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Digital Camera Recommendations...

P

Pabster

Lifer
I'm in the market for a new digital camera.

Walked in to Best Buy and noticed their prices are full retail ... ridiculous. $399 for a DX3900 with no dock or anything. WTF are they fooling? 😀

Anyways, I'm not too concerned about price, but, obviously, I don't want to spend more than necessary. The features I require:
  • CompactFlash. No MMC or SmartMedia or Sony Proprietary Sh!t
  • USB Connection. No serial or what have you.
  • 3.x Megapixel ... I need solid 8x10 and would like the ability to go a little larger without extreme pixallation.
  • 2x Optical Zoom ... prefer 3, but 2 will do. Don't give a rats about Digital Zoom ... it sucks.
  • Decent sized LCD ... nothing so small I can't see it, LOL 😀 Also, not one that happens to be hit by your nose when focusing.

Ok, so give me your ideas. Like I said, I don't have a set budget, but I'm not dropping $700 for a 2MP Sony. 😀
 
As soon as I saw 'Digital Camera' I was going to walk in here and say 'Sony', but as you dont want me to say that, I have to shrug and say 'OK, your loss...' 😉

OK so dis-regarding Sony, in my opinion there are excellent cameras available from:

Canon
Olympus
Pentax
Toshiba

Are names that come into mind. Bearing in mind that I was only familiar with the DC market 6 months ago when I was in the market for one myself (I ended up with a Sony, but liked models from the above manufacturers) (and yes, I'm biast 🙂).
 
The general rule I've heard is that you can expect to spend $200 per megapixel if you want a good camera.

I've heard Good Things about some Olympus cameras; the brio D-100 is pretty snazzy for its price but not nearly up to what you want.
 
Migroo wrote:

"As soon as I saw 'Digital Camera' I was going to walk in here and say 'Sony', but as you dont want me to say that, I have to shrug and say 'OK, your loss...'"

Sorry, I refuse to spend $600-$700 for a 2-ish megapixel camera. They look nice and all ... but, really, come on. Besides, they use that nasty Sony Memory Stick for storage. Those things are expensive, small (storage wise) and proprietary. No thanks.
 
I have a Canon PowerShot G2. It's a wonderful camera.

Check out DPreview.com for more info.

Edit: IMO, Canon and Nikon make the best digi-cams. Sony would be on that list if were not for their proprietary memory stick.
 
Canon, specifically the G2. I also would also reconsider Sony if I were you.
Proprietary memory sticks shouldn't be a big concern. Unless you have a multi-digital-camera family that likes to swap memory cards for some reason.

BTW $700 will get you a 4 or 5MP Sony, not a 2MP.

And if you are doing 8x10 photos. Make sure your printer output matches the money you are puting into a camera.
Meaning the detail in most home printers don't match the quality of what the cameras are producing.

Another thing, I have seen some 2MP cameras that output better than a lot of 3MP cameras, even at 8x10.
Quality definately counts above MP count.



 
I've only "played" with a Canon G2, but I was quite impressed overall ....I have it's pocket-size cousin the S110 (my spy cam) and it's just plain fun....I carry it everywhere.

My workhorse digital camera is the Nikon 990 (the newer 995 can be had for a reasonable price. ) I've taken over 5000 pics with it and it has performed beautifully. You can go full Auto or Manual and either way it takes great shots. I've teamed mine with one of the Nikon flash units and I regularly fool people with my Epson 870 prints. The Nikon add-on Teleconverter and wide angle lenses are also of excellent quality.

If you have any interest in really "learning" photography, I'm pretty convinced that any of the top-line 3 MP cameras (or the best of the 2MP cameras) that have extensive manual controls are a great learning tool. Nothing like shooting 20 pics of your kid playing ball without once thinking of the film costs......and a few of those shots will be great.

