Camera advice please.

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Dadam

Über Member
Location
SW Leeds
My new camera arrived and.... all my rechargeable batteries are too old/weak to power it on (I got a couple of mins from one set lol).

Anyone recommend some AA Ni-Mh rechargeables?

All AA NiMH are 1.2V so if they're in good condition and the camera is compatible they should power it. I'm not up on cameras but I'm surprised a modern camera doesn't come with a Li-ion rechargeable battery pack.
 

Mo1959

Legendary Member
My new camera arrived and.... all my rechargeable batteries are too old/weak to power it on (I got a couple of mins from one set lol).

Anyone recommend some AA Ni-Mh rechargeables?

Eneloops are good.
 

roubaixtuesday

self serving virtue signaller
Phone cameras these days are quite remarkable. Convenience means you're more likely to have it when you need.

Mine has wide angle, zoom and telephoto lenses as well as normal, and is simply excellent. You can make the usual adjustments if you don't want point and shoot.

I've no doubt there are other even better ones out there.

Galaxy S21 ultra, was about £300 "refurbished" from backmarket.

If you do want a smaller than DSLR, as others have recommended, lumix are excellent, bodies and 4:3 format lenses considerably smaller than DSLR equivalents.
 

Electric_Andy

Heavy Metal Fan
Location
Plymouth
Yeah I've took loads of photos over the last few years with a Motorola G32, apparently it has a 50mp lens! But the battery life is getting iffy especially when I'm using other apps so wanted to experiment with a seperate camera again.

I fell foul of this when I got my first ever digital camera in 2003. It was a 3mp Minolta. I replaced the batteries with some cheapo ones which lasted about 10 shots and then I thought the camera was broken!

Looking on the jungle website, you can now get a pack of 8 2800mAh rechargeables for a tenner. A lot of other options at the same or similar capacity as well. The only thing you can't predict (without testing them) is whether this figure is accurate, but they are cheap enough to do a fairly good job even if they don't come out at the capacity they claim.
 

Dadam

Über Member
Location
SW Leeds
I use these Energizer ones in the kids toys and console controllers, they seem to last well and seem to keep a decent charge if left a while.
They're "only" 2300 mAh but I read a lot of chargers don't play well with the higher capacity NiMH batteries.

May be hearsay but I also read that Eneloop do have a great rep but a lot on the market are faked. Of course there's no guarantee the Energizer ones aren't faked either but I've been ok with them so have stuck with them.
 

MontyVeda

a short-tempered ill-controlled small-minded troll
Phone cameras these days are quite remarkable. Convenience means you're more likely to have it when you need.

...

What's more remarkable is the the fact that I seem to be oblivious to the fact that my phone has a camera when I wish I'd had my camera with me. I also keep forgetting that it has a torch too. My brain is stuck in a world where a phone is pretty much just a phone :unsure:
 
I must admit I love older Japanese compact cameras and bridge cameras. They go for very little money although more recently their prices have started increasing again. Chinese cameras are awful in comparison, typically children's cameras really.

The camera I use for everyday use was pretty much brand new for £10, A Fuji Z900EXR compact camera however after using it for probably 10,000 or more images (ebay plus normal use) the flash is starting to play up but still fine for outdoor shots. I've probably given it 4 years of hard use, perhaps 200 images a week on average. So probably a lot more than 10,000 thinking about it. I would imagine when I bought it, it had less than 100 images taken with it, it was pristine. The camera looks so beaten up today with a lot of its paint missing. I love the engineering quality of a lot of Japanese products. Yes mobile phone cameras can be decent but the sensors are tiny and the optics minimal and most of the reason they provide a good image is post processing internally, i.e. removing grain. It's not a true image but it is a satisfactory image. I personally prefer the flexibility and simplicity of an actual camera. Mine just hides away in a small pocket in my backpack and can be used anytime.
 
