Digital Cameras

[Unedited]

Does anyone here have a digital camera? I'm looking to get one myself, but I have no clue what to look for in one. I've spoken to a few "experts," but I had no clue what they were talking about. All I know is I'm looking in the 400$ or less price range.

Anyway, I know I'm pretty pitiful in my search. I was looking yesterday, and there are just way too many choices. What's important to you in a digital camera?

 

[Pah]

Does anyone here have a digital camera? I'm looking to get one myself, but I have no clue what to look for in one. I've spoken to a few "experts," but I had no clue what they were talking about. All I know is I'm looking in the 400$ or less price range.

Anyway, I know I'm pretty pitiful in my search. I was looking yesterday, and there are just way too many choices. What's important to you in a digital camera?

Actually, battery power. They all seem to go through AA's like water. Other than that, a zoom feature and as big a screen as you can get for the buck. Most in a price range will have the same features.

 

[Engyo]

Make sure that whatever you buy has an optical zoom (movable lens). Digital zoom only loses picture quality as you zoom; optical doesn't. I have a cheapie Kodak 2mpixel with digital zoom, and a rather more expensive Sony 5.1mpixel, and I like them both. The Kodak is for taking places where I might be afraid to lose r damage the Sony (work sites, etc.). I use rechargeable lithium ion batteries (AA size) for both. These are readily available now.......

Go to http://www.cnet.com for online reviews, feature and cost comparisons......

 

[kreeden]

Batteries ... After spending as much on batteries as I did for the camera , I have found that the chargers tend only to work on the same brand of battery . Now that I have a Duracell charger , and only use Duracell NiMH batteries , I'm getting much more life out of them .

This is a good site to check a few cameras out on .. http://www.steves-digicams.com/

I have a Fujiflim S3000 , a nice starter camera with a 6x zoom , which is in your price range Unedited . It is pretty much completely auto though , and I find that I have lighting problems at times . But it can take very nice pics when it gets things right .

Try to get camera that uses AA batteries , as they are easier to find . The memory card used by the Fuji is a little more expensive then the other type of card , but not much more . If you take a lot of pics , get as large a card as you can .

Best of luck .

 

[Valjean]

Go to the library and check out the Consumers Reports reviews, or perhape there is info on the Consumers Union website.

 

[Master Vigil]

I have a digital movie camera, but it lets me take stills. They aren't as good of quality though, so I wish I had another digital camera just for stills. I get great zoom on it though.

 

[Bastet]

My biggest peeve with my camera seems to be the same as everyone else's - batteries. This is my camera: http://www.digimaster.com.au/mouse410.php I'd have to agree with MV on the disadvantages of digital zoom vs. optical zoom, but it's not really a feature I've tried to use often anyway. For what I use it for, it works for me.

Might I suggest, once you decide on what you want, that you take a look on eBay. I got my camera there, brand new, still in its sealed box, for half the price I would have paid in a store. You could end up with a far better camera than you originally bargained for.

 

[meogi]

Nikon Coolpix 5700 is what I have. Great camera, I love it... my only beef is the speedlight broke or something, which can be quite annoying (waiting till I get back to america to have it looked at).

Might be a bit out of your pricerange... but maybe it's gone down since it came out. Check e-bay or something if you like it.

 

[robtex]

Uneditied I know a good amount about digital cameras. Here is some of the basics for you

1) the market is very competitive so it is a win win situation with very few loser brands and a buyers market right now

2) you need to have a nice computer. One with big hard drive and usb connections. perferable a p3 or better for pc and for mac i am not sure but no more than say three years old

3) the two key componets in a dig camera are

a) mexapixels
b) zoom capcity

on Megapixels the higher the count the higher the quality of the picture. this also affects the storage space. 3 megas or lower is low end...( 2 and 1 megapixel don't buy). 4-6 is average and 7 or higher is high end. I think 10 is the most you can get but those are pretty pricey. Try for at least a 4 or higher. The quality and details of the shots really climb at the higher megapixels counts. Espcially shots of things like water, (rain) or far away landscape shots.

The higher the count the higher the storage space needed hence the big hard drive and memory card which i will get to later in this.

The zoom you want is min of 2 but 3-5 it gets really nice. I have had a 2 zoom and a 4 zoom and man the difference is huge. some can be threaded for telescopic lens but unless you are going to do mainly nature (hiking) shots that might be a bit extreme.

the other things to consider are night shooting capablitlies, and shutter speeds, or at least camera's abilty to not blur things in motion. i got to go but i will be really detailed later.....have a lot of info in my head...if you want you can pm or email me on here...

 

[Sava]

You can get a Sony 7.2 MP with 3x optical zoom for about $350.

 

[robtex]

The more the megapixels the more storage that requires. Two things to consider when looking at this is how big is your hard drive and how big of a memory card is in your camera. The card that comes with the camera is never big enough. If you get a 3-4 megapixel you want at least a 64 meg card, a 5-6 a 128, 7-8 256 meg card. A 256 card can hold about 60 pictures on a 7 megapixel camera, I am guessing. I have a 7.2 megapixel with a 512 card and it holds 129 pictures.

