best camera deals
While helping my clients choose gear I get a good idea of what's on the market so the first part of this page highlights some notable deals currently available.
You'll notice that this week, as usual I feature cameras that have been around for a while, and with good reason. The very latest cameras have gimicks like touch screen technology, HD video and wireless connectivity, all great features but not at all necessary for the creative photographer.
Towards the bottom of the page is some overall advice on choosing the most appropriate style of camera for you.
Last updated 26th June .
Jacobs Cameras are offering the Olympus D-P1 with a 17mm lens and optical viewfinder for £399 and you'll probably get a £25 discount with a camerapricebuster voucher. This configuration of the D-P1 is great piece of kit for the urban shooter, check the reviews.
Kodak have decided to make serious inroads on the home printing market by offering OEM ink for their new printer ranges at aftermarket ink rates, not before time, what with original ink costing more than vintage Krug Champagne.
As we well know non-original ink though great for our vouchers and kid's homework has no place in creating durable photographic prints so let's see how this pans out.
£716 with cashback for the Nikon D90 with the 18-105mm kit lens at Amazon UK, what a bargain, less than the grey imports!!
The fast and powerful Canon 7D is available at a very special £1099 from HDEW Cameras. A weatherproof all magnesium alloy body and 8 frames per second shooting speed make this an ideal camera for sports snappers.
STOP PRESS - DIGIGOOD HAVE A FEW AT ABOUT £980 BUY-IT-NOW ON EBAY!!
For Nikon users the superb 55-200mm zoom lens is on special for £140 at Camerabox. It's a great performing lens, compatible with all the consumer Nikon DSLRs that will help you realise the potential of your camera.
The last few of the fantastic Panasonic G1 a compact almost pocketable little DSLR style camera which is capable of very high quality images are being sold at discount prices and with a £50 cashback from Panasonic until the end of the month. Best deal £340 including cashback from Buyacamera. The replacements for G1 offer no more to photographers, just silly touch screen technology and video which is far better shot on a Flipcam.
A great and underrated full spec digital SLR from Canon, the 450d is also terrific value at the moment. A true photographer's camera again without gimicks it's great value at £350 (body only) from Digigood a reliable Ebay suplier who ships from the UK, their prices vary from day to day. I hear they also have a few Canon Eos 1000d kits with lens and 4gb card at £310, a great starter camera with lots of external controls.
Looking at a higher level of specification the Nikon D90 has been around a while and has produced some superb results for many photographers I know, it's light and compact and takes the full range of Nikon fit lenses.
Currently the best deal appears to be around £560 from Camerabox at high Wycombe
STOP PRESS D90 £539 AFTER CASHBACK AT CAMERAWORLD !!
And last but not least, Morgan Computers still have the Superb Adobe Photoshop Elements 8 at £32 as I write this.
General buying advice
Buy only equipment that is in the UK and from suppliers with a geographic address who can confirm stock etc over the telephone.
Be aware that suppliers like Camerabox and Digigood import some of their cameras and warranties might be with them rather than the manufacturer.
Now, choosing a camera
The lightest, most compact camera which will do the job is the camera that won't be left behind because it's too big and heavy to lug around. Let's consider one camera from each of three types starting at the lightest and most compact.
The domination of the DSLR in the serious amateur market is finally under threat because there are now some other serious options for those of us who just want to take great pictures.
I'm ignoring compacts, superzooms and other snapshooters and suggesting only cameras that will provide the quality of function and results the passionate photographer needs.
The advanced compact
Just about pocketable in a jacket or coat, the advanced compact has a built-in zoom lens covering a modest range, full user control with lots of external buttons, built in image stabiliser to minimize camera shake and an excellent image quality which only falls off in lower light levels.
The Canon G10 or the new G11 are superbly engineered and designed examples of the genre. They are capable of producing terrific images in good light with class leading lower light image quality in the case of the G11.
On the downside the G10 and G11 have poor ability to create blurry backgrounds (except with close ups and to some degree at the telephoto end of the zoom) slower than DSLR operation and limited low light function pus reliance on the LCD screen or tiny viewfinder for composition.
Consider the G11 for travel and street photography but not for shooting kids indoors under natural light.
The new rangefinder style cameras
Typified by the Panasonic GF1 and the Olympus DP1 a new breed of camera has recently emerged.
Using an image sensor almost as large as the digital SLR and with fully interchangable lenses these new semi compact cameras offer a stylish and just about pocketable (with a small lens) alternative to the SLR.
Image quality can be first class and comparable to basic and mid range SLRs. Full user controls are par for the course.
The excellent lenses including non-zooming primes (we've been zooming to long!!) are compact and pocketable but can be costly.
The GF-1 is a great all rounder but loses it's advantages once you add a long lens.
Ideal for high quality travel, street, botanical and landscape work but at a cost. Not bad for portraits and family stuff but definately not the way ahead for those safari trips.
The digital SLR
Long seen as the only way ahead by many, I see a few chinks in it's armour with an increasing threat from best of the previously mentioned cameras.
Get yourself a basic consumer digital SLR and you've entered a world of unlimited flexibility. Vast ranges of lenses and other accesories enable you to optimise your camera for any shooting scenario.
But beware.
The equipment is relatively large and heavy and before you know it you could be wandering around like a Christmas tree!
