Help with choosing a digital camera

[deno2]

I have always been a 35mm camera user - the time has come to go digital! I am digital challenged and I am looking to the DIS camera experts to help me find the right one for me. I have limited digital camera knowledge and don't even know what I need - HELP!
In a perfect world the camera would have or do the following:
-Compact
-User friendly
-Compatible with my printer, (Dell phote 924 - the friend that help me pick out my computer said that someday I may want photo printing capability)
-$500 top price limit, (less would be better)
Also, I live 3 hours from the nearest large city, I will need to order whatever I get.
Thank-you soooo much in advance for any and all suggestions!!
deno
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[ruadisneyfan2]

I am also digitally-challenged. My dh bought me for Christmas about 2 yrs ago a Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W1. I love it. I has a large LCD screen to view each photo and it's small enough to stick in my pocket. It turns on really fast (a huge plus compared to our older 1 that was 3 yrs old.) and can use either the rechargable batteries that came w/it or reg. alkaline batteries. It has 5.1 mega-pixels which is probably mediocre these days.(2 years is old when talking computer technology.) I'd go for the highest # of mega-pixels you can afford but remember the quality of your printed photos may be limited by the resolution your printer can print. The only neg. I can think of is that the memory it uses is a Memory Stick. You can buy non-Sony brands of memory sticks but overall they cost more than other memory types like Compact Flash or Secure Digital. (our ds9 can also use mem. stk for his Sony PSP though.)
Do you have a Circuit City, Best Buy or Sears near you? I think it's important that you make your decision by actually seeing/feeling one rather than shop & research only online. Good luck! Once you get used to it, you'll love it!

 

[deno2]

We have a Walmart and a K-Mart and that's about it, so hands-on camera chopping is not really an option, (we're leaving for WDW in 39 days and no trip to civilization before then). On-line shopping is my only option unless Walmart or K-Mart has somehthing.
deno

 

[Harvest02]

My husband, to my surprise, got me a new digital camera for our anniversary back in April. We already had a Canon digital camera which was 2.0 megapixals and it worked fine. He said he wanted to get me a nicer camera for our trip to Disney which was in June. I LOVE my Kodak V570 camera! It is dual lens and is 5.0 megapixals. It takes great pictures and is very simple to use. Go to Kodaks website to check it out! I think he paid about $400 for it. Has a nice dock to charge it, and is so simple to transfer pictures to our computer. I would highly recommend this camera!!!

 

[dance2874]

I second the Kodak reply. I have a Kodak Easyshare DX490 (which they dont make anymore) and I love it. I am getting another easyshare for my next trip for DH to use and to have a smaller camera. The Easyshare family is super easy to use and they take great pics right out of the box. Mine has a printer and charging dock which is nice, but not necessary. The battery lasts forever too. I took it on a week long trip, took tons of shots and never needed to recharge it. I find lots of the small digitals that use regular batteries go through them like water. It uses a SD card for memory which is one of the cheapest type of cards.

I know walmart and Kmart sell quite a few camers so you may want to take a trip over to check them out and get a feel for them. I agree that you need to play with a camera a bit to make sure you like it. The controls need to be in palces that feel natural to you or you will end up hating it.

Good luck!

 

[PigletsPal]

I have a Cannon SD450. Bought it a month ago from Circuit City. It ws last years model but there really wasn't much difference for me to pay the extra $$$. I paid about $240 for it. LOVE IT!!!! Sm enough to carring in a fanny pack but gives great pictures. I've only gone as large as a 8x10 and I was very pleased with it.

 

[Mousema]

Our Wal-Mart has from 2 megapixals to about 8 megapixals to choose from. Sony, Cannon, Kodak. I have a Sony 7.1 megapixal that I got as an anniversary present at work and I love it. We went to a parade yesterday and I had it set on 5.0 for the pictures I took and they came out fantastic. You can get a 1 gig memory card on e-bay for about $35.

 

[FormrCastMbr]

I love my Sony Cyber Shot...it takes great pics and measures 3.5' x 2.2" x 3/4"!!! Fits great in a waist pack...they run about $400.00. I also use Shutterfly.com for developing and prints...they are GREAT. They even make up books for keepsakes...you can add captions. Good Luck and Enjoy!

