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Need Advice on Digital Cameras
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al'Thor Offline
#1 Posted: Tue, Dec 16 2003, 1:00 PM EST
Joined: 06-17-2003
Posts: 2,793
To steal uncleb's idea - I'm looking for a good INEXPENSIVE digital camera and I am very technostupid so any advice would be most appreciated! Tips on what to look for, what's a good price, what brands are good/not good, what do I want to avoid, what can I get away with, and what features are real necessities - stuff like that would be great! Thanks in advance!

Ethan
uncleb Offline
#2 Posted: Tue, Dec 16 2003, 1:23 PM EST
Joined: 11-13-2002
Posts: 1,326
**THREADSTEALER**

LMAO!

B
rasdas Offline
#3 Posted: Tue, Dec 16 2003, 1:38 PM EST
Joined: 03-13-2003
Posts: 4,716
I like my Nikon 880 CoolPix (3.3 mp)....have had it for a couple of years...but was not inexpensive as i recall...

But if i was in the market...i would go with Nikon again...just my .02...

And there are deals to be had on a certain auction site...

RasDas

Joe
jgjam Offline
#4 Posted: Tue, Dec 16 2003, 2:25 PM EST
Joined: 05-16-2002
Posts: 909
The best site I have found for information on digital cameras and equipment (and I have looked at a lot of them!) is Steve's Digicams. He provides indepth reviews of all of the major brands.

I would tend to also agree with Rasdas on Nikon but only because that is what I use for both digital and 35mm. I have also used Sony on the digital side and have had good luck with them.

Things I look for in any digital cameras would include:
Battery type and rate of use
Optical lens quality and magnification
Shutter lag time (a real problem with digital)
Storage type and compatibility with other devices

I'm just waiting to upgrade my Nikon digital whenever Nikon introduces a new digital SLR at a reasonable price so I can use all of my 35mm lenses.


http://www.steves-digicams.com/

John
tonester666 Offline
#5 Posted: Tue, Dec 16 2003, 5:48 PM EST
Joined: 05-07-2003
Posts: 1,324
The Nikon coolpix is nice but if you compare it to the Canons you'll see huge engineering differences.

Good and cheap Gateway.
0patience Offline
#6 Posted: Tue, Dec 16 2003, 7:16 PM EST
Joined: 07-20-2003
Posts: 1,023
Hi al'Thor,
There are tons of decent cameras avaialable, but remember that price is a direct reflection of quality.
We use a Sony Mavica for our articles, because the images go directly to a 3." floppy, that can go into any computer. No having to have software or cards.
We started out with a cheapy digital and the images were pretty bad. Going with the Mavica has worked really well for us. Granted, there are still much better cameras we could buy, but for the price, the Mavica was our best deal.
puskarich Offline
#7 Posted: Tue, Dec 16 2003, 7:49 PM EST
Joined: 01-04-2003
Posts: 2,143
I have a Canon Powershot A20 that I purchased several years ago. It is still going strong. My advice is to think about the kinds of pics you will be taking with the camera and what you will be doing with the photos after they are taken. Then, choose the camera that fits your needs.

In general, More megapixels = better quality = larger file size = higher price. If you are gonna print out 8x10 photos, you'll want to get something with decent resolution (high # of pixels). If you are only gonna download them to your computer and e-mail them to family, you can probably live with a 2 or 3 megapixel camera. I can get good 5x7 photos with my 2 megapixel camera.

Optical zoom is better than digital zoom. Get something with good optical zoom if you are gonna rely on the zoom a lot.

When using a digital camera, there is a pause between the time the camera takes the photo and when it is written to the memory. This is called latency. If you are going to take lots of action photos (kids playing sports, etc), you may want to think about a camera with a low latency value.

