What is the best digital camera in the $125 -$175 price range?
Maybe you can get a Nikon CoolPix 2100 on sale? I think they are usually like $200-$275. I LOVE mine.
Go with at least 2 million pixels though whatever you get.
I have to agree with Matchka. I think you may have to bump your price range up just a notch to get a satisfactory camera. 2 megapixels is probably the minimum threshold for printing an adequate inkjet 8x10 and I suggest 3mp if you want nice 8x10s.
There are a lot of decent cameras available for about $200. Personally I plan on replacing my old Canon A10 with an 3mp A70 but you can get the 2mp A60 for $200. The A series powershots take good pictures, are very logically laid out, easy to use but still very flexible and give you a fair amount of creative control. The A70 has gotten outstanding reviews and the A60 is essentially the same camera but with a different sensor.
Also the A series powershots use the least expensive form of memory, compact flash as well as standard AA batteries. Do not use ordinary alkaline batteries if you get a camera that uses AAs as they will be drained too quickly. Get recharchable Nickel Metal hydride batteries and an appropriate charger.
Review this site to learn a little bit more. http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/specs.asp Oh, one last thing. IMO you should ignore “digital zoom” as a factor and use optical zoom as your criteria. Digital zoom achieves a zooming effect at the expense of picture quality.
Best depends on what you want to do with it. How you expect to use the camera will dictate what to look for, such as zoom, image size, camera size, batteries, etc. So, what do you want to do with the camera?
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It would help if you described how you’ll be using the camera. If you’re going to take pictures for viewing strictly on a monitor, then “best” means something different than if you want to make nice 8 X 10’s for the relatives. At the moment, your price range is on the low end of the technology curve. You might consider looking for a good used 2.1 megapixel camera – lots of early adopters have moved on to higher resolution cameras.
Just a bit of a caution, digital cameras are kind of incompatible with tight budgets. You typically end up wanting a few extra memory cards, rechargeable batteries and some kind of USB card reader. Not to mention all the associated computer gear (e.g. if you’re printing your pictures, you’ll need a printer and a budget for ink and paper).
Probably a Canon A40. The Canon A60 is good too. I just bought a Canon A70 after looking at this issue in some depth and not needing a 4MP camera such as the Canon A80 which is coming out very soon.
Plus, you can ‘digital zoom’ in software after downloading the pictures to your PC.
You shouldn’t use digital zoom – you can achieve the same effect with Photoshop, and you can choose the part of the image you want to zoom in on.
Unfortunately, my camera was a gift and the decision was made mostly by a commissioned salesperson. I ended up with 2.1 megapixels and an awful 8 MB capacity that made the camera useless until I got an SD memory card. I strongly suggest you try the camera before you buy it – don’t buy it online unless you’ve tried it somewhere else and know you like it.
Another thing about digital cameras you might not realize is they take a long time to take a picture after you press the shutter – sometimes several seconds. If you want to take pictures of anything moving, be sure to get a camera that minimizes this delay.
I’ve been a digital camera enthusiast for several years, and I took LOTS of advice before I bought my first. I can confidently recommend anything in the Nikon Coolpix range (which is pretty wide and caters for most tastes and budgets). Good kit, well-made, reasonable prices for what you get, do the job, seem pretty robust.
I have no commercial interest here whatsoever. I’m just a satisfied customer who is now on his third Nikon Coolpix camera.
I have in my office 3 Nikon 995s, a Nikon 5000, a Nikon 5700, two Nikon D1s, 2 Canon Powershot G3’s, and a Canon EOS 10D.
I dont have good luck with the Nikons. They have a tendancy to take dark pictures and sometimes they just stop working and need to get repaired. I’ve never had that issue with a Canon.
I think you should up your price a little bit and go for the Canon Powershot S-230. Use Froogle for the cheapest price ($266.00).
Good luck!
10 replies and this hasn’t been moved to IMHO yet?
I use a Sony Mavica. Some of their models are in the price range you posted. A film media that is a floppy disc that anyone can read is an asset. Do you really need to see a large pore on a pretty womans face.
I’m planning on using it to take photos for websites mainly. Not all that interested in prints. I have a Fuji and a Cannon for that. I presently have a Polaroid “cheapie” (about $60 as I remember) that doesn’t do all that bad for some things, but I would like to upgrade.
Thanks!
For your needs you can get a good one for under $100. I have a Fuji Finepix 1400 and a Fuji Finepix 2400 both of which I got cheaply in ebay.
Pros: Cheap, good 3x optical zoom, use standard AA batteries (rechargeable or alkaline, just this will save you a fortune compared to proprietary batterires). I recommend any of the two. Even the 1400 is more than enough for internet photos.