Cheap but serviceable camera?

[Muse]

Just keep an eye on sales. Bought both of our ELPH 100 HS's with optical IS for $109 or under. But no viewfinder. All about compromises on the low end of things.

Looks like a nice camera, thanks for the suggestion. I've got a few questions, maybe you can answer:

Did you get them on Amazon?

It has lots of features, including super slow motion (240fps). I'm curious about that because I figure it might let me do a careful analysis of my golf swing at the driving range. However, I'm wondering if it has a tripod mount, which I figure I'd need to do that, or otherwise work out something. Also, I'd need to be able to initiate that with the timer function (supposed to be 2, 10, custom). Can it start a super slow motion take initiated with the timer?

Edit: I DL'd the manual and looks like the SSM is started by the Movie button, max length 30 seconds. I guess I could live with that. Delay would be nice, but you can't have everything.

 

[SickBeast]

OP I think this is a great starter camera for $149:

http://www.amazon.com/OLYMPUS-262855...ds=olympus+ep2

You just need a lens but you can get adapters so you can use a Nikon or a Pentax lens and you can get those used for dirt cheap.

 

[Muse]

OP I think this is a great starter camera for $149:

http://www.amazon.com/OLYMPUS-262855...ds=olympus+ep2

You just need a lens but you can get adapters so you can use a Nikon or a Pentax lens and you can get those used for dirt cheap.

Actually (see OP) I have a Pentax K-x DSLR and some lenses. The lenses I have:

Pentax18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 AL and 55-300mm f/4-5.8 ED kit Lenses
Pentax SMC DA 18-250mm f/3.5-6.3 ED AL IF Lens (great all-in-one lens)
Pentax-A SMC 50mm f1.7 lens

I'm very happy with all this. Great low light performance (I never use flash!). The camera never shuts down due to battery depletion (4x AA's, which I love, and I usually carry an extra set that I don't need!). My Samsung Digimax V3 P&S is not very good by today's standards. It's very slow (~7 seconds between shots), the batteries die very quickly, unpredictably and without warning, it's LCD is tiny (~1.6" diagonal), it's somewhat heavy and big.

 

[slashbinslashbash]

Looks like a nice camera, thanks for the suggestion. I've got a few questions, maybe you can answer:

Did you get them on Amazon?

It has lots of features, including super slow motion (240fps). I'm curious about that because I figure it might let me do a careful analysis of my golf swing at the driving range. However, I'm wondering if it has a tripod mount, which I figure I'd need to do that, or otherwise work out something. Also, I'd need to be able to initiate that with the timer function (supposed to be 2, 10, custom). Can it start a super slow motion take initiated with the timer?

Edit: I DL'd the manual and looks like the SSM is started by the Movie button, max length 30 seconds. I guess I could live with that. Delay would be nice, but you can't have everything.

I just tested it out on my ELPH 500HS and I was able to use the timer to initiate a Super Slow Motion Movie after a 2 or 10 second delay. The AF LED on the front of the camera flashed to indicate the countdown, just like I've seen on DSLR's and other cameras with auto timer functions.

I have not seen a digicam from a major company without a tripod mount. They are pretty much a standard feature, even on the smallest ELPHs.

 

[Muse]

I just tested it out on my ELPH 500HS and I was able to use the timer to initiate a Super Slow Motion Movie after a 2 or 10 second delay. The AF LED on the front of the camera flashed to indicate the countdown, just like I've seen on DSLR's and other cameras with auto timer functions.

I have not seen a digicam from a major company without a tripod mount. They are pretty much a standard feature, even on the smallest ELPHs.

Thank you for that excellent info. How do you like your ELPH 500 HS?

 

[slashbinslashbash]

Thank you for that excellent info. How do you like your ELPH 500 HS?

It's not bad. It takes great photos and has a nice wide, fast lens (24mm, f/2.0). The only downside is the touchscreen controls. The touchscreen is simply clunky compared to the ones that I'm used to from an iPhone. I think that it is resistive instead of capacitative (or vice-versa -- the point being, a different technology than smartphones use). Either way, it is not exactly responsive.... and practically all control of the camera is through the touchscreen. However, I only paid $75 for it on clearance at Target, so I'm definitely happy with it overall.

 

[Muse]

It's not bad. It takes great photos and has a nice wide, fast lens (24mm, f/2.0). The only downside is the touchscreen controls. The touchscreen is simply clunky compared to the ones that I'm used to from an iPhone. I think that it is resistive instead of capacitative (or vice-versa -- the point being, a different technology than smartphones use). Either way, it is not exactly responsive.... and practically all control of the camera is through the touchscreen. However, I only paid $75 for it on clearance at Target, so I'm definitely happy with it overall.

