Digi camera

[Richgm]

Scott. Not shutter speed, shutter lag. the time taken from pressing the button to the picture being taken.

[scott beeland]

Rich. I understood that bit; but I know I'm gonna be buying a compromise at this budget.

Just that I was interested in whether such a difference in continous mode capability betwen these 2 cameras was the "clincher" when it came to the buying decision.

[Impney]

If your preference is for action photography and general stuff then does it really matter as the difference is in the slow speeds. You need a monopod or tripod to get good results below 1/60th of a second IMHO.

If taking motorsport the Fuji is the better option because of the higher fps. There is nothing worse than having to wait while the camera writes to memory.

Alternatively, save up and buy a Nikon D70.

[scott beeland]

It's looking like the Fuji then.

Wouldn't want (and can't)to commit anything like a D70 budget to a camera for occasional use

[Paul M]

Scott, I;ve had the fuji 5500 for about a month, its absolutley fantastic, the best digital camera I've ever used. I got it from Jessops for £280 inc 3yr extended guarantee, 8 AA NIMH batteries & charger. Should have been over £300, they seem to haggle a bit.

Battery life is fantastic, I've taken it out and taken 60-70 shots and not had a low battery warning.

XD memory is cheap now, I got a new gen Fuji 128 meg card on Ebay for £19.99 with free postage.

Hope that helps with the decsion.

[jonlewis]

Always worth trying ebuyer for camera memory...

about £25 for 256Mb XD if memory serves

[Mark B]

Scott,

I'll be buying a digicamera myself in the next few weeks, I'm going for the Z2, I have 3 friends who have them & can't fault them, especially for sports photography. The shutter speed is very quick and is even when using the autofocus, cheapest I found it was £197 delivered from Ebuyer, what's the best price you've found?

Cheers,

Mark.

[scott beeland]

198 on kelkoo. I'm swaying towards the Fuji at the moment though.

Let me know about the deal you've found.

Ta. Scott

[Mark B]

Scott,

It's on here....(at the top)

http://www.pricerunner.co.uk/photography/digital-cameras/196898/prices

It's actually gone up by a quid since last week for some reason, 198 quid now, still a good deal though.

How much have you found the Fuji at?

Cheers,

Mark.  

[scott beeland]

fuji

Never bought off pixmania though.

orMinolta

[7SE]

Scott, A tip if you are going to buy at Jessops.  They will price match against the internet (UK sites only).  I bought a Fuji a year ago, got them to price match against a camera with docking cradle combo, then did a deal where I took only the camera and got case and 256Mb mem thrown in - this was worth far more to me.

I can get over 100 photos at 3Mp on the card and the battery (Li-on) lasts 2 weeks on holiday.  I never bother to change memory cards and just recharge the battery in the camera.

I've not read the specs but a reported 1.5 fps on video (above) sounds like a miss-type.  15 fps is a more reasonable number, much like the old Super8 cine film.

I hope that you like what you choose

[Chris_G]

Scott,

I went through this same debate recently but was comparing with the Z3 not the Z2.

I went with the Z3 in the end because of:

1 - Image Stabilisation... This is fantastic and pretty much essential at full zoom if not using a tripod THIS IS A BIG PLUS for the Z3

2 - The Z3 has silent zoom (x12 as well! which allows you to zoom during video clips which you cant do with the Fuji.

Also a good price is HERE

I've not had mine long, but so far I'd say the zoom fuctions are fantastic but you do have to watch the selected ISO as there can be some image noise creeping in at the higher ISO settings. Also when selecting your SD card make sure it is one of the new 'high speed' types which are required to keep up with the video recording at highest resolution settings. I chose THIS ONE which seem perfect.

Cheers

Chris

[Chris_G]

....Also

HEREare some reviews for the Z3 and there is a link to the best prices (inclding the 7dayshop one) at the top left......

Chris

[JonnyBoy]

I'm into mountain biking

15% off for wscc members

continouus mode shutter speed.. higher is better.. this isnt anything to do with video.. its how quicky the camera can take x number of sequential shot son shutter button hold down. 1.5 shutters per sec is crap.. by the time youve taken 2 shutters, the car will have fone past!

pro digi cameras shoot at around 10 shutters per sec i think.

2 sec or 15 sec shutter is how long you can expose the ccd ('digital film' sensor to light.. a longer shutter allows more light.. so 15 secs would give you car headlamps cutting a trail through the night or vivid night shots, where as 2 secs wouldnt let you pick up a huge amount of light. My fuji is 2 sec max.. and does ok for night photography.. need tripod though as suggested.

thiswas shot at 30+ secs shutter.

shutter lag is a pain.. you have to learn to lead the shot really.. or you get a car half out of the frame! (setting up manual focus or pre focusing the frame speeds things up though)

perhaps going into a store like jesops and let them go through both bits of kit with you. take in the best price you find, the url, and phone number of the online reseller and they will price match!

plus.. you get to deal with a real store if you have problems!

[Chris_G]

continouus mode shutter speed.. higher is better.. this isnt anything to do with video.. its how quicky the camera can take x number of sequential shot son shutter button hold down. 1.5 shutters per sec is crap.. by the time youve taken 2 shutters, the car will have fone past!

pro digi cameras shoot at around 10 shutters per sec i think.

This should answer some questions on this subjecyt regarding the Z3 (taken from on of the reviews)......

For shooting fast action subjects, the DiMAGE Z3's Standard and Ultra High Speed (UHS) Continuous Advance modes capture a rapid series of images while you hold down the Shutter button, much like a motor drive on a traditional 35mm camera. UHS mode captures up to 15 frames at the 1,280 x 960 resolution at a rate of 10 frames/second, while Standard mode captures frames at about 2.16 frames per second. (Konica Minolta claims 2.2 frames/second, pretty close to what we saw.) The actual frame rate and maximum number of images in a series will depend on the resolution setting, subject matter, and the amount of available memory space. Besides the normal Continuous Advance modes, the Z3 offers a feature called "Progressive Capture," which begins continuously acquiring images when you press and hold down the shutter button, but only saving the last few captured when you finally release the shutter button. At maximum resolution, standard Progressive Capture will save the last six images captured, while UHS Progressive Capture will save up to the last 15 1280 x 960 images captured. Progressive capture is very helpful for capturing fast action, when you don't know exactly when the critical moment will arrive. (Great for those like myself whose reflexes are slowing as we age.) The Z3's action-capture capabilities are further enhanced by its shorter than average shutter lag times, ranging from 0.26 seconds at wide angle to 0.46 seconds at telephoto. (As well as its prefocus shutter delay of 0.13 seconds, just slightly longer than the Z2's 0.09 seconds.)