Digital Camera Recommendations

We were thinking about purchasing a digital camera soon & we were wondering if any of you have any good recommendations for one that is decent quality for under $ 200. Tried to research digital cameras on the internet but its very overwelming because there is so much to choose from! Any ideas?

http://www.nikon-coolpix.co.uk/s50c.htm

I have the Nikon Coolpix, I got it from Target a few months ago & LOVE it! It takes such clear photos and has good zoom too. It was on sale, and I paid just about $200.00 for, with tax & such.

I had a Kodak before, and this blows it out of the water

I have the HP Photosmart 735, which is now several years old, and serving me well. It's also my second HP, and I would buy HP again. I'm not a serious enough photographer to spend a lot of money, but I do want decent images, and get them.

My brother has had good experience with Canon, though I don't know what model he has.

My SIL bought Olympus a few years ago, and I helped her with installing the software on the computer. That experience led me to avoid that brand. She gets good pics, though.

Before you decide to get one, go to a store and play with them. Find one that fits you. More MP does not mean better pictures. Just bigger pictures. Most people like 7MP-8MP for the point and shoot cameras. Brands I like are nikon and panasonic.

My husband & I are also in the market for a new camera and at this time of the year, money is an issue so we wanted to spend a little less ... so we could spend more on Christmas! We decided on this one:

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/produ...ssories+to+Buy

I have the Sony Cybershot (DSW-55.) It's wonderful on videos and pictures too, it cost about $200.00.

I have the Samsung S730 model, and it takes very good pictures. It's easy to use, has got good zoom, and I haven't regretted buying it once. What's more, its cheap! I got it for $130, but you can buy it here at Amazon for only a hundred now.

My camera is a bit out of your price range, but I can second the one gayef posted, we have one at work and it is a decent camera for the price

I'm in the same boat as icklemiss21, I have a Canon 30D, just a bit out of your price range. But I think anything from Canon or Nikon is a great choice!
Happy Shopping!

Hello Again! Thank you all for your recommedations

We just went to look at digital cameras & we realized we don't know anything about digital cameras.
Hopefully someone can help us. How are you suppose to know what to look for?

All that we know is to look for around 7 megapixels
How do you know how many photos the camera holds?
Are rechargable batteries better?
Does each camera come with a cord to be able to download on a computer?

If there is anything else we should know, please tell us!

How do you know how many photos a camera holds? Right wehn you buy the camera, it holds only a few pictures. Mine held seven, my mom's held about eleven. It depends on the camera. If you buy a memory card (which you should do), you can hold many more pictures. Mine is a 512 MB and it hold around 250 pictures at 3072x2304 resolution, and although it doesn't hold near as many pictures as most of the others out there, it does the trick since I don't need space for 2000 pictures on my camera. One word of caution when buying a memory card, though...look at the manual to see which typ it takes. You wouldn't want to buy an sD card and realise you need an xD.
Are rechargable batteries better? Yes! Not only can you reuse them, they have oodles more juice and last much longer.
Does each camera come with a cord to be able to download on a computer? Almost all of them do. If you look on the box it should tell you, or ask the employee in the camera section if it comes with one, they should be able to tell you.

There's nothing else I can think of off the top of my head, but I'm sure someone else will be able to come up with anything else you'll need to know!

Originally Posted by Cocoalily

How do you know how many photos a camera holds? Right wehn you buy the camera, it holds only a few pictures. Mine held seven, my mom's held about eleven. It depends on the camera. If you buy a memory card (which you should do), you can hold many more pictures. One word of caution when buying a memory card, though...look at the manual to see which typ it takes. You wouldn't want to buy an sD card and realise you need an xD.

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That was very helpful, Thank you! We didn't know you had to buy a memory card too! We would of just bought the camera & wondered how come it only holds a few pictures. And knowing the memory card type is helpful too! Starting to figure this whole digital camera thing out!

Another question for anyone: Are rechargable batteries different from regular batteries? Or do you just recharge regular batteries? Just want to know as much as possible!

Originally Posted by Katz4Life

That was very helpful, Thank you! We didn't know you had to buy a memory card too! We would of just bought the camera & wondered how come it only holds a few pictures.

And knowing the memory card type is helpful too! Starting to figure this whole digital camera thing out!

