Best digital camera for under $250??

[acejj26]

As the title suggests, I am looking for the best digital camera under $250, and maybe even under $200. My buddy is looking to get one, and he asked my advice. I've been out of the loop for a few years. I bought my Nikon Coolpix 800 a couple years ago, and that was the last time I researched digital cameras. Can you guys help me out??

 

[AnAndAustin]

My rec is for either Fuji (esp A20_) or Olympus (esp C220Z/300Z), these manus were fantastic all-rounders about a year ago when I last had a good look around. Things to look out for si the connection type, Serial is a waste of time, USB is fine and found on all modrn PCs while USB2 is MUCH faster and found on the latest PCs (but USB to works happily at USB1 speeds anyway).

Other things to note:

Obviously the MEGAPIXEL resolution of the camera. A lot of reviews state you need 3.0MP+ esp for A4 photo printing, but then they're just spoiled ... lets face it if we tested top of the range 19" and 21" CRT monitors we'd hate even the best 17" monitor wouldn't we LOL! So 2.0MP is certainly very decent and it doesn't cost a whole lot either, certainly more than adequate for A4 photo printing esp if you're a dab hand at sw enhancing BUT do check out how much extar the 3.0MP cameras are.

ZOOM is another big topic, of course Digital Zooom simply crops the pic so is pretty pointless, optical zoom uses the usual lens which tends to add to the size, weight, battery usage and expense of the camera but allows you to zoom in without sacrificing pixels.

MEMORY FORMAT is largely irrelevant other than how much the new cards cost, Smart Media and Compact Flash are the most widely used. MEMORY SIZE is of course important, 32MB allows quite a lot of 2.0MP images to be saved but then 64MB is pretty cheap too and probably worth picking one up regardless of what the camera comes with.

BATTERIES is often over-looked, I like the cameras which use standard AA (rechargable) batteries as this works out very cheap and flexible, allows you to stick in any AA batteries (pref Alkaline though) if you get caught short, IMHO much better than being tied in to a companies own battery standard.

A FLASH is a must, you won't get anywhere near decent results without one! Note the acessories you may want/need such as extra batteries, carry case, more media, stand etc as how much you get with the camera varies quite a bit.

ABILITIES, many modern d.cams allow you to use them to capture short and simple video sequences as well as use them as a webcam, it doesn't tend to add any extra to the cost anyway! You can also find things like the ability to output to a TV, but of course do weigh up what you will actually end up using before shelling out more money.

$200-250 should snag you a very nice camera!

 

[MasterHoss]

Fuji Finepix2600 would be my first choice (right at $250 retail now). I'm not a big fan of the Olympus D520ZOOM but others love it (and plus, it's $50 over your limit).

 

[mastertech01]

The Canon Powershot line is a good 2MP line and take excellent pictures for the price. If he can afford a little more the s200 can be had for around 269.00 plus shipping, and is a spectacular camera and about the size of a credit card and about 1 inch thick, 2x optical zoom, and a mighty sweet digicam.

 

[MasterHoss]

Yes, that Cannon PowerShot S200 is a very nice digital camera. In fact, I actually bought it 2 weeks ago. Where can you get it for $270????

 

[brtspears2]

THeres a thread in hot deals about a $190 A40 Canon camera with free 64mb CF.

 

[Aquaman]

Have you out grown the coolpix 800? If not I'd save some money & get a 3.3+ mega pixel camera

Cheers,
Aquaman

 

[Rhombuss]

Nikon - high price, extreme quality
Fuji - moderate price, moderate quality
Kodak - low price, moderate quality
Canon - moderate price, extreme quality

I think Canon's line, maybe the A30/A40 are your best bet. I just purchased the S30 a while ago and it totally blows away the Kodak DC290 (both 3.2MP cameras) away. Just be careful when you get your camera, and do a lot of research. Some cameras have a latency time between the point at which you press the "Snap" button, and when the camera actually takes the picture. This can cause a lot of headache if you don't hold the camera absolutely still within that latency time, and you may end up with a lot of blurred photos.

 

[mastertech01]

Originally posted by: MasterHoss
Yes, that Cannon PowerShot S200 is a very nice digital camera. In fact, I actually bought it 2 weeks ago. Where can you get it for $270????

BUYDIG.COM shows it at 269.00 plus shipping and Beach Camera has it at 272.00 plus shipping for a couple examples. You can find them regularly on Ebay as well.

 

[trikster2]

I got my wife the Canon S100 for around that price.

Pictures are just as good as my Kodak 3600 but the thing is literaly 1/2 the size.

Plus it fits in my pocket so if we are going on a trip guess which camera we normaly have with us?

>ZOOM is another big topic, of course Digital Zooom simply crops the pic so is pretty pointless

I thought exactly the same thing and never missed not having digital zoom on my two Kodaks.

However, played with the 4x digital zoom on my wifes S100 and I found I really liked the feature for two reasons:

1. "Live Zoom". Instead of taking a picture, downloading it, then zooming you get the zoom when you need it, while you are taking the shot, so you know if it is a good picture or not and can retake and/or delete as necessary.

2. Nicer zoom. For some reason the 4x zoom on the camera smooths the jaggies and looks nicer than when I zoom in on a digital photo. I'm sure if I had photo shop and time to kill I could make the picture look just as nice but having the feature built into the camera saves time.