G3 v. Hp 850 Which one?

Gareth Fowler

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18 Dec 2002 - 11:45 AM

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Hi,
I am new to digital photography, and wish to purchase a camera that has the option to be fully automatic. The best cameras I have seen so far are the two mentioned.
With the Canon, I can get it for 450 as one of my friends work for them. I can get the Hp for 350.
I would like a camera to be as near as possible to the functionality of a digital SLR.
I recently have seen the Hp camera, and with its 8x optical zoom, and cheap price it is certainly attractive. However I doubt its quality as hp are new to the market, and I think most of the money will be paying for the zoom, and the quality of the other electronics is likely to be low.
The canon speaks for itself, with their knowledge on lenses and their background, I am sure the quality is likely to be of a high standard.
I would also like to be able to upgrade the lens as time progresses.
Please can you tell me which one do you think is the best option?
The sites for these cameras are:

Canon - http://www.canon.co.uk/digitalcameras/
HP - http://www.hp-expo.com/uk/eng/products/pcphotography/q2190a.html

Gareth Fowler

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18 Dec 2002 - 3:14 PM

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Have you had any problems with the G2?
I have also heard about the fuji 602, do you think that is likely to be a better choice?

collinf

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18 Dec 2002 - 4:14 PM

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Big difference time (I Don't know about the HP) - The G3 is 4 megapixel (optical) for 450, the Fuji S602 is a 6 meg (effective - 3 meg with superccd to double output) but it's 700 for a decent kit spec.

Is the G3 camera only?

collinf

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18 Dec 2002 - 4:46 PM

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Well, the Jessops deal on the S602 comes with case, Microdrive, Compact Flash etc.

What I meant was, what accessories would you get with the G3?

collinf

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18 Dec 2002 - 5:55 PM

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For the cost difference (and none of the other details) I would go with the G3. I have a Canon EOS 600 SLR and love it, one of my work colleagues has just bought the new Ixus digital, and if the G3 is anything like as good then you'll get a superb machine.

As far as the HP goes, I have always thought of the company as a bit of a "jack-of-all-trades master of none" company, printers, CD Writers, scanners, digital cameras etc. Their oproducts do their job, but, not (IMO) to the standard of a dedicated company.

I hope this makes sense!

collinf

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18 Dec 2002 - 6:31 PM

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548 IS the best price I've seen! dependent on what you get with it.

Jessops.co.uk are offering 594.90 with 16 Mb card and free case.
http://www.jessops.com/search/viewproduct.cfm?PRODUCT=FUJFPS602&BRAND=&C...
It's a good choice!

suemccartin

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10 May 2003 - 8:42 AM

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I've had my G2 for awhile, I've got a 850 coming now because I want the bigger zoom. I like my G2, it's got it's foibles but you learn to deal with them. The G2/G3 will have many more "functions" than the 850 is going to have. I like the stitch mode the canon has and the manual focus (which the 850 lacks) also occasionally comes in handy. The G2 also offers two more iso modes-200 & 400 (that are mostly useless anyhow because there's so much noise) So I guess your decision really breaks down to how you like to take pictures.

I go to the zoo a lot and want close ups of the tigers that are a good 75-100ft away from me down in their enclosure so I need a good zoom. The G2 at least (don't know if they fixed this in the G3) gives consistently fuzzy focus at full digital (11X) zoom. I love my g2 for flowers and scenics but my 850 is going to be there for the good zoom that the canon lacks.