Best digital camera for under $500?

[JDub02]

What the topic says .. I'm looking for the best digital camera for under $500.

I've seen alot of reviews and it seems that most of them are conflicting so I'm looking for real-world experience. I need something that'll handle outdoor shots as well as indoor low lighting shots. Basically something that'll do it all. Features aren't all that big of a concern, I just want quality shots.

Thanks.

 

[Dewey]

Have you tried reading the forums over at www.dpreview.com?

 

[JDub02]

Nope. Didn't know about that site. Thanks. 🙂

 

[JDub02]

Well, I have it narrowed down to the Canon Powershot A40 and the Olympus 3020Z. The Canon is 2.4MP and the Olympus is 3.2 MP. Both have great prices at OM thanks to the Hot Deals forum. 🙂 Decisions, decisions ...

 

[pdo]

if you can scrape up another $50 I would suggest looking the Fuji S602 it's in a different class than the Oly 3020 and the Canon A40 eventhough I own an Oly 2040Z and the Canon A40. And if you decide on the Olympus I would suggest the Oly 3040 which has better lense then the older 3020 especially in low light.

 

[roncarter]

Canon power shot s30!

 

[JDub02]

Originally posted by: .paldo
if you can scrape up another $50 I would suggest looking the Fuji S602 it's in a different class than the Oly 3020 and the Canon A40 eventhough I own an Oly 2040Z and the Canon A40. And if you decide on the Olympus I would suggest the Oly 3040 which has better lense then the older 3020 especially in low light.

If it was a matter of $50, I'd go for the Fuji. It looks sweet. But the best price I can find on the Fuji is $550. I can get the Olympus for $350 or the A40 for $200 with a free 64MB memory card.

I'm leaning towards the Olympus for it's features and higher resolution.

 

[JDub02]

I also like the Olympus 3040, but the best I can find on that one is $550 as well. Not quite in my budget.

 

[pdo]

have you tried looking at open box item from returnbuy? I bought an Oly 2040 from them for $179 and it's working out great. Alot of peeps here have got the Oly C-720 from them and claim the camera to be in brand new condition. Do a search on returnbuy in the hotdeals forum and see what you came up with. and they have the Oly 3020 and the Oly C-720. I suggest looking at the description closely when buying from them.

 

[T2T III]

If you can chalk up $509, go for a Canon G2.

 

[RedWolf]

Originally posted by: JDub02

Originally posted by: .paldo
if you can scrape up another $50 I would suggest looking the Fuji S602 it's in a different class than the Oly 3020 and the Canon A40 eventhough I own an Oly 2040Z and the Canon A40. And if you decide on the Olympus I would suggest the Oly 3040 which has better lense then the older 3020 especially in low light.

If it was a matter of $50, I'd go for the Fuji. It looks sweet. But the best price I can find on the Fuji is $550. I can get the Olympus for $350 or the A40 for $200 with a free 64MB memory card.

I'm leaning towards the Olympus for it's features and higher resolution.

I just spent two weeks researching cameras and settled on the Fuji S602z. It is a fantastic camera and the best value for the money that I've seen. It can do 640x480 video at 30fps until your storage is full. It takes great looking images. The ccd is technically a 3 mp ccd but Fuji does some strange things and it takes pictures very similar to a 4mp camera. It has good optics and a 6x optical zoom. The options for taking pictures in full auto to full manual mode are unrivaled on a digital camera in it's price range.

I bought the camera mostly for taking action/sports shots. If that is what you want to do, there isn't a better digital camera for under $1000 for that type of photography. If you just want to take basic portrait photos using an point & shoot camera, you can find one for less. I am extremely happy with the camera and I can't say enough good things about it. My wife thinks the money was well spent.

 

[RedWolf]

Oh, and i've had the camera for about two weeks now.