LX3 retails about 1500 to 1600. Check out the Garage Sales section for a bigger picture (no pun intended, lol).

Type of camera/lens/accesories : video-enabled compact camera / camcorder
Budget: around Rm400
Your Location: Central
Preferable brand : anything but not samsung
Type of photography videography u want to do : simple video capture, basically just looking for a simple video solution
Any specific models in mind? : looking for something with "10X" zoom, if you're familiar with photography, am looking for something that starts wide like 24mm to maybe 200-300mm.

This post has been edited by DJFoo000: Apr 29 2010, 10:13 PM

^ ask wallet. Either one will do. Ask her go shop try it out first. Later she dun like ask you sell back in LYN then you know. Both are great. Just a matter of whether you like Nikon's menu or Canon's menu. Belum cuba, belum tau.

LOL. Expected your kind of reply, headhunter7. I was saving other people's replies by condensing what have been told repeatedly. I assume they ask you to google, then try at shops, as well?

And I'm serious about the 'ask you sell back at LYN' thing. Go to the sell thread and you can see many stating 'going back to Nikon' or 'going back to canon' as reason for sale. You might even get some cheap deals there too.

My point is that we know what we're telling you. You might even give the exact same advice to someone next time when you become more proficient in these kind of things.

Anyway, no recommendations for my video-enabled compact camera thing? I'll reduce it to maybe a 28mm to 150mm+ zoom range. Maybe up to RM500. No such item? Possible to find 2nd hand?

@headhunter. Fair enough. But all DSLRs also black color one lor. You want colorful then go find Pentax K-x. They have dslrs in all the rainbow colors. Even menu for Pentax K-x can choose from a range of colors.

If it's for a girl, are you sure they will stick to DSLR? Fine I'm not to judge them. But, again this is a common advice, buying DSLRs are like buying into a system. See if she's not going to develop into the interest, the system won't really matter that much. So, canon or nikon doesn't really make a difference. If all she wants is to take good image quality pictures, comparing PnS and DSLR, ANY DSLR will do (or LX3, S90, G11, G10. Google them out).

And you mentioned she won't even care about the menu (weird, I depend a lot on the menu when using my DSLR, not just live view but previews too. You better check with her, later she dun like the menu of either of the camera then you wasted the effort in getting her the camera), and emphasises on 'outlook', Pentax K-x will make her drool. Find the one with her favourite color, done deal. A bit difficult to find, but comes in colors that matters everything to girls.

I even found a review of Pentax K-x for you.

Click here to see what special colors there are for Pentax K-x.

Special Edition Colors here.

Between Canon and Nikon? From the perspective of a DSLR user? Nikon, coz you mentioned you have a friend using it. In the case of DSLRs, following your friend is a good thing. You get to share knowledge and equipments. Mind you I'm a Canon user. Going with sense here.

P/S: 'Outlook' doesn't mean wut you meant. The correct word is 'appearance'. I know this is not english thread, but it irks me when ppl use the wrong word, esp when it's 6 thousand miles away from the original meaning.

Cliff notes:
-Buy DSLR = Buy system
-Pentax K-x if you want colorful DSLRs
-Nikon if serious about photography coz has Nikon user friend
-Safer option would be LX3, S90, G11, G10
-'Outlook' =/= 'Appearance'

P/S2 : is this the first time Pentax is recommended in this thread? LOL

This post has been edited by DJFoo000: May 1 2010, 10:18 PM

@dvlzplayground. I think LYN should make a flow chart for selecting cameras, DSLRs in particular, coz the same questions keep coming up, and it's almost always between brands. Duncha agree?

no right or wrong decision. If you scared regret, you can always start from a prosumer level PnS, like LX3, S90, G10, G11. These will set you back about 1.5K. Top up 300 you can get D3000 or 1000D. D90 and 550D is at the high end of entry level DSLRs, i would reserve 3-4K before i touch these babes.

If you think you can grow into photography, go straight for DSLR. If you have worries, then learn kao kao from a PnS first. When you get frustrated with PnS liao, then you will wholeheartedly accept DSLR's weak points (big size, heavy, inferior kit lens, noisy focusing motor, expensive upgrades, etc).

I was at where you were. I went the PnS way. Remember you can always sell your PnS to fund the DSLR. They hold their prices quite well.

@yuka, the only reason i'll go for an alpha is the cheap kit and twin lens kit. A230 kit for Rm1500, A380 kit for RM2100 but A380 twin kit for Rm2400. (For the same set of lens for a 1000D I need to pay Rm2800) Not to mention the free workshop by Sony from time to time. For the image quality and stuff, you need to refer to the respective reviews and LYN thread.

if you like D3000, then go for it. RM1900 for kit. On a budget? Check out the LYN Garage Sales 'SLR Cameras' tag for 2nd hand DSLRs. There're some good deals there, like very good ones.

