Digital Camera - Help me buy one

In My Humble Opinion
1

For the first real vacation I’ve had in two years I’m going here. And it’s spurred me to consider getting a digital camera (I have no camera at all right now). Love to take home some memories from this place.

So here’s who I am when it comes to photography:

[ul]
[li]Experience: amateur[/li][li]Budget: like to keep the camera itself around $300[/li][li]Needs: while I enjoy taking photos, I don’t ever imagine I’ll need anything “professional”. I think most of what I will take will be “snapshot-ish”, but I’d like ability to compose things (realizing that’s mostly a human, not a camera, trait)[/li][li]Software: much prefer a camera where I can upload to any computer and not require proprietary software. A few years ago my ex-wife and I purchased a Fuji camera and I always found it annoying that you had to have the Fuji software to even download pics to your computer[/li][li]Future: I’m one who will pay for something that will last a few years for my needs, so can be convinced to pay a little extra for that. For example, if convinced that that 1 megapixel upgrade will be worth it.[/li][li]Prints: doubt I’ll print many of my photos - mostly share online. Though the occasional great shot I wouldn’t mind framing - but don’t need poster size.[/li][/ul]

Anyone with thoughts, please advise. Note that I don’t have to purchase right away (vacation isn’t until May).

Thanks in advance.

2

I think it’s good that you have set a pricepoint for a digital camera, it makes picking one out a lot easier.

First of all, make sure to set aside a bit of budget for a larger memory card and possibly an extra battery or a battery charge/rechargeable batteries (depending on the make/model of the camera). Concerning the plug-and-play aspect of the camera, it’s generally depedent more on your computer than the camera itself. Windows ME/XP and Mac OS X generally view the connected camera as an external hard drive, so it’s as easy as pulling the files off the memory card and putting it on your main hard drive. Feature-wise I would recommend 3 megapixels minimium and having a camera that is compatible with regular batteries (instead of brand-specifc, expensive batteries) is a definite plus. Concerning specific brands, I’m a big fan of FujiFilm, Canon, and Nikon, but the most important part is that you like the specs of the camera and the pricepoint. It is worth mentioning that Sony’s cameras use memory stick memory cards, which tend to run a little more expensive than other formats.

Having said that, brand-wise and options you’ll find there is a myriad of different makes/models. I highly recommend going to a store and actually playing with their cameras and see what you like. Camera ergonomics is crucial to enjoying your camera and getting nice shots. Also visit dcresource.com, they have a ton of reviews. Between the two sources, you’ll get hands on experience and technical information.

3

I just bought the Panasonic DMC-FZ20 from Butterfly Photo, I love it.
12x optical zoom 5 megapixels. Does everything with the best rated Image stabilization for amateurs like us. Takes movies with sound and Via included USB cable can download to any Windows 98 SE or newer PC and Most Macs.
From this page : I recommend
Panasonic -LumixDMC-FZ4S Digital Camera - Silver for $279.
Allow Movies with Audio and has a good rating or blow your budget and buy what I did.
Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ20K Black
The DMC-FZ20k has a 12x optical lens system that is equivalent to 36mm to 432mm in a 35mm film camera. It comprises 13 lenses in eight groups

Our Price: $409.00

Good Luck
Jim

4

I recomend against anything Sony or Olympus, because they use their own proprietary memory cards that are always more expensive than the same capacity SD or CF cards. (Sony is especially bad since they have memory stick, memory stick pro, memory stick duo, and memory stick pro duo. It can get quite confusing as to what kind can work in what device. Fuck Sony.)

SD is the best one, IMO, because it’s smaller than CF and more PDA’s and phones use SD than CF. You can take your pictures, load them onto a PDA, and email them right away in a place with wireless internet! Amazing!

5

There are a score of cameras out there that will meet your needs at that price. It’s probably the most popular range for cameras, and every manufacturer makes at least one model that would be fine.

One thing to consider is form factor, or size. I find that for around town, hiking, skiing, etc it’s really nice to have an ultra-compact camera, roughly the size of a deck of cards. I take my Canon SD300 everywhere with me, so I get lots of photos that others may miss because they don’t want to lug around their bigger camera. It comes at a cost, however, since you’ll only have a 3x zoom, as opposed to compact and all-in-ones that often have bigger zoom lenses, more manual features, and feels more like a traditional camera in your hands.

While more zoom is always good, you may or may not take advantage of it. Consider you needs and what you expect to do.

Go to DCResource and read the reviews of the cameras that meet your needs. There are lots and lots of good choices on the market right now, and prices have never been better.

Personally, I wouldn’t worry too much about memory card type. It’s true that xD and Memory Stick cost more per meg than CF or SD, but in the grand scheme of things it’s only going to cost you and extra $20-30 bucks. Given the option, I chose a camera that uses SD but if it had used xD I still would have bought it.

For a vacation you’ll definately want a big memory card. I’d recommend a 1 Gig card, so unless you go hog wild it should last you several days. I’ve managed to fill one up on day hike, but sometimes I go a bit nuts.

Then go to a camera store with a big selection and pick up and handle all the cameras you are interested in. Something that looks good on the web may not feel natural in your hands.

