Fuji E5600, E900 or Kodak Z650. Noob needs help!

[andyturner28]

Hi There.

I am a complete noobie when it comes to digital cameras and was wondering if you guy's could help me decide which of my shortlist i should go for.
The ones i am concidering are:-

Fuji S5600 5.1mp at £249,
Fuji E900 9mp at £269,
Kodak Z650 6.1mp at £269.

Now i know that pixel count is not the be all and end all to good pictures, which is why i am considering an SLR alongside a more compact model, but i am a bit confused over which route to go down. Like i said i am a complete novice when it comes to digital photography, make that any photography except a crapy 35mm and my camera phone, so would appreciate any advice you can give me. I will probably print a lot of pictures of up to A4 size and possibly A3, so please take this into concideration. Would the Kodak be any good for this, being the lowest resolution?

Cheers,

Andy.

EDIT. New shortlist isanasonic FZ7, Fuji 6500, Fuji 9600, Sony DSC H2/H3

 

[hongkonguk]

I am not sure which would be the best model for you but whichever retailer is selling those cameras for that money wants closing down.....seriously overpriced.

And did you mean S5600 and not E5600?

 

[andyturner28]

Yes i did mean S5600. I have changed it in my original post.

I am going to order from a popular mail order catalogue, the name of which i don't think i am allowed to mention on here, and will use their finance option, so am not too woried that they are overpriced. All catalogues are anyway.

Having said that, how overpriced are they?

Cheers,

Andy.

P.S. Just googled for the S5600. £139 from PC world That's £110 cheaper! Might have to reconsider this. I would still like to know what would be best out of a 5mp SLR style or a higher mp compact for around £150, as i am going ski-ing in Canada in 3 weeks and would like a decent camera this time. If i have enough money before i go i might still get one. How do catalogues get away with ripping us off like this?!

 

[CarlukeDave]

I've just upgraded to a DSLR but I also have a Fujifilm Finepix S5000, it's about 3 years old now but it's easy to use and still produces some decent results. The Fujifilm S6500fd gets some good reviews.


Dave

 

[beachy]

not sure about the other's, but i picked up a fuji 5600 for £112 from argos the other week, i just wanted something as a backup for my other camera, just in case it got lost or stolen, and it was just to good to resist at that price, smashing little camera for the price good image quality and feature's, and also shoot's in RAW which is unusual for that type of camera.

 

[andyturner28]

not sure about the other's, but i picked up a fuji 5600 for £112 from argos the other week, i just wanted something as a backup for my other camera, just in case it got lost or stolen, and it was just to good to resist at that price, smashing little camera for the price good image quality and feature's, and also shoot's in RAW which is unusual for that type of camera.

Thank's beachy. But what is RAW?

Andy.

 

[Zone]

Thank's beachy. But what is RAW?

Andy.

Description

 

[Puli]

I don't know about the rest of the others but the S5600 is a very good camera. I have printed up to 12*16 inchs and have had them framed.

At £150 its a steal.......

Paul

 

[andyturner28]

Thank's for the input. What about the Kodak Z650. That is an SLR style camera as well and has an extra 1mp? Would this be better than the 5600?

I am back to cocidering the catalogue options, overpriced or not, because i want a decent camera to take on holiday with me but don't want to pay anything before i go.

Cheers,

Andy.

 

[CypRoadster]

Thank's for the input. What about the Kodak Z650. That is an SLR style camera as well and has an extra 1mp? Would this be better than the 5600?

I am back to cocidering the catalogue options, overpriced or not, because i want a decent camera to take on holiday with me but don't want to pay anything before i go.

Cheers,

Andy.

Most of the large retailers will do a finance option.

Got my camera last week and I don't pay any interest as long as it's paid in 6 months, after that you start paying interest

Also managed to haggle with the shop manager and got £30 knocked off the price

Fuji Finepix S9500 for £270 !

 

[beachy]

Thank's for the input. What about the Kodak Z650. That is an SLR style camera as well and has an extra 1mp? Would this be better than the 5600?

I am back to cocidering the catalogue options, overpriced or not, because i want a decent camera to take on holiday with me but don't want to pay anything before i go.

Cheers,

Andy.

ok if your going down that route, try getting it delivered just before you go away, take it on holiday but look after it, when you get home send it back to the catalogue, as an unwanted gift, there usually a lot more tolerant than shop's, and give you about 30 day's to send it back, then if you where happy with that particular model, buy from the shop when you have the cash, for probably a 3rd of the price

PS 1mp on the kodak is'ent going to make any difference, and from what i've read the fuji 5600 is a better model anyway.

