Digital Camera

[SpinnerBait_Nut]

OK all, am in the market for a digital camera and would like everyone's input on the one's they like, don't like etc.<br /><br />Thanks and happy holidays.

 

[one more cast]

Re: Digital Camera

I have a old hp and it works great but my daughter kind of took it over so I've been reading a bunch of reviews and for the $200 class the canon's rate real high.

 

[FLATHEAD]

Re: Digital Camera

Spinner I have a Nikon cool pix 775 and I really like it. It has lots of nice features but not so many you get confused. It is compact and easy to take along where ever you go. It goes fishin with me every time out. It takes a really nice photo too. I've had it for a year now and no problems yet.

 

[JasonJ]

Re: Digital Camera

I have a three year old Sony Cybershot 2.1 megapixel. I paid over $700 for it at the time, now 2.1 mp cameras are fairly cheap. The one difference is that My Sony has a lot more features, takes dramatically better pictures than a current 2.1, and most importantly, comes with its own rechargable battery that lasts way longer than the 4 AAs that a lot of digitals need. I tried a few different cameras before getting the Sony, you definately get what you pay for with digitals. Most higher priced digitals work good, the less expensive ones can leave a bit to be desired, but that all depends on what you expect from it. The pictures I post on this site are actually at the lowest resolution the camera has, for the sake of file size.

 

[SpinnerBait_Nut]

Re: Digital Camera

Dang Jason, I just want to take pictures, not marry it. <br /><br />I guess they are just like everything else, you get what you pay for.

 

[tylerin]

Re: Digital Camera

Spinner, you're looking for the most pixels you can afford. I don't know anthing about them but I just asked my wife and thats what she said. She said 3.2 pixels or more is good.

 

[roscoe]

Re: Digital Camera

2-3 megapixels is fine for general use.<br />4,5,or 6 if you plan on making prints larger than 8x10.<br /><br />Ease of use is key.<br />Check for ease in turning on and operation in low light situations. Many have non lighted screens that are useless in dim lighting situations.<br /><br />ZOOM comes in 2 forms. First and most important is the optical zoom, done with lenses, 2x, 3x, up to 10x. Then comes the digital zoom, done electronically. <br /><br />I'll take more optical zoom, over more pixels, anyday.

 

[Boomyal]

Re: Digital Camera

I think that cameras that use AA or Rechargeable AA's give you a lot better legs per recharge/replacement. Also your cheapest memory is Compact Flash.

 

[SeaMasterZ@aol.com]

Re: Digital Camera

the pictures I take are on a Kodak, unless its on the phone camera, those are usually accompanied by " sorry for the quality of the shot, its a phone camera"<br /><br />damm thing messed up a picture I took of a girl in my class I really enjoyed looking at, got her to pose with her Ryu rug and all, ah well, Ill BRING THE GOOD CAMERA NEXT TIME<br /><br />mine is a 4200, has only digital zoom, they have a new one out, the 4350 I believe, 3 x optical zoom, 4 or 6 x digital zoom, for 150 bucks ... what the 4200 cost LAST christmas, eh, I wanted it NOW, so ... the sony cybershot does a great job too, a bit more bucks but tis the season to be dealing, lol<br /><br />the one I really like now is a totally cool fuji finepix s5000<br /><br />

<br /><br />its got a 10x optical zoom, holds four AA batts, and can take movies if you have the memory<br /><br />and it looks awesome<br /><br />downside<br /><br />cant fit in a pocket<br /><br />its 350 at wally world, can get it cheaper on the net

 

[backdraft]

Re: Digital Camera

spinner nut, I have a gateway with 4 megapixels. First one i've owned. It went on sale this week for 199 bucks. Nice camera. It also takes four double A batteries. Easy to obtain That's where the companies make their money, selling batteries, especially exotic batteries. nevjb

 

[backdraft]

Re: Digital Camera

Make that spinner bait nut. sorry

 

[Xcusme]