OP
OP
K

Kingfisher101

Veteran
I bought one of these for safari, took fab pics. Recommended on here iirc. Doubled in price since I got it from cex but might find elsewhere used like Wex photo
https://uk.webuy.com/product-detail...MPACT-CAMERAS&superCatName=ELECTRONICS&title=

Does this one shoot in Black and White please as well?
I went into Wex yesterday and the lady I spoke really knew what she was talking about. What she was saying is that there's been a massive boom in people wanting compacts even though now a lot of people use their mobile. People still want them. They also get sold out really quickly. She gave me a couple of recommendations for compacts that they had which shoot in black and white as well, one was £610 A fuji, the other over 1K.
The thing is I want one that shoots in Black and white as well and the cheaper ones dont seem to do this anymore. I want to see the image on the camera, not just do it blind.
I don't want an DSLR as I've used one before when I did my GCSE art and found it hard/didn't know what I was doing and had to keep asking what this and that switch was for etc.
 

vickster

Squire
Does this one shoot in Black and White please as well?
I went into Wex yesterday and the lady I spoke really knew what she was talking about. What she was saying is that there's been a massive boom in people wanting compacts even though now a lot of people use their mobile. People still want them. They also get sold out really quickly. She gave me a couple of recommendations for compacts that they had which shoot in black and white as well, one was £610 A fuji, the other over 1K.
The thing is I want one that shoots in Black and white as well and the cheaper ones dont seem to do this anymore. I want to see the image on the camera, not just do it blind.
I don't want an DSLR as I've used one before when I did my GCSE art and found it hard/didn't know what I was doing and had to keep asking what this and that switch was for etc.

I’m afraid I don’t know but you can find the PDF of the manual online (I can also email it to you if you PM me your email address)
 
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Does this one shoot in Black and White please as well?
I went into Wex yesterday and the lady I spoke really knew what she was talking about. What she was saying is that there's been a massive boom in people wanting compacts even though now a lot of people use their mobile. People still want them. They also get sold out really quickly. She gave me a couple of recommendations for compacts that they had which shoot in black and white as well, one was £610 A fuji, the other over 1K.
The thing is I want one that shoots in Black and white as well and the cheaper ones dont seem to do this anymore. I want to see the image on the camera, not just do it blind.
I don't want an DSLR as I've used one before when I did my GCSE art and found it hard/didn't know what I was doing and had to keep asking what this and that switch was for etc.

My Panasonic TZ90 can certainly shoot monochrome and I imagine most similar can also
 

Electric_Andy

Heavy Metal Fan
Location
Plymouth
Looking at sold items on Ebay, there are quite a few TZ-60 and TZ-70 that have sold for around £130. It might be a good starting point to get to know the camera and see if it's for you. As said before, I have the TZ-70 and it does shoot in monochrome (I'm not sure if this is actual B&W or if it's a post "filter"). If you like it and it suits your needs, then you've only spent a little over £100 and it may see you right for many a year. That's what I did and I've ended up keeping it, it far outstrips my knowledge and skills as a photographer.
 

Electric_Andy

Heavy Metal Fan
Location
Plymouth
I wanted the same as you, albeit cheaper. I did a lot of shopping around and 3 years ago decided on a Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ70. It has 30x optical zoom which is amazing for such a small camera, and comes in very handy. There are scene modes where you can choose sepia, monochrome, retro etc. Plus an intelligent auto mode for when you just want point and shoot. If you really want to get into it, you can choose manual modes and change f values, white balance, aperture and shutter priority etc. There are also 2 customisable modes which you can set your own parameters and save (for your b&w for example). The other selling point for me was the wifi transfer. So wherever I am I can send the photos direct from the camera to my phone without cables or a PC. There are more expensive cameras in the range if you want, all fairly similar in look but of course a better lense and/or slightly more features. But as a starting point you might want to check it out. I got a second hand one for £100 but I think new they are around 300

Having said that, if you absolutely want to but new then I'd go into a camera shop and get a demo from the staff. You can then see if it does exactly what you want, then choose to buy new or go off to ebay and by used
 
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