You really can’t go very wrong, enjoy your selection.

6

Some other things to consider:

Optics: Unfortunately you cannot really choose which type of lens goes in which camera but lens plays a very important role in image quality. An ultra compact camera with a tiny lens will not yield an image as nice as a full sized camera. The best way to find out about lens quality is through professional reviews and personal testing. dpreview.com has tons of extremely in depth reviews going from the outer shell, to the lens, to the inner workings of the camera. Try not to be fooled with idea that the more megapixels a camera has, the better image it will record.

Speed: Another thing that is often left out of reviews. I cannot stand a slow camera so I make sure to look for quick, responsive ones when I look for cameras. There are cameras that startup in less than half a second and some that startup in 2 seconds. Two seconds doesn’t sound like alot when you think about it, but when you have your camera in hand and want to catch something really quick and are staring at your damn camera’s startup logo it can get really frustrating. There are also delays between taking shots and writing to the flash card. These times can be improved with faster memory cards, which are expensive, but often times are worth it. Read the reviews to learn about these timing delays.

Hmm what else… There are different resolutions of LCD screens, which can matter if you review you shots on the screen. A lower res screen will make the image look less sharp and may cause you to delete photos you think aren’t great. The best bet it to just keep all the photos you shoot to review on your monitor later.

Then, there are different types of viewfinders. It’s hard to find a viewfinder that will show you what you are actually viewing in shapshot cameras. Those are more common in SLRs but those are way out of your price range. The newest thing seems to be electronic viewfinders EVFs, which are basically little LCD screens in the viewfinder window. These annoy me cause they have the same lag that the larger LCD screen has, though they show a more accurate image compared to the viewfinders that just go straight through the camera. Also, these require battery power to operate, though they use a litte less than the bigger LCD screen.

7

I picked this one out for christmas.

http://www.kodak.com/eknec/PageQuerier.jhtml;jsessionid=D0LINSD1TQLMJFW4FAKHWD2W1YUEE4L4?pq-path=6770&pq-locale=en_US&_requestid=10466 . Walmart had it with the dock to connect to your computer for $228.00. So far I’m happy with it. It uses SD cards for memory.

8

I bought my son an Olympus Stylus 500 for Christmas, and it’s really great – easy to use, great pictures, fast setup time.

Whatever you get, read the reviews on Steve’s Digicams .

9

All good advice so far, but let me chime in with my 2 cents. About 6 months ago, we picked up a PentaxOptioWP. Feature-wise, it is a bit lacking from other similarily priced cameras, but it is waterproof to 15 feet, or so. This also meas it is sand proof, jam proof, and baby-puke proof. If you are likely to do any snorkelling, it might be worth it.

That said, the zoom is pretty short, only 3x, but the image quality is mostly good, except under low-light conditions. We have a vast collection of reasonably good shots that my 2 year old took with it.

Street price seems to be around $320

10

Thanks for the great responses. I did get to thinking about the form factor as well as the need for being waterproof - the impetus behind my purchase is my trip, where I’ll be on/in the water or sand quite a bit. So being able to keep it in a pocket would be nice, and not have to worry about it getting wet if I fall off the skiff trying to land a fish.

Of course, I’m on the tall side, afraid those tiny-ass-deck-of-cards-sized cameras are going to be miserable to operate in my paws.

Will be hitting the stores this weekend or next to start getting the feel of them.

More advice always welcome.

11

The Olympus Stylus 500 is waterproof (you shouldn’t submerge it, but it can be splashed upon).

12

Update - as if anyone really cares :slight_smile:

Ended up buying the Canon Powershot A620, which got stellar reviews everywhere I looked.

It felt much better in my hands too - the slim “pocket” cameras, as cool as they are, just seemed well nigh impossible to handle.

I’ll play around with it over the next few days - hopefully I’ll feel glad about the purchase.

13

I own the A620 and couldn’t be happier. It has been replaced by the A700, but is still readily available at about $275 which is a rediculously good price for what you’re getting. Be careful of Canon’s SD series cameras. I own an SD400 which I just love, but LCD screen cracked the other day. I’ve always handled the camera like a new-born baby, but the screen still cracked. This appears to be a common problem among the SD series and whether or not Canon will fix it under warranty is an open question. I have to mail the camera to a repair center and they’ll let me know if its covered under the warranty.

14

I think this is the best website for reviews

http://www.dpreview.com/

15

I was just about to come in and recommend the A620; I’ve played with it at the store and it was really quite a neat camera - perhaps not quite pocketable, but hey, I’ll trade portability for picture quality any day. Perhaps that’s why I have a DLSR. :wink:

Good choice, rexnervous, IMHO.

16

The current issue (July) of Consumer Reports has an extensive reviews and ratings of all sorts of digital cameras, as well as photo printers, etc.

17

CR, while great for cars, is rarely good at things like cameras that require some expertise to evaluate correctly. They also are always behind the times as new models are introduced so frequently. The online sites (DCResource and DPReview) have much better reviews.

18

The current issue of Consumer Reports has a nice piece reviewing Digitals.

-Cem