Digital camera advice please

I'm wanting to purchase a digital camera, but don't know a great deal about them. What kind of camera would you guys recommend that is of good quality but not outrageously expensive?

Canon or Nikon 3~4 megapixel

Optical Zoom is a major plus.

My personal preference is Canon products

Either the Powershot A75 or A80

PM me if you want to talk details

Spotz

I suggest this site:

http://www.steves-digicams.com/hardware_reviews.html

Personally I like the Canon Powershot SD 10 because it is so small
http://www.powershot.com/powershot2/sd10/index.html

The new Sony DSC T1 also looks great and it is a 5 megapixel one. Again it is very small. Notice a trend here?

http://www.steves-digicams.com/2004_reviews/t1.html

Perhaps if you would tell us your price range.

Thank you, Bumpy for the pm help and those are some very informative sites, Spotz! I believe I'm more confused than ever! I'm not completely sure what my $ range should be, but I would really like to not go over $200 is that possible?

Originally Posted by dawnofsierra

Thank you, Bumpy for the pm help and those are some very informative sites, Spotz! I believe I'm more confused than ever! I'm not completely sure what my $ range should be, but I would really like to not go over $200 is that possible?

Click to expand...

Personally, I prefer to save up and buy the camera I like, which often happens to be one of the most expensive. (Ditto for cellphone, computers, clothes, shoes, etc) But it is WORTH IT. But that is just me.

Anyway, here is a report on CNET on the best digital cameras below $200
http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-6501_7-...?tag=cnetfd.ld

Another good review site is:

http://www.dpreview.com/

When I was looking for a digicam several months back, I was tempted by the megapixels and fancy features. I picked up the Canon S50, a solid, robust camera to be sure but the controls were just too complicated for me! It's loaded with features that a casual photographer like me just wasn't going to touch. So, instead I went with a Sony P-92, which is 5 MP and cost only about $300. The quality is good, and it's very simple to use, the trade off being almost every feature is automated, which is good for me but would probably frustrate someone who likes to play with different settings. Just my experience!

I saw a 3+ MP camera at Walmart the other day. It was an HP 3.2 MP Photosmart Digital Camera PS733v.

The rule of thumb is approximately 100 dollars per megapixel so this is a pretty good deal. It has a 3X optical zoom (a little low), but also comes with a 64 meg SD memory card. It takes AA batteries, and I'd highly suggest you get the rechargeables for it.

Here's the link

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/produ...15169%3A124741

My wife says I collect digital cameras like other people collect coins (I have 10) so feel free to email me or PM me with any questions you might have.

1 other to look at that I liked is the Minolta Dimage Z1 3.3 MP. It's not in the price range you wanted, but it's a lot of camera for the money, and will be my next "toy" to play with.

Have fun looking. There's a lot of choices out there, and 1 of them is right for you.

Jeff

I've had a few digital cameras and my favorite is the Canon. I used the Canon PowerShot A60 in these threads:

http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=25941
http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=34503

Canon cameras are a great quality camera and you basically can't go wrong with them. I bought mine on ebay and got a decent deal.

I have the Canon Powershot A60 as well. It cost me under $200 on Amazon.Com. It takes great pictures!

You have to ask yourself what kind of pictures will you be taking.... I have a set of 7x35mm binoculars and sometimes when I am out for walks and I see a bluejay or something sitting in a tree, I often wished I had a camera that could take the kind of picture that I see through the binoculars

I currently have a Kodak CX4230 with a 3x optical... next camera I get it will have a 10x optical.

Remember you get what you pay for

People already told you great advice, I just one to add my little word to it...
You have to answer couple questions. Are you going to print HUGE pictures, from your camera or just regular ones you usually would print from your film camera? If yes- then 3 to 4 Mp would be enough. Then when you'll look into different cameras- don't be actually paying any attention to the digital zoom- it is crappy and you don't really need it- optical zoom is what you're looking after. In my personal opinion - Sony has some really great deals - and you can also get reallly goood camera below $200 from Sony from Ebay ( try to look into people with positive feedback 99% or more!). I have Sony Cyber Shot DSC - P8, it is not great one, but is only tool that I am trying to use with all my pleasure! Also www.dpreview.com is really great site as glentheman20 already mention!
Good luck!