Hell, I'm watching a bunch of mine cycling through my Kodak Digital Picture Frame as I type this...😀

Whatever you do, be sure to head back to Best Buy so that you can handle the ones you are interested in .... there is quite a bit of variation in the ergonomics of the different digicams and funky buttons will get annoying quickly.

Happy shooting!

fraz (saving up those pennies to buy a Nikon D1x someday...)
 
well i know what u said bout and sony and i do agree.... but if u've got the cash the sony CD mavica line is not a bad choice.. i work at staples and sell the first one haven't got the new ones yet 🙁 but i've had the chance to play with it and like it a lot.. its the only sony i ever even try to sell unless someone is die hard sony... with the main reason being i dont like sony's over priced memory sticks either but the CD idea was brillant.. i mean we sell a three pack of CD-RW's for them for 19.98 soo at 156 meg per CD thats like 468 megs for 20.00 bucks not a bad deal.... and no reader needed as long as you have a CD-RW or even a CD-rom


out side of that i like the Nikon line of cameras specifically the Nikon coolpiz 775 but i can't remeber what card it uses right now...



anyways just my two cents 🙂


Eloric
 
You should consider the Fuji 2600. Yes, it's SM and 2Mega pixel, but it's a great camera.

I got it for $181 with a 64MB SM card from the hot deal a while back and am really impressed. The glass is great, way better than I expected. Superior to my brother's Nikon 800.
 
Me love my Nikon Coolpix 995. <$500 w/ rebate and amexblue pricematching. More manual overides than almost any other digcam and an awesome macro capability. Check out This review for instance.
 
Digital Cameras almost entirely depend on your budget. For the low-priced ones, Kodak makes this great dockable Camera, DXsomething. I think I saw it on CNet for $180 or something like that. It's still 2.1 MegaPixels, but that should be sufficient for an 8x10 with a decent printer. www.dpreview.com has some great reviews on a lot of cameras and www.computers.com has a vast list of them with prices and reviews for some (although I'd go with information from dpreview, cnet reviews haven't been known for the upmost reliability or clarity).

If you're in the market for something bigger, Olympus makes some great 3 MegaPixel cameras, but somewhat costly. And of course, there's the Canon PowerShot G2. Great Camera, great quality, a bit pricey, $600 I think.

But if you're going to get a camera that expensive, why not go all the way? By that, I mean the Sony DSC-F707. Sure it uses Sony's memory card, but I personally can't tell any advantages CompactFlash has over Sony's memory card except that IBM can have 1 GB CompactFlash (MicroDrive, not all CompactFlash cameras support this), but those cost hell, a lot of the times even more than the camera, so why you would hate Sony's memory that much is beyond me. Unless you're planning on swapping memory cards between cameras, it's really not a big deal.
That said, the Sony DSC-F707 is priced at $1000 but CNet lists prices of around $850. It's well worth the money. 5 MegaPixels (for really really good 8x10's or beyond), 38mm - 190mm zoom (in terms of 35mm cameras), a choice of full manual or partly manual f-stop, aperature, ISO, shutter speed, etc. settings, very clear LCD and viewfinder, very fast picture taking, and a very long battery time (4 hours of continuous shooting), and this really cool star-treky hologram laser focus device that allows you to focus on things in complete darkness (autofocus). The full review is available at www.dpreview.com
Needless to say, this is one sweet camera, even for professional shooting. You may not need it now, but hey, do you buy a brand new car because you need it? You never know when you'll need a really good camera.
 
I just bought a Canon Powershot S30 for an incredible price thanks to the Hot Deals Forum, MSN Holiday reward and Amex BVG.
Anyway, it's a great camera - full of tons of features, but still fairly compact. I'll warn you, it's as heavy as a brick, though, so even though it can fit in a coat pocket easily, it'll weigh you down on one side 🙂
I have a friend who's very into photography and he was amazed at all the manual settings available.
It's a bit pricey - probably cost you $600 at most places, but with a little searching, and if you have an Amex with BVG, you can bring the price down to probably $400 or so.
PM me if you have any specific questions.

