The Samsung UCA5 Finally Becomes Faulty

I've had the same camera for many years. My Samsung UCA-5 has served me extremely well. I think I bought it around 10 years ago. Within that time it has taken thousands of pictures. And for a 5 mega pixel camera the image quality has been really good. So how did this camera finally break..Well, it was my own fault. I had it in a coat pocket and was moving the coat around, and somewhere along the line it must have gotten banged, so now it has developed a serious fault.

Don't get me wrong, it does still work. But now its starting to freeze after being powered up for a few seconds. Sometimes it won't freeze as quickly and I can take some shots. When it locks up the screen completely crashes (squiggly lines or just pixelated in a random colour). Once this happens it's a case of taking the battery out, putting it back in, and then powering up the camera again. After doing this it allows the lens to retract back into the camera, giving me the chance to reset and start again.

The pixelated black screen of death

But I don't want something that's now unreliable, not as my main camera anyway. Specially when a replacement camera can be picked up for super cheap on eBay. I've had my eye on various cameras, from point and shoots to Bridges and DSLR's. However, after doing a fair amount of reading and research about cameras, I was looking at a website (KenRockwell.com) that was basically saying that (within reason) its not about the camera someone is using but the person taking the picture that's more important for getting really good images. It makes a lot of sense to me. That, coupled with some comparison tests that shocked me, has really made me think. Do I even need a DSLR? Probably not.

Comparison tests: An Olympus Trip 35 (Old Film camera) was compared to what was at the time, a top spec DSLR. The results were surprising. I actually thought the DSLR would be significantly better at everything. But it wasn't. Nowhere near. In fact, I'd go as far as to say the Trip 35 (excellent old school camera!) actually produced the better images. Same thing with another test. A Sony Ericsson K800i Cyber Shot mobile phone was put against two high-end DSLR's for that time period.

The same picture was taken with each camera. Again, the results were shocking. While the DSLR's performed slightly better on paper (Technical details), to the naked eye there was almost no difference what so ever in quality. What difference there was didn't justify the price difference between the products. Of course, if the images were blown up to much larger sizes and them printed, I guess the DSLR images would have less noise and more clarity. But how many times does anyone actually do this? Personally, I never have.

Back to my camera search. I only had a small budget for a new camera. Well, not new, used. I did want a Panasonic Leica point and shoot, like the TZ7, TZ9 or DMC LX3. However, they were selling for more than I had to spend. So I starting looking at other brands. Naturally, with my Samsung UCA-5 lasting as long as it has, I thought why not get another Samsung. So I did.

I have ended up buying a Samsung WB500 point and shoot from eBay. It's a used camera (boxed with accessories + 2GB SD card) but from the pictures it looks to be in really good condition. It hasn't arrived yet. It has a Schneider KREUZNACH (10.2MP) Lens with a 10x Zoom. Looking at the sample images and video footage on PhotographyBlog.com, it looks to have really good quality for the price, given its age. And considering how cheap I bought it for (£30 including postage), it appears to be a good little bargain. I just hope it arrives in good working order. Fingers crossed.

An update 3 years later. I moved on from this camera and have had quite a few different ones over the last few years. Canon's, a few Panasonic's (Point and shoots and an excellent Lumix Bridge camera), but recently read about lithium Ion batteries about how they can just "die" if they are not used / charged for a long time. The only camera that I own that hasn't been used or charged for a long time is my old faulty Samsung UCA5. So I thought, why not see if it still charges up..

Well it did accept a charge, and after it finished charging (light went green) I powered up the camera. And it works perfectly again! This camera has been faulty so many times but always ended up fixing itself automatically. But when it became faulty the last time I thought it was well and truly dead. Not the case. It now works perfectly again. I won't use it much though, because like I said, I have quite a few newer cameras that are admittedly much better than the UCA5. So I will just leave it there as a spare. Crazy to see it still works though after all these years. A true terminator camera that just will not die!

Which Entry Level DSLR Camera To Choose

There are only two things holding me back from buying the Sony DSLR-A200K camera. One is that all the ones for sale are used (discontinued model), so it comes with no warranty and you never know how long it will last. And two, it's made by Sony. My track record with Sony has been terrible. Every single Sony item I have ever bought or owned has developed faults. This has made me very cautious of buying anything that's made by Sony.

I have had Televisions, Amps, Car stereos, Tape Decks, Mobile Phones, everything ended up with a fault after a while. And I'm very careful with my stuff. Is the Sony DSLR-A200K an exception. It does seem so with such a huge amount of positive reviews. I know that Sony products used to be very reliable back in the 70's and 80's, and I'm sure some of their products still are today. However, it can't just be a coincidence with how many of my items have developed faults. I think Sony's quality has dropped over the years. But I'm tempted to give them one more try with the A200K..

Sony A58 DSLR Camera - Picture Credit: Köllner

Then there is the Nikon D3100 entry level DSLR Camera. It certainly looks the part. I'd look like a professional photographer! Most of the reviews are positive. The not so positive reviews complain about poor battery life, poor build quality, bad auto focus, and a slowish shutter speed for a DSLR. This camera would be at the top, the very top, of my budget. I'd hate to spend so much money on a camera and end up not being blown away by how good it is. Maybe I'm focusing too much on the negative reviews. But for this particular model they are hard to ignore when some of them are written by people who seem to have a lot of experience with different cameras and photography in general. One negative reviewer claims to have been a photographer for over 50 years. I get the feeling that they know what they are talking about!. Or perhaps they expect too much from an entry level DSLR. Although I doubt that to be honest.

