I see that there's a new Dublin-based photo sharing website, pix.ie. It's clearly modelled on Flickr and the rest of them. So far, it seems to have few users but good luck to them anyway. Meanwhile, Fuji Ireland has launched fujipix.ie, a sort of shutterfly service.
Any time I write about buying digital cameras, I always include online purchasing options, too.
To me, this seems normal, as it's a mainstream method of purchasing equipment these days. But camera shops bristle at the inclusion of online prices and they're not shy about letting me know.
Chief among their complaints is that it's unfair to simply show a price comparison (the online cost is almost always significantly cheaper). They say that people like advice and a face-to-face experience. They also charge that popular sites such as Pixmania often offer instruction manuals in foreign languages.
They are right on both of these points. But just as there are arguments against buying online, there are other unacknowledged points in favour of it.
Aside from the occasionally astonishing discounts (a Sony Cybershot T50 costs €500 in most Irish shops but just €365, including delivery, on Pixmania), you're often far better covered in terms of consumer protection when you shop online. This is because the Distance Selling Directive offers a no-strings-attached 7 day period for consumers to change their mind for any reason and send the item back for a full refund.
Beats the hell out of a 'credit note'.
Ireland." The PS3 goes on sale on March 23rd.
According to this article in today's Guardian, PS3 pre-orders are "suspicious", with no figures to back them up. The journalist is suggesting that the console's higher spec and high price might be putting punters off. Not so, says Niall O'Hanrahan, head of Sony's Playstation business in Ireland. Speaking to this blog, he said: "that's totally inaccurate. According to Play.com, pre-order levels are at 6 times that of the Xbox 360 and 15 times that of the Wii at the same time in the cycle. The feedback from our retailers is that it’ll be the biggest launch ever in
Who says film is superior to digital? Casio Ireland is about to launch its EXZ1000 compact digital camera with a staggering 10 megapixels on board. Its 2.8 inch screen is just shy of the best LCD screens around, too. No Irish price has been confirmed, but it's €380 on pixmania.com (including delivery), so we're thinking about €475 to €500 in Irish shops.
Update: the confirmed Irish price is €500. It's available from The Camera Centre (Grafton Street), Conns Cameras, the Galway Camera Shop, the Digital Camera Centre (Cork) and other, mostly independent, outlets.
Fujifilm Ireland claims that 214,000 Irish adults own one of its digital cameras. It also claims to be number one in the Irish market. One in five digital camera-owners chose Fujifilm models (such as the Z1, left), claims a statement from the company’s Irish division. Quoting 2005 Joint National Readership Survey results, it claims that the total number of digital camera-owners is 32.5 per cent of the adult population, or 1,072,000 people. And Fujifilm, it claims, has 20 per cent of that market. The survey was carried out among 1,000 adults by British-based firm Research Now.
Sony Ireland has announced a 'drop-proof' hard disk drive (HDD) camcorder. The DCR-SR90E "is equipped with physical shock absorbers to cushion the HDD from an impact," says the marketing blurb. "And internal 3G sensors, which detect gravitational force in 3D, automatically protect the hard disk when a fall is detected by disconnecting the HDD write head from the hard disk." Furthermore, "if your camera suffers an impact during use, the video stream buffering feature saves video footage to its buffer memory until the HDD recovers." Got that?
Its 30GB capacity gives up to 21 hours recording time, claims the company. It also has a Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound microphone and "one touch DVD burn" for what Sony claims is "easy conversion" to DVD. It has a Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar lens featuring a 10x optical zoom. Sony Ireland hasn't put a price on it yet as it's not expected in shops until April. Other items announced by the manufacturer include a six megapixel Cybershot T9 and a couple of new DVD camcorders.
Got a Fuji Finepix digital camera? If so, you pay more than other camera owners for the brand's XD format memory cards. But one shop in Dublin is selling them cheap. Gunn Cameras in Camden Street is selling a 256MB card for €30, €20 cheaper than other camera shops and even €8 cheaper than Tesco.
Where can you get the cheapest Nikon D50 (6 megapixel) digital SLR camera? We tried a couple of shops around Dublin's city centre.
Jessops (Grafton Street) -- €863
Camera Centre (Grafton Street) -- €900 (comes with memory card and extras)
Camera Exchange (Trinity Street) -- €800 (comes with bag)
The Camera Exchange is the clear winner on price.