 

[andyturner28]

ok if your going down that route, try getting it delivered just before you go away, take it on holiday but look after it, when you get home send it back to the catalogue, as an unwanted gift, there usually a lot more tolerant than shop's, and give you about 30 day's to send it back, then if you where happy with that particular model, buy from the shop when you have the cash, for probably a 3rd of the price

PS 1mp on the kodak is'ent going to make any difference, and from what i've read the fuji 5600 is a better model anyway.

Exelent idea beachy If i don't have enough money before i go think i will give that a go. Think they only give you 14 days to return if your not happy though, and i am away for 14 days so might have to try a sob story or something.

So i am assuming it is the optics which have the biggest influence on picture quality rather than the amount of physical pixels. If i was to go for the 5600 and blow pictures up to A3 size, would i see any visible pixel stucture to the image if i took pictures in the highest quality mode?

Thanks, and Merry Christmas,

Andy.

 

[JUD1962]

Got the fuji s5600 from curry's £112 after price matching argos as they had none in stock at eight local stores even reserved online for store pick-up at £139 this much much better than my last 2 kodaks and is a multi award winner looks & feels quality after reading online ordered 1gb XDMcard & not xdh ps:should get finance at currys ?

 

[andyturner28]

Got the fuji s5600 from curry's £112 after price matching argos as they had none in stock at eight local stores even reserved online for store pick-up at £139 this much much better than my last 2 kodaks and is a multi award winner looks & feels quality after reading online ordered 1gb XDMcard & not xdh ps:should get finance at currys ?

Thanks for the info. I have to do some shopping tomorrow anyway and was going to have a look in Curries. My Dad has used their finance scheme several times and has been very happy with it, so i will give them a go.

Cheers,

Andy.

 

[andyturner28]

I have changed my mind again. I am basically after the best camera i can get for under £300 and recomendations where i can purchase said camera on finance.
The Kodak S5600 is still in the picture (excuse the pun ) but i would also like opinions on the Kodak Easyshare Z650 and Panasonic DMCFZ7BS. My sister and her Boyfreind have this camera and i have over 200 pictures from her recent trip to Kenya on my PC and, although by their own admission they are no experts (they were only using digital zoom for the first 5 days ) i am quite impressed with the few they got right. The Z650 is only £189 with basically the same spec, so very tempting. Are either of these any good or is the S5600 still the best bet.

Any other recommendations would be apprecieated.

Cheers,

Andy.

P.S. I have just been reading up on SLR cameras, and the Olimpus E500 is prety much the cheapest SLR. Would the fact that it is an SLR make it better than all the others i have suggested, and make it worth the extra expense?

 

[hongkonguk]

I got a S5600 (thanks Santa!) and have been very impressed so far. Obviously haven't had much chance to take loads of pics yet (Santa forgot to leave a bigger memory card...) but can still see this camera being worh every penny. The fact it has just won another award just confirms it with folks who know what they are talking about,unlike me.

But,impressed as I am with it,if I had the money I would probably go down the DSLR route. I would have to have a lot of money mind....camera body,lenses,bag to put them all in do not come cheap,as I am sure the DSLR owning folks can tell you.

Whichever you choose,have fun!

 

[andyturner28]

I got a S5600 (thanks Santa!) and have been very impressed so far. Obviously haven't had much chance to take loads of pics yet (Santa forgot to leave a bigger memory card...) but can still see this camera being worh every penny. The fact it has just won another award just confirms it with folks who know what they are talking about,unlike me.

But,impressed as I am with it,if I had the money I would probably go down the DSLR route. I would have to have a lot of money mind....camera body,lenses,bag to put them all in do not come cheap,as I am sure the DSLR owning folks can tell you.

Whichever you choose,have fun!

Thanks for the link. I am quite tempted with this one, my only reservation is that it is slightely more baulky than the Panasonic, and i have seen a lot of pictures from my sisters one, and the few they got right are stunning. Has anyone come accross any comparison test's of these two?

DSLR's are definately off the list as i had a look at one today and they are HUGE. There is no way i would be able to cary that around in my rucksac while ski-ing. Just imagine the injury that would cause if i landed on my back at 60mph. Ouch!

Cheers,

Andy.

 

[hongkonguk]

While the main reason I got the Fuji was down to price,I had been researching for a while (the Argos price reduction was just the shot in the arm to get it) and saw some spectacular pics created by it. especially here.

As for its bulk,it is slightly bigger than the Panasonic,but I can confirm it can fit in a jacket pocket (although only just)

 

[andyturner28]

Ok have been doing a bit more research and have a new shortlist.

Panasonic FZ7BB (what dose the BB stand for?)
Fuji S6500FD,
Fuji S9600.

Everyone is raving about the Fuji 5600 so i am assuming the other 2 Fujis will be a lot better. I have read several reviews about the 5600 that say the feature count is a bit low for people like me who are constantly tincering for that perfect shot. I am like this with my PC and Home Cinema and have no reason to think i will be any different with a camera.

