Sian: But first, I’m here with Chris Mantsie at Joseph’s. Hi Chris, you’re alright?
Chris: I’m good.
Sian: And how long have you been working here?
Chris: Going on 3 and a half years now.
Sian: And do you enjoy it?
Chris: Got a smile on my face.
Sian: He has, yeah. And so did you have a background in photography before working here?
Chris: Well yeah, I did a lot of work, both full time and part time. And now I’m marching on the graduate of the local university…
Sian: Oh fantastic.
Chris: … doing my BA.
Sian: So you’re already into cameras and you know your stuff.
Chris: I’m into my cameras and I’d like to think I know my stuff.
Sian: So why do people come, would rather come into a store to buy camera rather than just buying online?
Chris: Well I think it’s mainly just the fact it wants one. Yeah, you get a chance to actually speak to people and it’s kind of the whole essence, emphasis of getting good chance to have a try before you buy.
Sian: Yeah, have a, you know, get someone to ask questions I suppose as well.
Chris: Exactly.
Sian: You’re, I can see you’re good at answering all the questions and showing people around.
Chris: Well that’s the thing, you know, you got any question you can throw at me, I’m sure I can find the answer, you know, it’s part of…
Sian: And I see on a lot of inter forums and questionesque kind of things, when people say, you know, got X amount to spend, low budget, what can I do? So let’s say, if I got a hundred pounds, what kind of cameras could you offer?
Chris: Well I mean there’s a whole range. I mean for example as we got here, these are prime examples, coz what they’re bringing out is the key features.
Sian: Okay.
Chris: Easy views.
Sian: Yes.
Chris: Simple design.
Sian: Right.
Chris: Compact design. Compact design is an essence nowadays. We got a lot of people looking for smaller cameras they can take around with them, don’t want the clumsiness of a large clum, clunky camera, but they still wanted the quality back.
Sian: Okay.
Chris: The best camera for example is your Fuji here.
Sian: Yeah.
Chris: And only hundred pounds, bright blue, thing about more interesting. Easy to use. Best thing about this is the ease of use. You don’t have to stop and think. Same applies for this. These two here however, brought these two a little bit more.
Sian: Okay.
Chris: This one here, 130 and a 140, however what you’re getting here is a little bit, a little touch of something further up the range. Both the Panasonic and the Sony take features from their bigger brothers, which usually set around 250 to 300 pound mark. However, with these ones here at just shy of 150, you are picking up a lot of those features.
Sian: So basically if I actually have 50 credits almost worth going that step further, is it?
Chris: I think every 50 pound is worth it, because what you got there is feature, like I said, mainly the lens, the lens being one of the key areas of the camera, and that’s what you’re paying for. You have obviously pay the risk of the, playing the game of do you go with the brand or do you go with advise. And that’s where I step in.
Sian: Fantastic. And also obviously with this designs, do you think fashion is having an influence on the camera, you think they’re getting a bit more quirky and?
Chris: They’re definitely so. We’re certain, we’re definitely starting to see, I mean straight away, with the nice electric blue there, very much so as well. With people like Sony, starting to bring out the T series models, with the touch screen panels, very much like Sony iphone or something, apple iphone. So you got the idea of touch screen panels, easy to use, again it’s the whole credibility of design.
Sian: Absolutely. But also, I mean, when I’m out on a night out, I just get my camera phone out, take my pictures. So would I be just wasting my money on buying a compact camera and having a phone. What’s the difference?
Chris: Well, I mean, definitely not a waste of money in a sense now. Camera phones, yes, they are starting to hold the integrity. Yes, you got very high quality wise, by comparing it to what we have few years ago. However in, as far as the standards in ranging environment, you mention going out at night, Nikon here, Nikon here have pride themselves and very rightly so on being able to expose very well in low light. Picking up the details, you see, that’s what it’s all about, the details coz that’s what comes out when you print your photographs. Some of your digital, compact camera phones will still stroll with.
Sian: So do you think overall, even if you got sort of an 8 megapixel camera on your phone, you think it’s still worth going for a separate?
Chris: Yeah, definitely so. Again for the same reason it’s in the details. Megapixels are just one element of the game. They are just a guideline, if you like, but there are many things under the skin which the manufacturers even won't tell you about, again, this is the thing you could try before you buy. There are certain features that even the highest megapixel camera in the market may still fall off with. And these four examples however, I feel, cover nearly all the most of the important factors you can get all around the 150 mark, max.
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