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Well I have $$ comming and need to know..Best Digital Camera $300-$400 range?

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"I really don't want to have to carry around a setup cd to install the camera drivers onto a relatives computer when I could just as easily yank out the media card and slap in in their reader."

Heh! All my relatives have USB, but not all have readers! You're getting silly now! 😀

Besides that, most good images would be commited to CD anyway, right? Now, I know all my relatives can read a CD!
 
No, I'm not being silly. I don't want the camera to be the main means of my viewing. I haven't even hooked up my current digicam up to my computer. I use my card reader for everything. No need for installing software, and I can move my pictures around from device to device without having to lug the camera around all over the place.

You may find it easier, I do not.
 
Examples:

Scenario 1: Out and about with a bunch of friends, taking a bunch of pictures. Head back to friends house and want to look at pictures on their computer. Oops. Forgot my CD to install the Sony Software to view it. Oh, and they don't have a memory stick compatible reader. No pictures able to be viewed.

Scenario 2: On an extended vacation and fill up my memory stick. I don't have a computer to drop them down to, but I do have a PDA with nice healthy 256 meg SD card waiting to fill it up. Ooops. Can't do it because my PDA doesn't accept Memory sticks.

Scenario 3: Extended vacation again. I want more than 128 megs of pictures. Just about any other camera besides sony(in that price range) will take an IBM micro drive or a 1 gig CF card. Too bad. I'm stuck with the limited capacity of the smart stick.

I can go on and on. I just hate being limited to 1 proprietary media type, and stuck waiting for sony to release bigger memory sticks.

And with the increasing resolution of images, it DOES NOT take long to fill up a 128 meg card.
 
Hey brutus, I actually spent about a month and half looking at digital cameras and I came across the FujiFilm 4900z. Absolutely awesome camera, 6x opt zoom, high resolution images and it looks badass too. Was about --> <--- this close to buying one, when my brakes went bad on my truck. Sooo..no camera til graduation I guess. FsCKING GAY. Check out the camera tho, really really nice and comes with 8mb vid card (i know thats nothin! but still..) and you can pick up another 128mb card for like $39 online nowadays...

$445 (sorry, I know its a little higher than u wanted...)
Best price Ive seen anywhere..no rebates needed...
Also check Egay. If you're comfortable buying on there, that is..
 
Goob, that's an excellent camera for the price! It's a lot like the 6900, but a wee bit lower mpixel rating.

Good find!
 
I'd recommend a Canon S330 or S200 if it comes out soon.
I own the Olympus C2020z, just sold the Sony DSC-P5, and placed an order for the Canon S330.
I don't use the Olympus anymore because it doesn't fit in my pocket, I sold the Sony because it took very poor pictures in the dark, and purchased the Canon S330 because a coworker has one and it fits in my pocket and takes very good dark pictures.
I recommend you try em out before you blow your money on something. The Sony recommends that you use a Tripod when taking pictures in low light conditions, but how often will you carry a tripod around? Otherwise, the picture color get's distorted, quality is grainy, and overall horrible compared with my Olympus and the Canon S330.
Of Course, all take really nice pictures during the day 🙂 All 3 use different types of memory, so I've had to buy a new type each time, but that's never been a concern for me.
 
IMHO the G2 is the shiznit of consumer digicams, though it can be rather expensive. The battery for your mavica is an L series Sony Li-Ion battery and is pretty much only used in other floppy disk Mavicas and Hi-8 Camcorder(though not this years models anymore, and none of the digitals for the last few years.) The DSC-75 is a very nice camera, it uses M series Sony batteries. What kind of charger did you buy? If its a generic Li-Ion charger it should still work for a Sony M series and also for Canon's G2 battery (it is the same battery as thier ZR-20 and ZR-40 series digital camcorders).
 
"...buy a g2, spend a little extra money..."

Damn! That Sony I've had my eye on for nearly a year, is still pretty damn expensive. That G2 beats it in specs from top to bottom, but costs almost another 40%! Damn!

I'd hate like hell to "waste" money on a $200.00 camera, so I picked the Sony as the one to beat. It was over $500.00 when I started looking. I figured a price match, coupon and good luck might get it down to the low $400.00 range. Well, it's there, but I still don't have the bucks!

I guess the most important factors for the camera to me are:
  1. Overall picture quality
  2. Price
  3. Portability/Ease of use
  4. Durability
  5. Color
  6. Memory Media... Heh, I'm bustin' ya! I'd put memory media just ahead of color 😀
To spend another $170.00 for the camera is just too much for the little I'll actually use it. Still have my camcorder for the really important stuff. Got our 35mm for other shots. I actually need this thing like a hole in the head! God knows it's going to be putting a hole in my wallet as it is!
 


<< I actually need this thing like a hole in the head! God knows it's going to be putting a hole in my wallet as it is! >>



Join the club :Q
 
Ornery, for about $35 more than the $415 Sony you are looking at, I'd much rather have the Minolta Dimage 5.

- 7x optical, manually adjusted(plus in my book)
- 3.34 megapixel
- CF and Microdrive compatible
- 16 meg card
- Magnesium frame
- SLR viewfinder

Only "downside" to this camera is that it's a little more complicated than a point and click.
 
Wow! At first glance, that Dimage rocks big time! I'd gladly cough up a few bucks more for the better features!

After doing a little research, I'm not so gung ho. For some reason the reviews are kind of lackluster. The specs sound great to me, but I'll have to look a little deeper at those reservations. That's another thing. Sears doesn't carry it, so there won't be an easy return if it doesn't work out. Matter of fact, I'll have to buy online to get the decent price, and I don't even see it listed on Pricegrabber. My Simon has it for $464.00 + shipping at Comp direct.

