Can anyone recommend a good digital camera for £80 or less?

[Mr Allen]

Topic.

Seen a good Sony branded one on PC World website for £79.99, despite being anti-Sony in general, this camera fares well in reviews so just this once I might ask for one for Christmas, what I do want though is one that does HD movies in at least 720 if not 1080P.

The camera I bought from Argos a bit less than 6 months ago does, but it's complicated for a cheap £30 camera, and the damn thing doesn't work any more anyway, tried to use it at the Ball today and it didn't work, it was fortunate I had enough charge left on me phone to take loads of pics (see my topic in the Pictures and Videos section).

So anyway, can anyone recommend any other good slightly more expensive cameras but under £100 with good features?

Before anyone points out the painfully obvious, I will scout Google tomorrow for camera reviews.

 

[Judge]

Even the best players in the camera market offer low-end models. Sony, Canon, & Nikon. But if you pay especially close attention to the "reviews" of those products, you're likely to realize that they either function relatively poorly or lack all the features you seek, based on a low price.

Read the reviews- with particular attention to the lowest marks. Note how many bad reviews compared to how many good reviews. And more so note the nature of such bad reviews. If many buyers of the product experience the same problems, and those problems are notable, a "four-star" rating might not look as good as it may superficially appear.

Your best bet is to save more money until you get to an amount of money reflecting quality and features that makes the expenditure worth it. Something considerably more than £80 that has very high ratings when it comes to functionality and especially lens quality. Otherwise odds are you'll just end up with another purchase you'll regret.

 

[Mattymatt]

One of the problems with cheap cameras is that they use "noisy" lenses. By noisy, I mean lenses that cause distortion or, in digital camera parlance, pixelation. As an avid photographer, I would probably advise saving some money for a better camera. At your price point, you could get a cheap point and shoot but I wouldn't expect something of really high quality. If you absolutely need a camera now, Nikon CoolPix would be the way to go.

 

[Mr Allen]

Even the best players in the camera market offer low-end models. Sony, Canon, & Nikon. But if you pay especially close attention to the "reviews" of those products, you're likely to realize that they either function relatively poorly or lack all the features you seek, based on a low price.

Read the reviews- with particular attention to the lowest marks. Note how many bad reviews compared to how many good reviews. And more so note the nature of such bad reviews. If many buyers of the product experience the same problems, and those problems are notable, a "four-star" rating might not look as good as it may superficially appear.

Your best bet is to save more money until you get to an amount of money reflecting quality and features that makes the expenditure worth it. Something considerably more than £80 that has very high ratings when it comes to functionality and especially lens quality. Otherwise odds are you'll just end up with another purchase you'll regret.

Even if I had the money for an expensive camera, and I don't, I'd only use it 2 or 3 times a year so it's false economy.

 

[Judge]

Even if I had the money for an expensive camera, and I don't, I'd only use it 2 or 3 times a year so it's false economy.

Depends on how long your next cheap camera lasts. Imagine having collectively spent the same amount for a better, but more expensive camera by continually buying cheap ones that fail as quickly just as the last one did.

That's false economy.

More often than not, you get what you pay for.

 

[Mr Allen]

One of the problems with cheap cameras is that they use "noisy" lenses. By noisy, I mean lenses that cause distortion or, in digital camera parlance, pixelation. As an avid photographer, I would probably advise saving some money for a better camera. At your price point, you could get a cheap point and shoot but I wouldn't expect something of really high quality. If you absolutely need a camera now, Nikon CoolPix would be the way to go.

Thanks.

I don't need Super high quality shots, I only use the thing for taking pics at Comic Con type events and the annual "End of Summer Ball" like I attended yesterday.

Hence the desire for a cheap but not TOO cheap camera.

 

[Judge]

Thanks.

I don't need Super high quality shots, I only use the thing for taking pics at Comic Con type events and the annual "End of Summer Ball" like I attended yesterday.

Hence the desire for a cheap but not TOO cheap camera.

Unfortunately that's a rationalization that is dependent on the longevity of the camera you bought. And how many weeks/months did that Vivitar camera last?

Buying a camera with a poor quality lens just means poor quality images. But buying a camera that has poor quality components means a camera that likely either malfunctions or simply ceases to function altogether. Worse at a time when you need it. In the lower echelon of digital cameras, don't expect price alone to drive that distinction. That's where all you can do is to scrutinize reviews. Which may or may not expose the weakest aspect of such cameras.

It's one of the creepier aspects about the global economy. The idea that so many products made are so potentially disposable. That you have to meet a certain monetary threshold to buy something that will last longer than a few months. Or simply repeat the process over and over again, which is what such manufacturers are counting on. It's actually just another form of predatory marketing.