For the bells and whistles, some that are cool to consider are,

night vision..some cameras, the nicer ones have night framing that make black and whites out of night shots. Also, camera that are threaded for an extrernal flash or for a larger lens. The size of the LCD screen doesn't matter so much cause when you take pictures, you are going to probaby use the tradional view screen (as opposed to the lcd) because putting the camera up to your face steadys it for clearer shots. Your eye socket gives the camera a good base. Some digital cameras are starting to have shutter speeds which helps with picking up motion without a blur. The higher end ones can make really short mpegs, meaning film clips, on the camera.

batteries life is important to look at too but the technology varies a bit. Some of the basic models take double AA lithuim ion batteries whereas the nicer ones have built in recargable packs that last for a few hours at a time. If you post model numbers you are considering mabye we could give you feedback.

Sava's idea is good. Sony makes really high end digitial cameras. So does, Canon, fuji, HP, and kodak.

 

[Bastet]

Cool advice, robtex! I'll try to remember all that if I'm looking to buy a new camera.

 

[Unedited]

Thank you for all the advice! You've all been very helpful. I went to BestBuy today (those guys are so helpful!) and the guy there reccomended the Sony Cyber Shot DSC S60 or S90. He told me all his reasons, but I didn't have a clue what he was saying. I mostly just nodded a lot. I do think I'd like to get Sony though. Anyway, I still am not sure, but at least now (thanks to you guys!) I know what I'm looking for.

 

[Original Freak]

I did a lot of research for my digital Camera. I wanted a good point and click camera that was easy to use but had some freatures if I wanted to get 'fancy'.

I used http://www.epinions.com a lot. It's a site where things are reviewed by people who actually use them. I noticed a few things from this site.

Sony--> Stay away. The image quality isn't supposed to be as good as their competitors. Plus, like most sony things, it's only compatiable with sony things, such as their memory cards.

Canon --> Good stuff if you want a high end Camera. The lower models had an E18 error (a shutter thing) but talking to a sales guy (who wasn't trying to sell me a canon) says that has been fixed. I didn't like the way the camera picked it's object to focus on.

HP and Kodak --> Seemed to rate VERY good for point and click cameras. They always had 4.5 and 5's out of 5.

I purchased a 5.1 MP HP camera and I couldn't be happier. I also purchased a 512MB high speed write memory card. The high speed write allows me almost no time between pictures, which is something I wanted and I've heard a lot of people complain about with digital cameras. The camera also has it's own rechargable battery, which lasted over 200 pictures before I had to recharge. The screen is small, but the bigger the screen, and the more you use it (it can be almost useless on a bright sunny day) the quicker you drain your battery. I highly recommend it and give it a 4.5/5

 

[Original Freak]

As a side note, I say do the research and know what you really want. I spent months looking and deciding what features ment a lot to me. It's getting to the point where MP, I feel, are getting useless to a normal person. At a certain point you just won't notice the difference on a normal 4X6. It's when you blow things up that it matters. Apparantly with my 5.1 I can go up to 36X27 without loosing any quality.

Also read advice on using the camera's. Holding the button down halfway is critical if you want to catch that moment. Card write speeds make a difference as well as the way it auto focuses. I could go on but it's best if you find and read about it.

 

[Unedited]

HP and Kodak --> Seemed to rate VERY good for point and click cameras. They always had 4.5 and 5's out of 5.

I'm sure HP makes good camera's but I can't help but want to stay away from them. I keep thinking back to all the hours I've spent screaming at my printer.

 

[robtex]

Thank you for all the advice! You've all been very helpful. I went to BestBuy today (those guys are so helpful!) and the guy there reccomended the Sony Cyber Shot DSC S60 or S90. He told me all his reasons, but I didn't have a clue what he was saying. I mostly just nodded a lot. I do think I'd like to get Sony though. Anyway, I still am not sure, but at least now (thanks to you guys!) I know what I'm looking for.

Here make it simple: Each camera you look at you need to know:

1) how many megapixels( how much detail per shot)
2) what the zoom is

than maybe see if there are bells and whistles.

The Sony dsc s 60 is a 4 megapixel with a 3x zoom with a 2 inch lcd display Sony s90 is exactly the same but with a 2.5 inch lcd. LCD size does not matter so you should take the s60 over the 90. They both have 32 megabytes of internal memory which can probably hold about 20-35 pictures. That part I am not sure of. Whatever memory it has you are going to have to bank on buying a 128 mg card for a 4-6 mexapixel carmera anyway .

As you look from camera to camera, look at compare, megapixels, and zoom. than whichever bells and whistles you are attracted to. I have owned kodaks, and sonys and liked them both I have a sony dsc v3 right now but the price on it is about double what you are looking to spend.

What is important to know, is how big is your hard drive on your computer?

 

[Scuba Pete]

For ease of use... Canon.

For Awesome pics... Olympus.

 

[Saw11_2000]

I have a digital camera in my cell phone. It's honestly the best invention ever. GOD BLESS THOSE WONDERFUL SOULS AT AUDIOVOX!

I like it better than a digital camera because no computer required. I can send it to whoever I please without connecting it to the USB, etc., and the best thing is, I always have a camera on me! I don't know of many people walking around every day with a regular digital camera on them.

I can help you pick a good camera phone for yourself, if you wish.