@fongwan
You want to take nice image quality pictures, or you want to pick up photography? (Note: nice image quality pics =/= nice pics, the person holding the camera makes the difference, not the camera)

Since it's few K investment you better think about it. You can do photography just as well using a prosumer PnS. DSLRs are for those who want more than what a prosumer PnS can offer. Mind you LX3 S90 G10 G11 (any one will do a fine job, just a preference of interface) are able to take spectacular pictures without the hassle of lugging a DSLR.

Since you 心大心小, buy prosumer PnS better la. After 1 year you re-evaluate your interest for photography, then only decide to jump to DSLR.

This post has been edited by DJFoo000: May 2 2010, 10:05 AM

then even easier. Go nikon. Since your family using nikon already, whatever equipment they're using, you can share and use. Brand variety is not always a good thing in a bunch of DSLR users. Going alpha will only force you buy the equivalent equipments your family has in order to get the same results. You do know lenses are for exclusive usage of the brand body they are made for, right?

lol. There's no which>which in the world of cameras. Each camera offer different features, depends on user whether they need it or not.

If I were to choose b/w the 2, i'll choose the A200. 1K is basically the floor price of DSLRs (i think). Most DSLRs will drop to this price when they are obsolete.

^ Entry level bodies generally don't handle noise (as in ISO1600 kind) as well as high-end bodies, but is still half a globe better than PnS. LX3 is very noisy at ISO 800 (sometimes even 400). I assume you want good high ISO because of low light conditions, and dun wan to use flash? Then LX3 is not really that good. (Actually all PnS also cannot handle high ISO).

As an all rounder LX3 is excellent. Wide as 24mm (OK for landscape) , tele to 60mm (ok for portrait), short minimum focusing distance (1cm at 24mm, 25cm at 60mm), with manual mode to adjust for night shots.

You might want to look into models that can offer more zoom range. Since you do not plan to upgrade, the last thing you want is the restriction of your camera. Do look into G10 or G11 that offers a range of 28mm to 140mm, which is about 5X zoom. LX3 only 2.5X zoom.

Is size a hindrance to you? If not then look into some superzooms like the SX1, SX10, SX20 (28mm up to 560mm, which is like 20X zoom)

Ignore my advice on longer zoom range if you do not intend to zoom in when taking pictures. I did not check the prices of the superzooms so forgive me if they are out of budget.

haha, you don't always shoot in low light, right? Don't let that worry you. Auto ISO will do the job just fine.

2 thumbs up for LX3.

G10=1.4-1.5K
LX3=1.5K
S90=1.6K
G11=1.8K

agak agak that price la.

This post has been edited by DJFoo000: May 3 2010, 01:41 PM

lol that is called RRP. The prices I gave are the street price. I will choose #1 S90, #2 LX3, #3 G11, #4 G10. But that's just me. You might you need to go see the cams for yourself.

^ For you it's better & easier to visit a camera shop and ask them to show you what they have. I went to Tesco the other day and they are having these fantastic cheap digicams for sale from Olympus and so on for Rm500 or less. There isn't much to look out for in cheap digicams. They all have similar features, and similar image qualities.

Don't keep your hopes too high for rechargeable batteries in this category.

this thread works best with specific situations. Like if you can't decide which package to get, or whether a certain model can deliver a specific effect that you want.

General ones like A vs B, which is better, very hard to give comment coz the specs are all over the web. And it probably makes it easier to make a choice if the buyer learns a bit about what he/she is going to buy in the first place. You don't go buy a car without first learning how to drive, right? And you surely test drive a bit before you buy, right? Same applies to cameras. I dun understand how ppl buy things these days.

@eueu, if you just want to take food pics, the LX3 is great for the legendary 1cm macro mode.

LOL. Before I answer you that question, I need you to answer this: how often are you going to shoot something that close to the camera? You do know how long is 1cm, right? Put something 1cm from your eyes, and that's wut the camera sees.

What they're telling you is that the camera can focus anything directly in front of the camera if that's what the user intends to do. As for the Canon thing, I also dun understand. The 2 photos are different. I dunno how Canon compare the 'without macro' and 'with macro' pics. The first pic looks out of focus to me. Just another way to say the camera can focus very near objects?

This post has been edited by DJFoo000: May 10 2010, 01:28 PM

^ the more you zoom, the more disturbance? You mean in terms of effect of camera shake izzit? There's a cheat to prevent/ minimise it if you dig deeper into google (hint: reciprocal law).

cheap zoom lens with IS is 55-250mm IS, Rm900., sony's version is 699.

actually hor, get Canon for a peace of mind la. Photography is a game that involves you using money.

Or make a list of things you'll want to upgrade to for each system. Price them. Get the overall picture, then make your decision there. If canon's list end up more expensive (very likely), then you decide whether you want to invest more for it's technology or not.

for prices, the Garage Sale forum is a great place to start.

400? typo ka? There's no sub 1000 camera that can satisfy the first 3 requirement that you wanted separately, let alone all in one body.

@fender, try tesco/jusco/giant's electronic device department. They can be more helpful and you get a rough idea of what kind of price range certain features are worth.