There are lots of media (memory) choices. Sony has the media stick, others use compact flash, etc. I personally am not a fan of the ones that write to a floppy disk, though some people like the ease of transferring the photos to the computer. Your gonna be limited to how many pics you can store on a floppy. Anyway, the camera will come with some memory, but you almost always need to purchase additional memory if you are taking lots of quality pics. My camera uses compact flash. It came with 8MB, but I purchased a 128MB card. I can take over 200 pics at the highest resolution, 400 with medium resolution. It works great for vacation pics. No more film!

OK, enough rambling. For more research, check out:

www.activebuyersguide.com
^ this site is good for helping you choose a camera and understand all the technical options that come with the cameras

www.epinions.com
^ this site is good to read reviews of people who purchased cameras (and lots of other stuff) and their thoughts on the product.

Anyway, good luck.
jjohnson28 Offline
#8 Posted: Tue, Dec 16 2003, 10:23 PM EST
Joined: 09-12-2000
Posts: 7,914
Bizrate.com has decent reviews and competitive pricing all over the net.Just make sure and buy from a reputable seller and watch out for the lowest price quotes,many times it's just an accesory for said camera.

Amazon also has consumer reviews but not as many.For my money I just bought the Minolta S414 from Amazon a few months ago.I got the camera ,a case,rechargeable batteries,charger and a 256 meg compact flash card for like $330 shipped.EXCELLENT DEAL/EXCELLENT CAMERA...Sorry but I don't think you'll find this one again any time soon...LOL

IMHO the two best Digi-cams out there in the $300 price range are the Minolta S414 and the Canon Powershot A70.Amazon has a deal on right now like the one I got for certain cameras with free memory cards or a discount on a higher meg card.The Minolta has 4 megapixels and 4X optical zoom and also takes 30 second videos with sound,you can also add short sound bites to your pics.The A70 is 3.2 MP with 3X optical zoom but you can take unlimited time videos with sound and add sound clips to your pics.My buddy has the A70 and he loves it.I agree though you will probably need to upgrade to at least a 128 meg card and pick up a charger and NiMi rechargeable batteris.Digital zoom is really almost useless and over 3 megs isn't really needed for most applications.

Have fun,JJ :0)

Amazon deal:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/feature/-/512152/ref=amb_bl_44286/104-7911777-4062307


Minolta Dimage S414
4.1 Megapixels - Zoom: 4 X Optical , 2.2 X Digital , Compact Flash Card

http://www.bizrate.com/marketplace/search/search__cat_id--402,prod_id--7385481.html

Canon PowerShot a70
3.2 Megapixels - Zoom: 3 X Optical , 3.2 X Digital , Compact Flash Card - Screen: 1.5 in

http://www.bizrate.com/marketplace/search/search__cat_id--402,prod_id--7385471.html


This looks sweet as well:

Minolta Dimage Z1
3.2 Megapixels - Zoom: 10 X Optical , 4 X Digital , SD Memory Card - Screen: 1.5 in
http://www.bizrate.com/marketplace/search/search__cat_id--402,prod_id--11065077.html

jjohnson28 Offline
#9 Posted: Tue, Dec 16 2003, 10:27 PM EST
Joined: 09-12-2000
Posts: 7,914
Sorry I should have said the A70 takes unlimited videos depending on the size of your memory card,but then you probably knew that...LOL
al'Thor Offline
#10 Posted: Wed, Dec 17 2003, 5:24 AM EST
Joined: 06-17-2003
Posts: 2,793
wow - you guys are awesome - thanks!
plabonte Offline
#11 Posted: Wed, Dec 17 2003, 5:39 AM EST
Joined: 09-11-2000
Posts: 2,131
We got a Kodak 5.0 Mexapixel camera and really like it. I think it was $399.00 at Best Buy not on sale. The nice thing about it is its very easy to get the camera to do what you want to do. We looked at some other cameras and the menus in the camera were confusing. For my wife and I we wanted a camera that was easy to use and took good pictures.

