Help - looking for digital camera recommendations

[Mickey&JoshNut]

I never thought I'd be convinced to switch to a digital camera but I'm slowly getting convinced that "it's the way to go" especially since we will be cruising on the Westbound 14 day Panama Canal cruise. I took 12 rolls of film during our recent 4 day cruise - I can just imagine the # for the 14 day!!!!!

I currently own (and love) my Nikon 35 mm camera with zoom (to 140mm) but was wondering if anyone can recommend a good compact digital camera that is easy to use and takes great pictures. Also are there any digital cameras that I should stay away from???

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Elaine

 

[nehdeh]

Check out the Canon S1IS Powershot. It's recommended on epinions, Consumer Reports, Amazon and more. Got the best price from Amazon.

 

[anlashokna]

I purchased a Minolta Konica DiMage camera this last april. I love this thing. I have used a Minolta Maxximum 35mm since my freshman year high school with up to the 300mm on it. That puppy is 15 years old and still working like a gem. So I trust the brand name.

The DiMage has about a 380 mm. I have honestly not taken my 35mm out of the bag since I purchased this. My best advise is to go into a local best buy and walmart and look at the cameras. Play with them. Focus on a sign on a fall wall and see how the zoom handles. I purchased my minolta at walmart and had to go through 4 walmarts in a 100 mile radius to find one in stock. All the stores had left were the display models and they weren't selling those. I got the last one at one store and was told how "Hot" they were. Its body is very much like a lightweight SLR. So its easy for me to handle. Since I was used to my 35mm. They have the new dimages out now. The only differences I have seen between the versions of it is the pixel and length of video you can tape. I can do 45 second blips on mine but I don't use that function anyway. You really have to go hands on with them to see. Do some research on line if you find one you like to see how they compare. There are some websites that do indepth reviews of these cameras.

I think for mine I payed $420 for it. Which is honestly comparible to what I payed for my 35mm and lenses when I got it back when.

Then I bought a Epson Print Mate ($200) which punches out 4x6 pictures. One cartridge is guaranteed to print out all 100 sheets that come with ($29.99). Have not had a problem with that either. Gorgeous quality pictures And the thing is wonderfully portable.

Good luck.

 

[the kabuki]

I have a Sony Cybershot5.0 that I really like. My pics come out great.

 

[minniemoms]

But equally important to which camera is the memory cards. Get enough to take your 12 rolls of pictures on. I am a Professional Photographer, so I take tons of pictures, and You HAVE to have cards with enough memory, or otherwise you will be changing them all of the time. I have a Canon S60, for my point and shoot. It takes GREAT pics, but I use a 512MB card in it, and I have 3 of them that I take on a trip. I usually don't download in between, but you could. I usually don't like taking all my equip, so I just take the small camera with 3 cards. I ALSO have a 2 gig card, that I use for my weddings and stuff, that will hold mega, but I don't use that on my smaller cameras. Just a word of advice. Those cameras that zoom way in, unless you mount them to a tri-pod, or set it on a hard surface, it is pretty hard to hold it still enough to zoom in very far, and not get a bit of a blur. There are several camera sites that will review camera's. I researched for many many months before I ever bought one. And finally decided, to take the plunge. I was always waiting for the next one to come out, and you know what, in another 2 years I will have another one, but in the mean time, I love using it. Have fun...http://steves-digicams.com/hardware_reviews.html That is just one of them.....

 

[tadsdaddy]

Check out the Canon S1IS Powershot. It's recommended on epinions, Consumer Reports, Amazon and more. Got the best price from Amazon.

I recently bought a Canon Powershot S1 IS. I use a 1GB Compact Flash in addition to the small Compact Flash card that came with the camera, and have two sets of 2500mAh rechargable batteries. I'm an amature and still learning about its capabilities, but I love it so far. 10X optical zoom with image stabalization is hard to beat, but I'm learning that IS is no replacement for a tripod when shooting with long shutter speeds.

