| Author | Message | ||
     Gomo |
I am planning on buying a better digital camera for myself and would appreciate any suggestions. this is a field I know nada about. What I am looking for is: -$400 spending cap -Easy to use - as in photos and computer use -Whatever info I need for a camera where I can enlarge the photos clearly -Perhaps a suggestion for a printer as well that makes good photos Thanks for any input | ||
| Cyclonemaniac |
I have a Sony Cybershot 7.2 mega pix that I really like. Takes great pics,(has a Zeiss lens), takes pretty decent video too. It's easy to use, and is compact.  | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
I was looking at one of these: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16830111159 Every time I have enough saved, I have to buy more stuff for my bike. My main concerns is shutter delay and power-on time. My friend has a nice camera but the delay of pushing the button and the shutter actually doing anything is about a second. | ||
| Ryker77 |
don't get a sony. they require sony only media sticks. get a camera that takes AA batteries. so that you have the option to buy new batteries at ANY local gas station. without batteries your screwed. Shutter delay-- the faster the higher the cost power on time-- don't get a camera with large optical zoom lens. takes some time to zoom out on power up. To save money- buy last years model off of ebay. Get a 4 or 5 megapixel. You also will need a larger memory card so budget in 50.00 for that. Printing--just download your pictures to walmart.com photo center. its too costly to buy a printer, ink, paper to print your own pics- ink and paper alone will cost upwards of .27 per page | ||
| Madsx |
Canon PowerShot A95 5mp under $300 takes good pix. Can use rechargeable AA's. Canon Pixma IP4000 is an inexpensive photo printer with good quality prints @ $100. | ||
| Reepicheep |
This is going to sound like I am nuts, but after finally getting to play with a Cannon Digital Rebel firsthand (arguably the best prosumer digital out there now), I really like my.... brace for it... 8 year old Nikon Coolpix 950. You can probably score one on ebay for $200 or less, and add a nikon wide angle adapter for another $75 or so, and get the equivelent of probably 25 or 28mm wide angle on traditional SLR's. Resolution is only 1200x1600, so get the shot right and don't depend on the crop, and you won't want to take it much over 8x10 enlargements. On the other hand, you can throw the thing in manual spotmeter mode and pre-focus (half press on shutter button) and get virtually lag-free pictures. It uses AA batteries, takes compact flash cards, and just works. The lower resolution means I can store like 250 good quality jpgs on a single 128m memory card. Higher resolutions cameras often simply give you more accurate digital representations of the distortion coming from your lens. The biggest weakness of the camera is the low light performance. It has no focus helper light, and gets a lot of pixel noise and distortion when pushed to ISO 800. At ISO 200 it looks great, ISO 400 is acceptable. To reproduce this setup in terms of wide angle effectiveness with the cannon would be $1500 or up, and be far less portable. It would look and work better, but not $1200 worth of better. For printers, I have an old Epson stylus 780 that was cheap and does a remarkably good job of printing pictures. The 5 color (or more) inkjets can do a better job on colored highlights then the 3 color printers (they can put down several pink dots instead of a single red dot for example). The difference is subtle, but once you know to look for it, it will drive you nuts when you see the 3 color distortion. For general (non sports) photo work, the wide angle lenses allow far more interesting photos. Because of the smaller image sensors, to get a Cannon (or other affordable) digital SLR to get shots like a traditional 28mm lens (the choice of serious photo journalists everywhere), you would need like a 14mm lens, which would be special purpose and fantastically expensive (I am assuming). | ||
| Bikertrash05 |
I love my Kodak Z7590. I don't agree with Ryker77, the 10x optical zoom is a nice feature. | ||
| Jackbequick |
The Canon Digital Rebel EOS 300D is up about $900 MSRP, best online prices are around $700. For about $750 on eBay I got a barely used one with two batteries and a BG-E1 battery grip. The batteries are good for up to 300 shots each, very reliable, and can offset the price of using AA's in the long. I went from a 1.4 megapixel camera (Sony DSC-D700) to a 6.3. The biggest gain was in speed of focusing and shooting (2.5 exposures per second, 4 exposure buffer) and in knowing exactly what points I was focusing on (LED "points" in viewfinder flash to show you where focus was taken from). I know that's over your target price but I think you'll find $400 cameras disappointing (especially on anything that is moving or needs some front or backlighting control) in the long run. I occasionally miss having a video viewfinder (the Rebel LCD is used for menus and playback, not for composing photos) but overall have no regrets with it. For a printer, I'm happy with the results I'm getting from a Epson R-200 I got at Sam's Club for $84. It uses 5 colors instead of 3, and I buy aftermarket (but as good as OEM) replacement cartridges for about $5 each as long as I buy 3 or more at a time. We always get compliments on the print quality when we send to folks. Jack | ||