We took it on our vacation and blew up some of the pictures to 8x10 and hung them on the walls in our house as they turned out very nice.
sketcha Offline
#12 Posted: Wed, Dec 17 2003, 8:49 AM EST
Joined: 03-26-2003
Posts: 3,238
al,

Check out these sites and do your own research. It's worth it.

http://www.steves-digicams.com/default.htm

http://dpreview.com/

http://imaging-resource.com/


When you're ready to buy...

http://www.bhphotovideo.com

http://adorama.com/
donutboy2000 Offline
#13 Posted: Wed, Dec 17 2003, 3:36 PM EST
Joined: 11-20-2001
Posts: 25,000
check www.pcworld.com for reviews and comparison pricing
crowsangel78 Offline
#14 Posted: Wed, Dec 17 2003, 5:50 PM EST
Joined: 08-06-2003
Posts: 6
Don't go lower than 3 mp. a 3 mp camera will print up to an 8x10 photo quality picture. Make sure, if it has on board memory, it also supports a memory card otherwise, chances are it will only hold about 19 pictures until you have to download the pictures to a pc. Olympus, Nikon, Minolta, Cannon, Pentax, and some others are very good. Kodak (which I have) and Toshiba are OK. Sony cameras are junk. I just saw the Cannon 3mp at Wally World for about $180. If you don't need it for the holidays, I would say wait until at least a month after the holidays and check them on ebxx. If you want to see what I'm talking about with that, find a couple of digital cameras and watch the auctions. You'll begin to see a price difference. If you would like any more info, e-mail me at angelfire677atyahoodotcom. I'd be happy to tell you what I know or what I can find out.
coma-one Offline
#15 Posted: Thu, Dec 18 2003, 6:35 AM EST
Joined: 07-09-2003
Posts: 1,264
Ethan when you say inexpensive, what price are you talking about?

I have had too many dig cameras, for work and pleassure and have found but a few that work flawless.

The latest adquisiton for my wife yielded one of the best cameras that I have owned. It is a very simple to use camera yet it can be played arround with. The software used is great. It is ergonomically near perfect and small enough, the opticalls are excellent, a leica lens that takes really good pictures. Its the DMC-LC33 by Panasonic.

I relly like this camera, it's one of the fastest picture to picture cameras in the market ( moderate price).

My .02 !!!
sketcha Offline
#16 Posted: Thu, Dec 18 2003, 7:43 AM EST
Joined: 03-26-2003
Posts: 3,238
I have the Canon S30 and really like it. It does work flawlessly, has a glass lens, is made by Canon, but it's a little bit bulky for my use. I still use my 35mm SLR for my important stuff.

If I had to do it over, I think I would buy the pocket sized Minolta Dimage XT.
AJ_CHICAGO Offline
#17 Posted: Fri, Dec 19 2003, 9:33 PM EST
Joined: 10-27-2003
Posts: 189
I just went through this and tried to compare and find the "best for the buck" camera. I read all kinds of owner reviews. The best place to read owner reviews and full editor reviews and compare costs on cameras, camcorders, PCs, software that I have found over the years is CNET.COM. I ended up getting a Minolta S414, 4.1 megapixels. Cheapest I found was Butterfly Photo on the web ($250). Another great place for tech and owner reviews and cost comparison is http://www.dpreview.com/
Gene363 Offline
#18 Posted: Fri, Dec 19 2003, 11:40 PM EST
Joined: 01-24-2003
Posts: 30,869
I have a Minolta Dimage XT

This camera is great!

It really does fit in your shirt pocket.

3.2 mp is fine.

Lithium-Ion batteries are great, and you can get aftermarket (cheap) spares.

The included software is ok, but Picture It is available. Just have Wally-Mart put some film pictures on a CD, they include a copy of Picture It.

I am an armature photographer and while I love technical gadgets, having lots of expensive and complex camera equipment isn't a require for good photographs. With a convenient and small camera like the Dimage XT I are more likely to bring it along and get the impromptu shots I would have missed.
sketcha Offline
#19 Posted: Sat, Dec 20 2003, 11:05 AM EST
Joined: 03-26-2003
Posts: 3,238
What Gene said.

Casio has a shirt pocket cam, but the Minolta is much better for similar $.
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