Camera recommendations

[ckay87]

I don't usually bother you all for product recommendations, but I could really use some very basic help with this one. Can anyone recommend a very small, simple, fairly inexpensive camera? One that takes good pictures with minimal effort?

Short term - I'm trying to sneak it into a concert. . But bigger picture (pun) is that I'm just not a photographer. I tend to shoot first, shoot fast, shoot a lot, worry about it later. I tried getting a nice camera with a boatload of settings. Researched it a lot and it had great reviews. Yet I managed to take the worst pictures ever. I've actually neglected the thing to the point that I can't even find it. Sad, really.

So I want just to run out to Walmart or Best Buy and pick up something simple. Does anybody have anything that kind of fits my description?

 

[golfgal]

DD15 had a Sony Cybershot that takes nice pictures, has a nice size viewing screen and is compact. It also is very easy to upload photos to the computer.

 

[OK!]

Ah, someone else who shops for cameras for that reason! I just got a Canon PowerShot SX 210 IS the other day and so far, I am in love. It's very small and thin (as far as compact superzooms go...they've got to put the lens somewhere, after all) and looks eminently sumggleable to me. I was comparison shopping between it and the PowerShot SX 20 IS, but there's nowhere I want to think about that that beast would fit if I had to sneak it into a show. Lol.

Here are some test shots I've done with it (just got it last Friday). No concert photos as yet, though I'm planning on running over to see Off Kilter sometime this week and will test it then. There are 2 castle pics in the album that should give you an indication of the power of the zoom. HTH.

 

[ckay87]

Thanks to both of you - gives me a place to start. A concert-camera is a special thing. It can be super-tough to take pictures - zoomed pictures - when the lighting changes SOOO fast and so dramatically. Plus, there is the smuggleable (love that word OK) factor! ha ha. Most places don't care anymore, but this weekend's venue is a pain.

 

[Golf4food]

FYI - we have a Photography board...

Also, the chances of finding a small camera that will take even decent photos in a dark concert are negligible. You can have smallish, expensive, and good, you can have larger, moderately priced, and good, but you cannot have small, cheap, and good - the physics of light preclude it (pending future technological advances). (Then again, my definition of a "good" photo might be more strict than a non-photographer's definition...)

 

[golfgal]

Thanks to both of you - gives me a place to start. A concert-camera is a special thing. It can be super-tough to take pictures - zoomed pictures - when the lighting changes SOOO fast and so dramatically. Plus, there is the smuggleable (love that word OK) factor! ha ha. Most places don't care anymore, but this weekend's venue is a pain.

Most of the 'better" point and shoot digitals have many settings to choose from that will work in a concert setting. I know I was able to get some pretty amazing fireworks pictures with my digital on the "night" setting. I think DD's camera has about 14 settings, one of them will work for a concert.

 

[We_Love_Disney]

Ah, someone else who shops for cameras for that reason! I just got a Canon PowerShot SX 210 IS the other day and so far, I am in love. It's very small and thin (as far as compact superzooms go...they've got to put the lens somewhere, after all) and looks eminently sumggleable to me. I was comparison shopping between it and the PowerShot SX 20 IS, but there's nowhere I want to think about that that beast would fit if I had to sneak it into a show. Lol.

Here are some test shots I've done with it (just got it last Friday). No concert photos as yet, though I'm planning on running over to see Off Kilter sometime this week and will test it then. There are 2 castle pics in the album that should give you an indication of the power of the zoom. HTH.

Your pictures are AmAZing! really you did nothing to them? I love the pics. I have a Canon but its about 5 years old, and while it is good, it is losing out to these newer cameras. About how much did it cost?

 

[OK!]

Your pictures are AmAZing! really you did nothing to them? I love the pics. I have a Canon but its about 5 years old, and while it is good, it is losing out to these newer cameras. About how much did it cost?

Thank you! Nope, I didn't do anything to them, and while I didn't use the full-auto setting on the camera, I did just put it on P (the program mode) and let it make most of the decisions for me. It was $299.99 at Best Buy, but there are probably better prices to be had online (I'm just impatient and hate to wait for things to be shipped.) In the past, Beach Camera has always had great prices on things (including the camera I bought a few days before this one, which I am returning because the Canon was so much better. I knew I should've stuck with the tried and true!)

Hmm...well, in checking it looks like Beach's promotional price is also $299.99, so maybe that's just the going rate right now. It's a pretty new camera, so there might not be great deals out there yet.