Help w/ a camera decision

[DouglasF]

Recently, a little bit of extra money came my way. So now I'm considering making a new purchase. I'm seriously considering buying a digital camera.

Here is where you come in.

Tell me about your experiences with digital cameras.

What kind do you have?
How many pixels?
How would you characterize the quality of the pictures?
Is it easy to operate?
Do you like it/would you recommend it?

 

[Memaw2Wm]

What kind of "regular" camera do you have? Point'n shoot or SLR. Do you have a favorite brand?

I like Canon so here's my recommendations:

inexpensive point'n shoot: Canon A70 or A80 (gave my son the A40 a couple of Christmases ago and he and DIL love it)

more expensive point'n shoot: Canon G4 or G5 (I bought the G4 last spring and am quite happy with it)

SLR: new digital Rebel (Canon) (this wasn't available when I bought the G4, if it was I probably would have choosen this as I'm an SLR person).

You can check these out at www.bhphotovideo.com

HTH

 

[myboysmom]

We just bought a Sony P-72. We chose a Sony because we want to keep all of our memory the same because we own many Sony products. We also love it. It uses AA batteries (which last 3 hrs tops) however Sony included a recharger and two high quality AA NiMH batteries. You may want to decide what kind of battery you would like.

When we started looking a college student (yes, they are the best when it comes to electronics) told me to make sure that whatever you choose make sure it has an optical zoom. That will prevent the pictures from becoming too grainy when they are printed. A digital zoom is fine if you are only going to be publishing to the web.

He also told me the more mega pixels doesn't mean better. A 3.2 or so is the same quality as a point a shoot 35 mm. Lower than 3.2 however won't give you as good of quality in prints.

 

[alloyd1170]

I second Sony as Ive used them for years (and several products). I just bought the new DCR-T1 which is an awesome camera. Its a 5.0 (but you can reduce it), has a huge display on the back (which is easy to see in daylight-I put one of those pda screen protectors on it since my old camera display got scratched a bit), and is so amazingly slim (like a deck of cards thin) which is why I really bought it in the first place. What I really like about it is that it takes a lot less time to turn it on (simply slide the cover down and a few seconds later its ready-unlike the older models) and it records to the media a lot quicker. It has a zoom lens on it, but the lens doesnt actually protrude from the camera which is really slice. I got mine on Ebay a lot cheaper than what it retails for (thats the big drawback with this one). The other thing is that it takes a memory duo or pro duo (I used pro duo because supposedly it records even faster??). It comes with a 32 MB card but will only hold 12 pictures at 5.0 and fine. I bought the 256 MB card and can get 94 pictures on that one. It will also do short mpeg movies, but its highly recommended to get the 512 MB stick.

I also bought the new DSC-PC109 video camera that just came out (again on Ebay for a lot less and for its size). Love that as well. No more lugging a "huge" (not that it was really) video camera around WDW.

alison

 

[shrubber]

try CNET.COM . They have excellent reviews for all kind of techy gear. I just used it to purchase my new camera ( Nikon coolpix 5)

 

[My2Girls66]

I always buy Nikon cameras. IMHO- 35mm is much better printed than digital. I took both on our Grand Canyon trip last year- Nikon 35mm SLR and a Nikon Coolpix 4500(300+ digitals and 16 rolls of film)- the printed pics from my 35mm were much better(I printed my digitals at Ritz Camera). Digital is great for computer or web use.
I was told that 35mm is equivalent to 6.5 megapixels. The more megapixels the better the quality of the print. For use on the web/computer, tho- # of megapixels isn't that big a deal.

I like my Coolpix 4500- if you want digital- I would recommend it.
For the best quality prints- take your photos on the highest resolution. The 4500 is 4.0 megapixels. Its easy to operate & has a lot of features. Digital is slower than 35mm- so if you are looking to take any action shots- digital isn't as good. Maybe the really expensive pro digital cameras are better at this but I've had no luck taking successful pictures of any moving objects.
Good Luck!

 

[DouglasF]

I just wanted to thank everyone for all the great advice you are giving me. Some of which I was already aware of. What I'm really appreciating is the specific models you are discussing and the detail of your experiences. That's what is really helping me. Even if people have had bad experiences with makes and models of digital cameras, I'd like to hear about what I should avoid and why.

To help people get an idea of what I'm after:
1. Point and shoot - prosumer level of digital camera
2. Zoom capability, at least 3x optical zoom
3. something that won't eat batteries out the ying yang
4. clear, crisp picture with vibrant color

I'll be shopping for the camera late April/early May. Until then I'm doing research. Hopefully with your help, I'll be able to get a lot of BANG for my buck

 

[AreWeThereYet]

Hey DouglasF -

Here's what I have:

Canon S45
*4MP (or a little more)
*takes compact flash memory cards (comes with one 32mb - I have two 256mb cards I rotate)
*Rechargable proprietary battery (I bought a second just in case) and wall charger. Don't ever have a battery-eating problem because I recharge each time I swap batteries.
*Can be point and shoot in "auto" mode or can tweaked to your hearts' content in one of the many custom modes.
*has a movie mode (have not used yet, but nice to know I can
*11X combined zoom

The pictures we have taken thus far are great - we have no complaints.


PM me if you would like some sample pix.

 

[DouglasF]

Sound the trumpets!!!! The purchase has been made!

Thank you to all who responded to this post. This post really helped me pick out the camera that would give me the best bang for my buck. It was a big learning experience. Not only did I get to learn all different things about cameras, but I learned about business pracitices of sellers of cameras.

