality of the lens as thats what makes the quality of picture rather than the number of mega pixels.
Yep thats what I thought from your Moto GP pics that are zoomed in :lol: Them pics look awesome. Thought it may be something to do with the SLR bit :) Cheers mate.

[DanAbnormal]

Wow. I've been wanting a digital SLR camera for ages but thought they were about ?800. That's next on the list then. Cheers Fizz. I hate point and shoot cameras as you get no depth of field (unless you go into Photoshop and add it).

[fizzwheel]

Those pics arent zoomed in, taken with a 300mm telephoto lens ;)

[plowsie]

And how much does one of them cost on a good day :lol:

[fizzwheel]

And how much does one of them cost on a good day :lol:

Depends, how much do you wanna spend ? :D

The one I used to take those was £350 I coudlnt really justify spending anymore money than that.

.

[plowsie]

Ahh expensive business this then :lol:

Whats the standard lens that comes with it on that site like for zoom, does it even zoom :lol:

[fizzwheel]

Ahh expensive business this then :lol:

Whats the standard lens that comes with it on that site like for zoom, does it even zoom :lol:

It comes with an 18-55mm lens, so you have a bit of zoom but not much, it wont be any good for sports photography unless you can get very very very close to the subject.

However it'll be good for closeup stuff, portraits and snaps that kind of thing. Its a reasonable starter lens till you find your feet with the camera IMHO.

Dont forget you can optically zoom or crop the images by maniulating them with the camera or photoshop so dont get to hung up about lens length when you start.

[plowsie]

Very true Fizz. Sounds good to me. Cheers for your help :)

[SoulKiss]

Plowsie - stop mucking about with cameras and get yer bike fixed with the cash - or pay for petrol for the AR :)

[plowsie]

Bike is only waiting for the bracket and it is done :)

[tigersaw]

When you can buy a D40 like I've got at this sort of money, I wouldnt buy what you're looking at.


Horses for courses - I had a D40X, whilst taking excellent pictures it never got used as it was a PITA to carry about. Eventually managed to flog it for £230 (and yes I did try on the forum many a time), so I'm now also looking to buy a camera like the OP with a similar budget. I like the look of the Lumix too, but I'm quite keen on the crop of cameras that can take HD 30fps movie footage too - Kodak V series

[timwilky]

I have been seriously contemplating the Lumix DMC- TZ5, it seems to push all the buttons I want for a compact point/shoot camera

[plowsie]

Anyone had any experience with the Sony DSLR A200?

Look quite a good price at certain places...

[trickywoos]

A friend on another forum just bought the A300, so can offer u feedback when she starts using!

[rob13]

Plows, howzabout a "bridge" cam? Basically an SLR Like body digital with an option to use the auto features but also a chance to explore the more manual side of photography which you would get with an SLR.

I have the Panasonic FZ-7 and theyre now selling the FZ18. Its got incredible 18x zoom, 8.1 megapixel and can be picked up on the net for £200. Believe me, i think these little cams have got everything you need for the casual photographer. For £200 you could use it for a couple of years and if you eventually want to step up to digital, you could sell the camera for about £100 and its only cost you £100 which doesnt get that much these days. Fuji also do something very similar and theyre also highly recommended.

[plowsie]

Rob I think I have gone with your advice mate with this http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=280240895272&ssPageName=STRK:MEWN:IT&ih=018

?175.00 in all which is better than I wanted to pay. Hopefully it'll be okay, looked on other sites and they confirmed to me that it is nott actually an SLR which is fine as I thought you were right :)

[tigersaw]

I have been seriously contemplating the Lumix DMC- TZ5, it seems to push all the buttons I want for a compact point/shoot camera

I looked into that, looks just my cuppa too, but then bought the TZ3 on saturday, (the one it is replacing), for £149, a lot lot cheaper.
So far so good, brilliant pictures and the 28mm wide is a lot more use than I would have thought.

