anispace said:
what, u mean we get a Sony DSC-P200 in Alfa at 12k.
My dad bought it from US last month and it cost $399.
**** and i thought it was a steal.
Anyways a superb camera, 7.2 Megapixel, 3X optical zoom and its quite small,even smaller than a Nokia 6600.
So what good is a 7.2 MP, 3X cam? U don't get better zoom (8X) than a konica minolta z10 or powershot A520 (4X) coming at less that $200. You would probably never print in a size bigger than 8x10, good enough for a cam with 3.2MP or 4 MP at less than $150. Has only 3 ISO settings (a 3MP $150 powershot has more), shutter speed 1/1000 (a powershot has more), macro range 6 cm (powershot has 5cm macro), one 1 self timer option, no external lens thread and a picture quality not better than a $150 cam and even the dimensions are larger than a powershot A520. Boy, u hav fallen for the megapixel hype and the sony name. A much better cam would have been sony DSC-H1 with 5MP and 12X zoom. Of course the price would have been higher. But other cos. give similar cams at lesser price.
Unfortunately, mostly due to shrewd marketing by the cam cos., people tend to think that a higher megapixel cam results in a better pix. Unfortunately, its not so. The optics and the electronics as well as the zoom produces the best photo. Also add, manual controls (manual focus and aparture settings) and image stabilisation. Whatever brand you choose, there are 10 to 12 parameters based on which u should purchase a cam instead of going for the camera with the highest megapixel available.
Also one should be aware of the pitfalls of buying a digicam from grey market , if u know the inside story. The lens assembly is the most vital parts of a cam and many grey market operators have enough expertise to take out the original sony or olympus lens and replace these with unbranded chinese lens. In fact these days entire cams are available which are fake but looks like the original. I know one grey market guy who fooled his own elder brother by selling him such a fake cam @10K when its priced only 4K. After hearing that I do'nt trust these grey market guys. The chinese are very good at producing identical fakes and the market is flooded with them. Even the 2300mAH Sony NiMH battery that I bought from a "reputed" grey market shop turned out to be a fake chinese one when I asked another one, known to me. But the finish is so good that its hard to tell. The only (and most severe) drwaback was that even after fully charging it, could shoot much lesser number of photos. Even my old 700mAH Eveready NiCD battery (they get it from china too) performed better altho' the cam manual said that NiCDs are unreliable. Also, the lens is the most used mechanical part in a digicam and sooner or later will have some problem due to wear and tear. If your cam company don't have a strong presence or service network in India, no parts or expertise would be available and u would be left with a 15 or 17K or higher priced piece of junk even though the fault may be minor.