No way I'll ever buy a microdrive. I'll probably live with a 64MB card for quite a while. I love the lens on that thing! Gotta do some more research...

Thanks!
 
Yeh, the dimage certainly isn't the camera for everyone. It's not a point and click camera like the sony, and the canon A/S series. It's also got some post image processing that can be done to further tweak the pictures since Minolta stores the pictures in their own format before being processed. The images look pretty good before being processed, but look excellent after being run through the software.

Yes, I realise that goes against my "use it anywhere" attitude, but the RAW images are still pretty good.

For what I plan on doing though, I'll take the added difficulty for the extra features. It'll be used for taking a large percent of pictures at my wedding to be printed off later, and I'm starting to really get into landscape photography. The extra zoom and excellent low light reproduction, as well as the macro mode is perfect for that.

As for the reviews that I've read, I think what we're seeing is that this camera was a $900 camera and was being compared to other $900 cameras at the time. Now that it's $450, it's a steal!
 
the dimage was a big disappointment in my book.. it used AA and CF.. both important because of ease.. but mainly the batteries. for the cost, other things should be purchased (plus, it's ugly to boot 😛). I'd prolly get an olypmus 2100 instead. As, a camera like that wouldn't be for point and shoot, i'd have the IS, and a bit more reach w/ 10x, for things like animals/birds. but this is me.

and don't dis the higher end sony's.. like the dsc75/85, they are pretty good.

as for the memory stick debate.. it's still a little more expensive, but not a big deal. i show the pics later, ppl can wait 😉 just depends on what you do more often i guess. i'd just bring along an AV cable.. the downside to this is teh canon s330 doesn't come w/ an ac adapter 🙁
 
"...this camera was a $900 camera and was being compared to other $900 cameras..."

Yeah, that crossed my mind. No two ways about it. I gotta handle that thing. I'm sure somebody around here has it. We've got Ritz camera as well as Dodds. Damn, better scrape some $$$ together before I get too excited! 😉

Thanks Again
 
I think the Dimage's main downside is that the interface really sux. High learning curve to do anything with it and not easy to mess around with on the fly compared to other cameras. I prefer Sony's, Canon's and Olympus for their digicam interfaces. I've found them to be more intuitive and menu driven. The G2 is nice in that it has a jog dial on top with most of the important settings such as manual modes, AE presets, etc. Nicer Sonys and Olys have something similar as well. I prefer cameras more like the G2 in size myself, the Dimage is pretty bulky and IMO if you really need a lens that big then you should consider moving up to a digital SLR(They can be MUCH more expensive).
 


<< I'd prolly get an olypmus 2100 instead >>



I toyed around with the olympus but I didn't really care for the motorized zoom. Seemed like it was always about ready to crap out on me. I like the manual zoom lens on the Dimage. Very smooth, and one less very expensive part to break 🙂 That, and I couldn't find a true macro mode on it either for extreme close ups. Something that is very important to me. Oh, and the 2.1 MP rating for a $500 camera is sort of discouraging too.

The batteries can supplemented by hicap NiMH batteries that are fairly cheap to replace/keep on hand. With something like the sony, if your battery craps out on you in the middle of vacation, you have to go through sony to buy another overpriced sony specific battery 🙂 These I can just go to the local hardware store and buy more to keep me going.
 
Ornery, the Best Buys around here anyway should have the Dimage 7 on display. The 5 is pretty much the same exact thing externally, it just has some different internals to it. You can at least toy around with the camera to see how well it fits in your hand and what you think of the interface and what not.

As aka1nas said, the interface is rather difficult to learn at first, which is why I said that it was more complicated than a standard point and shoot.
 
I second the Nikon 775, great camera and I got mine for 285 shipped a while back...takes great macro shots.
 
from my experience... and the reviews I have read Sony's don't take the best darker shots. Even the S75 only knock was low light shots. My low end sony takes excellent outdoor pics but indoors and in low light not so great So I am looking elsewhere. hell for $414 at Sears if they really would Pricematch (I doubt it) go sell it on ebay and put up your money to a Nikon or Olympus (Has nobody said Olympus yet?) Lens are a big deal in digicams not only for optical zoom but for clarity and quickness for capturing the image. From what I Have been reading Nikon and Olympus' names keep popping up. Seen Open box Olympus 3000 for $400 at CC B&M...

Still looking for me though yet my pal is gonna buy a S75 tomorrow gonna pay $500 for it at CC or BB B&M probably CC he said they knew what they were talking about alot more than the BB bozos.

oh the Memorystick debate... I seen $79 for 256mb CF and they do not even make 256MS so you cannot even do the math there.
 
Print this page and take it to Sears. They will price match. Only sticking point is they may want shipping. One friend got a price match for some audio equipment there. When they brought up the shipping, he mentioned that he would have to pay tax locally, so the salesman brought the price down to the shipped price after adding tax.

I'll swing over to BestBuy and play with that Dimage there. I Don't mind busting their balls and buying elsewhere! 😉

That's good to know about the low light issue with the S75. That's pretty important. I'd hate to depend on flash all the time.
 
vi_edit, yeah, the price tag may seem a little high, but to me, the IS is worth it.

but yeah, the zoom on the dimage.. i forgot about that. Altho, didn't the reviews say it still wasn't quite a true manual zoom? it still was a bit laggy or something.. i'll have to look at it again.

what i really would like to have is a canon d60 😉 or something based on that new x3 tech 🙂
 
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