What a deal! Yeah, I was curious about the touch screen. I've never used any kind of touch screen. I'm going to take a close look at the ELPH 100 HS and ELPH 300 HS, read a lot of reviews. Actually, I haven't settled on anything, am trying to keep a completely open mind in this next digicam purchase, my 3rd overall. I enjoy the challenging sleuth shopping process in many instances, and am really into this one. Thanks for the info!

 

[slashbinslashbash]

Well, there are only a few controls that aren't on the touchscreen. Fortunately, they are the most used controls. Power button, Shutter button, zoom ring, playback button, and an Auto/Program mode slider. Fortunately, in playback mode, the camera can also be tapped on the side in order to move from one photo to another, which is actually a pretty neat UI idea that I don't think I've ever seen before. It certainly works a lot better than trying to swipe on the touchscreen. The "Record" button for video is touchscreen-only, and it is often a bit frustrating to hit the button, nothing happens, hit it again, nothing happens, hit it again, nothing happens, ooh wait now it's recording, ooh wait now it's not because one of my later touches made it stop. So that's what I'm talking about, it's like it often takes several seconds for anything to register on the touchscreen. And when the touchscreen is used for selecting the mode, erasing images, etc., it can be a little frustrating. (I usually will only erase 3 or 4 images at a go, since I'll just get tired of wrangling the touchscreen.)

However, I can do the basic stuff without using the touchscreen. Fortunately, it is intelligent enough to get good photos most of the time without having to resort to changing any settings (given some basic photographer trickery such as holding the shutter button halfway down to lock exposure and focus, and then re-composing if necessary). And I am truly pleased with the image quality. For its size, it is capable of taking some amazing photos.

Really though the ELPH 100HS will do 95% of what the 500HS will do, for 1/3 to 1/2 of the MSRP (and without touchscreen frustration). I actually would have preferred to have a 100HS in most regards (it is more traditional and somewhat smaller), but at Target clearance time, the 500HS was actually a good deal cheaper than the 100HS, and the 24mm f/2.0 lens appealed to me.

 

[notposting]

Okay just a little info on the 100 Elph. You can set timer delay up to 30 seconds. The slow speed movie can be up to 30 seconds in length. It will do a beeepbeepbeeeep and flashing light countdown before starting. It does have a tripod mount.

Recorded our son a couple times here playing with his cars and trucks...after viewing, I think it would work good for your golf needs.

Bought ours at Amazon before Christmas for $109 (the pink one...was the only one available at that price in time for shipping) and the same price at Office Depot for the grey one a few months ago.

Had the chance to swap the pink one for the gray one...but it's grown on me Can't lose it in couch cushions and no one will ever steal it

 

[Muse]

Okay just a little info on the 100 Elph. You can set timer delay up to 30 seconds. The slow speed movie can be up to 30 seconds in length. It will do a beeepbeepbeeeep and flashing light countdown before starting. It does have a tripod mount.

Recorded our son a couple times here playing with his cars and trucks...after viewing, I think it would work good for your golf needs.

Bought ours at Amazon before Christmas for $109 (the pink one...was the only one available at that price in time for shipping) and the same price at Office Depot for the grey one a few months ago.

Had the chance to swap the pink one for the gray one...but it's grown on me Can't lose it in couch cushions and no one will ever steal it

Thanks for the info! Think pink! :awe:

 

[Muse]

We have picked up a couple of the ELPH 100 HS (one for ourselves and one as a gift). Nice little cameras. I see Newegg with a couple Canon A series that include the digital IS, but the ELPH include the optical stabilizing and a nice back lit sensor. Could be worth it to save up for a couple more months.

I did some research last winter, the ELPH 100 was well regarded on Steve's Digicams and the Imaging Resource. I would definitely say to stick a good name--Canon, Nikon, Panasonic, Sony...

Just spotted an ELPH 100 IS refurb (certified Canon refurb) at Amazon for under $100 and bought it. I read a thread in this forum about refurbs and people were saying they're a better bet than new because they've been checked out in the factory. I presume (hope) it comes with full complement of the new retail camera's included accessories.

 

[Muse]

Just spotted an ELPH 100 IS refurb (certified Canon refurb) at Amazon for under $100 and bought it. I read a thread in this forum about refurbs and people were saying they're a better bet than new because they've been checked out in the factory. I presume (hope) it comes with full complement of the new retail camera's included accessories.

So far, I'm really happy with my ELPH. One reason I picked it is the Super Slow Motion feature, works great and I can use it in tandem with the self timer, which is customizable, all the way out to 30 seconds.

 

[Mike64]

Just to round out the thread and to make a very long story short, I gave up on the idea of spending $100 or less - the build quality of the cameras and the image quality just weren't there.

I ended up settling on the Panasonic ZS15 which is hardly built like a Mack truck but isn't flimsy either, and has much better image quality than the cheaper P&Ses. If I weren't pinching pennies, I would've kept the LX7 I got on sale but considering I started out looking to spend <=$100, that was a just a bit too pricey for me.