[rob13]

Rob I think I have gone with your advice mate with this http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=280240895272&ssPageName=STRK:MEWN:IT&ih=018

?175.00 in all which is better than I wanted to pay. Hopefully it'll be okay, looked on other sites and they confirmed to me that it is nott actually an SLR which is fine as I thought you were right :)

Right for once!?!?? No, think you're onto a good thing there. Like you say, if you're dipping into the water, you need something which gives you options but without breaking the bank. I have considered getting a DSLR lately but think that I havent learnt to use all the features on the bridge cam yet so will carry on..

[Mark_h]

Rob I think I have gone with your advice mate with this http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=280240895272&ssPageName=STRK:MEWN:IT&ih=018

?175.00 in all which is better than I wanted to pay. Hopefully it'll be okay, looked on other sites and they confirmed to me that it is nott actually an SLR which is fine as I thought you were right :)

I've got the S5000 which I guess is a similar device to the S9000. Lots of manual override and the promise of SLR performance in a much lighter, cheaper box.

However.........

The viewfinder (EVF) takes a low-res image off of the CCD so nothing like a SLR where you actually look through the lens. Often pretty hard to see any detail so you end up using the screen instead.

The lens has massive optical zoom but quite small so again not as good in quality as real SLR lenses which will typically have optics at least twice as large.

Start-up time is a lot longer than a modern SLR. So if you see something quick, by the time the camera has shoved the lens out, done it's diagnostics and decided to let you press some buttons the subject has cleared off.

Best bit about a real SLR is the clunk noise when you takle a picture, again the S5000 doesn't do that.

BUT

It does take much better pictures than most point and shoots.
It does have a huge optical zoom
You can override everything so can get as creative as you want.
You can get XD cards for no money at all from 7dayshop.com
It looks like a real camera (unless you know what you're looking at)

More importantly if you buy it and realise it's too big to lug around you've wasted less than £200 rather than wasting best part of £400 to come to the same conclusion.

If I were to start again I'd have a decent small point and shoot (bit like my canon Ixus) and a digital SLR. Then keep small one with me each time I went out and use the fancy one if I was going out specifically to take pictures.

Now I think about it, if you fancy a used S5000 I could now possibly justify my 450D or nice used 30D that I've been putting off for ages.

[plowsie]

I've got the S5000 which I guess is a similar device to the S9000. Lots of manual override and the promise of SLR performance in a much lighter, cheaper box.

However.........

The viewfinder (EVF) takes a low-res image off of the CCD so nothing like a SLR where you actually look through the lens. Often pretty hard to see any detail so you end up using the screen instead.

The lens has massive optical zoom but quite small so again not as good in quality as real SLR lenses which will typically have optics at least twice as large.

Start-up time is a lot longer than a modern SLR. So if you see something quick, by the time the camera has shoved the lens out, done it's diagnostics and decided to let you press some buttons the subject has cleared off.

Best bit about a real SLR is the clunk noise when you takle a picture, again the S5000 doesn't do that.

BUT

It does take much better pictures than most point and shoots.
It does have a huge optical zoom
You can override everything so can get as creative as you want.
You can get XD cards for no money at all from 7dayshop.com
It looks like a real camera (unless you know what you're looking at)

More importantly if you buy it and realise it's too big to lug around you've wasted less than £200 rather than wasting best part of £400 to come to the same conclusion.

If I were to start again I'd have a decent small point and shoot (bit like my canon Ixus) and a digital SLR. Then keep small one with me each time I went out and use the fancy one if I was going out specifically to take pictures.

Now I think about it, if you fancy a used S5000 I could now possibly justify my 450D or nice used 30D that I've been putting off for ages.
Thanks Mark interesting read :) Gives me some pointers on what to look out for.
Right for once!?!?? No, think you're onto a good thing there. Like you say, if you're dipping into the water, you need something which gives you options but without breaking the bank. I have considered getting a DSLR lately but think that I havent learnt to use all the features on the bridge cam yet so will carry on..
Thats why I got this mate, thought it would be a good place to start and doesn't break the bank :) Then when I understand things a bit more, sell this on and get an SLR :)

[BernardBikerchick]

The Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX2, is it a good camera?