Get started with the Canon 450d with just the basic kit zoom lens and you can add the 50mm f1.8 Prime (non-zooming) for superb low light indoor portraits and maybe the 55-250mm Image stabilised (prevents camera shake) zoom and you have a relatively compact kit which will cover most shooting scenarios.
Jacobs Cameras are offering the Olympus D-P1 with a 17mm lens and optical viewfinder for £399 and you'll probably get a £25 discount with a camerapricebuster voucher. This configuration of the D-P1 is great piece of kit for the urban shooter, check the reviews.
Kodak have decided to make serious inroads on the home printing market by offering OEM ink for their new printer ranges at aftermarket ink rates, not before time, what with original ink costing more than vintage Krug Champagne.
As we well know non-original ink though great for our vouchers and kid's homework has no place in creating durable photographic prints so let's see how this pans out.
£716 with cashback for the Nikon D90 with the 18-105mm kit lens at Amazon UK, what a bargain, less than the grey imports!!
The fast and powerful Canon 7D is available at a very special £1099 from HDEW Cameras. A weatherproof all magnesium alloy body and 8 frames per second shooting speed make this an ideal camera for sports snappers.
STOP PRESS - DIGIGOOD HAVE A FEW AT ABOUT £980 BUY-IT-NOW ON EBAY!!
For Nikon users the superb 55-200mm zoom lens is on special for £140 at Camerabox. It's a great performing lens, compatible with all the consumer Nikon DSLRs that will help you realise the potential of your camera.
The last few of the fantastic Panasonic G1 a compact almost pocketable little DSLR style camera which is capable of very high quality images are being sold at discount prices and with a £50 cashback from Panasonic until the end of the month. Best deal £340 including cashback from Buyacamera. The replacements for G1 offer no more to photographers, just silly touch screen technology and video which is far better shot on a Flipcam.
A great and underrated full spec digital SLR from Canon, the 450d is also terrific value at the moment. A true photographer's camera again without gimicks it's great value at £350 (body only) from Digigood a reliable Ebay suplier who ships from the UK, their prices vary from day to day. I hear they also have a few Canon Eos 1000d kits with lens and 4gb card at £310, a great starter camera with lots of external controls.
Looking at a higher level of specification the Nikon D90 has been around a while and has produced some superb results for many photographers I know, it's light and compact and takes the full range of Nikon fit lenses.
Currently the best deal appears to be around £560 from Camerabox at high Wycombe
STOP PRESS D90 £539 AFTER CASHBACK AT CAMERAWORLD !!
And last but not least, Morgan Computers still have the Superb Adobe Photoshop Elements 8 at £32 as I write this.
General buying advice
Buy only equipment that is in the UK and from suppliers with a geographic address who can confirm stock etc over the telephone.
Be aware that suppliers like Camerabox and Digigood import some of their cameras and warranties might be with them rather than the manufacturer.
Now, choosing a camera
The lightest, most compact camera which will do the job is the camera that won't be left behind because it's too big and heavy to lug around. Let's consider one camera from each of three types starting at the lightest and most compact.
The domination of the DSLR in the serious amateur market is finally under threat because there are now some other serious options for those of us who just want to take great pictures.
I'm ignoring compacts, superzooms and other snapshooters and suggesting only cameras that will provide the quality of function and results the passionate photographer needs.
The advanced compact
Just about pocketable in a jacket or coat, the advanced compact has a built-in zoom lens covering a modest range, full user control with lots of external buttons, built in image stabiliser to minimize camera shake and an excellent image quality which only falls off in lower light levels.
The Canon G10 or the new G11 are superbly engineered and designed examples of the genre. They are capable of producing terrific images in good light with class leading lower light image quality in the case of the G11.
On the downside the G10 and G11 have poor ability to create blurry backgrounds (except with close ups and to some degree at the telephoto end of the zoom) slower than DSLR operation and limited low light function pus reliance on the LCD screen or tiny viewfinder for composition.
Consider the G11 for travel and street photography but not for shooting kids indoors under natural light.
The new rangefinder style cameras
Typified by the Panasonic GF1 and the Olympus DP1 a new breed of camera has recently emerged.
Using an image sensor almost as large as the digital SLR and with fully interchangable lenses these new semi compact cameras offer a stylish and just about pocketable (with a small lens) alternative to the SLR.
Image quality can be first class and comparable to basic and mid range SLRs. Full user controls are par for the course.
The excellent lenses including non-zooming primes (we've been zooming to long!!) are compact and pocketable but can be costly.
The GF-1 is a great all rounder but loses it's advantages once you add a long lens.
Ideal for high quality travel, street, botanical and landscape work but at a cost. Not bad for portraits and family stuff but definately not the way ahead for those safari trips.
The digital SLR
Long seen as the only way ahead by many, I see a few chinks in it's armour with an increasing threat from best of the previously mentioned cameras.
Get yourself a basic consumer digital SLR and you've entered a world of unlimited flexibility. Vast ranges of lenses and other accesories enable you to optimise your camera for any shooting scenario.
But beware.
The equipment is relatively large and heavy and before you know it you could be wandering around like a Christmas tree!
Get started with the Canon 450d with just the basic kit zoom lens and you can add the 50mm f1.8 Prime (non-zooming) for superb low light indoor portraits and maybe the 55-250mm Image stabilised (prevents camera shake) zoom and you have a relatively compact kit which will cover most shooting scenarios.