Something I ran into with "no-name" wireless mini-sized keyboards for my legacy computer. Their product life is absurdly short. Weeks to months. And yet they all seem to keep cranking them out, at an average price of $12 to $18. Enough to continue to get people to take the bait. "Cheap" is a powerful incentive, but often a costly one as well. Yet I also bought a Logitech wireless keyboard for $20 that has never let me down for this computer. Go figure. It's finding that magic number in price and product quality that can be so elusive at times. Keeping us consumers in the dark more often than not. Very frustrating.

 

[Mr Allen]

Unfortunately that's a rationalization that is dependent on the longevity of the camera you bought. And how many weeks/months did that Vivitar camera last?

Buying a camera with a poor quality lens just means poor quality images. But buying a camera that has poor quality components means a camera that likely either malfunctions or simply ceases to function altogether. Worse at a time when you need it. In the lower echelon of digital cameras, don't expect price alone to drive that distinction. That's where all you can do is to scrutinize reviews. Which may or may not expose the weakest aspect of such cameras.

It's one of the creepier aspects about the global economy. The idea that so many products made are so potentially disposable. That you have to meet a certain monetary threshold to buy something that will last longer than a few months. Or simply repeat the process over and over again, which is what such manufacturers are counting on. It's actually just another form of predatory marketing.

Something I ran into with "no-name" wireless mini-sized keyboards for my legacy computer. Their product life is absurdly short. Weeks to months. And yet they all seem to keep cranking them out, at an average price of $12 to $18. Enough to continue to get people to take the bait. "Cheap" is a powerful incentive, but often a costly one as well. Yet I also bought a Logitech wireless keyboard for $20 that has never let me down for this computer. Go figure. It's finding that magic number in price and product quality that can be so elusive at times. Keeping us consumers in the dark more often than not. Very frustrating.

From the end of April that Vivitar camera lasted about 4 and half months.

Not bad for a 30 quid camera from Argos.

 

[Judge]

From the end of April that Vivitar camera lasted about 4 and half months.

Not bad for a 30 quid camera from Argos.

Buying much of anything electronic that fails in a matter of months strikes me as a very poor value whether affordable or not.

 

[Joshua the Writer]

Cool! Another person who agrees that Sony is the worst company ever right now! (Mostly from a student game dev viewing their PS4's policies.)

On a serious note, do not purchase a camera that doesn't have a model number or company name. Those are most likely Chinese bootlegs. Since 104.58 USD isn't really that bad of a budget, you have some nice options. If you search on Amazon, you should find some pretty neat options that suit your needs. Cameras capable of that sweet, sweet 1080p60fps are getting cheaper now due to filmmakers and online content creators, as well as tech enthusiasts and families who like the ability to take high-quality memories are moving towards 4K now, creating somewhat of a surplus of 1080p and 720p cameras. If you search on Amazon the simple keywords "camera" and then select search filters, including the video resolutions you want and the amount of megapixels in still images you're looking for, and then when selecting a price range, you would want to type in £61.19-£80, and then you should find some decent cameras. Remember: Only order cameras that have a model number and brand advertised on the site, or else you'll get a piece of made-in-china crap.

 

[StephF]

If you want a Good camera then it won't be cheap. Sad but true.

 

[Mr Allen]

Cool! Another person who agrees that Sony is the worst company ever right now! (Mostly from a student game dev viewing their PS4's policies.)

On a serious note, do not purchase a camera that doesn't have a model number or company name. Those are most likely Chinese bootlegs. Since 104.58 USD isn't really that bad of a budget, you have some nice options. If you search on Amazon, you should find some pretty neat options that suit your needs. Cameras capable of that sweet, sweet 1080p60fps are getting cheaper now due to filmmakers and online content creators, as well as tech enthusiasts and families who like the ability to take high-quality memories are moving towards 4K now, creating somewhat of a surplus of 1080p and 720p cameras. If you search on Amazon the simple keywords "camera" and then select search filters, including the video resolutions you want and the amount of megapixels in still images you're looking for, and then when selecting a price range, you would want to type in £61.19-£80, and then you should find some decent cameras. Remember: Only order cameras that have a model number and brand advertised on the site, or else you'll get a piece of made-in-china crap.

I shop in UK Money.

I need a camera in a UK price.

Contrary to popular opinion not everyone lives in North America or Canada.

 

[tree]

@Mr Allen
"I shop in UK Money.

I need a camera in a UK price."

In that case, apparently what you need to do, is enter a specific UK amount,
as suggested in the post you quoted.

For instance, search for "camera for 80 pounds or less UK" or similar words.
This is a result I got by using those words.>>>
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Digital-Ca...o/s?ie=UTF8&page=1&rh=n:560836,p_36:138895031

 

[Bolletje]

I shop in UK Money.

I need a camera in a UK price.

Contrary to popular opinion not everyone lives in North America or Canada.

The guy actually converted the currency further along in his comment. Why are you acting so uppity if you won’t even bother reading the full response of someone who takes the time to try and help you?