camera advise

[breamnut]

i lost my camera while fishing the other day, but my tax money came through so i have $600 to blow;D i need something pritty decent
im a fan of cannon cammera's and would rather go an slr camera

[fish-n-dive]

This link give a few recent threads on this very subject.........I ended up getting an Olympus 1030SW

http://www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/search.php?searchid=675712

[whiteman]

$600 will give you NOTHING in the SLR world. The best consumer lens in the Canon SLR catalogue is the wonderful f2.8 70-200 which retails at $US 1,699. Match this to a $A1,000 body and you see you need cash. Of course you can buy cheaper Canon lenses but they are substantially poorer performers to this beauty.

The best range of performance to value SLR bodies and lenses comes from Pentax. The K200D with a Pentax 18-55 is around $A650 - an absolute bargain for the performance but this needs to be rounded out by a Pentax 50-200 lens for around $US220. $US prices from http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/category/4266/Lenses.html as lenses are substantially cheaper purchased directly from the US.

Otherwise, I'd go for one of the Nikon Coolpix range. They are fast with good lenses. For around $A300 you can get good value. Spend the rest on Photoshop Elements to get the best out of the photos.

[Jeremy87]

Your budget doesn't really give you options for a new dslr, i'm sure you could probably pick a second hand one off ebay etc for that price but you will be lacking in the lense department. Slr's can be a giant money pit of equal size of fishing gear. first you think i'll just get a body and a cheap lense, and all of a sudden you've got 5 lenses, a bunch of filters, memory, batteries, a flash and then because you want to take it out on the boat when your fishing you need a water proof hard case to put it all in. For 600 your better off getting a compact waterproof digital with a good optical zoom and pixel count that easily enables you to use manual settings. In some ways these are better for in the boat cause you can dunk them and take shots of fish in the water and the size difference makes them less of a issue to stow away.

[squizzytaylor]

For around $700 youll pick one of these up from JB. Highly recomended and your not loosing a sheep station if it all goes pear shaped (overboard)

GT

http://www.pentaximaging.com/products/product_details/digital_camera--K200D/reqID--10506029/subsection--digital_slr

[Steve B]

Breamnut,

I got a Nikon D60 SLR from an reputable ebay seller for about $730 AUD to my door.(retail for $1399 in aust) Came with Nikor 18-55mm lense and a bit of other stuff. But that was when the aussie dollar was 94c vs USD....now its like 75c:-[ I agree with Jeremy, I now need another lense for longer range stuff. (about $400)..but I do love it, and it takes brilliant photos......I got it for kids photos etc as much as fishing. Its a bit bulky and you would need a case too.

A fella at a camera house shop tried talking me out of it in favour of the Cannon G9 (not SLR). Apparently they are awesome...and you can get a waterproof housing for underwater shots too. The standard digital cameras are getting that good these days, its hard to tell the difference unless your a professional photographer......and I aint!!;D;)

cheers steve

[Poodroo]

I agree with everything that has been said already because I too would like to get an SLR digital cameraand have been looking into it for a little while now. There is nothing around for $600 unless you pick up an as new bargain in slightly used condition. As for new I think that $700 - $1000 is about where you will find most entry point cameras. Currently I have the Olympus MJ-u750 weather proof camera and find it ideal for in the boat because it will not be affected by spray which can be a common thing when in a boat or fishing in general. Even if I owned a digital slr camera it would not come out in the boat with me. I will keep the MJ-u750 purely for that. These days you can pick the latest versions of my camera up for around $300 which is a lot less than mine was back when I got it at $599 and what's more the later versions have up to 10.2 mp and more features these days for less money. Most on here who have seen the photos that I have taken with it will agree they are not too bad at all.

Poodroo

[matt__hill]

i have a pentax k100d and it cost me 700 from wow sight and sound.
all those big chain stores can bend on price a bit too. the camera is awesome and takes great shots. once printed out the difference in quality between an slr and a standard digi cam really shows in my opinion


cheers matt

[BobbyJ123]

Have a squiz here, mate.
http://www.steves-digicams.com/best_cameras.html

[breamnut]

well by budget in now $750 but i had a talk to the guy at the camera shop today and id say ive found the one best suited for what im doin and in my budget;D
i will let you guys know what it is

[MattChew]

Hi Nutter, you should definitely have a look at the new Canon EOS 1000D .. you can get the Body for $699 or a twin lens Kit (18-55 & 75-300) for $815 in Brisbane. Send me PM if you want the location. Thats pretty good seeing I paid nearly 2k for my 300D when they first came out.

Thanks.
Matt

[DR]

if you buy a Canon i would recommend the extended warranty, they only give 12 months warranty. When they were first released I Paid over $700 for a Canon Power Shot S2IS, at 16 months old it started breaking down, the computer chip started to fail. First i could not download pics, it wouldn't connect to computer, 2mnths later the LCD screen decided to die. Canons response... 'Bad luck you should have bought an extended warranty' To repair it was not a lot cheaper than buying a new one..
I have had Canon all my life, but will never buy another one..

[Nico.d.R]

i would go water proof if i were you . i found out the hard way , i have a k100d pentax that took great shots but now its a paper weight , i took a few waves over the back off the boat at the ramp and even in a esky it still got wet .

cheers nico