Go to the bottom of this page to see the Cameras we recomend !
 
Hi - my name is Jack - welcome to my Vostro Cameras Recomended Cameras page . At the bottom of this page you will see the 9 cameras we recomend in different price / type brackets . Click on the link buttons below each camera to see our full test reports on the cameras . All the reports are written by Steve who tests most of the cameras . Myself & Rhod also test out many of the cameras so that we can tell you the real facts about the cameras we sell & the cameras we will not sell ! .
 
Deciding which are the best Cameras is not an easy one to make because there are so many available ... but i have a huge advantage in helping me make my choices ... i have the benifit of having seen the results of Steves tests on just about every Camera he can get his hands on . Steve has tested over 750 Digital Cameras over the last few years so knows what is good & bad - i doubt whether there are more than a very few people in the UK that have tested as many Cameras as he has & even less who have had the opportunity to test them both in the UK & Abroad .
 
Steves tests are not the types you will find in many Magazines or Internet sites - he does not use complicated charts or set conditions because he feels that the Cameras should be tested in the same way & for the same purpose as the person who is most likeley to buy the Camera would use it . There is no point in trying to take Pro type pictures with a pont n shoot Camera ... equally so there is no point in using a Digital SLR for just snap shots ... Steve tests them for what they are ! . He then prints the results to A4 or A3 size so we can show our Customers in our Shops exactly what they will get from that Camera .

Now to remind you of things you should think about when you are deciding which Camera is best for you ...

The more Pixels the Camera has does not allways mean better pictures . The quality of the Lens matters at least as much as Pixels . Cameras with 10 million or more Pixels can suffer very badly from Noise ( Noise is where the pictures can seem very grainy or out of focus ) - smaller Cameras are more prone to this .
Beware of Cameras with just a Digital Zoom . Optical Zooms are where the Camera uses its Lens to zoom in & zoom out - Digital Zooms are where the Camera uses its own built in Software to crop in on an image so you loose quality big time with a Digital Zoom .
 
Plastic body cameras almost always use AA batteries for power - you do not get many pictures from a normal set of AA Alkaline batteries so be prepared to also buy a Charger & set of AA nimh rechargeable batteries which will cost you £14.99 for the set .
 
Metal body cameras almost always come with a Lithium rechargeable battery & charger - these type of batteries let you take pictures much faster & on average take around 200 pictures before they need to be re-charged . Charging takes between 1.5 & 4 hours .

Most Cameras do not come with a Case . We sell Cases from just £4.99 to around £10 for compact Cases . Modern Cameras come with Internal Memory so you may need to get a Memory Card . Cards for SD type Cameras cost £6.99 for a 2 gigabyte SD Card - £22.99 for a 2 gigabyte XD Card - £13.99 for a 2 gigabyte Memory Stick Duo Card All Cameras come with a very good Software CD & USB leads to connect Camera to your Computer .

One final point about the names manufacturers use on Cameras & Lenses

Before you go out & buy your new camera there is one important thing you should know about … the fact that just because a camera says it is a certain make or has a certain make of lens in it does not always mean that that manufacturer made that camera or lens . Many low cost cameras are made in China by manufacturers you will never hear of - the cameras are then branded by big name manufacturers . This does not mean the camera is good or bad but it is misleading to the consumer . Perhaps the biggest of all in terms of sales related to branding is the Leica lenses in Panasonic cameras . Panasonic in the advertising they do claim that many of there cameras have Leica lenses - the lens on the camera itself says " Leica Lens " . In part this is true - it is a Leica lens - but not actually made by Leica themselves . The writing in blue below is copied directly from the small print on a Panasonic web page - as you can see they state that Leica DC Lenses are manufactured using quality systems that have been certified by Leica - in other words they are made under licence by Panasonic so are not actually real Leica Lenses made by Leica themselves . I think this is very misleading to you the customer who thinks they are buying a Panasonic camera with a genuine Leica made Lens . This is just 1 example of many such instances of badge engineering that goes on with cameras which is why we test the cameras ourselves … to give you the TRUE FACTS ABOUT THE CAMERAS !  . "Leica is a registered trademark of Leica Microsystems IR GmbH. Leica DC lenses are manufactured using quality and measurement systems that have been certified by Leica Camera AG based on the company's quality standards " 

One final point about pixels

Every day we get people in the shop who have been told by other shops or magazines that the more pixels the camera has - the better the pictures will be . This is not the case as we have said before in this guide but to help prove that point we do print pictures to 14x11 inches to show you in our shop - & we have found the following quote that Mark Thackara of Olympus UK gave to BPI Photographic Trade Magazine . " There simply isn't space in stores to show meaningful comparisons of side by side images which means consumers are now used to looking for single pieces of specification when comparing products . This could be zoom range or screen size but most commonly it's pixel count even though we all know that the more pixels you cram into a tight space the worse they perform " . As you can see from what Mr Thackara said - the more pixels can mean worse pictures . This depends on the size of the pixel chip ( the image sensor ) . If you get a camera with a large image sensor then maybe it can cope with 12 million pixels but often it can not because the image sensor is so small so you get very grainy pictures . Ask us before you buy a camera - we will tell you the real truth about how sharp the pictures are from it - & do not be mislead by more pixels means better pictures - often it does not !

  If you would like any advice about Digital Cameras other than is on our web site then why not give us a call on ... 01978 352259 ... speak to me ( Jack ) or Steve who tests most of the cameras or Rhod who also tries out many of the cameras ... we are here from 8.45 am to 5.15 pm Monday to Saturday . Or email us at ... vostrocam@googlemail.com ... we will get back to you very quickly .

The chart below shows the approximate number of pictures you can take on a 2 gigabyte & 4 gigabyte memory card using the amount of pixels / video mode shown to the laft of the chart ...

Rollei CL-50 5 Million Pixels Digital zoom 2.4 Inch Screen 2x AA Batteries £45 Incl. Case Jenoptik 8Z3C 8 Million Pixels 3x Optical zoom 2.5 Inch Screen 2x AA Batteries £59 Rollie XS-8 8 Million Pixels 3xOptical zoom Huge 3 Inch Screen Rechargeable Batt. £89 Pentax M-60 10 Million Pixels Big 5x Optical zoom 2.5 Inch Screen Rechargeable Battery £129 Pentax P-70 12 Million Pixels 27-110 optical zoom 2.7 inchScreen Rechargeable Batt. £169 Rollei FL-140 10 Million Pixels Rollei Apogon 32-128 Optical zoom Big 3 Inch Screen Rechargeable Battery £189 Kodak Z-915 10 Million Pixels 35-350   10x Optical zoom 2.5 Inch Screen AA battery power £179 Kodak Z-980 12 Million Pixels 26-624  24x Optical zoom 3 Inch Screen 4x AA Battery Power £349 Pentax K-20D & 18-55 Lens 14.6 Million Pixels 18-55 Pentax lenses 2.7 Inch Screen Dustproof body £649