The biggest lesson I learned is that while there may be oodles of companies that will deeply discount the camera, their business practices leave something to be desired. The big common practice is that they hook you in with advertising a VERY low rate on a camera. You place your order. Then you receive a message that they want you to call them to confirm the billing. When you call the company back they try to sell you accessories such as memory media and batteries. These accessories are always way over priced. You could get the same stuff at Wal-mart for less than half they want to sell this stuff for. When you refuse to buy the accessories all of a sudden the item you ordered is out of stock or there is some other problem. If you decide to buy accessories in addition to your camera from these companies normally it is smooth sailing. So by the time I would find what I would consider a reputable company my camera of choice would have gone up in price to a level I couldn't afford.

Finally, after much searching, I found a seller with whom I could do business.

I ended up narrowing my choices to about four different groups of cameras:

Kodak Easy Share DX 6440 or 6490 Zoom
Olympus C-4000, C-5000, C-5050 Zoom
Nikon Coolpix 4300, 4500, 5400
Canon Power Shot S50, S400

My decision between these cameras came down to seeing what kind of offer can I find from what I would consider a reputable dealer?

Drum roll ..... open the envelope.....
and you'll have to wait for my next post to see what camera I picked.

Btw, I got it through a seller at half.com. She even threw in added memory beyond what ordinarily comes with the camera!

 

[TiffJ]

I just got the Kodak DX 6340 and cant say enough about it. I love it. It is quick between photos (which is important with little ones) and has a "burst" mode to allow you to take some action shots. I had a Fuji A210 and hated it. Sent it back. I can see millions of pictures in my future. Good thing I bought the jumbo pack of CD-R's.

 

[DouglasF]

I'm not that much of a sadist. I ended up purchasing a new Nikon Coolpix 4300. The camera, a 128 MB memory card, tax, shipping all came to a grand total of $348.98.

You can read about the camera by surfing to http://www.epinions.com/content_80569470596

I'm happy. #1 if you told me six months ago that I would be getting a digital camera I'd have told you you were nuts. #2 I was able to make this purchase a lot sooner than I anticipated.

 

[mwalsh]

You should get at least a 4 mega pixel camera with a card of 128 MB or better.
Get back up batteries and a charger and a card drive to easily load images into computer without deadling with docks and cords etc. I have a Kodak EasyShare 4 mega pixel and love it but have read bad reports on it when using the docking station. Sony is a great brand but I was upgrading and did not want to change card types so I stayed with Kodak.

MW

 

[My2Girls66]

I get a few more than 100 pics taken in Fine(best quality) on a 128mb card on my Coolpix 4500. I carry 2 - 128mb and the 1 that came with the camera. For best print quality- take your pics in the best quality.

 

[RoyalCanadian]

Originally posted by My2Girls66

I was told that 35mm is equivalent to 6.5 megapixels. The more megapixels the better the quality of the print. For use on the web/computer, tho- # of megapixels isn't that big a deal.

35mm film is more equivalent to about 16 MP and with advances in film technology (e.g. high definition film from Kodak, high speed films from all manufacturers) the results from even a disposable 35mm camera can be absolutely stunning. I have compared the standard 4x6 photos from both digital and film cameras -- I can find no difference at that size unless the digital zoom has been pushed to the extreme.

That said, and with the knowledge that I probably would not have made the digital camera purchase unless my 18 year old and very trustworthy Canon T-70 was stolen, I bought a Fujifilm S5000 3.1 MP from www.tigerdirect.ca (Company is actually in Illinois, but has a CAnadian office). It looks like a SLR, feels like a very lightweight SLR and has a 10x optical zoom and 2.2x digital zoom. Uses the tiny xD Picture Card and is very quick. I love it.

 

[My2Girls66]

Originally posted by RoyalCanadian
35mm film is more equivalent to about 16 MP and with advances in film technology (e.g. high definition film from Kodak, high speed films from all manufacturers) the results from even a disposable 35mm camera can be absolutely stunning. I have compared the standard 4x6 photos from both digital and film cameras -- I can find no difference at that size unless the digital zoom has been pushed to the extreme.

I took 300+ digitals(Coolpix 4500) and 15 rolls of film(200sp w/ a Nikon 8008 SLR)at the grand canyon last yr. and the prints from the 35mm were MUCH better. You can tell in a sec. which was digital and which was 35mm. I was very disappointed in the digitals.
With that said tho- this was my 1st trip with the digital-still was learning and I didn't have it set on the best quality(I had it set on normal quality). That may have made the difference. I don't know. I printed the digitals at Ritz- I'm assuming they have a decent printer.
I'm going to compare them again next week while in Disney.
We'll see which are better.
As far as getting the digital to fire faster. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Even setting the shutter speed to a faster setting doesn't seem to do it for me. When I spoke to Nikon- they said there is a slight delay in digital. My kids do a lot of bouncing around. So, if you have any advice on how to get this camera to fire faster- I'd appeciate it.

 

[RoyalCanadian]

Originally posted by My2Girls66

As far as getting the digital to fire faster. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Even setting the shutter speed to a faster setting doesn't seem to do it for me. When I spoke to Nikon- they said there is a slight delay in digital. My kids do a lot of bouncing around. So, if you have any advice on how to get this camera to fire faster- I'd appeciate it. [/B]

I have also noticed a slight lag between picking the shot, pushing the button and seeing what the actual photo looks like -- and I too have found that the shot that comes out wasn't exactly what I always saw through the viewfinder. Someone has moved. They're looking in a different direction. Etc. Etc. I'm sure I'll figure this out as I get used to the digital cam -- but I'm also getting used to the auto-focus. I really can't figure out how the camera knows how to auto-focus on a subject when the photo is being taken through a window (e.g. DD at swim class -- parents are kept in a lobby behind a wall of windows), yet the camera makes the right decision. It's beyond me -- I would think the camera would focus on the closest object, that being the window.