Camera guru's: i need a digital camera

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brikis98

Diamond Member
Jul 5, 2005
7,253
8
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I want a digital camera with these requirements:

1. Ultra compact: it should fit in my jeans pockets without a problem. If it's any bigger, I'll just never have it with me.
2. At least 4 megapixels
3. High quality lens that can get good contrast and detail
4. Preferably well under $400

Some optional stuff that isn't required but would be nice:

1. Manual focus (assuming small cameras have this in any useful capacity)
2. Can record decent quality record video with sound (comes in handy at times)
3. Image stabilization (assuming this is actually useful)
4. Aperture and shutter priority

Let me hear your suggestions!

EDIT: my two front runners are:

* Casio Exilim EX-Z850
* Canon SD700

Both are roughly in the same price range (<$250), get good reviews and have most of the features I want. Cast your vote for which I should get!
 
R

RayH

Senior member
Jun 30, 2000
963
1
81
I know most people are going to say Canon but check out the Casio EX-Z750.

It's not ultra compact but is easily carried on a belt pack. Has tons of manual override features and has built in mpeg4 compression for video. Has great UI and is super fast.
 
vi edit

vi edit

Elite Member
Super Moderator
Oct 28, 1999
62,484
8,345
126
I just recently purchased the Canon SD800is for $280.

It has it's ups and downs.

Pros:
---------
- VERY fast start up
- Minimal shutter lag
- Great LCD
- Best ergonomics of most of the compact/ultra compacts that I tried
- Battery life is excellent
- IS helps out quite a bit in certain situations
- Wider angle than most others

Cons:
-----------
- Noise is a serious problems in all but the best lighting. Images are *very* grainy. I haven't printed the images yet to see how much translates to paper. Just be aware that indoors in dark environments things can get pretty ugly looking.
- Corners are soft when shooting wide open
- Pretty much zero manual control (Canon really dumbs down their consumer lines)
- Good video quality, but very inneficient in size compared to other brands (like 1.5 megs/sec)
- Battery/SD card door is suspect and may be prone to easy breakage

Overall for the price, it's a nice little camera. It's just a very far cry from the quality that I'm used to from my 300D. It's small, easy to use, fast, quiet, and can take a lot of shots on a charge.

I'm sure there are better ones out there, but it's a solid "middle of the road" candidate with a company with a decent reliability history.
 
B

brikis98

Diamond Member
Jul 5, 2005
7,253
8
0
Originally posted by: RayH
I know most people are going to say Canon but check out the Casio EX-Z750.

It's not ultra compact but is easily carried on a belt pack. Has tons of manual override features and has built in mpeg4 compression for video. Has great UI and is super fast.
Click to expand...

actually, the casio ex-z850 does seem very compact (although i'd wanna hold it b4 buying) , gets pretty damn good reviews and is well under $250... i don't know much about casio, but this one seems to offer more than the canon sd700 for a cheaper price...
 
R

RayH

Senior member
Jun 30, 2000
963
1
81
Originally posted by: brikis98
Originally posted by: RayH
I know most people are going to say Canon but check out the Casio EX-Z750.

It's not ultra compact but is easily carried on a belt pack. Has tons of manual override features and has built in mpeg4 compression for video. Has great UI and is super fast.
Click to expand...

actually, the casio ex-z850 does seem very compact (although i'd wanna hold it b4 buying) , gets pretty damn good reviews and is well under $250... i don't know much about casio, but this one seems to offer more than the canon sd700 for a cheaper price...
Click to expand...

The Z850 is the upgraded Z750. I think they're both the same size. There's been comments that the video quality was better on the Z750 but for some people the other enhancements on the Z850 may be worth it. I have the Z750 and it's so convenient that it's also replaced my DV camcorder. It's not DV quality video but it's plenty good enough in most cases. The minor con is that the supplied picture software for the pc is not even worth installing. I've been using Picasa from Google.
 
MrChad

MrChad

Lifer
Aug 22, 2001
13,507
3
81
Originally posted by: vi_edit
I just recently purchased the Canon SD800is for $280.

It has it's ups and downs.

