DarrellB

What's good and what's not?

I'm finally going to invest in a digital camera but I'm totally lost on what to buy. ??? I see them anywhere from $79 to $1,000. I know the more megapixels the better but what else do you look for? Are there any brands to stay away from?

Help a dumb country boy figure out what to do. ;D

DB

powerwagon440

ya me to!! ive been looking around cause i want to take pics of all the bombing im going to be doing hopefully soon : and a camera and developing pics isnt going to work!

DF5152

pic a price range and start your search....cnet.com is a good place to start plenty of reviews i researched the stuff to death before i bought. i wanted to stay with a company that made cameras or optics and wound up buying an olympus. im very happy with it. if you have any specific question maybe i can help.....

AlpineRAM

I will throw in my 2c now :

Do not look for Megapixels as long as you have more than 2 of them every cam is sufficient for Web and for making small prints. Only if you want to make big paper prints like letter size you will need many megapixels- the more the marrier in that case. A full screen pic on a 1024x768 17" monitor needs only 0.75 megapixels, a fullscreen on a 19" 1280x1024 needs 1.4 megapixels. For web use you will have to downsize the pic usually to 640x480 (0.32Mpixels).On the other hand if you want to print the pics with a decent color printer with 600dpi you will see that the 1.4 Mpixel pic for the 19" monitor will come out only 2" wide and 1.6" high in max. resolution.
This is the first part to decide on in digital cams- web use - not too many pixels, printer use many pixels.

The key factor for making pics is optics. The cheaper cams usually do not have too good optics, simply because good lenses are quite expensive. Usually you can get a good buy on cams if you take some model that was top of the line last year and very expensive. To today's standards it may lack megapixels, but it will have good optics to make the picture come to the sensor undistorted.

Another factor is the reaction time of the cam. Usually only the top cams will react fast if you want to take a snapshot or a sports shot. Cheap ones will take up to 3 secs for making the pic. If you just want to make photos of static stuff this doesn't hurt.

Handling is also very important. Personally I dislike all the small cams because my hands are too clumsy and I can't hold them steady enough.

Well that's about it....IMHO go and try some different models and take what suits you best.

AlpineRAM

DarrellB

Thanks for the replys guys. 8)

So far what I've found out from surfing the web is to stay away from HP digital cameras. Lots of bad reviews for those on the net. I have one in mind already so I'll see what you guys think.

Sony DSC-P10

Lots of good reviews on this model out there, it's kind of pricey but now that I read Alpine Ram's post I might check out some of the cheaper models in the same line.

Thanks, keep the info coming.

DB

AlpineRAM

Addendum: Digital Zoom.

Stay away from digital zooms, or ignore them while buying. A digital zoom just cuts out a part of the pic and makes it bigger. But you do not have the resolution in this part.

My personal favourite is my old Olympus C2020Z. Bought it used some time ago, works like a charm. I worked with some of the newer ones of the Olympus C-series and was really impressed.
I don't know about the pricing in the US, but over here they are a bit on the high side. But worth every cent in semi-professional use.

AlpineRAM

DarrellB

Now I understand.

I went to Olympus's website and now I understand the difference in the zooms.

So my question now is:

Is it worth $100 to get one more Megapixel and another 10x of digital Zoom?

Here are the 2 models I'm looking at.

C750

C740

Sorry for all the questions but this is really helping. 8)

DB

AlpineRAM

Darrel: I think both cams are great. If you want to do wildlife pics take the 750. Prints will be better if you want to make them.

This boils down to personal preference.

I'd suggest that you look for somebody who has the 740 or 750 and try some shots to see itf it fits your hand, if it reacts the way you like etc.

AlpineRAM

DarrellB

Thanks for the help AlpineRAM.

I'm going to try and make it to Circut City this week and check them both out.

Thanks again for the help. 8)

DB

dodgeram

friend of mine just bought a fuji finepix s602 zoom

http://www.fujifilm.com/JSP/fuji/epa...oduct=43860757

very nice camera ...........little too pricey for me but if your into taking lots of pics it's nice

every thing is adjustable ........shutter speed, film iso, ect ......or you can put it in auto mode

I bought a kodak dx3600 a few years back .........it's just a point and shoot 2.2mp camera but it does well for every day stuff and was about 1/3 the price of the fuji

Mostwanted

try here for more info:

http://www.consumerreports.org/main/...=1060171500824

Hoss

[quote author=DarrellB link=board=10;threadid=18032;start=0#msg168791 date=1060145995]
What's good and what's not?

