Digital camera fault.

[Joe]

The li-ion battery in my R/T has just celebrated its fourteenth birthday and the one in my MP3 player is at least five years old and though not as good as it was is still functional.

On the other hand the one in my lap-top is what we electronic engineers call "Buggered."

They are certainly a huge improvement on Ni-Cads and Ni-MHs

- Joe

[Aerodyne]

Thanks for the link, Colin. I've bookmarked it. They do actually have a site of their own now, the battery makers, but a thorough search failed to find the Li EN-EL14 for my Nikon D5200. Your link, your battery supplier, have the battery.
Tony

[camallison]

Glad to have been of help Tony.

Colin

[Retired]

Hi,

Thanks David for the Brian Rix information I knew you would be clued up.

Looks like profits are up at Samsung Tony with you having two of their TV's and me one? It's certainly strange to view compared to our old steam powered TV; all the colours are totally different but I'll get used to it; the difference in the weight between the old and new TV's is amazing. The sales assistant at Curry's pointed out that this TV is equipped with Freeview and that it has 100Hz processing rate which is usually found on more expensive sets? For anyone interested here is the TV we bought paying £239.50;

http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/tv-dvd-blu-...l#longDesc

Here is the Nikon camera I bought costing £53.97 including three year warranty.

http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/cameras/dig...l#longDesc

The battery information is interesting; at the moment I'm using AA Duracell Ultra batteries which I buy in large packs at Rufforth; this saves playing about with battery chargers?

It's been a very busy day today and I still haven't had time to read the literature supplied with the TV and camera.

The weather forecast is sounding promising so I hope I can crack on with the Lorch rebuild; there just aren't enough hours in a day.

Kind regards, Col.

[Yorkie]

Oh dear, I've just dropped my Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX9 compact digital camera on the concrete and written it off.

It's some years old so no longer made. One of the things I liked about it was that it had a removable rechargeable 3.7V 1150mAh Li-on battery which slipped into a little charger. I have a camera phone and could just use that, as more and more people seem to be doing these days, but I'm no more enthusiastic about phones than I am about cameras. It stays in the glove box till it needs recharging and rarely gets used.

I have little interest is photography as such, but most days take a few pics of restoration projects etc, and take the camera on walks and when away from home. Just looking for a 'point and shoot' jobby and the Nikon Coolpix that you recently bought seems to fit the bill nicely Colin. I wondered what your early impressions of it's features and benefits are, now that you've had it about three weeks?

The spec seems good - it has several settings for different types of pics, as well as auto focus, and allegedly will take close-ups down to about 10cMs. It has a large (75mm) LCD screen. The spec states that there are 20 Scene Modes and a Scene Auto Selector feature that enables you to select the appropriate setting for the scene, or just let the camera call the shots for you. Portrait, Landscape, Sports, Night portrait/landscape, Party/indoor, Beach, Snow, sunset, dusk/dawn, close up, food, museum, fireworks, black and White copy, backlighting and pet portrait.

The only thing that puts me off it slightly is the rather vivid crimson colour, but I guess I could live with that.

All in all, it looks good value at £44.97.

[Radio Fixer]

If you can find a compact, at the right price, with a viewfinder (normally there's a button to use the LCD screen as well) that's a real asset. When the suns behind you (Yes! I know you don't get much up there ) its a great help. Cameras where you can only compose on the LCD screen I call "Point and hope cameras".

Gary

[Joe]

Too true.

My Kodak's got a proper view finder and switching the screen on lengthens battery-life substantially.

- Joe

[AlanBeckett]

Too true.

My Kodak's got a proper view finder and switching the screen on lengthens battery-life substantially.

- Joe

On?

Alan

[Retired]

Hi,

Thanks for asking David. Yes I've had my Nikon Coolpix for a few weeks now and am generally delighted with it; this is the camera I now use for taking images which I add to this forum. Normally I use it in "Auto" mode because the images I am taking are done in the garage whilst I'm wearing dirty gloves so I don't play around with the settings. However this morning I wanted to take a close up image of a damaged screw so selected Macro but the camera would not focus on the screw; I'm sure this is entirely my fault and next time in the garage I'll play around with the camera with clean hands? I too rate digital cameras with mobile phones regarding both as a means to an end.

Before posting the pictures on the forum I re-size them using Gimp 2 which even I can understand and its a totally free download.

I paid a bit extra at Curry's for my camera David because they had a special offer on the insurance so for a small sum my camera is insured for three years; it's a lovely camera for the money and of course brand new. I did browse eBay looking at second hand cameras but what an absolute bore this was and I thought what am I doing when a brand new camera can be bought so cheaply?

Kind regards, Col.

[Yorkie]

Thanks for the feedback Colin - I think it will meet my needs nicely if they still have any left.

I prefer the LCD screen as a 'viewfinder' - I don't like squinting through a tiny window like in days of yore. Works fine for me - I can review the pic and if it's not to my liking I can delete it and take another. It's not as though I'm trying to take 'once in a lifetime action pics' as people who are interested in sport might wish to - as someone crosses the finishing line, scores a goal or whatever (zzzzz).

As I said earlier - I'm not in the slightest bit interested in photography as such - just want to take a few snaps here and there, as and when. Rarely take any prints off, and when I do, the chap up the village does excellent prints cheaper than faffing around with my own printer, so I just take the memory card and he does them while I wait - no dramas.

To post them on the forum, I reduce them in 'Photoshop Elements'.