I'm on a budget of around £250ish on one, the cheaper the better, obviously. I wanted a D60 but I'm not good enough to use one :lol: And it wouldn't get used too regularly. Seen this looks pretty good and has got some good reviews, what do people think to it?

Also, recommendations of other cameras are good too :) I use them pretty much when I go and do something good, like go away, go to events, out on the bike, so its used for pictures of various things if that matters. Landscape pics are something i like to take pics of. The LX2 has a widescreen feature which is what caught my eye.

Cheers for help guys :)


is it as good as fizz's though >!>!>!>!??

[Viney]

Thats where I got the review for the LX2.

Fizz I didn't realise there was a 40 :) Thanks mate :)

EDIT: Problem with the 40 is that its 6.1 Mega Pixies, I'm already using 7.1 on my A550, If things are zoomed on it, it looks cr@p on mine, is the D40 going to be better?
The Cannon 400D was the D40's competitor and has 10.1Mp and iirc, its come down in price as well.

Remember, its all about the lens. The compact will have a small lens and will not let huge amounts of light in. The Mp rating will only come into effect when you start enlageing stuff, or wanting to zoom in etc. The 6.1mp Nikon will be better than a 7.1Mp compact, thats for sure.

[plowsie]

So, after a little play with my new toy today, come across something thats a little weird, I take a picture in landscape mode and i'm not able to adjust exposure at all with the camera...so with the sun out the sky is more white than the blue it is...Is this to make you use the camera with its more manual settings (as you are able to adjustt exposure)?

All very cool atm :) Very pleased otherwise, this is the only prob I have with it atm.

[Mark_h]

Landscape mode just sets a pre-defined programme (large depth of field with small apperture). If it's the same as the S5000, either use A- to set apperture priority or S to set shutter priority or P to go through a series of pre-defiend programmes. If you use anything other than auto or the ones with pictures you get a light meter to see what results you may get.

Also you can set up the bracketing so each time you take a picture it takes two more one F stop either side of your setting to give you options.

All startes getting really tricky if you use the focus lock button to override focus but to be honest I usually just mess with the shutter speed which in turn sets the apperture so modifies depth of field then modify the rest on the computer.

I find 7dayshop.com the cheapest for XD and just buy 1 gig ones as I've had 2 gig ones corrupt on me and then you lose an awful lot of pictures. Also good supply of heavy duty rechargeable AAs.

Enjoy.

[plowsie]

Thanks again Mark helpful again :)

[timwilky]

Well, it is my birthday, and the wife has bought me a new camera

Fuji S8000fd. God, for a point/shoot type it is complicated. brain ache by page 70 of the manual. I have never been into photography, I just want to take reasonable snaps and require some sort of zoom/wide angle and this fitted bill.

So I have learned today how to override the auto exposure, etc. and set a pre programmed mode to the pre defined sport config.

But what the heck is shutter priority/ apiture priority etc. when do you use them and why. Big change from simple point/zoom/in/out. If it takes so long to compose/set up, chance is I will have missed it. Guess that means, stick to pre programmed modes

[BBadger]

ive got a D40X
and it takes utterly amazing photos, then with a little knowlage of the camera you can play around to take even better ones.
i realy recomend this as its as good as a pro camera without their huge prices although they come in around the £400 mark.

jessops does £40 cash back if you buy from them though. and that will buy you a good 4gig card so you can take as many photos as you want.

[rob13]

Plows, dont use the simple settings, get it onto the Aperture or shutter mode and experiment with that. Shutter will be ideal for shots which have some kind of action in them, whilst Aperture is great for landscape pictures. Adjust the aperture to get automatic shutter adjustment with it. Just mess about with the settings on the same shot and see what it produces. Trial and error is the best method