 
I've got a Canon S40 and I love it. Though it's bigger than my old S100, it is light years more advanced. The shutter reaction time is much faster and it's got almost as many features as the Canon G2 except the form factor is much smaller.

You can PM me for more details.

BTW: I'm using a 256MB CF card and it stores 112 pictures at lowest compression and 4MP.
 
Another vote for Canon. I have the A20 and couldn't be happier. (2 megapixel, 3X optical, don't remember what the digital zoom is - I have it disabled 🙂) I'd look at whatever their 3 megapixel version of the same camera is.
 


<< I just bought a Canon Powershot S30 for an incredible price thanks to the Hot Deals Forum, MSN Holiday reward and Amex BVG.
Anyway, it's a great camera - full of tons of features, but still fairly compact. I'll warn you, it's as heavy as a brick, though, so even though it can fit in a coat pocket easily, it'll weigh you down on one side 🙂
I have a friend who's very into photography and he was amazed at all the manual settings available.
It's a bit pricey - probably cost you $600 at most places, but with a little searching, and if you have an Amex with BVG, you can bring the price down to probably $400 or so.
PM me if you have any specific questions. >>




I second that... I have the the Canon Powershot S30. Great camera, excellent size and build quality. Excellent picture quality. Well worth the money. Check out the reviews, check out www.dpreview.com

 
I like Olympus myself, but mine uses smartmedia rather than CF (USB Smartmedia readers are the same price as CF readers).
Fuji is priced well, but I know 3 people that bought Fuji and 2 of them had to return them for defects (they just got their money back and bought Olympus).

 
I have a olympus 1.3MP digicam, it uses smart media too. I can honesly say, the colors look better on this than my friends 3.3 MP sony with carl zeus lens and it looks better than my other friends 2.1MP kodak, and 3.3MP fuji. If you weren't set on CF, I would say go Olympus
 
Keep the recommendations coming guys. I'm finding out about more digicam's than I realized existed 😀

The Canon's certainly look nice, but I've heard a lot of people say that, while the image quality is superb, they lack in most other areas.

What about the Kodak DXxxxx series? Are they crud or decent for the price? And is the docking station a necessity? 🙂
 
<The Canon's certainly look nice, but I've heard a lot of people say that, while the image quality is superb, they lack in most other areas.>

Tell us what areas they lack in so that us Canon owners can rebutt the accusations!
 
How about Minolta S304?
It has 3 Mpixel
It use compact flash
and most of all it has 4x optical zoom (more than the other which is 3x) 😉
dpreview.com has the review of the camera. and the price around $499 in photoalley.com.
and like other people done maybe u can amex pricematch with regencycamera.com to get a better price 😉
 
I'd also recommend the Canon G2. It's a really great camera, if a little expensive.

I really like Canons in general. I love my new A20.

The Fujis are good cameras, for good price too, but they are not smart for going with SM cards instead of CF.
 


<< Migroo wrote:

"As soon as I saw 'Digital Camera' I was going to walk in here and say 'Sony', but as you dont want me to say that, I have to shrug and say 'OK, your loss...'"

Sorry, I refuse to spend $600-$700 for a 2-ish megapixel camera. They look nice and all ... but, really, come on. Besides, they use that nasty Sony Memory Stick for storage. Those things are expensive, small (storage wise) and proprietary. No thanks. >>



Fair enough, but I am happy with mine. The DSC-P1 cost me £500 -> 3.3 mpixel...
Anyway Memory Stick prices are low at the moment too - the 128 sticks are available for £79!
 
Considering that you want 8x10s, you should stay away from the Kodak DC4800. It takes pictures with a 5:3 aspect ratio.
 
After researching myself for Camera's I decided on the Canon S110 because of the features and picture quality....and the pocket size.
Right now they have it on Dell.com for 10 % off and free shipping......also there is another coupon for 25 dollars off 150!. So I got it for a good price compared to retail.... I just have to wait for the thing to ship.
 
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