Robust, Reasonably Reliable, Really Good Picture Taker (Technika SH-8360)

Member Name: zoe_page_1

Product:	Technika SH-8360
Date:	25/05/09 (218 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A great, simple camera

Disadvantages: Lacks some fancy features

I go through digital cameras at an alarming rate. I drop them and they tend to break because I buy cheap ones because I know I'll drop them and so on. However, since the only thing I ever want to bring back from abroad these days is a few million photos and even more memories, a camera is still an essential item on my 'what to take' list. Before I left the UK last year, I needed another camera since its predecessor had succumbed to the aforementioned fate to which all my cameras eventually succumb, and this was my new pick. I'd like to give you all sorts of swish, camera-speak reasons why I chose this model, but the truth is Tesco had it in stock and were doing some kind of massive Clubcard points deal at the time, so it got bought. I paid about £40 for it - not super cheap, but a whole lot less than I know many people invest.

Technika are a quite well established name in the low priced end of the camera market, and I have had one of theirs before. This particular model is nothing really new - yes, the megapixels have increased, and the zoom is a bit better, but really it's just your bog standard camera, suitable for the needs of an amateur photographer like me.

My camera is silver, looks exactly as in the photo above and just fits in the palm of my freakishly small hand, but is still bulky - it's too big to put discretely in a pocket, and though I can slide it into my jeans, I rarely do in Mexico City since the big bulge it leaves is basically an invitation for someone to mug me. It boasts a wrist-strap which I always use in an attempt to not drop it, and this is well attached and hasn't even hinted at coming loose. The camera does not have a view finder like old school ones, so to operate it you have to be able to line things up looking just at the screen on the back. However, because this is all it has, said screen is large, and has a good quality.

The camera takes a few seconds to switch on, and loads a welcome screen before you can start lining up the shot. If you're using a flash, it also takes a few seconds to adjust the colour before you get the green go light. Seconds are short, and this doesn't bother me as I've adapted to it quickly (getting the camera out before I need it and so on) but I can imagine this would irritate a more pro-photographer. The flash itself is quite good, but when I don't use it in what I think is a light enough zone, the camera can sometimes be temperamental and produce photos a lot darker than what I can see with my own eyes. This isn't a consistent problem, and can be hard to predict, but of course the beauty of digital cameras is that (a) you can check out the photo afterwards and re-take if needed and (b) if you decide not to, you can easily change the exposure when you bung it onto the computer later.

I long ago gave up reading instruction manuals for replacement products I'd already owned, so even though this was a new model, since it wasn't my first digital camera I threw the booklet into a cupboard somewhere. Not a problem, of course, since a dummy could use this camera (and I suspect the instructions would have been of the PHD (press here, dummy) variety). It has the now standard logos for zoom, flash, delete and so on on the back, and once it's switched on you can toggle these easily to get the combination you want. Even though, through a year of misuse, the writing on the front of the camera is beginning to wear off, all the print on the back is intact and shows no signs of vanishing. Where the batteries and SD memory card go is also clear - don't laugh, I've had to search for the second before.

From having not read the manual, and from having assumed I had figured out everything I needed to know, it took almost 6 months for me to realise the camera has various 'capture modes' such as human portraits (different ones for men and women, why I'm still unsure), night time, fireworks, sunsets and sunrises, splashing water and so on. Though these are novel, I rarely use them since I have been pleased with the photos I've taken using just the general mode for any scenery.

The camera also has a video mode, though the quality of this is much lower than that of the photos, and I would rather use my memory on dozens of the latter rather than 10 seconds of the former. I have used it on the odd occasion, however, and it is again easy to use since you just hit the same button to start and then terminate the recording.

I am usually out and about with friends, but occasionally when I'm alone, or we want a group shot, I take advantage of the self-timer option on the camera. This is very clear and gives you a 10 second count down through flashing lights, which get quicker as you approach 0, so you are always ready. In fact, some of my best photos are ones the camera has taken itself... And this camera (with no help from its owner) truly does take nice photos - from the rain forests of Costa Rica to panoramas of Mexico City, to the beaches of Vallarta and Cancun, to many a night out with friends, this camera is serving me well. When I upload the photos I am constantly amazed by just how good some of them are, since I am NOT what you would call a talented photographer. What's more, my mother (who, among other things, wears glasses, cannot cope without a viewfinder, and, oh yeah, is terrible at taking photos) took some amazing pics with this when we spent Easter at the beach this year. It may not be the swishest camera out there, but if she can manage to take photos that (a) include my head and my feet in the same shot and (b) also look pretty darn good, then it still gets brownie points from me.

This camera has met all my needs, because it is reasonably sturdy, takes good, clear photos, and downloads quickly onto my laptop with no special software needed. The cord is a USB one that fits many cameras (including my sister's, which is an entirely different make and model) which is also a bonus. However, I do have a few small niggles with the camera. One is that the battery life is quite poor, especially if you leave the batteries in the camera when it's not being used - but I always do, since the case it came with (and I haven't bothered to change) has no room for batteries to be stored externally. Additionally, when the batteries are getting low, the quality of the photos, especially when using the zoom, is shocking. They end up super blurry, and while you can see this on the screen, you then have to waste more battery power flicking to delete them and then take again. I find it strange that the photo doesn't appear on the screen after it has been taken, as I had thought was common with this kind of camera. You can easily have a look at it, but you gave to press one of the buttons on the back, which is a small but annoying hassle. This also worries people using my camera because they think the photo hasn't taken properly.

Sometimes, for no apparent reason, the camera will freeze and will only reset if you remove and re-insert the batteries. This always happens when taking a photo (not waiting to take one) and the photo it freezes on never takes, which is irritating when, for example, you're on a bus or plane, and are well out of the shot by the time you have fiddled with the batteries.
Today, while I was playing at being a Japanese tourist on the Turibus (snap, snap, snap), it developed a new 'quirk' - the shutter started sticking, either open or closed, and no amount of pressing the on/off button would help. In the end, I had to manually open or close them each time, ever so carefully using the tip of a fingernail so as not to smudge the lens inside. I don't know whether I upset it by dropping it recently, it's reacting to the recent arrival of the rainy season, or there's a minute piece of something sticky lodged in an invisible place, but I'm quite tempted to drop it again and see if that resolves whatever the problem is.

There are many things this camera lacks - motion detectors, face recognition, all those other fancy new gimmicks camera makers are inventing - but even with the above mentioned faults, I do not think this is a bad camera for the price and the specs (8 megapixels, 3 x zoom). Things move quickly in the world of technology, and this camera is already probably out of date, being over a year old, but I will continue to use it reasonably happily until it dies, and then I would have no objections to replacing it with a newer model Technika, since two cameras in I'm finding their products reliable and good value for money.


NB: My friend Laura, another Mancunian transplant in Mexico, has exactly the same camera as this - if you put them next to each other on a restaurant table, you literally cannot tell them apart from the back. And yet...hers is not a Technika, is unbranded and was bought from Aldi for about a fiver less than mine. I can't guarantee that its operation is exactly the same, but looks-wise they could be twins. Hmmm.

Summary: A good, simple camera for the price

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