# Forget Digicam, suggest HandyCam



## shwetanshu (Oct 3, 2005)

I want oto buy a Digital Camera. Budget 12K. I have so far selected Sony DSC S40, silver best buy in digit. Any more suggestions??


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## Netjunkie (Oct 3, 2005)

I am using a Canon PowerShot A95

It simply rocks !!!


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## godsownman (Oct 3, 2005)

I am using the canon powershot A520  and believe me its classy.

But you can also look at A510 its the difference of pixels and zoom


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## shwetanshu (Oct 3, 2005)

also quote the prices of the models that u suggest and also i was just checking price of the Sony DSC S60 on ebay, i m not gonna buy from there but it was mentioned 12K, is it correct?? Digit mentioned its price around 19K, i think.

Also memory card readers available in the market support Memory Stick Pro???


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## Hulo (Oct 4, 2005)

eBay prices are by various traders. These are mostly grey market prices and warranty would be of doubtful nature. Its best to purchase from authorised local shops. If something goes wrong, chasing those dealers would make you lose your sleep. Digit price is the price from authorised dealers and hence higher.

I recently bought a canon powershot A510 from an authorised dealer. eBay and grey market prices were around Rs.9000-9500. But Canon India is giving a 256 SD Card free, worth about 1700, which is not available with grey market dealers. That makes the price approx. same as price with authorised dealers without VAT. I was quite willing to pay 4% VAT for the 2 year warranty that Canon India was offering. I got A510 for about 11100.

At this price range, Canon Powershot A520/A510 are probably the only models with manual controls. The picture quality is excellent in all the reviews and also from what I saw personally. A520 is worth more than 12K in authorised market but believe me A510 and 520 are the same models except for the 4 MP resolution in the later (which some say is interpolated). A520 is more sluggish than A510 but otherwise all the other aspects are exactly the same. So you may consider whether its worth expending about Rs.3000 more for 0.8K resolution (A510 is 3.2MP). You can get upto 8x10 pics with exceptional quality at 3.2MP resolution.

DSC S60 has 3X optical zoom compared to A510/520's 4X. It is 4MP resolution. Macro focus range is 10cm compared to canon's 5. Max shutter speed is 1/1000 compared to canon's 1/2000. There are other feature differences and some advantages in favour of DSC S60 too, although whether these make it worth buying at a higher price is questionable. You can go to *www.dpreview.com/reviews/sidebyside.asp and add the 3 cams and compare their features side by side and then find out the Indian authorised and grey market prices before taking a decision.


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## tuxfan (Oct 4, 2005)

I swear by my Nikon Coolpix, Deep swears by his Sony.

But I always recommend a Nikon. After me, there are 4 people who have taken a Nikon and all are pretty satisfied. So go for it!


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## shwetanshu (Oct 4, 2005)

i wud love to go for canon 520 but its price is 17K, which is very high for me, so i decided upon Sony DSC S60 and Tuxfan if u suggest some NIKKON models, may be i will look for them also and then take a final decison

@tuxfan Sony DSC S60 idea came from deep only. hehehe


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## theraven (Oct 4, 2005)

the sony p200 is abt 12-13k anywhere outside
the price of 19k in digit is probably from authorised dealers or sony themselves

my friend picked up for 12k from alfa 6 months back 
its a 7.2 mp cam .. and it was reviewed in digit itself !!


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## Deep (Oct 4, 2005)

Here comes sony man..haha

Actually I am pretty satisfied with my DSC-60

I bought it for Rs. 9100 and 512MB memory stick for Rs. 2200

If you want to buy 4.1 mega pixel then I would recommend sony then Nikon coz in Nikon 4.1 it does not have option for sound in video i.e. no mic

But models above 4.1 MP have...

Deep


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## khandu (Oct 4, 2005)

hey.. good topic

whats for 7K

i was thinkin Powershot A400 i m gettin for Rs. 6400 

any1 from near alfa plz help.. its urgent.. 

i can go + or - a bit on budget as it is a 1 time buy..


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## Hulo (Oct 4, 2005)

Canon Powershot A510/520 have sounds with video. But that feature should not be a reason for purchasing a digicam. You should be more concerned about picture quality etc. Nor should the megapixel should be the sole criteria for amateur photographers. Many buy 5MP cams after falling for the megapixel hype and print at only 6x4. Even if you print at 8x10, a 3MP cam would be fine. I think the optical zoom is much more important. Most low end sony and nikon cams have only 3x optical zoom. Having a 3 MP cam with 8x zoom is far better than having a 5MP cam with 3X zoom. Such is the hype *www.digicamhelp.com/what-is-a-megapixel/ that cameras with more and more megapixels are coming up and nobody emphasizes on zoom. As a result, high zoom cams like Konica Minolta Dimage Z1/Z2/Z10 (8x to 10x Optical zoom) etc. are not available in the Indian market, not even in the grey market, due to lack of demand, although the reviews of the cams are consistently good and is available abroad for around Rs.7000 to 10000.

