Advice for digital camera

[calvinbiss]

3My gf says shes going to buy me a digital camera for graduation. She says her boss gets good deals on sony products, so its most likely going to be a sony, on that i don't have a choice. What i'm wondering is, what attributes make a good digital camera? Pixels? I am a total n00b at this, so any advice will help.

 

[RossMAN]

How much is your g/f's budget?

Just how good of a deal can your g/f get on Sony digicams?

I know the higher end models are raved about by some ATers but I feel you can still get a good deal on a better Canon, Olympus, Nikon or Fuji elsewhere.

 

[vi edit]

In my fairly exhaustive(and endless) quest for the "perfect" digital camera, I've come to the conclusion that Fuji and Minolta offer the best "bang for the buck". When you factor in what you get with those cameras, and the quality that they provide, I'd have to get at least a 50% discount on a sony product in order to give them my money.

I just don't feel that sony offers anything innovative or superior to really *anyone* in the digicam market. Sure the ones with the burner are cool...but the disks are expensive, the cameras are outrageously expensive and under featured otherwise, and it's a very complicated thing that could easily fail in the future.

 

[Ausm]

I personally like Canon's Especially the G2 Model

Ausm

 

[calvinbiss]

well, i think that she has to buy a sony. and the discount is 40%, so thats really not bad. this is how she explains it to me,"its really small, and it does a lot of cool things!" What am i supposed to do with that. i guess i should just be happy about getting the darned thing for free. What about pixles? are there differences between cameras?

 

[Cerebus451]

Most of the newer Sony cameras are okay. They use Carl Zeiss lenses, which are above average. My biggest beef with Sony cameras are their storage medium. You can choose between floppy, CD-R, or memory stick, and I choose none of the above (which is why I bought a Minolta). Digital Photography Review is a good site to go to for in-depth information on digital camera. He runs them through the paces pretty well. A lot of the information is pretty in-depth, but he usually has samples up from each camera to give you a good idea of what to expect. There is more to a camera than just the number of mega-pixels (a high quality 2MP camera can produce better pictures than a low end 3MP camera for instance).

 

[RossMAN]

That sucks that you're stuck with Sony because you can get an awesome Fuji digicam for well under $300 with 20% off but oh well.

Ornery always recommends the Sony Cybershot DSC S75 I would read his posts in this thread.

 

[HomeBrewerDude]

i got a fuji finepix a few months ago and love it.

 

[Kelvrick]

I personally think that Olympus makes the best cameras for the price. Although not really anymore, but still good.

I'd have to say Canon is the best though.

Sony is good though. I don't like dealing with smart media that much.

 

[StattlichPassat]

I'd really see if you can push for a Canon- I just bought an A40 and I LOVE IT. Coolest thing I've bought in... at least the last year.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

 

[Koing]

The Sony cameras are more pricey.

They do have the Carl Zeiss lenses in them.

Sony DSC-F707 that is about $1k. Top end consumer 5MP camera. Its suppose to be the best 5MP camera you can getb bar none at the cost and performance it offers. I read this review about it about 2 months ago.
review of F707

if she gets you this one you'll be a lucky man. You'll be happy with what you get mate!

I like Memory Stick as I have a VAIO laptop with a MS so its just like a floppy drive for me