If you have expensive lenses, you might want to consider a digital camera that will accept those. (I don't think lenses produce the exact same results though when used on digital cameras. Again, I'm an amateur, so I don't know why, I just remember hearing that. )

I'm also thinking about buying the underwater case for this camera with all of the snorkeling we plan to do. See ya on board!

Mad Dog Ivan

 

[mist_e_rose2002]

I never thought I'd be convinced to switch to a digital camera but I'm slowly getting convinced that "it's the way to go" especially since we will be cruising on the Westbound 14 day Panama Canal cruise. I took 12 rolls of film during our recent 4 day cruise - I can just imagine the # for the 14 day!!!!!

I currently own (and love) my Nikon 35 mm camera with zoom (to 140mm) but was wondering if anyone can recommend a good compact digital camera that is easy to use and takes great pictures. Also are there any digital cameras that I should stay away from???

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Elaine

I jut bought a Nikon cool pix 2200 for $125 (it was discounted a little b/c it was a display), but I have only used nikons, fuji and Sonys.

My best piece of advice is to get one that is NOT BATTERY (AA/AAA) operated if you can afford it. Try to get one that comes with a battery and charger or that you can plug the camera right into the wall.

Like I said, we have always used Nikons or Sony. I trust brands like that.

I am also brinigng along my manual camera. Mainly b/c my DS WILL NOT be allowed to use my digital, but also some digital camera are real bad at catching action shots.

 

[Macnjac87]

I love my new Olympus Stylus 300- it is compact, very easy to use and is an all-weather (you can take pictures in the rain, fog, mist, etc.) great deal- I think it was around 200!

 

[disneyfan73]

......if anyone can recommend a good compact digital camera that is easy to use and takes great pictures.

Canon PowerShot S500 or S410 are very compact. See my album link below for photos taken with S500.

another good link http://www.dpreview.com/

 

[debtman7]

What's your budget and/or requirements?

Right now the best deal is probably the Canon A75 at Office Max on sale for $150. This is a phenomenal camera, consistently rated one of the best compacts available and that's a great price. Downside is that it's only 3.2 MP, but that's enough for 8x10 prints if that's all you need. The A95 can be had for around $300 online and is 5 MP with a bonus swivelling LCD. The entire A series do great pictures and have full manual capabilities (aperature priority, shutter priority, or full manual) plus can be fitted with additional lenses or filters. The newer A510 is essentially the same as the A75, but has a 4x zoom.

I was almost ready to buy one, but I think I want to get something smaller and pocketable (the A series are small, but they are not quite pocket small). I'm leaning towards the Sony DSC-P100 right now, which office max has on sale for $299. It's 5 MP and nice and tiny for pockets, plus still supports add on lenses and has some manual controls.

Which camera depends on what you want really. High zoom? High resolution? Small size? Add on lenses? Manual controls? Price? Battery life?

There is really no ideal camera, it's just a matter of narrowing it down to the one that fits your needs best, which means deciding what is most important on the above considerations.

Oh yeah, with batteries, most people actually prefer cameras that take AA's (at least if you are not looking for a tiny camera). The reason is that the proprietary tiny batteries are espensive (usually $50), don't hold as much energy, and if it dies you have to have expensive spares. You can get rechargable AA's for $40 (4 batteries and charger) that will recharge in 15 minutes, which is very convenient. The other nice thing is that you can always pack some $3 AA's as spares so you'll never run out of power.

