| Author | Message | ||
     Rageonthedl |
Im lookin to get the wife a small camera. anybody got one or know of a nice one thats no more than $200? | ||
| U4euh |
What type of photo's will she be taking? | ||
| Aptbldr |
My little Cannon "elf" was in that price range. It's been rugged, simple, and its battery life great. Suggestion: buy camera with both a genuine optical viewfinder AND the LCD display-back. | ||
| Etennuly |
The Nikon CoolpixL19 is a good beginner or utility camera. I believe it was around $130. It does good quality simplistic pictures. It has an actual zoom lens. When zoomed out it is difficult to hold it still enough to not blur the picture, and when zoomed in for real close ups you have to trick the lens to zoom as tight as you might want(good for down to a foot or so). Does easy and decent video with sound playback on it's 2x3 screen, and they play out well on the computer. Need to use the lithium ion batteries. They are good for about 500+ pics down loading about ten to twenty at a time. Regular batteries last about 180 pics. It is pretty conservative compared to the last one I had. Software is easy to load and use. | ||
| Rageonthedl |
i want something easy to use. good zoom. takes good pix. (i have seen some that are like 12mpix) and small so she can just keep it in her purse. | ||
| Slaughter |
Just got my Mom a Vivitar X327 at Wally World. http://www.walmart.com/ip/Vivitar-10.1-MP-X327/109 81659 Nothing really special about it but it is a "PHS" camera... Push Here Stupid. It can be set up pretty much to just point and shoot. One thing you should look for is a camera with OPTICAL zoom. This Vivitar has a 3x optical zoom. Digital zoom is just a way of cropping (zooming in) the digital image. Optical zoom is good, digital zoom is a "why bother" option in the camera. Don't worry about the software. ANY digital camera sold can just be hooked to the computer and the computer "sees" it as just another drive. She can do file movement and simple manipulations with Windows own image software. Sometimes it's just handy to take pics with the camera held vertically and rotating the image is probably 90% of the photo editing ever needed. Uses SD memory chip. Got Mom a 4GB chip for about $12 (hundreds of images at full resolution) Camera was less than $100 and can be carried in shirt pocket. ALL these digital things are battery hogs. You might consider one of the new Eveready or Duracell NIMH rechargable battery systems (I think about $15-$20 and the usual places) and keep a second set of batteries charged and ready (takes 3 AAA) The new rechargeables hold a charge nearly a year so you can charge up a few sets, take them with you. | ||
| Slaughter |
The optical view finder IS a good thing since those cameras can be used in bright sun when you CAN'T see the display. Also, IF you can disable the display, you can nearly triple the battery life. I went for cheap for Mom's Vivitar but the optical viewfinder would be way cool if you really USE the camera. | ||
| Babired |
The Panisonic Lumanix is a great camers with many features I've had this until I got the Cannon power shot SX20IS which is the hi end point and shoot with lots of zoom they have the same features but the zoom is more limited The panisonic is a good camera | ||
| Ratyson |
Rage, I am about to get my wife a camera for her birthday. If you are interested in a used camera, that works really well, our Kodak will be up for sale. PM me and I will get you some details if you are interested. | ||
| Mikef5000 |
I swear by the Canon Elph series. Look at the SD780, SD1100, and SD1200. Only disadvantage is they don't have great zoom. Either 3x or 4x optical. | ||
| Pkforbes87 |
I use a Sony Cybershot that I've had for the past 4 years. (DSC-W70) It's only a 7MP, but it's a waste to take pictures at max resolution anyway. It has 3x optical zoom, 7x digital zoom I think. Cost me $300 when I bought it, and it easily fits in my pants pocket or in my riding jacket. I'm sure there are better things available now for less money. A friend of mine bought a cybershot beginning of last year and it had smile recognition software. Push the button, and the camera would just sit dormant until someone smiled within view of the lens. Definitely not a necessity but that feature was fun to play with! | ||
| Reepicheep |
I have had a few generations of the Fuji point and shoots (the good ones, not the wal mart specials). I have owned a F10 and use an F31 FD now. Pros? Credible pictures at ASA 3200, meaning you can basically shoot in candle light (carefully). It sips batteries (300+ shots on one battery charge would not suprise me), boots fast, focus's fast, and recovers quick. Everything you want in a portable camera. Cons? Uses XD, which limits memory choices, and has some image artifacts (no worse then film grain) in the higher light sensitivty ranges. Crap. You had to make me look. Looks like they are up to the F200FD now... wow. I can feel the money burning a hole in my pocket already... http://www.amazon.com/Fujifilm-FinePix-F200EXR-Dig ital-Stabilized/dp/B001R23JMQ/ref=dp_ob_title_ce http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/fujifilmf200exr/ I think it's worth the extra money over a "plain" point and shoot. (Message edited by reepicheep on February 11, 2010) | ||
| Drkside79 |
i have a Nikon cool pix. its got 10mp and cost less than 100 dollars. Perfect for point and shoot photos | ||
| 99buellx1 |
I've had a Canon SD1100 and now an SD1200. Great little camera. Dead simple to use, my son was taking pics with it before he was 3. And then able to do the picture review and back to shooting. He took this one and was still 2 at the time:  I was out taking pics of him, and he decided he wanted to take one of me. I think he did a darn good job. I've also had a Canon G10, fantastic! And with the G11 out now used can be found for a pretty good deal. | ||
| Reepicheep |
Cool! I read the review in detail, and it says my F31FD is now "highly sought after", and does as good (if not better) in low light. (That being said, the F200 seems to have a wider angle lens, which I would like...) | ||
| Mnrider |
I've had a Olympus Stylus 850SW for over a year now. Very tough little camera,it says shockproof and waterproof on it. Great for outdoor use. | ||
| Sphere79 |
I vote the Canon Elph SD1200. I've used the Elph series since before digital camera's were the standard - every one has been great. You can get the current 10MP 1200 model for $150 at retail - my parents just got one. Works great with digiKam on their Linux computer, I told mom "toss the software disc, you don't need it". They keep making the LCD screen bigger, and they've even upped the battery life a bit. Lens optics have been improved as well. Image stabilization on the new models is also top-notch - plus they use the standard, cheap and available everywhere SD memory cards. Only 3x optical zoom (ignore digital zoom as you're better off cropping it after you take it anyway) but that's about normal for the price-range. | ||
| Rageonthedl |
thanks for all the info, i have some shopping to do. i will let you all know what one i go with and we use rechargable batt all ready for most everything. |