Had they been available in the Indian market I would have also preferred Olympus Camedia c-55/C5500 sport zoom which is a 5MP cam with 5X zoom and image stabilisation. I once saw it in a shop but somebody purchased it by the time I returned with money (Rs.11500 in grey market). JJ Mehta was also offering it for a similar price.

As for around 7K cams, I think Powershot A400 is the best option - it has got manual controls which not many cams at this range have. In fact I don't know of any. The only drawback is the low zoom (2.2x) but hey..u don't get everything at this price.


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## Hulo (Oct 4, 2005)

...and by the way, if you want to know which brand produces the most enquiries ...its Canon. Take a look at *www.dpreview.com/reviews/stats.asp. Out of the top 20 digicam models, 11 belong to Canon, 3 belong to Nikon and only 1 Sony. The first two Canon models are also considered the best in the market. Also see *www.epinions.com/Digital_Cameras/show_~top_sellers


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## anispace (Oct 5, 2005)

what, u mean we get a Sony DSC-P200 in Alfa at 12k.

My dad bought it from US last month and it cost $399.
shit and i thought it was a steal.

Anyways a superb camera, 7.2 Megapixel, 3X optical zoom and its quite small,even  smaller than a Nokia 6600.


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## anispace (Oct 5, 2005)

wow did any1 notice. foul language gets automatically sensored.


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## Hulo (Oct 5, 2005)

anispace said:
			
		

> what, u mean we get a Sony DSC-P200 in Alfa at 12k.
> 
> My dad bought it from US last month and it cost $399.
> **** and i thought it was a steal.
> ...



So what good is a 7.2 MP, 3X cam? U don't get better zoom (8X) than a konica minolta z10 or powershot A520 (4X) coming at less that $200. You would probably never print in a size bigger than 8x10, good enough for a cam with 3.2MP or 4 MP at less than $150. Has only 3 ISO settings (a 3MP $150 powershot has more), shutter speed 1/1000 (a powershot has more), macro range 6 cm (powershot has 5cm macro), one 1 self timer option, no external lens thread and a picture quality not better than a $150 cam and even the dimensions are larger than a powershot A520. Boy, u hav fallen for the megapixel hype and the sony name. A much better cam would have been sony DSC-H1 with 5MP and 12X zoom. Of course the price would have been higher. But other cos. give similar cams at lesser price.

Unfortunately, mostly due to shrewd marketing by the cam cos., people tend to think that a higher megapixel cam results in a better pix. Unfortunately, its not so. The optics and the electronics as well as the zoom produces the best photo. Also add, manual controls (manual focus and aparture settings) and image stabilisation. Whatever brand you choose, there are 10 to 12 parameters based on which u should purchase a cam instead of going for the camera with the highest megapixel available. 

Also one should be aware of the pitfalls of buying a digicam from grey market , if u know the inside story. The lens assembly is the most vital parts of a cam and many grey market operators have enough expertise to take out the original sony or olympus lens and replace these with unbranded chinese lens. In fact these days entire cams are available which are fake but looks like the original. I know one grey market guy who fooled his own elder brother by selling him such a fake cam @10K when its priced only 4K. After hearing that I do'nt trust these grey market guys. The chinese are very good at producing identical fakes and the market is flooded with them. Even the 2300mAH Sony NiMH battery that I bought from a "reputed" grey market shop turned out to be a fake chinese one when I asked another one, known to me. But the finish is so good that its hard to tell. The only (and most severe) drwaback was that even after fully charging it,  could shoot much lesser number of photos. Even my old 700mAH Eveready NiCD battery (they get it from china too) performed better altho' the cam manual said that NiCDs are unreliable. Also, the lens is the most used mechanical part in a digicam and sooner or later will have some problem due to wear and tear. If your cam company don't have a strong presence or service network in India, no parts or expertise would be available and u would be left with a 15 or 17K or higher priced piece of junk even though the fault may be minor.


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## suhasingale (Oct 5, 2005)

--::CANNON Is ThE BeST::--


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## godsownman (Oct 5, 2005)

My dad had bought the canon  A520 from USA for about $250 and I was seeing on Ebay too  the prices are quite similar even today after 2 months.