 

[TinkNH]

I didnt read all the posts..but I got myself a Cannin Powershot 5 mpx camera..and I LOVE it! I got it on sale for under $200, but with a gig memory card it came to about $250 I found it online at Sears.com
a good place for reviews and such is www.cnet.com

 

[daddyof2]

I also love the easyshare had a 1.3mp then upgraded to the 4mp

I suggest at least a 4 megapixal with the highest OPTICAL zoom you can afford (digital zoom is not as good pixulates-sp?)

good luck and have fun

 

[GC&S]

I suggest at least a 4 megapixal with the highest OPTICAL zoom you can afford (digital zoom is not as good pixulates-sp?)

Ditto on the optical zoom. We have a Fuji S500 and it has a 10x Optical zoom. Best part of the whole camera. We just bought a Digital SLR (Nikon D50) and I'm already looking at getting another lens as I miss the 10x optical from our other camera.

Re: Megapixels - you really don't need more than 4. 3 is usually sufficient. Unless you're going to be printing pics 8x10 or larger, you're not going to see a lot of quality difference. If you set your camera at 4 or higher, you won't get as many pics out of your memory card. I set mine on 3 and I print out 5x7's which are great.

Also, look at what the shutter delay is. Most digital cameras have a 2-5 second delay. Can make for a frustrating time when you think you caught the perfect pic but you missed it because of the shutter delay.

Good luck!!

 

[mrs.elliott]

I've had 3 Canon digital cameras and have loved each one of them. I bought my first one about 4-5 years ago and loved it until I saw the Canon ELPH cameras. If you haven't checked the Canon ELPH's out I would. They are a little bit bigger than a deck of cards and are very durable. The only reason I don't have this camera anymore is that it was stolen out of our car the morning after our wedding and the morning we left for our honeymoon to WDW. Because I didn't have a camera I borrowed my sister's Sony Digital Camera DSC-T10 to take to Florida. I carried it my purse with nothing other than Kleenex and when I took it out to take a picture the LCD screen was busted. After my experience with the Sony I would never buy a Sony Camera (although that's the only electronics I have at home). The camera was hard to navigate, well not hard, just more complex than the Canon. Just recently I decided to upgrade from an ELPH to a Canon S2 IS (a cross between a digital SLR and a point and shoot). I've used this camera a couple of times and have loved it!

I have some family members that have other brands - Fuji and Kodak. I've looked at the Kodak camera and messed around with it and I really didn't like it, plus one of the downsides (according to my aunt) is that you have to take the docking station to charge the camera. I can't imagine you'd want to take that with you on a trip.

As for the place to buy the camera - I've found some really good deals at http://www.berger-bros.com. I got my last camera for $279.00 there, while everyone else is selling it for $315+.

As for features - the only ones you should really pay attention to are -

Megapixels or MP- which refers to the resolution of your picture (nothing less than 3.0) so if there is 3 MP - there are 3 million pixels in a square inch.

Optical Zoom - which refers to the zoom being done by the optical lens rather than the computer in the camera (digital zoom). Don't be fooled by a big digital zoom, because the bigger the more distorted your pictures will look. Get a camera with at least a 3x optical zoom.

Lag Time or Shutter Time - which refers to how long it takes the camera to write to the memory card and be ready to take the next picture. The shorter the time, the better the camera. To be quite honest most cameras this day are fast enough that you don't need to worry about this a whole lot - that is unless you are a professional photographer

Good Luck

 

[vanreg]

I would highly recommend the Kodak Easyshare z740. It has a 10x optical zoom which is wonderful! As a picture fanatic, I waited a LONG time before getting a digital camera. It seemed as though you could always tell who had a digital camera when you looked at the pictures....you can't tell with this camera. I have a friend who is a Creative Memories Director and she tried a bunch of digital cameras before settling on this one. I also have 3 other friends with the same camera. We are all very happy with it....and the pictures are almost unbelievable...they are so lifelike! Good luck....and look for a high optical zoom not digital zoom. ( I turned the digital zoom off on my camera)

 

[Ltl Mermaid]

I got the Canon powershot digital elph SD630 and I LOVE it!!! Huge screen, easy to use...very short lag time! My sister has a fuji and my mom has a sony cybershot and they are both fairly slow. I am So happy wwith my purchase! It was $400, but did come out to be more with the warrenty, extra powerstick/battery, and camera case! If this isn't over budget, go for it!