Digital Cameras.... The best for my buck? Any reccommendations?

[ImBroken]

Hey guys, Im looking to spend from $500 to $1000 on a good digital camera. I've been reading reviews, and only getting more confused. Anybody recommend a great camera? Thanks

 

[mrCide]

You don't need to spend $500 for a great camera, hell, I love my Fuji 1400z.

I would suggest you check out this place for camera reviews, I've found it to be a reliable source.

 

[gunf1ghter]

There are some things you have to consider since you are talking about a very wide price range. A camera you can get for $500 is a totally different animal than a $1000 camera.

You have to decide what's important to you, picture quality? features? The cameras with the best image quality won't necessarily have every little whiz-bang feature you want.

Nikon has some very, very good digicams, click on the link to my A4 in my sig to see the image quality, that's an image I took with my Nikon 800 and then compressed to half size with crappy MS photo editor.

You can get the Nikon 880 which is a fantastic 3 megapixel digicam and it's nice and compact, it's about $650.

Olympus also has very good digicams, they have several 3 megapixel cameras in the $600-$800 range.

If you don't need professional picture quality for prints and don't need lots of manual control, Casio's entry level camera is pretty good... so is Fuji's.

 

[ImBroken]

Thanks MrCide, I'll check it out... I am looking for a 3 MegaPixel or better...

 

[Spamela]

i second mrCide & gunf1ghter. you have to decide what you want to do with it. for me, a 3 megapixel camera is overkill, so why waste my money? i have a Fuji 1400 & get great results.

 

[ImBroken]

Thanks gunfighter.. I'm upgrading from a Sony FD91. I'd like some of the manual options, but with ease in use. I'm really interested in being able to enlarge the photos to 8x10 and still have good quuality..

 

[gunf1ghter]

If you want good prints at 8X10 you need a 3 megapixel. I can get by with my 2.11 megapixel but that's borderline.

I would definitely recommend the Canon 880. It's an awesome camera with plenty of manual features.

Take the money you would spend on a higher end camera and buy a 128 MEG CF card for it.

 

[divinemartyr]

ImBroken

Check the last post in this thread by me on how to get a Fuji FinePix 1400 for only $185 shipped. For your buck, this is probably one of the best cameras out there.

dm

 

[stonerdave]

i'd have to go with the nikon 880, especially for 8x10's. I was choosing between this and the kodak dc4800, I think I'm going for the 880 despite a significant price difference (esp with the 4800 having a $100 rebate offer).

I chose it based on the reviews at dpreview.com. Too many other camera review sites never list the negatives, this guy does. i was actually thinking about buying the sony dsc-f505v, but I decided not too after reading his review on it. it runs for about 800 but the reviewer states it has a problem with slightly long shutter lag & startup, despite taking awesome pics. starngely, quite a few expensive sony's have the same problem, but they're about to release their new models too.

previously, i had a coolpix 800 and took excellent pics, but it seemed very flimsy/cheap. nikon didn't make the same mistake with the 880 though, it's solidly built (i don't own one yet but i've tried it out at the store). the 880 also has a fast shutter lag (for sub $1000 cams, anyway). about the only negatives i've seen is the lack of an included rechargeable, and the lack of a mic (ie no sound for movies, not a big issue for me). also, the nikon 990 (3.3Mp, the same as the 880) had a problem with "hot pixels". I don't know how common it is but this isn't the only page that talks about it. hopefully they cleared it up on this model.