Pros:
---------
- VERY fast start up
- Minimal shutter lag
- Great LCD
- Best ergonomics of most of the compact/ultra compacts that I tried
- Battery life is excellent
- IS helps out quite a bit in certain situations
- Wider angle than most others

Cons:
-----------
- Noise is a serious problems in all but the best lighting. Images are *very* grainy. I haven't printed the images yet to see how much translates to paper. Just be aware that indoors in dark environments things can get pretty ugly looking.
- Corners are soft when shooting wide open
- Pretty much zero manual control (Canon really dumbs down their consumer lines)
- Good video quality, but very inneficient in size compared to other brands (like 1.5 megs/sec)
- Battery/SD card door is suspect and may be prone to easy breakage

Overall for the price, it's a nice little camera. It's just a very far cry from the quality that I'm used to from my 300D. It's small, easy to use, fast, quiet, and can take a lot of shots on a charge.

I'm sure there are better ones out there, but it's a solid "middle of the road" candidate with a company with a decent reliability history.
Click to expand...

Grainy compared to your 300D, or compared to other cameras in that price range?
 
vi edit

vi edit

Elite Member
Super Moderator
Oct 28, 1999
62,484
8,345
126
Compared to my 300D, and a previous G3, it is very noisy. I can help it out a bit by flipping to manual mode and locking in the ISO at 100, but then things tend to be under exposed pretty bad. In "auto" mode the pictures come out pretty rough.

Again, this is when viewing on a computer screen. It may be minimized or a non-issue on a 4x6 print. I haven't had it long enough to try that yet.

I don't have any other ultra compacts to really do direct comparisons to.
 
MrChad

MrChad

Lifer
Aug 22, 2001
13,507
3
81
Originally posted by: vi_edit
Compared to my 300D, and a previous G3, it is very noisy. I can help it out a bit by flipping to manual mode and locking in the ISO at 100, but then things tend to be under exposed pretty bad. In "auto" mode the pictures come out pretty rough.

Again, this is when viewing on a computer screen. It may be minimized or a non-issue on a 4x6 print. I haven't had it long enough to try that yet.

I don't have any other ultra compacts to really do direct comparisons to.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the review. I'm mildly interested in upgrading my ancient A40; the 800is would likely be a step up in almost every way. :)
 
Gooberlx2

Gooberlx2

Lifer
May 4, 2001
15,381
6
91
Originally posted by: MrChad
Originally posted by: vi_edit
I just recently purchased the Canon SD800is for $280.

It has it's ups and downs.

Pros:
---------
- VERY fast start up
- Minimal shutter lag
- Great LCD
- Best ergonomics of most of the compact/ultra compacts that I tried
- Battery life is excellent
- IS helps out quite a bit in certain situations
- Wider angle than most others

Cons:
-----------
- Noise is a serious problems in all but the best lighting. Images are *very* grainy. I haven't printed the images yet to see how much translates to paper. Just be aware that indoors in dark environments things can get pretty ugly looking.
- Corners are soft when shooting wide open
- Pretty much zero manual control (Canon really dumbs down their consumer lines)
- Good video quality, but very inneficient in size compared to other brands (like 1.5 megs/sec)
- Battery/SD card door is suspect and may be prone to easy breakage

Overall for the price, it's a nice little camera. It's just a very far cry from the quality that I'm used to from my 300D. It's small, easy to use, fast, quiet, and can take a lot of shots on a charge.

I'm sure there are better ones out there, but it's a solid "middle of the road" candidate with a company with a decent reliability history.
Click to expand...

Grainy compared to your 300D, or compared to other cameras in that price range?
Click to expand...

Price range or not, any ultra-compact is going to be grainy compared to a DSLR. The sensor size is so small that the pixel density is so high in comparison. Thus less light hits the surface area of any given pixel and creates more noise. (though the 400D made a clever work around for this with its 10MP sensor).
 
jpeyton

jpeyton

Moderator in SFF, Notebooks, Pre-Built/Barebones
Moderator
Aug 23, 2003
25,375
142
116
Casio Exilim Card. Even their standard Exilim series is tiny.
 
B

brikis98

Diamond Member
Jul 5, 2005
7,253
8
0
thanks for all the help so far folks... I now have two cameras that I'm trying to pick between... cast your vote for the one you think is best or add your own alternative...
 
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