I am tired of borrowing peoples digital cameras to take pictures. I'm looking into getting a good entry-level digital camera. Something I can use for anything but thats also compatible with putting pics on my PC. Keep in mind I know very little about digital cameras. What advice can you guys give me. I'm am by no means a professional photographer but I want something of slightly better than average quality but nothin' too fancy (i.e. expensive) or fragile.
Canon has the best quality for dollar, in my opinion, Minolta is quite good as well. (just happen to be my favorite camera manufactureres, so there may be bias there)
Take a look here. http://dpreview.com/
Every camera you could imagine is reviewed and compared there.
Just above entry level? That's around 5.x MP these days. Look for as high an optical zoom as possible, and ignore digital zoom, as that's absolutely useless. You can do the same kind of zoom in MS paint.
Bestbuy has DC's divided into:
2.0-3.9MP (http://"http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp;jsessionid=LXMDYHFL3UXG5KC4D3JVAGI?id=pcmcat44100050009&type=category&_DARGS=/site/en_US/catalog/fragments/product/olslinelistingsortfilter.jsp")
4.0-4.9MP (http://"http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp;jsessionid=LXMDYHFL3UXG5KC4D3JVAGI?id=pcmcat44100050010&type=category&_DARGS=/site/en_US/catalog/fragments/product/olslinelistingsortfilter.jsp")
5.0-5.9MP (http://"http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp;jsessionid=LXMDYHFL3UXG5KC4D3JVAGI?id=pcmcat44100050011&type=category&_DARGS=/site/en_US/catalog/fragments/product/olslinelistingsortfilter.jsp")
They have 6.0-7.9, and 8.0+ categories as well, but those are much more than you'll need. Anyway, when you find a few cameras you like the price of, use this side by side comparo (http://"http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/sidebyside.asp") to make a final choice. :)
I would agree with the cannon, if you dont like it though Kodak easyshare is really simple to use and x-fer pictures with.
i like every cannon ive ever used i reasently used a HP however and it wasnt too bad i m also kinda looking for one too looked at wally world last night they have a 4 mpixel cannon for round $130 not a bad lil cam for genral use bad thing is they like to eat up the batteries if you have the lil lcd screen on all the time
I have a SONY cybershot t-1 5 megampixel. It's the size of a credit card and fits nicely in your pocket with it's case. It's rather heavy so it's durable. The LCD screen in the back is wonderful.
The camera is about 2 years old. But using the same technology as sony is now. The camera is the same size as the new cybershots but just minus the slimmer more fragile structure.
Steve does that have Digital or Optical Zoom ?
I am rather fond of my Fuji S7000.
6.3Mpixel & shoots 648x480x30 fps video.
Thanks for the input guys. Seems everyone has something different. I plan to go shopping tonight to see whats out there. Researching it on the net seems to be a good way to find the right one. So how durable are digital cameras as far as extremes of heat and cold? Like if you leave it in your car in the hot summer or cold of winter?
I couldn't tell you, but Michael Carr (http://"http://cameras.about.com/od/cameratips/a/protect.htm") can. :hick:
I have two digitals now, for different uses. Minolta Dimage E323 3.1Mp for point and shoot/family pics.
(http://www.ebestdeal4u.com/pictures/Minolta_E323/image08.jpg)
My Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT 8.2Mp SLR is for photography. I've only had it since October, so it's still a bit of a toy.
(http://www.pleer.ru/i/p/6435/6435.jpg)
lcd screen = bad in hot or cold, so you will always want to make sure it isn't out in the extremes too much.
(you wouldn't want to do that with film either)
just remember "liquid" crystal, so boiling and freezing are bad.
can i have your camera? :D
iv wanted one sence the digital rebels came out, but its eather one of them, or a set of sweet heads for my car lol.
Sure you can. Easy trade. My camera for only 1400 one dollar bills. :tg:
The Rebel replaced my Minolta XG-9 35mm SLR (my third 70's XG body). I do miss the film sometimes, but I miss the 80-200 zoom, 1:28 wide angle fixed, and macro zoom lens most. I got so used to playing with all those lenses, having just the one (admittedly very high quality) stock zoom is a bit restricting. I'll get another 35mm someday, and it will likely be a Minolta Maxxum.
(http://www.rokkorfiles.com/photos/XG9.jpg)
Personally I like my HP. It works great for what I use it for and its $150 at Walmart, Radioshack, etc.
Something no one mentioned is batteries. Most of these cameras do like to eat batteries, so buy something with a common "AA" that you can replace with rechargeable. Proprietory batteries eventually wear out, and are expensive to replace.
That's one big reason I got the Fuji. I got good rechargable AA's in there now - very convienient.
My spider pic with my S7000 :D
(http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e360/Domeskull/b5278e5b.jpg)
Most of the smaller point and shoot digitals are AA now anyway. It's usually only the bigger pro digitals you see with dedicated battery packs. My Li-Ion charges fully in a little over an hour, and lasts for a couple of months. Still, that's fairly new. I hope I don't have to buy a backup, because Li-Ion packs are quite pricy.
If you are not interested in rechargables, the Energizer E2's are absolutely incredible for digital cameras. Lots of experience with them...they can last 6 months or more depending on usage and flash.
Another tip: find a camera that uses a standard picture card. I bought an Olympus D-500 a few years ago and it uses a very small, -near proprietary xD picure card that is the successor to a SmartMedia card. Very difficult to find a card reader for it...actually I now just plug it into the computer to download the photos because it's quicker and greatly reduces the chances of screwing up the transfer. But just FYI...a Compact Flash or SmartMedia card is about the standard.
Last...http://www.dealcam.com for decent deals on cameras. You can compare from lots of different vendors there, once you settle on a model. That's how I got my camera.