My dad has a new super duper camera which he kindly lets me use but I can’t work it and I don’t think my dad would appreciate me messing with the settings to get the photos I need. My craft pics don’t have any life to them so I think Its about time I had my own camera.
Im not overloaded with money but could spare between £50-£80, so I was wondering if anybody can recommend and small camera that takes great quality photos please.
I have a super duper camera on loan to me of which I know how to use 1 single thing (exposure) everything else is set to auto. So I wonder if your dad is happy to let you keep on borrowing his camera (with it set to auto) would your budget be better spent on some of the really useful extras that can make a big difference? I wouldn’t be without my reflector (large piece of card covered in scrunched up and flattened out tin foil) and diffuser (bought on ebay for £10, but you can make your own from a large piece of thin white fabric) after that its back drops, props and a daylight bulb for an anglepoise lamp. Props can be bought cheaply from charity shops (or I got mine free off a beach) and you can play about with bits of neutral fabric or wall paper samples as back drops.
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I think @SashaGarrett is right. Your Dad knows his camera and will be able to re-do his own settings if he wants to. If you put it on auto you will get really good results or better still, put in on aperture priority and you can experiment with getting a blurry background to isolate your product. The camera you are borrowing probably cost a lot more than £80, so it is worthwhile practicing with it while you have it on loan. If you get really good with it you might think it worth the £300-400 investment to get an entry level DSLR for yourself.
Sam x
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You’ve convinced me, sadly I don’t think theres a paper manual with the camera, only a cd so Il have to trawl through that to see how to do auto(probably the thing that was putting me off in the first place)but you are right, I should persevere.
I watched Mr Turner for the first time today and there was a photography scene in it, I was taking note of how to add extra light.
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Hi, you can usually find online manuals for things on the internet, does the camera have the model no. on it? Pop the make and no. and then manual into the search engine and fingers crossed! 
Worth looking…I found one for my printer, washing machine and my old fridge! 
Maybe do a short intro course in using an SLR camera. It may help. or as others have said, use it on an auto setting for now. There may also be some Meetup groups local to you where someone may be able to show you the basics.