However purchase from Ebay I would not advice as it is hard earned money going down the drain if God forbid something had to go wrong.

Also I have very happy with it and its is loaded with most of the features reqd.

Regards , 


Pm me if you need any specific details about it


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## tuxfan (Oct 5, 2005)

Nikon 5900 should be a good choice. If you can get 5200 also, it would be good enough and that will be cheaper because its a little older model. I have this, its almost a year now and it works pretty fine.


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## khandu (Oct 5, 2005)

Even i was thinkin about Canon Powershot A400

whats the spec dude for nikon 5900 ?? 

any1 got these pricing??


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## shwetanshu (Oct 5, 2005)

hey give me the exact price of A520.


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## godsownman (Oct 5, 2005)

Hi,

See I cannot help you much with the price bcoz I had not bought mine here but I paid $250 +cover+battery+charger

But I must say that on Ebay you can get it for the same price for $250 with cover and some other stuff.

I checked at Ebay 's USA site and I saw.But its the risk that you have to take.But in India its way over ur budget  bcoz of the duty ,warranty and others.

You can look at A510 as that might fit in ur <12K budget.

Do let me know if you need any other help.


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## Hulo (Oct 5, 2005)

If A520 exceeds your budget go for A510 and you'd not regret. A510 is exactly identical except for the resolution. But A520 is more slugglish than A510 for some reason. Also, some say that A520 basically interpolates the resolution to 4 MP from 3.2MP. I don't know if its correct. In any case, you'd not notice much difference in pix quality if you print upto 8x10 photos. If you want to print a larger size, even a 4MP camera would not do. You'd need 5MP or more. I have operated both the models and find the pix quality similar. Why pay 3000 more for not much advanced feature? Check out the comprehensive reviews in the following pages. Also compare the picture quality of same photos taken with both digicams and decide for yourself - *www.steves-digicams.com/2005_reviews/a510.html and *www.steves-digicams.com/2005_reviews/a520.html

Also, even if you are lured by the cheaper price in the grey market, consider the option of buying from authorised dealers. Grey market price for A510 is around 9500. But with the authorised dealer you'd get a 256 MB SD Card free (the 16MB card that comes with the camera is of no use) which is worth about 1700. U have to purchase it separately with the grey market model anyway. So the price comes to 11200. I got the cam at a price of Rs.11100 (incl. 4% VAT) from an authorised dealer. So I went for authorised dealer, which also got me 2 year warranty which is not available with the grey market piece.


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## vishalbhatia (Oct 6, 2005)

Iam using the Sony DSC F88 5 MP and It is the best  for me!


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## shwetanshu (Oct 6, 2005)

how many pics can a 16MB memory hold???


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## tuxfan (Oct 6, 2005)

That depends on the resolution and quality of your pic. Every camera lets you select you these two things.


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## Hulo (Oct 6, 2005)

shwetanshu said:
			
		

> how many pics can a 16MB memory hold???



If u use the highest resolution and least compression, 16 MB card can hold approx. 7 pictures in case of a 4MP cam and 9 pictures in case of a 3.2 MP cam.

128 MB card - 61 and 76 pictures respectively

512 MB card - 237 and 295 pictures respectively


If u use lower compression or lower resolutions, it would be more. For example, if you shoot at 640x480 resolution (sufficient for screen-only viewing), a 512 MB card can hold 4316 pictures !


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## shwetanshu (Oct 6, 2005)

thanx hulo but i think i m gonna stick with sony dsc s60, my bro is gonna buy a510, so we shud have a litte variety.

Thanx guys for ur help


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## godsownman (Oct 6, 2005)

Yah good idea .

Let us know which one is better.

Regards


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## Hulo (Oct 7, 2005)

OK, that's a good idea. Do post your experiences and photos on the same subject shot with both cam (there are lots of sites where u can do that). Just post a link here.


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## shwetanshu (Oct 7, 2005)

for pics u will have to wait a lil longer, i m gonna get that on my bday. hehehehe


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## shwetanshu (Oct 20, 2005)

ok ok the topic says it all. Damn i wanted digicam, i smelt something fishy wen my mother happilyu agreed for the digicam. Damn they were thinking a digicam to be a handycam. Curse my frnd who told them the difference.

Ok now my budget stands at 23K, nothing more, so suggest handycam. Sony preferably.


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## vishalbhatia (Oct 20, 2005)

You can go for DCR-TRV285E MRP : Rs. 18,990 /-*
Explore more at:
*www.sonyindia.co.in/static/videoCamera.htm


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