What Digital Camera of these?

[MattStone]

Okay...I'll be getting a digital camera for christmas, but I'm having an extremely hard time figuring out which one to get. So far, I've considered these:
Fuji FinePix 1400
Olympus D-360L
Olympus D-460L
Canon Powershot S10
Kodak DC215
I don't want to spend much money...so, what do you think of the above models? Please help...

 

[dcdomain]

Well, since you don't want to spend too much money, I think that Smartmedia is cheaper than Compact Flash. Of course you do lose the ability to use IBM's Microdrive if you ever do decided to go for it. Do you have any other hardware that uses one of these memory formats?

From my knowledge, the Fuji and Olympus uses smartmedia, Kodak uses compact flash. Not sure what Canon uses. Probably smart media since it's small. I personally have a Kodak (DC265) and love it. Haven't had much expierience with the other cameras though. Fuji was pretty good when I used that for some time...

 

[MattStone]

When it comes to memory...price doesn't matter, that is a whole different ballgame. I would also prefer compact flash because of the ibm drive, for the future...but right now I'm more concered just about the camera.

 

[aircooled]

Well, I dont know about the other camera's, but I have the Olympus 460L and couldn't be happier! It's a great camera for the price. Yes it uses smartmedia, but I like smartmedia. It's thin and they make both floppy adapters and USB readers to use on your main system. (I use the floppy adapter, its a little slow but it's better than wearing the camera batteries down.

I wouldn't be to concerned about using the IBM microdrive in the future. Think about it, you can get 140 pictures on 32mb of smartmedia at default resolution (which is quite decent). Odds are you will upload your pix before getting close to that. then buy a 64mb card when they become more affordable and you will have plenty of room.

 

[hans007]

s10 definitely

 

[Cknyc]

how about S100. I bought one and love it.

 

[Celstar]

Get the fuji one. The quality is superb.

 

[MattStone]

The s100 is out of my price range...that is why I put the s10 in my list. It offers reletively the same stuff for 320 vs 400. I'd rather stick to around 300 or less...anybody else on the olympus 460?

 

[MattStone]

I was looking around some more...and I saw that the Fuji 1400 is 300 w/a free floppy adapter at Staples.com. I could use a $30 coupon (already used 40)...and get it for 270. Is that worth it? Also, how much is a friggen floppy adapter for smartmedia alone...I only found one, and it was 62 bucks...ouch. Help...

 

[GTaudiophile]

I have to second the S10. I have one and love it! You can't beat its metal, compact design. It also has CompactFlash Type-II support and USB (unlike Olympus). Check out the link in my signature for DPreview. You can see samples I've taken at my web site, http://threewood.tripod.com

 

[gplracer]

The s-10 is a good choice. I justs got the s-20. It is real similar except mine is 3.34 mp instead of 2.1 mp. keeep in mind that the s-100 is on sale at www.buy.com for $379. It comes with a charger and a rechargeable battery. The s-10 does not come with one and that will cost you $80 online and $100 locally. The image quality of the s-10 is supposed to be a little better but not a whole lot. Of course the s-100 is real small. www.dpreview.com did a good review of each. The s-10 will accept a microdrive too. The s-100 will not. These cameras suck down the batteries. You can get about 60 with the lcd on that is all. The batteries are about $12 a piece so one could spend a small fortune real quick. Rechargeable batteries are the way to go.

Some of the other cameras you mentioned are not usb. You will grow old waiting for the picture to get from the camera to the computer. Trust me you do not want one that is not usb.

 

[Superunknown]

You might also consider the Nikon's. I have the Coolpix 800 and love it. I used to have a Olympus D360L, but the Nikon is much better, doesnt feel as cheap, plus the Nikon optics are one of the best out there. Nikon uses Compactflash..oh ya, the macro capability on the Nikon's are amazing too the Olympus was horrible.

 

[Paul]

I have a Kodak DC240 and it works very well.

 

[hans007]

the s10 costs about $60-70 less than the s100, but you have to buy the $70-80 battery, so it ends up costing more. The finepix 1400 is a very good camera also. The dc215 is a piece of crap dont even consider it. I'd normally consider the olympus's , but the 360L has no zoom. The 460 is good, but i'd also consider the 490 if you can afford it. So i'd say canon s10/100 first since they are 2 megapixel and have zoom, and after that the 1400 (its a lot cheaper than the canon ones, but you are gonna have to buy standard AA batteries and charger for it should run about $30 for 8 nimh and a charger). The s10 really isnt better than the s100 for the price (since they cost the same basically ) unless you really need microdrive support, more resolution modes, and slightly better image that the s10 has, vs the size of the s100.

