canon a80 - what's a good deal?

[joecool]

i'm really jonesin' for an a80, right now i can get one from dell for $322 inc. shipping. this seems like a pretty good deal to me. what do you guys think - have there been better deals (& therefor better deals will likely come along at some point), or is this as good as it gets?

thanks,

joe

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

That's a killer price - the reputable deep-discount camera places (e.g., Beach Camera, Digital Foto Club) are higher. I don't see the price taking a nose dive anytime soon, either. In my experience Dell is not one of the world's great resellers in timeliness of shipping, but they won't rip you off. I say go for it.

 

[dabuddha]

You should post it here.

 

[RossMAN]

I'd buy the new S410 before I buy an A80, yes they're geared towards different buyers but the S410 is DAMN SEXY!

 

[joecool]

actually, i've done quiet a bit of research and the a80 seems to be universally viewed as the best cam in canons point & shoot lineup - it's got a much bigger ccd than the a70, more so than just the difference between 3mp and 4mp. as far as the s410 goes, it is cool looking, but has fewer features and uses proprietary batteries. as far as the flip-out lcd goes, i like that if only 'cause it let's you actually close it to protect the surface from scratches (my current cam's lcd is majorly dinged up).

so, i'm sticking with the a80 ... and darn close to ordering it right now!

review here

 

[alkemyst]

Originally posted by: joecool
actually, i've done quiet a bit of research and the a80 seems to be universally viewed as the best cam in canons point & shoot lineup - it's got a much bigger ccd than the a70, more so than just the difference between 3mp and 4mp. as far as the s410 goes, it is cool looking, but has fewer features and uses proprietary batteries. as far as the flip-out lcd goes, i like that if only 'cause it let's you actually close it to protect the surface from scratches (my current cam's lcd is majorly dinged up).

so, i'm sticking with the a80 ... and darn close to ordering it right now!

<a class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="http://albert.achtung.com/cameras/A80/index.html" target=blank>review here</A>

I was ticked losing the size of my A50's LCD to the puny one on the A70...but really it's just for framing the shot and LCD's are more or less overrated.

The fliping LCD to me is a potential breaking part on a device I am going to be carrying around in more active areas than a vidcam.

Also there are some things the A70 does better...I ended up picking the A70 over the A80, I am happy with it. The Canon i960 I bought as well I got my wife a Nikon CoolPix 3500 ... too much red eye for me, but it's correctable and she likes taking self-pics of her and her friends.

A solution to LCD damage is the stick on screen protectors. Of course you may need the extra protection of the A80.

It's really hard to go wrong today. I'd shop mostly for price point and then size you want.

&Aring;

 

[yllus]

Personally I don't think it's really worth sticking to a consumer digicam when going over 3 megapixels. A quality 3 megapixel digicam like the A70 will do up to 8x10s which is all I can ever see being printed by a home user.

 

[joecool]

per my post above, it's not the pixel count that makes the a80 a better cam, but the size of the ccd. the pixel density of the a80 ccd is a quite a bit lower than the a70, yielding much cleaner images. at least, that's what this reviewer claims, and his explanation makes sense to me. plus, the a80 gives you a bigger image to work with, so you can do some cropping and stil get a decent 8x10. finally, the a80 has added functionality that, in my opinion, is worth the small price premium.

 

[quackagator]

Royal camera.com has it for $269

 

[DaWhim]

ok, I got this deal from dell. one A80 and two sandisk ultra fast 256mb cf card for $408shipped

 

[Jejunum]

Originally posted by: joecool
i'm really jonesin' for an a80, right now i can get one from dell for $322 inc. shipping. this seems like a pretty good deal to me. what do you guys think - have there been better deals (& therefor better deals will likely come along at some point), or is this as good as it gets?

thanks,

joe

great deal. i paid close to 400 :/ 2.5 months ago

buy it.!

 

[zoiks]

I have the A70 that I mainly use for fishing since I practice C&R a lot. I also own a Sony DSC-F707 that is a lot better than the A70. Not only do I get high clarity and accurate shots with the sony but its a lot faster in taking pics and is better built.

I have had some pics developed on 11x14 paper using 5mp but that didnt do justice to the picture on the screen. I'm not sure if its even worth it to go higher in MP unless some brilliant techology allows clear/sharp pic development on paper.

 

[JackBurton]

I gave my wife an A80 for Christmas. I love that thing! I got her a 512MB Sandisk Ultra II card too. AWESOME camera! You'll love it. I paid $400 for it, so anything less than that I'd consider a good deal.

Oh, and the flip LCD ROCKS! I wouldn't get a camera without it. The flip LCD is REALLY well made, and the only way you'd break it is if you were just reckless with the camera.

 

[screw3d]

Originally posted by: quackagator
Royal camera.com has it for $269

No.

 

[joecool]

Originally posted by: zoiks
I have the A70 that I mainly use for fishing since I practice C&R a lot. I also own a Sony DSC-F707 that is a lot better than the A70. Not only do I get high clarity and accurate shots with the sony but its a lot faster in taking pics and is better built. I have had some pics developed on 11x14 paper using 5mp but that didnt do justice to the picture on the screen. I'm not sure if its even worth it to go higher in MP unless some brilliant techology allows clear/sharp pic development on paper.

heh, i'm confused ... this thread is about the a80 and all you talk about is the a70 & a 5mp sony that costs twice as much? i missing the relevance.

/smartass mode off

 

[quackagator]

Originally posted by: screw3d

Originally posted by: quackagator
Royal camera.com has it for $269

No.

Thanks

 

[alkemyst]

Originally posted by: joecool


heh, i'm confused ... this thread is about the a80 and all you talk about is the a70 & a 5mp sony that costs twice as much? i missing the relevance.

/smartass mode off

The deal is the a80 is overpriced when you think about the a70. They are really the same camera, anyone that says otherwise probably thinks there is a HUGE difference between .001 and .009 THD in an amplifier as well....unless you really need the flip lcd the a80 is a bad choice.

Now for 2x the price (which is not really *a lot* of money) for a possible last purchase for a long time is really something to consider too.

Digital Cameras may add more features in the future, but image quality is approaching the limits the typical snapshot taker uses. 10 years ago no one thought twice about picking up a point and shoot...yet when it's digital people spend more time than they do on selecting a car.

&Aring;