Photographers: The best digital camera???

BamaTigger

DIS Veteran
Joined
May 29, 2002
Messages
2,224
To anyone who knows about cameras..in your humble opinion, which is the best affordable digital camera....(100-400 dollar range)
 
I personally have a canon powershot A85. Canon has other powershots out. It runs about $300. Its small and compact but takes awesome pictures. It even takes small 30 second movies!!
 

I currently have a kodak 4mp, and am thinking about upgrading.
I recently saw a kodak 7mp model c743, on their website, for about $200. I then saw it at circuit city for $170. It looks like a pretty good camera for the money.
I loved the kodak software, so that is why I am trying to stay with them.
I do not recommend getting anything with a large zoom. I have one right now with a 10x zoom and unless you have a tripod in your back pocket to use, the photos come out blurry.
 
We just recently got the Canon S2IS...it's awesome. We love it!! Takes awesome pics! The S3IS is out but if you can still get the S2IS it will save you some money and they didn't make many changes with the new model. Good luck!
 
I wanted that camera before the S3 came out but put the purchase on the back burner. I checked it out at a couple of stores and loved the feel of it.

Any suggestions on who still has it??? I'm glad this question came up, I'm entertaining the idea again.

Thanks OP!!!
 
tink70 said:
I currently have a kodak 4mp, and am thinking about upgrading.
I recently saw a kodak 7mp model c743, on their website, for about $200. I then saw it at circuit city for $170. It looks like a pretty good camera for the money.
I loved the kodak software, so that is why I am trying to stay with them.
I do not recommend getting anything with a large zoom. I have one right now with a 10x zoom and unless you have a tripod in your back pocket to use, the photos come out blurry.


You may want to check that the larger zoom is preferable now if it is all digital and not an optical zoom it will really affect the image quality but the larger the otical zoom the better the camera and generaly the higher the price. I would not buy anything with digital zoom only or with less than a 4X optical zoom now. I would get something with a lower MP count and higher optical zoom over say a 7MP camera and a 3X optical zoom kinda pointless actually. Plus people are all hung up on the MP thier camera has and to be honest if you are only posting them on the net and printing the occasional picture in 4X6 or 8X10 anything over 3.2MP is useless the lerger MP counts are great if you are printing off posters or large banners but beyond that look for a camera that has a good optical zoom and quality glass in teh lense. Look for cameras that use Carl Zeiss glass or Schnieder Krausnach glass to name a few of the higher end lense manufacturers.
 
elastigirlfan said:
We just recently got the Canon S2IS...it's awesome. We love it!! Takes awesome pics! The S3IS is out but if you can still get the S2IS it will save you some money and they didn't make many changes with the new model. Good luck!

My husband loves his. He's had it for about a year, and it takes great pictures.
 
sbclifton said:
My husband loves his. He's had it for about a year, and it takes great pictures.
Actually, any half-way decent camera will be capable of taking great photos. The difference between a great photo and a bad photo is almost always the photographer, not the camera. So, your husband takes great pictures!!! Lucky you!

I sell art photos. Most I've taken with my 20 year old, fully-manual Ricoh 35 mm SLR. A few I took with my FujiFilm point-and-shoot 6.3 MP pocket-sized camera (with 4x optical zoom), and one photo I sell I actually took with a disposable camera.
 
I myself bought a Canon SD550 which I think is a couple years old but love it! It's compact, fairly easy to use and takes very good pics. I think the updated model is the SD800. It's true that a good photographer can get good pics but not all camera's will fit all persons.

After getting some idea's of which one's you might be interested in, it's best if you can go into a store and try them out since they have different feel.
Initially when I started looking, I was set on a particular camera but when I went in to try it out I found some things that I did not like such as the viewer was a little distorted and one of the buttons was not in an area I found convenient.

Here's a review site that can be helpful in selecting a camera particular to what you are looking for. There's even a list of the top selling cameras. Good luck!

http://www.dpreview.com/
 
I am a novice at photgraphy. I bought my first digital camera this year - a Canon S2 is - and I like it. But, it's bigger than I'd like.

My boss lent me his Sony Cybershot (he likes to share his toys!) and I used it this past weekend on a ghost tour and a visit to the pumpkin patch. It's a great little camera. So much smaller and easier to pop in your pocket. And it took great pictures.

I'm going to take both cameras to Disney but use the Sony when we are at the parks. I'll use my Canon at the resort, character meals, etc.

Debbie
 
F4disneyfan said:
You may want to check that the larger zoom is preferable now if it is all digital and not an optical zoom it will really affect the image quality but the larger the otical zoom the better the camera and generaly the higher the price. I would not buy anything with digital zoom only or with less than a 4X optical zoom now. I would get something with a lower MP count and higher optical zoom over say a 7MP camera and a 3X optical zoom kinda pointless actually. Plus people are all hung up on the MP thier camera has and to be honest if you are only posting them on the net and printing the occasional picture in 4X6 or 8X10 anything over 3.2MP is useless the lerger MP counts are great if you are printing off posters or large banners but beyond that look for a camera that has a good optical zoom and quality glass in teh lense. Look for cameras that use Carl Zeiss glass or Schnieder Krausnach glass to name a few of the higher end lense manufacturers.

Thanks for the info. That's what I have the schneider 10x zoom. and it works fine for the most part. Until I zoom in on something real close.
 
Fuji FinePix is the best!!!!! your vids can be up to 3 mins long!!!!
(I'm sorry I'm just a little obcessed with my new camera!)
 
tink70 said:
I currently have a kodak 4mp, and am thinking about upgrading.
I recently saw a kodak 7mp model c743, on their website, for about $200. I then saw it at circuit city for $170. It looks like a pretty good camera for the money.
I loved the kodak software, so that is why I am trying to stay with them.
I do not recommend getting anything with a large zoom. I have one right now with a 10x zoom and unless you have a tripod in your back pocket to use, the photos come out blurry.


I have an Olympus 10x zoom. Have never used a tripod....pictures are seldom blurry--only if I rush a shot!
 
tink70 said:
Thanks for the info. That's what I have the schneider 10x zoom. and it works fine for the most part. Until I zoom in on something real close.


Keep in mind Kodak uses a great lense but the rest of the camera compoinents are lacking in comparison to many of the other brands. A good friend of our family who owns a camera shop ran a personal comparison on 10 different cameras and even the Kodak with teh Schneider lense came out at the bottom of the image quality comparison. Mind you for the price it came out closer to the top for the features 10X optical zoom and the Schneider lense. He used the same settings on all the cameras and used the same image for photographing it just wasn't a great camera. The Nikon he used and the Canon were tops in the image department but also in the cost department at that time.
 














Save Up to 30% on Rooms at Walt Disney World!

Save up to 30% on rooms at select Disney Resorts Collection hotels when you stay 5 consecutive nights or longer in late summer and early fall. Plus, enjoy other savings for shorter stays.This offer is valid for stays most nights from August 1 to October 11, 2025.
CLICK HERE







New Posts







DIS Facebook DIS youtube DIS Instagram DIS Pinterest

Back
Top