Digital Camera Advice

[yeedog]

Hi all i'm in the market for a digital camera. I've been to all the review sites, but I feel that i still don't really know what i want. So i'm here to ask some opinions from you guys.

Here is what i would like in the camera:

Light and easy to transport
nothing fancy is needed, just simple point and shoot with flash and stuff
good quality with high resolution
I doubt i would be printing these pictures out so it's not high on on the list, but the ability to print them out in good quality is a plus.

I will be mainly taking pictures of friends, parties, vacations and at concerts. I think the biggest factor is at concerts where i would not necessary be close to the stage and I would be in would not be in a well lighted area, but the stage is where the pictures would be taken of which has the lights. So i would want something that can take decent pictures from the floor, the balcony and the back of a venue.

Money is a factor so the cheaper the better!

Mainly the reason i want a digital camera is because it's too much of a pain to develope film then scan them into my computer and such. I just want to be able to just off load them to my computer and not have it take days because of developing.

Anybody have some advice for me? I was looking at the Sony's and Canons, but the ones i saw were 3.3 Mpixels and were $700, which is way too much for me.


thanks!

 

[ElFenix]

dimage 7!


my advice: get one from an optics company. nikon, canon, minolta. not an electronics company like sony. but then, i'm just biased.

 

[Rallispec]

nikon coolpix 775 is what i have.... and its great- i have no complaints at all... picture quality is great- not sure what the price is on it now-- but its probably only around 300 dollars. 2.1 mega pixel-- i got mine from best buy and it came with a free rebate for an upgrade to a 32mb CF card.

 

[Keego]

As soon as I have money to burn (ie: never) I'm going to get a Canon S300

 

[Snuffaluffaguss]

Fuji Fine Pix 2600, Small enough to fit in a pocket, 2 megapixel res, good quality, easy to use. I was in the same boat as you after x-mas, and bought this camera. Its a great buy, I can email a few pics, if you want to see the quality. Oh yeah, it can also act as a high resolution webcam.

 

[Amused]

Canon S300, or S30.

Go to Canon.com and check them out. Both are highly rated by just about every site I've seen.

I'm getting a Canon S30 pretty soon here. To get the cheapest price, go to pricegrabber.com. buydig.com has the cheapest price with shipping right now of any reputable dealer.

The best thing about this camera is that it accepts 1GB IBM Microdrives. NEVER have to change out the memory card with one of these babies!

 

[Lucky]

JamCam 3.0.

 

[Spendthrift]

i have a canon powershot s20 that im really happy with. i would go with with a canon, nikon, or minolta. the dimage 7 is really nice but a little expensive. the canon digital elphs are the smallest and take great pictures. you can pick up an s20 like mine for fairly cheap now cause its last years camera. its not as small as the digital elphs though.

flash range on any of these cameras is gonna be limited to about 15ft.

get something at least 2MP and youll be happy (unless you blow up the prints to 8x10 plus)

youre gonna run into problems with the zooms on any of these cameras for concerts. small and good zoom is tough to come by, especially for a low cost.

imo, canon is your best best. sony are ok, but youre stuck with the proprietary sony memory stick.

 

[LukFilm]

I recommend Canon S300. That's what I've got and I love it. Fell on the floor couple of times already, but due to its rugged construction, there wasn't a single scratch on it and works great. Highly recommended, get it from www.buydig.com, that's where I got mine.

 

[Amused]

I like the S300, but it wont accept IBM Microdrives. That's why I'm going with the S30.

 

[RossMAN]

You just missed a few super hot deals on some Fuji's and the Canon S100

 

[Mday]

<< I like the S300, but it wont accept IBM Microdrives. That's why I'm going with the S30. >>



no big loss... the microdrives are not very reliable...

 

[Amused]

<<

<< I like the S300, but it wont accept IBM Microdrives. That's why I'm going with the S30. >>



no big loss... the microdrives are not very reliable... >>



My brother and I own many. We've never had one fail. His kids use them for saving school work. They've never had them fail either... and they handle them like kids handle stuff.

 

[777php]

I have a Canon S30 and it is a niiiiice camera! Very nice res on all my pictures. My only complaint is that it is a little bulky compared to the s110, but for the perfomance gain you can't complain.

 

[DnetMHZ]

I just got the Kodak DX3900.. pretty nice camera.

 

[Doggiedog]

I have a Canon S40 upgraded from an S100. I'd say get the S30. That sounds about up your alley. The S40/30 has one of the fastest cycle times around. I was taking pictures yesterday of my kid and it was incredible. I would hit the shutter and instantaneously the picture would take and I was able to do this multiple times. With my old camera I would have to wait a few seconds between each picture. Try doing that with other digital cameras.

 

[Liviathan]

I have a Fuji FInePix 6900z. Great camera, one of the best 3.3 out there. Thats is probably north of your price range.

If you are willing to for used cameras, one of the best 1.3megapixel is a Sony DS-C30. Its great camera with great life.

I love the microdrive, but beware, in SOME cameras they will really take away your battery life and slow down write access to the drive.

 

[yeedog]

thanks for all the advice

The Canon PowerShot S30 looks very nice. I looked on dpreview.com and the camera got some good reviews. Though it's kinda pricy at $470 according to pricegrabber.com I'll have to save up some more money as i'm a poor college student.

 

[Infos]

Whatever you end up getting I'd recommend
at least 3X optical zoom and 2 megapixels.

 

[HomeBrewerDude]

<< Fuji Fine Pix 2600, Small enough to fit in a pocket, 2 megapixel res, good quality, easy to use. I was in the same boat as you after x-mas, and bought this camera. Its a great buy, I can email a few pics, if you want to see the quality. Oh yeah, it can also act as a high resolution webcam.

>>



Yeah, I just bought a finepix2600. Its seems like a pretty good camera. 2.1 Mpixels, and rechargable batteries and recharger included. Plus, 299$ at staples, and you get a free 64Mb SmartMedia card for it.

go for it, its a pretty good deal.


reviews i read mostly were postive of this camera, a few thought the camera case felt a little flimsy, and that picture quality wasn't great. But after using the camera I would say that its a great camera for the price.

 

[BCYL]

I recently got the Kodak DC5000 camera and I am quite happy with it... picture quality is really good, and u can print good quality 8x10 photos (4x7 is film camera quality)...

It's a little large in size (compare to other digital cameras), but it's one of the only digital cameras made to be used outdoors.. so you can toss it around without worrying about it breaking... It's even water-proof!

Battery life is also good, it lasts a while even when using normal AA alkanine batteries as long as u dont use the LCD screen too much...