I'm finally going to invest in a digital camera but I'm totally lost on what to buy. ??? I see them anywhere from $79 to $1,000. I know the more megapixels the better but what else do you look for? Are there any brands to stay away from?

Help a dumb country boy figure out what to do. ;D

DB
[/quote]

What I know from my recent research and purchase:

1. More megapixels is better (but that mainly applies if you want to make large prints).
2. Optical zoom is more important than digital zoom (6x optical is pretty good)
3. Make sure it has rechargeable batteries that can be recharged IN the camera.
4. Stick with name brands (if you can afford it) like Sony, Nikon, Kodak, Olympus, etc.
5. Find one that feels good in your hands (do NOT just buy one off of the internet somewhere without HOLDING it in your hands first...they're usually much smaller and cheaper feeling than they appear in the pictures).
6. Consider other accessories you may need/want (docking stations, photograph printers, etc) and whether they will work with the camera you're looking at.
7. More $$$ doesn't necessarily mean better camera.

For what it's worth...I did a lot of research and ended up buying a Sony DSC-S75. It's about a three year old model, but some places still sell it because it's such a great camera. I've been very happy with it and it takes great pictures. Easy to charge...easy to upload pictures....easy to use. It can be left as fully automatic or you can adjust everything yourself...depending on what you like. It also comes with a large GLASS Carl Zeiss (or whatever it's called) lens...which is a top of the line lens.

Hope this helps.

mra35

Another note: Once you decide on a model search the web for any problems related to the brand/model. I purchased a Nikon coolpix 4500 because it was perfect for what I wanted. On the third day of use the lense would not retract back into the camera. I looked on line and found that this is very common problem, and the fix would take up to 6 months. Needless to say the new Olympus C4000 works great, except it doesn't have rechargable batteries. This is a feature that I would recomend. With the 4 megapixel I can print an 8x10 photo on glossy photo paper that is suitable for hanging on the wall. Kinda nice.

hotdram

One thing that a big store (Circuit City, Best Buy etc.) will try to sell you is an extended warranty. I usually don't buy these things but did when we replaced our broken camera (had I bought the warranty the first time, I would not have had to purchase a second camera). Check to see what each warranty covers: the lens, any covers break off (some of these cams have a lot of ports for electrical connections that are covered with plastic covers), batteries, possibly a yearly cleaning of the lens etc. Ones that cover the batteries are worth it if the batteries are expensive. One good thing, if you purchase a 3 year warranty and it breaks 2.5 years down the road, (this is Best Buy's policy) they will usually replace it with something that is newer (hopefully more feature packed) because your model will probably no longer be available. Some will cover the camera even if you caused the damage (like dropping it).

Another decent place to get people's thoughts on stuff is:
http://www.epinions.com
My .02c

Mexstan

I use an Olympus C-720. It is a 3 megapixel camera. One reason I went with this model is that I can attach extra lenses such as wide angle. There are very few digital cameras out there that can accept add-on lenses. This is last years model and I think that there is a newer model out. It takes great pictures and I print them out on a HP Photosmart 1215. Also last years model. It is almost impossible to tell the difference between these pictures and those taken on an old fashioned film camera and processed in a lab.
I also bought the extra storage so can take a zillion pictures on high resolution without running out of 'film'. One thing to consider with digital cameras is battery life. Some brands are notorious for short battery life. The one is really good. Also take look at the type of batteries. If they are oddball batteries I would suggest you forget that camera. This one can use rechargeable AA batteries. A plus if you out in the middle of nowhere and the batteries run low. Just go and buy some regular AA's and you are back in business.
Only problem so far with this camera is that after we bought the camera we bought an extra wide lens and found out that it covers the flash. There is no hot shoe on this camera.
As mentioned previously, CNET is a great place to compare cameras. So are some of the larger newspapers that do comparison checks for their readers.