Wow -- electronics still way cheaper in Japan

Wow -- cameras still way cheaper in Japan

My Sony digital camera I bought like 5 years ago is finally going to be put to rest. The shape sucked anyway so I almost never took it out (which means a lot less pictures). Was shopping around at some of the local stores. Wanting to try out an Olympus. There's a 5 Mega Pixel one for I believe $399 (maybe $349 and a 7 Mega pixel one for $499.

Since I'm going to Japan in a month or so anyway, figured I'd dig around and make sure I'm not going to waste money. Checking Olympus' wbsite and www.kakaku.com, one can find this newer model 8 megapixel Olympus camera can be had for as little as 37,000 yen. Can most likely get it duty free as well if I go to the right place.

I thought those days were long gone... not like I'm doing a lot of shopping around at the moment.

 

If you're going for older models (lack of funds), I'm thinking the US would be cheaper though.

I noticed something similar in the Philippines with computer parts. OEM and older stuff was pretty cheap, but newer computer parts were cheaper in the US t'was strange.

 

If you want good quality pictures, buy an SLR digital instead. See if they are cheaper in Japan than the US. Once you go SLR you dont go back...

 

Refresh my memory on what SLR is? I'm really going after compact to be honest. I've had a digital camera for years, and don't take it anywhere b/c I hate the shape, which means I have almost zero pictures.

 

Japan is cheaper than any western country as far as anything not PC goes. PC stuff in Japan isn't really that cheap unless it's a whole unit you're buying made by a japanese PC Company.

Yakumo

 

Single Lens Reflex. What you see in the viewfinder is what you will get on your picture. Use the digital viewfinder on the camera for the same effect. (As you want a compact)

 

Oh yeah, Higher resolutions aren't always better. Doesn't make a huge difference to the image quality (between say a 5mp and 6mp shot), but does take up more on your memory card, and takes longer to process, therefore longer between each shot and less shots in rapid shoot mode (useful for high speed action)For a compact to put in your pocket, I'd look at 3mp, with a decent lens and optical zoom. I think Sony memory sticks have slightly higher transfer rates but are more costly.

 

Yeah, I agree with OldProgie - resolution isn't the most important part of a camera. I think anything higher than about 4/5MP is just going overboard - I'd never take pictures that big! I also think a decent lens and proper zoom are more important, not forgetting actual picture quality.

And look for something that's good at focusing at close ranges if you want to take pictures of game related stuff - some cameras are pretty usless at indoor shots or anything under 1m.

 

A macro function would be something else I'm interested in. As for the high resolutions, I saw some professional photos from a friend of mine's wedding. The resolution was ridiculously high, but the photos were fucking awesome. Yeah, it's overboard, but I all of a sudden wanted to take pictures at that resolutions.

 

You think Japan is cheap? Try China... Beautiful place too.

 

Well since you want compact, then SLRs aren't compact cameras. But to show you the excellent picture quality you get with a digital SLR, here are some screenshots. I'd post the original image but its 2.5mbs and it is 3072x2048 pixels.

Here is the whole picture...



Here it is zoomed in very close to the petals...



That flower was taken by my friend who owns an 8megapixel canon digital SLR camera. Costs him $800 for it, but I hope its cheaper in Japan since it's made there. This camera is great if you want to take close up shots of PCB boards, etc.

 

And just to show that resolution isn't always what it's cracked up to be, here's a photo taken with my el-cheapo £80 2MP camera in 1.2MP mode.



You only want really high resolution if you have a shit zoom lens, or you are going to be printing poster sized pictures.

Spot the egg yolk stains on the key's, not my keyboard by the way, was some skanks in work.

 

Tachikoma, that's one hell of a shitty looking keyboard.

I think that the resolution does matter if you have a low mega pixel camera. These two hotos taken in the same conditions show that the higher resolution picture does look sharper. Both pictures have been resized to the same size. Taken with my phone's 2.0 Mega pixel camera.




Yakumo

 

The difference you see in those pictures is not so much to do with resolution, but more to do with exposure settings. There is a noticable difference in the depth of field. One photo is sharper at the front, the other is sharper in the middle.

As has been said, the quality of the optics and the electronics will make more of a difference than the resolution (at least in most cases)

 

I found Japanese TV prices to be really good when I was there, same with Minidisc gear (for which I am a total devotee-whore).

I went to Hong Kong under the impression that electronics prices would be great, and they were terrible.