 

[minniemoms]

Totally agree with Mist ee rose, Get a camera with lithium batteries that the camera can plug in, or bring the charger. My camera with a lithium battery lasts much longer than my daughters with AA batteries. I have big cameras with big lenses, but when I am on vacation, I don't want to lug heavy cameras around my neck. I want a good shot with a little point and shoot. I am hear to have fun and lugging around heavy cameras can get old. Just get a good enough little one, that you will get good results from it. I have enlarged 11 x 14 's with my little Canon, 5 mexapixel camera, and they look good. Not like my Canon Eos Mark II would, but darn good for a point and shoot. Good luck in your search I agree with the other review too, it is a good one as well, do your own research, and find the one that best suits your needs, that is what I did. I wanted one with a wider lens, and less zoom, since I wanted to do lots of landscape shots, and it seems to work good. Not too great in the zooming in, but I have other lenses if I want to do that.

 

[disneyfan551]

I also have a Minolta DiMage Z1 & LOOOOVE it!! I've taken thousands of pictures with it and am very happy.

Two important notes: 1- go to dpreview.com to the message boards, you can get opinions from novice to professional photographers 2- think about purchasing your camera at Costco, if they have it. Even though the closest Costco to me is 2.5 hrs, it was worth it for the "return anything at any time guarantee". The 1st Z1 I purchased from Best Buy, and the lens froze up on me within 2 weeks. I was barely able to return it in time!

Overall, the 10x zoom on the Z1 has been the best aspect of the camera!

Good luck on your decision.

 

[webray]

I just got the kodak easyshare..for the same purpose..14 day westbound repo. Been playing with it and I love it. It is the newer model, with the 10x zoom. The clarity on the screen is excellent when taking the picture, easy to email after you take the pics. Hubby and I both love it. Sams club had a great deal during the holidays..came with the docking station for free.

 

[krhardy]

I too love my Sony Cybershot...I got mine off of ebay, and it is an older one. I really like the fact that our digital video camera is also a Sony, so the memory sticks are interchangeable. Also, I bought mine with an underwater housing, so I was able to use MY camera, that I knew and trusted when I was snorkeling. It took great underwater pictures. I'm pretty sure you can still get the housings for the newer models. I paid a little over $300 for the camera, housing, case, 2 batteries, new charger, and 3 memory sticks.

 

[Mickey&JoshNut]

Thanks everyone for all your recommendations.

I looked at the brands & models you all recommended and I spent a great deal of time today at our local camera shop. I ended up purchasing the Pentax S4 - it is so small & compact but has everything that I want. I know this was not one of the cameras that anyone recommended but it had everything that I wanted and the price was defintely right!!! Two of the ladies that work at the camera shop each have one and told me all about the features and the compactness of the camera. One of the ladies even had hers in her purse and let me try it out and even printed out some of the pictures so I could see how it prints. Being able to try out her camera really was the deciding factor for me - plus if I have any problems using it I can go back there because it is the camera shop where I usually have my film developed. So I took the plunge and am now the proud owner of a digital camera. Now I have 86 days before our 14 day Panama cruise to figure out how it ll works.

Thanks again everyone for all your recommendations - I knew the great people on this message board would be able to help me out!!!!

Elaine

 

[Kelly Grannell]

Canon S2 IS or if you want more compact (but without image stabilizer) Canon A95. If you want REALLY cheap, Fuji A345.

 

[fourfoxesinpa]

Definitely recommend the Canon A510 or A520. So does consumer reports - it got its best buy rating. I just bought a A520 from www.pcrush.com and got a 256 memory card with the A520 for free. Prices beat amazon, circuit city, best buy, by noticeable amount. Do a google search for the A510 or A520 and you'll see how good this model is. You can search www.mysimon.com for the price comparisons and see that the pcrush site is definitely the cheapest when you add the memory. Good seller ratings too for pcrush.

You also want to buy rechargeable NiMH batteries. I got a 4 pack and a charger at Office Max for $19.99. Regular AA alkaline batteries do not last long.

 

[MNmousecouple]

I agree about the Cannon S2 IS, I like the picture quality, 12x optical zoom, 5mp. Also the image stabilization and both lcd (rotateable) & viewfinder. SD memory and ability to use AA batteries in a pinch. Only thing I haven't liked so far is the lens cap doesn't stay on.