I have just been looking through my sisters pictures taken with the FZ7 and am still very impressed with the quality. I have attached some pictures to see what you think. Have also read a lot of negative comments about it's small CCD introducing noise. Is this as big a problem as they say. I am assuming what they are refuring to is the white dots you can see in the sky on some of the shots. Also i noticed from my sisters camera there is a thread where the lens cap fits on. Can you connect an extention to this so that you can fit filters and different lenses ect.

The S9600 is the absolute max i can justifie spending, but do you think i will notice the improvement over the FZ7. As i have said before i do intend printing off pictures up to A3 size, so would the 9600 be my best bet?

Cheers,

Andy.

 

[beachy]

the other fuji model's you mention will more than likely be better than the 5600, simply because they are upgrades to that model, the panasonic's all seem to have noise issue's above a certain ISO but can normally be put right with the right software, another thing you mentioned was the size of the camera, if you went for the other fuji's you will certainly find an increase in size, so from what you have written so far what you need to do is.

A. choose your budget.

b. look at your requirements ie, how much use it it going to get.

c. go into a camera/photography shop,have a look at the model's your interested in, and have a feel of them and see how they sit in your hand's.

and before you do that take a look at http://www.dpreview.com you will get good reviews here of the camera's you mentioned, with good photo sample's

 

[andyturner28]

the other fuji model's you mention will more than likely be better than the 5600, simply because they are upgrades to that model, the panasonic's all seem to have noise issue's above a certain ISO but can normally be put right with the right software, another thing you mentioned was the size of the camera, if you went for the other fuji's you will certainly find an increase in size, so from what you have written so far what you need to do is.

A. choose your budget.

b. look at your requirements ie, how much use it it going to get.

c. go into a camera/photography shop,have a look at the model's your interested in, and have a feel of them and see how they sit in your hand's.

and before you do that take a look at http://www.dpreview.com you will get good reviews here of the camera's you mentioned, with good photo sample's

Exelent website, thanks for that. I have been looking at it continuousely for the last 4 hours Trouble is i now have a new contender, The Sony DSC H2. The Panny HZ7 was slated for noise at high ISO settings, whereas the Sony is a lot better.
How important is this though? Could you leave it at 80 ISO all the time and still get good shots, or do you have to constantly alter it depending on light conditions? At below 100 ISO pictures are virtually identical, but above 100 the noise on the Panny is terrible, whereas the Sony is praised for it's noise reduction at high ISO's.

The Fujis are starting to sound less appealing due to lack of image stabilisation, because i don't exactly have the steadyest hands in the world. My Sony Erricsson K800i has this and it works brilliently, so if the H2's is as good or better then i'm laughing.

Oh and the answer to your second question is probably not that much, but when you are going somewhere like the Canadien Rockies and possibly South Africa in the autum (including the Kruga national park) i really want a decent camera to do it justice. I also have a recently decorated cinema room with totally empty walls i want to fill with the A3 prints of Canada i have been harping on about.

Let me know what you think. I can't get to the shops till next weekend, so i am relying on your advice till then.

Cheers,

Andy.

 

[beachy]

The Fujis are starting to sound less appealing due to lack of image stabilisation, because i don't exactly have the steadyest hands in the world.

yes but they have something called "ANTI BLUR" which not only helps when your moving ie "shacky hands" but also if your subject move's,so it help's in stabilizing image's in two way's, unfortunately the fuji 5600 has just gone up in price again at argos, no matter how much you look you will alway's find something better,as there are new camera's coming out every couple of months, best thing is narrow it down to 2 or 3 then make a decision based on your budget.

 

[andyturner28]

The Fuji's are back in the running, cheers beachy. I'll have a hunt around for somewhere that stocks them all so i can try them back to back.

Cheers,

Andy.

 

[IanW1977]

Fuji's are prob a good bet at that price - Bought the E900 as a Pressie for £130 from Amazon.

 

[andyturner28]

BUGGER!

At the moment i find myself forced through no fault of my own to go down the catalogue route. I tried to get a Fuji 9600 at £291 on finance but got refused, and in the Littlewoods catalogue they only have the inferior 9500 at £479 So if i am to get a camera before i go away 2 weeks today, i have a choice between the Fuji S5600 or E900. Concidering i want to get a photo prossessing shop to print off around A3 size prints, which would you go for. I know they are in totally different classes, but having decided on the 9mp 9600, i somehow feel that 5mp wont be enough. But on the other hand i would be sacrifising a large zoom (that would be very handy when i go to the Kruger national park later next year) for virtually double the resolution. I am very confused, and off. Would a photo shop be able to do very large prints from the 5600, or would i be limited to A4 max? Would even A4 be too big? How usable is a 4x zoom for long distance shots and would the digital zoom of the E900 compensate without too much loss of picture quality?

Help me please before i go mad!

Andy.