Any recommendations for a digital camera?

Serena · Mon Mar 10, 2008 10:17 pm

As you can tell, I'm inching my way into the high-tech realms.

Now that I can post a photo here, I've decided I'd like to take my own.

Anyone with a favorite camera that you'd recommend? I'm wondering if I ought to get one that videos, too.

Thanks much!

Mon Mar 10, 2008 10:23 pm

Any camera is a great camera as long as its a Canon! Canon has been at the top of most rating charts for several years now. Maybe have to spend a couple more dollars, but you won't regret it.

Most of the time I personally use a pocket Canon, which is a bit more spendy than a regular-sized one. But I sure like being able to tuck it away when not needed.

Also kind of fun to be sitting around with a bunch of people, and pulling out your camera and showing them the pics you just took. We do it all the time with complete strangers at the Sturgis Bike Rally. They show us their photos, we show them ours. So having a big screen on the camera is helpful (although these days smaller screens have pretty much gone away).

And don't forget, these mighty Canons can give the best video camera a run for there money too! Since I've bought my pocket Canon, I almost don't even use my video camera anymore. It's that good.

Mark

Serena · Tue Mar 11, 2008 7:05 am

All the input I've had is for Canon. And the pocket sized ones do seem nice. Any suggestions on how to decide on which model?

Tue Mar 11, 2008 9:38 am

My pocket Canon is a Power Shot SD 600. It's a couple years old, so I'm sure been updated. I basically looked for a camera with a big screen, zoom & a close-up function. The movie function was a bonus, and I think these days is automatically included with every Canon.

Canon doesn't make a bad camera, so anyone you choose would be great. I think the cheapest one is around $145. If it hasn't happened already, the buttons on digital cameras will soon be replaced by touch-screen controls (like the I-phone). Touch screen will really make these camera rock because it'll come with twice as many features. Anyone who has played with an I-Phone or its clone knows what I'm talking about.

Mark

Serena · Tue Mar 11, 2008 10:49 am

Thanks very much, Mark. I'll go to the camera shop and have a tour.

Manitoba Bill · Tue Mar 11, 2008 5:23 pm

This is a great site that I went to to compare cams b4 I got my Kodak years ago. Good to compare ones that you are interested in.

Also check for battery life and a charger base cost.

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

Greg · Tue Mar 11, 2008 6:24 pm

Cannon or Nikon are the top 2 in my book, Kodak has come a long way into the digital field also. It is hard for me to decied between top quality & American jobs though. Greg

Guest · Tue Mar 11, 2008 9:05 pm

For all the information you need about digital cameras go to steves-digicams.com. this web site has reviews of most of the cameras made today. Also test pictures with each camera. My recommendation is to check out the top brand name cameras (Olympus, Cannon, Nikon, Kodak), find the one that has the features and price you like and get it. Build quality amoung these brands are vary similar. In fact upon very close inspection you will see that some of the cameras are made by the same oem manufacture. Very common in the camera industry. I myself like Olympus products because my job is repairing Olympus cameras and have been doing it for over 25 years. Like I sad though, any camera from the top manufactures will give you excellent quality pictures and good reliability.
Bill W.

Serena · Wed Mar 12, 2008 11:03 am

Is there any reason not to buy this camara?

http://www.steves-digicams.com/2007_rev ... 0.html#buy

Wed Mar 12, 2008 11:16 am

You'll love that camera. Good price too for a pocket camera. Only thing I can see is that it doesn't have the largest screen, but for the money its pretty good.

By the way, do not buy the Olympus shown on that same page. I was stupid enough to buy that one before my Canon. The big 'image stabilization' tag on the Olympus camera is a big joke. That's just a shutter speed adjustment. And even with that, I couldn't take a picture that wasn't blury unless I used a tripod. And who wants to use a tripod with a pocket camera.

You'll do good buying the SD1000 Canon.

Mark

Serena · Wed Mar 12, 2008 12:52 pm

Thanks much! The other ones that have more pixels, more focus options, more lighting options, are all $400-500 and it looks like I can get the SD1000 with all the paraphernalia for under $200.

I do appreciate all the help!

Wed Mar 12, 2008 12:58 pm

Unless you're creating billboards, you will have more than enough pixels. In the past, digital zoom use to be a bad word as it meant instant grainy pictures. Thanks to the high number of pixels, today that's not the case as digital zooms work much better. You also have a 3x optical zoom before needing any digital zoom.

Another good thing about lots of pixels is the ability to crop. Often times instead of using digital zoom, I'll just opt to crop using my editor. You can crop out a small section of a picture, and still end up having a high quality picture. The Canon you are looking at has more than enough pixels for all these tasks.

Mark

Yanita · Wed Mar 12, 2008 1:19 pm

HI,

I am by no means a wiz at digi cams but I own a Canon Power Shot A560 that is easy enough for me to learn and I also have a Olympus FE220, both are great little cameras. The Olympus with its slim features is a great pocket camera.

Yanita

Jim from Canada · Wed Mar 12, 2008 3:24 pm

I have a Fuji that I really like and intend to buy another one. My son, who is a photo student, raves about Nikons, but admits that it is personal preference for pros whether they use Nikons or Canon.

Jim

Guest · Wed Mar 12, 2008 9:01 pm

Just for everybody's information there are two different types of image stablization, digital and optical. Digital increases the asa rating as high as needed which inturn increases the shutter speed. This was the first type of stablization to be used in recent years. Really not very good. Increased asa means increased noise (grain) in the pictures. Optical stablization either moves an element in the lens or moves the ccd itself to compensate for movement of the camera. This has been around for a long time and used in movie cameras alot. I have an Olympus sp560 with 18x zoom and without the optical stablization the zoom would almost be usless. Us older folks just aren't as steady anymore. Always go with opictial stablization, works great!
Bill W.