 

[dcdomain]

With all this talk about the S10, here's a link to a thread in the For Sale/Trade forum. He's selling a brand new S10 for $330 shipped. I know you stated you could get it for $320 in the post above, but it might be a little more with shipping and tax. You can even try talking down the price. Here's the link: http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.cfm?catid=45&threadid=276467

 

[duragezic]

I've been thinking about getting one too. After reading many reviews I will get the Olympus 490Z. It is $376 + shipping last time I checked. It can even take short movies. The only problem is there is no USB but that can be solved by getting a USB card reader. Again, last time I checked Olmypus was offerinf a FREE mail-in reader until March 31, 2001.

 

[randomlinh]

the s10 is an AMAZING camera out of your list there... the quality is simply stunning. My friends have DC240's.. and the s10 wipes em clean quality wise.

The s100 IMO is just a tad too small. I'd prefer the new G1 or olympus c2100UZ... BUT... that's adding several hundred to the pricetag... and i don't even have enough for the $300 pricetag

 

[Horsepower]

My best experience is with Olympus..

 

[jhassi]

S10, no contest, it's be ranked as being better than the Nikon 800, none of those other cameras can even remotely claim that.

hassi <- S10 owner

 

[cyclistca]

Some of the other cameras you mentioned are not usb. You will grow old waiting for the picture to get from the camera to the computer. Trust me you do not want one that is not usb.

Well I have a Oly 490z without USB and I have done countless downloads through my serial cable. No big deal. Set it up, start the download, go do something else, come back and everything all downloaded.

BTW great camera. When I was looking it came down to this one and the S100. Choose this one because of it's 3X optical zoom. Remember when it comes right down to it you want to get the camera that takes the best pictures. Items like storage and downloads method should only be secondary.

Try this link. It allows you to compare the picture quality of various cameras

http://www.imaging-resource.com/IMCOMP/COMPS01.HTM

 

[jhassi]

if you really want to get to low down on the S10 check out http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canons10/. Their they compare it with the then &quot;best of the best&quot; (when the review was done) Nikon 800 and it passes with flying colors.

Another feature the S10 boasts that most cameras can't is the ability to zoom in on a picture on the tiny LCD screen, so instead of looking at that 1600x1200 image on a tiny ~2&quot; screen and saying to yourself &quot;yeah i looks great at 2&quot; but when I get it home on my 21&quot; am I gonna notice a slight blur/distortion/pixelation/etc?&quot; you just press the zoom button and you get a much better image, probably comparable to a 6x6&quot; screen. Granted that's still damn small, but trust me it sure beats 2&quot;. You can also use the zoom when you're connected to a TV.

I went from a super crappy (well now i think it's crappy) Polaroid 640x480 camera to this and was amazed at the difference, I figured my Polaroid wasn't so bad till i saw what this could do!!

Check out what dpreview had to say in the conclusion:
&quot;The Canon S10 certainly sets new ground, and I'm sure it's sent a few manufacturers racing back to the drawing board (as I'm sure the 950 did when it was released). The S10 is just so good on so many grounds it goes high on my favourite digicams list. With the addition of USB, CF Type II, Super-Fine JPEG, its small size and value for money, if you can live with the limited zoom ability then the S10 is one camera that ANYONE considering buying a digicam should have somewhere in their list.. (somewhere near the top).

Kudos Canon, you've produced a digital camera capable of taking beautiful images in anyones hands, with a great feature set and some neat touches it makes some larger bulkier digicams look like dinosaurs and brings compact digital cameras to a new level.&quot;

really it's not fair to put the S10 next to those other cameras, the S10 is in a whole other league, like comparing a Pentium 2 with a Pentium 3, it's a whole new level

edit: someday i'll remember to use spell check before i post

 

[MattStone]

I've decided that I have to either not get a camera now...or get something dirt cheap...becuase I will still need to get memory, accessories, etc. I can't afford this stuff, and honestly it doesn't matter because all that I really want a cam for is taking pictures to email to my family, and taking pictures of my home theater. I can get a cheap ass camera for that...like the kodak dc3200...I don't care if you think it is crap, because this isn't a situation where I can pour more money into it.

Thanx though..I woke up this morning to all kinds of helpful advice...

 

[randomlinh]

yeah, that's my only gripe about the s10.. a measly 2x zoom. A big reason on why I returned it. But i've found that i've regret it cause that digital camera really was very nice.

But quality wise, it's hard to beat. And yes, transfering shouldn't be #1 on your concerns list, its very nice to beable to send images to ppl instantly... w/o having to wait