I've never heard much about Pentax cameras as the market seems to be jam packed with Canon and Nikon cameras. From what I have read Pentax cameras are right up there with the mighty Canon's and Nikon's of the world. The Pentax DSLR's seem to be very under rated. I'm not a badge snob so a Pentax K-x DSLR is a possibility. There is even a white version of the Pentax model I've been interested in and it looks very cool. I don't mind what brand it is as long as it takes excellent pictures and is very reliable. One good feature that Pentax DSLR's have is that they can use a lot of the older lenses. Pentax lenses dating back as far as the 1970's (with the right adaptor) can be used on an up to date Pentax DSLR body. How cool is that! 

Some of the older Pentax lenses are superb and can be found cheap as well if you know where to look. Car boot sales, eBay, Classifieds, Swap websites, even second hand shops, all are really good locations for buying old photography equipment cheaply. Definitely a tick in the box for buying a Pentax DSLR camera. I'm also tempted by the Olympus E-400 DSLR due to it's small size and good quality sample images.. Any suggestions?

New Planet Descends On The Earth

Not to worry, we're not being taken over by an alien planet just yet. But this weird cloud formation is strange. A storm looked to be brewing and the dark cloud was so huge that it looked a bit like a planet was descending on the Earth. With the right eyes it looks like the Moon or some strange new planet sitting really close to the Earth. Specially when viewed as a thumbnail. There never was any storm. Not even a rain drop!

Night Time Motorway Images UK

A random Motorway in the UK on a damp misty night at around 1am. I love taking images of the Motorway at night. I really like the colours reflecting from the lights and the silent, dull, but colourful setting. With it being so derelict always makes it feel quite mysterious. Then a few hours later and its jam packed again. That circle just keeps on repeating itself. Like most things I suppose. Nice to catch it in a more tranquil setting rather than being stuck in traffic at rush hour times. The shutter speed on the camera was slow enough to leave a trail from some of the car lights.

Are There Too Many Cameras For Sale

I have been looking to buy a camera for months now. I'm stuck in a place that many people in my position find themselves in. Do I buy a cheap used DSLR or a brand new Bridge Camera.. Some of the DSLR's I've had my eye on are the Nikon D40, Canon 350D, Pentax K100D, Sony DSLR A390L Alpha, and the Olympus E-400 (A small dslr). I do want a DSLR camera over any other type but I'm concerned about buying a camera that is now fairly old. And by looking at various photography forums and reading about what camera brands are the most reliable, these choices, specially with the age of them now, don't really fill me with confidence.

The rate at which all the brands seem to have faults and breakdowns is quite shocking to be honest. I would have thought they would have been more reliable..I was surprised to read the Panasonic is one of the more reliable camera brands. With most of the brands being Japanese I expected better reliability. Sadly, it appears to be down to luck of the draw in many ways as to whether you end up with a good camera that will last years or a lemon that has problems.

Canon 550D - Picture Credit: WikipedianJones

For this reason I would prefer to buy some kind of cover with the camera but I don't think it's available with such old used products. So then that brings me to the Bridge Cameras. There are some excellent ones for sale. I can buy one brand new and with product cover if its available (Square Trade) for the model. Another plus for the Bridge cameras is their versatility. One example is they have super zooms, which is not something I would get with a budget DSLR that comes with the standard lens. Apparently you would have to spend thousands of pounds on lenses to get that same level of zoom capability in a DSLR.

A few Bridge cameras I've got my eye on are the Sony HX300 (Cover available), Sony HS300, Panasonic DMC-FZ72EB-K, Nikon Coolpix L330 + L340 (Cheap to buy), Fujifilm FinePix S9200, Fujifilm FinePix HS50, and the one out of my price range, the Nikon P900 that has a massive 83x Zoom!. The problem is when I narrow it down to a few choices I do more research online and find another 10 cameras of each separate brand that are either very similar to the model I've been interested in buying, or they are slightly better so then the search expands and continues. It seems never ending.

That's why I wrote the title, Are There Too Many Cameras For Sale? And do we really need the latest and greatest camera to get good results. I don't think we do. And neither does this person. Now, in some ways it's great to have a lot of options to choose from, but I would have to say yes, there are too many!. This is choice overload. There are so many cameras of various brands like Nikon, Canon, etc that are basically identical to another 5 cameras of a different brand (Fuji, Sony, Panasonic) in terms of features and appearance. 

They may just have a few slight differences, like add on features, build quality, or upgrades. This makes it very confusing when trying to choose just one. And to be honest, I'm no closer to making a decision now then I was when I first starting looking for a new camera. Now I've discovered those retro style Olympus cameras like the OM-D EM10, PEN E-PL7, and the SH-2. They look terrific! So the search goes on..

This is worse than buying a car! Just not as expensive if it all goes wrong! The main qualities I'm looking for in a camera are super sharp, clear images and reliability. I don't care about having a thousand features like touchscreen and selfie mode that I'll probably never use.The same goes for WiFi. I'm quite old school, a USB cable is good enough for me. I just hope I end up buying one that lasts a few years. Am I asking too much? I will do an update post when I finally end up making a decision and buying one. With the way things are going expect a long wait!