| Wyckedflesh |
JBQ for the same as you listed my roomate got the EOS 350D which is the step up from the 300D. 300D's can be found in the $400-$500 market if you look around NIB. Reep, I could get more focus area out of my 300D and the stock 18-55mm lense with a screw on wideangle filter as your talking for alot less then $1200. Any of the screw on filters for the smaller digitals can be used with the DSLR's with the proper sized ring. Now having said that, I REALLY like the Fuji Finepix S3100 that I paid $219 for. It worked phenomally in Spain with no complaints. I can use the LCD or the standard view finder for extended battery life. 4mp is just enough for average photography and well, I can link you to some macro shots that would amaze you from a point and shoot camera. 512mg XD card is a bit on the expensive side, but I haven't filled it yet. On the lowest setting, thats almost 800+ pics and on the 4mg fine setting, that works out to 150 pics. I just wish it would shoot in RAW and the lowlight is not the best, it will however do very good lowlight shots if you have a tripod or monopod to steady it with. | ||
| Jackbequick |
Wycked - Thanks for the update, I bought mine a year ago and the prices on that stuff steadily dwindle. I don't remember a 350 model as being around when I got the 300. Maybe it was. But I think that 300 is a good camera for $400-500. And I knew when I bought it that the EF-S 18-55mm lens was not the greatest lens in the world. I think they made a sort of "cheapie" lens in order to boost sales on the digitals. I'd like to pick another lens eventually but am sort of agonizing over making the choice for the wider or longer end. The good quality ES-S lens cost about the same as the camera. Or more. Jack | ||
| Bustybuell |
Awesome and fits in your pocket Go Here http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7345679&type=product&productCatego ryId=pcmcat31000050010&id=1122652695786 Super pics | ||
| Bustybuell |
and the Printer http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=6357417&type=product&productCatego ryId=cat01018&id=1076628924281 the pics are as good as sending off my old 35 mm stuff to Kodak really! | ||
| Henrik |
Gomo; I'll seconde the Canon A95. Good lens and resolution. Pivot out screen and currently a good price. The newly announced versions upgraded version of the A95 is the A610 and A620. They have the new and much faster DigiC II processor and some other tweaks. http://www.dpreview.com/news/0508/05082202canona610a620.asp You will like the quicker reaction of the cameras with newer processors. I have a Nikon 990 that I've used for years and really like. These days however, I'll borrow Melissa's Canon SD300 - if she'll let me. Much better picture processing and *so* much faster. The A-cameras aren't tiny, but small enough to carry with you everywhere and have very decent specs for their price: http://www.dpreview.com/news/0508/05082202canona610a620.asp#specs The software Canon includes with their cameras is decent, but for more computer tweaking Adobe Elements is hard to beat. Henrik (edited for accuracy) (Message edited by Henrik on September 26, 2005) (Message edited by Henrik on September 26, 2005) | ||
| Oldguy |
Might want to look at the Olympus C-5500. Nice 5.1 megapixel camera with a 5X lens and uses AA batteries. Also has a focus assist for low light. I've been very happy with it after using several of the Canon A series cameras. (Happy with them also, but wanted the longer zoom.) The only downs for the Oly is the XD memory (little pricey and I had lots of Compact Flash cards) and the manual is only on CD. I'll fix the later by printing it out and binding it, but why should I have too. Figure out what features are important to you and look for the camera fills as many of your criteria as possible. What's perfect for me might be only okay for you or you might think it's a waste of money. A couple of good web sites are WWW.dcresource.com and www.steves-digicams.com. Happy hunting. Glenn | ||
| Reepicheep |
Mike, do the screw on adapters work OK with that high resolution sensor and full size lens? And does it loose light gathering capability? And I thought the stock lens was like 35 to 70mm... | ||
| Wyckedflesh |
18-55mm is the 'stock' kit lens that came with the 300D. Any of the screw on filters for the smaller point and shoots work the same on DSLRs. The trick is to find one of the expansion lenses in a close enough ring size as the lens on the DSLR. I used on loan a 55mm ring size wide angle using a 55-58mm stepper ring with the stock lens. It worked wonderfully with only a slight vignette effect at the longer distance, but when I spaced in a +1+2+3 macro set well heh...not bad for 5 feet away   | ||
| Buelluk |
I would second Cyclone's remark about Sony Cybershots , I have an older Cybershot and it is has all the same attributes he mentioned . As far as Ryker;s comment about Sony memory sticks...so what ..all cameras have some sort of proprietary memory card ..the Sony memory stick is no more of a limitation than any other card types. | ||
| Jackbequick |
The Sony stick memory costs about twice as much for a given size as CF or SD or XD, that's probably what Ryker was talking about. My older Sony DSC-D700 used anything. It had a PCMCIA slot, came with a PCMCIA to Sony Stick adapter, I bought another PCMCIA/CF adapter and used it mostly with CF cards. My Canon 300D is CF, now I have a CF/SD adapter and can use either. Jack |