Sorry for the delay in response everyone so generous to respond to my plea for help. Some workers accidentally cut the phone lines in my area and since I'm on dial up, I've been cut off from the outside world and my great friends here at TCS! Bumpy, you make a great point, If I'm going to get a digital camera and anything else for that matter, I would do best to get one of optimal quality regardless of the price. I most often subscribe to this theory in other major purchases because it's so true what Cabbie said, you really do get exactly what you pay for!

Originally Posted by bumpy

Personally, I prefer to save up and buy the camera I like, which often happens to be one of the most expensive. (Ditto for cellphone, computers, clothes, shoes, etc) But it is WORTH IT. But that is just me.

Anyway, here is a report on CNET on the best digital cameras below $200
http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-6501_7-...?tag=cnetfd.ld

Click to expand...

Originally Posted by glentheman20

Another good review site is:

http://www.dpreview.com/

When I was looking for a digicam several months back, I was tempted by the megapixels and fancy features. I picked up the Canon S50, a solid, robust camera to be sure but the controls were just too complicated for me! It's loaded with features that a casual photographer like me just wasn't going to touch. So, instead I went with a Sony P-92, which is 5 MP and cost only about $300. The quality is good, and it's very simple to use, the trade off being almost every feature is automated, which is good for me but would probably frustrate someone who likes to play with different settings. Just my experience!

Click to expand...

Thank you for the informative link! I am in complete agreement, I am a relative novice when it comes to high tech devices, and I really need a camera with automated features that aren't extremely complicated to learn how to use!

Originally Posted by grampngram

I saw a 3+ MP camera at Walmart the other day. It was an HP 3.2 MP Photosmart Digital Camera PS733v.

The rule of thumb is approximately 100 dollars per megapixel so this is a pretty good deal. It has a 3X optical zoom (a little low), but also comes with a 64 meg SD memory card. It takes AA batteries, and I'd highly suggest you get the rechargeables for it.

Here's the link

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/produ...15169%3A124741

My wife says I collect digital cameras like other people collect coins (I have 10) so feel free to email me or PM me with any questions you might have.

1 other to look at that I liked is the Minolta Dimage Z1 3.3 MP. It's not in the price range you wanted, but it's a lot of camera for the money, and will be my next "toy" to play with.

Have fun looking. There's a lot of choices out there, and 1 of them is right for you.

Jeff

Click to expand...

Jeff, thanks for the great Walmart link! Lots of selection from a store just down the road! BTW, got any extra digicams to spare?

Thank you for the links and recommending Canon, fuzzmom and KittycatK! It seems to have been highly recommended, and Sony is a quality brand with which I am already familiar, Yoursleeka. Do you guys have any tips for using ibay and Amazon? I've heard a lot of references to them but have never tried them out. Are there any guarantees?
In response to your question, Yoursleeka, I intend to use this camera to get pics just like I would with a regular film camera, and since I've been online, I've so enjoyed sharing photos like we do here on TCS since the vast majority of my pics involve my sweet Sierra! Could someone please explain to me in lamen's term what a megapixel is and what purpose it serves on a camera! Thank you again each one of you for taking the time to respond!

If I am not wrong, the strength of Sony's camera is its video taking capabilities. But the draw back is that Song requires it own sony brand memory stick which cost A LOT more than the other cameras. Canon is supposedly better for its pictures but less so for its video capabilities. But it can use other generic memory cards, which cost so much cheaper.

So don't be tricked and remember to look at the price of the memory because it can severely distort the price of the cameras.

But if you are willing to save and wait, now is a good time because supposedly there is going to be quite a lot of new cameras out this year. And the technology is moving quite fast recently.

Think of a megapixel as image quality. If you have played with pictures on your computer before, you will notice that certain pictures can be enlarged without it blurring. The higher the megapixel the larger you can enlarge without blurring. Think of it of a higher megapixel as a HDTV compared to a normal one.

BUT BUT BUT and a big BUT, megapixel is not the be all and end all. That is what the salesperson would want you to think. There are certain cameras with higher megapixels but gives you lower quality pictures than cameras with lower megapixels. It is best to try them out first or at least read the reviews.

Also to take note is the battery life. Unless you are willing to spend more money on buying backup batteries you want one with a significant long battery life. Also the start up time. Since you will not be leaving the camera on the entire day. So when you do want to take a picture, you do not have to wait around making you perhaps miss the shot.