Another question for anyone: Are rechargable batteries different from regular batteries? Or do you just recharge regular batteries? Just want to know as much as possible!

Click to expand...

Glad I could help!

Rechargable batteries have more juice and last for ages, the reason that they're much more expensve than non-recharables. Don't recharge the non recharchable ones though, I'm not sure what happens as I've never tried it, but I think it said on one package that it could explode! ara:

When we first went shopping for a digital camera, we went to Wolfe Camera (also called Ritz Camera) and told them we were clueless, asked a bunch of questions, (and were asked a bunch of questions like: What will you be taking pictures of the most? Vacation? Children? What size pics will you be wanting? etc.-things we hadn't even thought of) and they were unbelievably helpful, even after we told them how much we had to spend, lol, and ended up with a really nice camera for the $.

Right now I am on my 3rd digital camera- a Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ5- last year's camera, but I got it as a floor sample (they had lost the box with the accessories) for $150, plus a $100 gift card free , so I can't complain no matter what, I guess, lol.
But, it is the most "newbie" friendly camera I have ever had or tried, even has an "easy button" to get you started (a "just the basics" setting). It is a 6 megapixel, with a 6x zoom, optic stablization (helps with the shakey hand thing ), has movie mode (love that! My last camera did too) and can use rechargable batteries or regular AA batteries- that was a plus for me too. The flash recovery time is a little slow, but that's about my only complaint...

The other plus is that when I looked it up on this link online, it now runs between around $140-$160 . Here's a link to a review if you're interested:

http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/LZ5/LZ5A.HTM

Sorry, didn't mean to write you a book , but in case you can't tell, I really like my camera .

Good luck!

I recently bought this Cannon

http://www.dixons.co.uk/martprd/stor...m=null&tm=null

I picked this one because i wanted one that captured movement, and it's brilliant, especailly the way the kittys run around

My parents used to buy all different brands of cameras. Olympic, Kodak, Sony, Nikon...... but they bought my sister and I a Canon and ever since then we've only bought Canons. They are great cameras, they are built strong (we drop things....A LOT), and they are easy to use. For $200 you can get a VERY nice camera today. You just need to make sure it has optical zoom, not just digital. There are very few digital zoom camera unless they are very cheap.

Good point! That is one thing I liked about mine for the price- 6x optical zoom and image stablilization .

Did you get one yet?

I am a faithful Canon buyer I would recommend something in the Canon Powershot A-series line. The A-series takes AA batteries so if your rechargeables die for some reason and you are at the function of the year, you can use regular AAs from the corner store.

Then you will need 2 sets of rechargeable batteries with a charger (one to be charging and one in the camera). You can get a decent one for around $20US. Then the memory card. I have 1GB card, it hold lots of high quality photos.

Most cameras come with a cord you can connect to your computer to load them. I have a card reader (abt $10US) so I don't use all the batter juice. I leave the reader connected to the computer and just slide the card into it when I am ready to see the photos. Not sure if others do it this way.

You'll also want something to carry the camera in (a bag or pouch) so it doesn't get bumped or scratched too much.

I searched this site forward and backward before buying my camera. http://www.dpreview.com/
You can use the search function to find the camera you are interested in then read the reviews. Also has a section for new people and how to buy a camera.

Cameras come in tiny sizes to large ones like an SLR film camera. Try to find one that fits your hand well and is comfortable and fun to use. Some people with large hands find the tiny cameras are difficult to use, same with people with small hands and the large cameras.

Some cameras (more every year) offer "IS" which means Image Stabilization. It helps to stabilize the photo even if your hand isn't perfectly still.

This is the Canon Powershot A570 IS. http://tinyurl.com/2e4hau
It has 7.1 megapixels, image stabalization, offers direct printing and downloading and comes with a 16MB card.
Here is the preview from dpreview.com http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canona570is/

Don't worry about not knowing all the language for digital. It will come with time and experience Soon you and hubby will be talking megs this and megs that!

Let us know what you decide on and how you like it!

Thank you very much for your help! There are such helpful people on here! We didn't know anything about digital cameras before but thanks to all of you, now we know what to look for!

Haven't bought a digital camera just yet, but by 2008 we will have one!!
Definitely will update everyone on when we buy one!