Getting a camera

[Seahorse]

Its about time I got myself a camera and had someone teach me how to connect it to a compooter etc.

What camera can you recomend that would take amazing pics of jewellery.
Thinking of spending around £200.

Ta

[swirlyarts]

Mr Swirl is up on camera's - he might be able to point you in the right direction - or at least tell you what you should be looking for!

[icecreamgirl]

I feel for you, it's a camera filled world out there.....
I eventually settled on an Olympus MU 700.
The photos on my website are taken with it, but i wouldn't hold them against the camera,!!!!!
I am really pleased with it but am not very technically minded so i'm still finding my way around it.....
It's usually about 199.00 but i got it on sale for about 150.00
The thing to not forget about is the battery you need to buy for the modern cameras, they don't take 'normal' batterys it's a rechargeable thingy but that bumps the price up, and then you'll want a memory card as the camera's internal memory hardly holds any piccies... so that's all to add on as well.....

[MrSwirl]

Easy bit first - connecting it to a computer is straightforward. Either connect the camera using a USB lead, which most come with to do the job, or you can take the memory card out and get a card reader (some laptops have them as standard) to read the card.

I have two cameras that I use (and another one that I don't, it stays in the car for emergencies / accidents) - the vast majority of the photos that we use though are taken with the bigger camera. It's a Canon EOS350D digital SLR, which takes 8 Megapixel photos using standard lenses. It's a "proper" camera rather than a point-and-shoot, but I take my photography quite seriously. An SLR is the better camera to buy, but these are more expensive than a point and shoot, and may be overkill for what you want.

I would suggest at least 5 megapixels is the bare minimum that you should be after - the prices are quite low now. Optical zoom is much better than a digital zoom - optical zoom the lens does the magnification; digital zoom the camera enlarges the photo using software and fills in the gaps with colours that it thinks should go there, resulting in a blockier / blurred picture.

Go to Jessops and have a look, try them out etc. Then have a look online for where to buy them cheaper. Memory cards are cheaper through places like Dabs or eBuyer than from a photo shop or Dixons etc.

There are plenty of "What Camera?" type magazines to look that that will give decent advice.

If you want to have a look at my photos on Flickr, there is a link from my photo website at http://www.matsyphoto.com - I can't give you the direct link as Flickr is blocked here at the moment. Each photo tells you what camera it was taken with, but most are with the big one. I only use Canon, even for the point and shoot - always have done, and probably always will.

[two hoots]

I've got a canon piont and shot, and I can't fault it. It not only has macro but a super macro so that I can get in really close and get fine detail. It's only 4 mege pixels, as said in a previous post I'd get 5 or above now.

[Debeadz]

I got a new Canon Powershot camera for Christmas and i'm really pleased with it. It cost less than £100 too :)

I'm not good with cameras but find this one easy to use and am really pleased with it! :D

Here's a link to it

http://www.dabs.com/productview.aspx?Quicklinx=4DYV&SearchType=1&SearchTerms=canon+camera&PageMode=3&SearchKey=All&SearchMode=All&NavigationKey=0

HTH

[Seahorse]

Thankfully my dad treated himself to a super dooper camera at Christmas so hopefully I can use his....once Ive worked out how to use it.

[Debeadz]

Thankfully my dad treated himself to a super dooper camera at Christmas so hopefully I can use his....once Ive worked out how to use it.

Or get your dad to be your offical photographer :D

[Shipbuilder]

Digital cameras have come down in price over the past few years. You wouldn't need to spend hundreds on one (£80 or so will get a good one these days!) Five Megapixels is more than adequate. I often feel that anything above that can't be appreciated by the human eye anyway. More megapixels simply means that you can enlarge the picture to a size that you would not necessarily want anyway!
To get it in the computer - best way (as has already been stated) is use a card reader.
Bob