Re: Digital Camera

SBN,<br />I've been playing with the digital camera thing for a few years now. I've owned a Sony Mavica, Nikon 800 and currently use a Nikon 950. It uses AA batts and CF memory. It's a 2 mega-pixel camera, but the thing I like the best about it is the Macro quality. Being able to take really close-up shots is important to me. I shot thousands of pics with this camera and it q quality camera for sure.<br /><br />If you're interested in seeing some close shots, look at these threads.<br /><br /> http://www.nerd-out.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=27361 <br /> http://www.nerd-out.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=28293

 

[bubbakat]

Re: Digital Camera

SBN I use a pdc 640 by Polaroid and have had good luck with it but from the shots xcusme is showing here I am most cerently going to ck out that Nikon 950

 

[aspeck]

Re: Digital Camera

I like the Sony Mavica FD95. Has a lot of neat features, battery lasts a long time, takes great pictures, and captures them on 3 1/2 floppies. No need for any adapters. Also have an Olympus that takes great pic. Both cost me about $300 at www.ubid.com - refurbished units.

 

[JasonJ]

Re: Digital Camera

I do like the macro on my cybershot. I can hold it an inch from something and it will take a great pic, and it takes good distance shots as well. It also has the lcd screen on a hinged pivot so I can take a picture of myself if I wanted to and see that I am actually in the screen. As for the battery, it last 240 minutes on a charge, which means with average use, I probably recharge it one every other month. Also, I can just plug the charger wire into the camera, it charges and shuts off when fully charged, no fuss or bother. It uses the different memory sticks, and does do movies with sound, but you need a big memory stick for that. It has the seven X zoom, I forget how much is lens and how much is digital. The current cybershots in the same megapixel sucks in comparison, for some reason.<br /><br />I tried a Mavica, I thought the floppy disc thing would be cool, but I wasn't happy with it, so I got the cybershot. As for ease of use, it is a bit complicated, I still havn't figured out the five billion different settings it has, but as long as I can takes pics of boats I am happy. My boss has a Nikon coolpix, and that is a good camera, but he paid about a grand for it.<br /><br />The saddest thing of all is that I paid over $700 for it, and now they are on Ebay for $200 or less. Thats a great deal, it smokes any new digital you can get in that price range. Look for Sony Cybershot DSC-S50...

 

[SpinnerBait_Nut]

Re: Digital Camera

Thanks guys for the input.<br />I am watching a Sony now that is $85.

 

[Snailman]

Re: Digital Camera

Hey SBN,<br /><br />Just thought I'd throw my 2¢ in here....<br /><br />The number of pixels is important. As posted before 3.2 and more is usually more than enough for your average point and shoot type shots.<br /><br />Zoom is very nice to have but only if it's OPTICAL zoom. Look for the highest optical zoom number you can afford and disregard digital zoom altogether. It is meaningless.<br /><br />Now for the thing that no one here has mentioned. OPTICS. The quality of the lenses is important. Some of your cheaper, no-name brands have substandard optics. You'll never go wrong with a name brand like Nikon, Olympus, Fuji, Cannon etc... They use the best optics. Watch out for names like Samsung or others that you might associate with great computers but not cameras. Their electronics might be find but if you don't normally associate the name with quality camera optics you might want to stay away.<br /><br />The photos on my page were mostly shot with my Olympus D-550 Zoom. The ones that were shot with a 35mm camera and scanned on my scanner with crummy optics are obvious. <br /><br />Just my 2¢

 

[ndemge]

Re: Digital Camera

Just got the Cannon Powershot A300 here at work, nice little camera, $200 on sale. Comes with 16meg of memory, bought the 128meg stick. Takes video's with audio, 3.2 megpix... I took a bout 15 minutes of playing with it to figure out how everything works on it, so not too over complicated all in all, I'm happy with it so far.

 

[JasonJ]

Re: Digital Camera

Snailman is right about the lenses. I never bother with the digital portion of optical/digital zoom, especially if I am moving or the object I am photographing is moving. I usually try not to even use zoom at all. (By the way, my little ol' Sony has far better optics than the current Sony equivelant). The pixels are important if you plan to actually print your pics out on paper, and then the camera is only half the equation. You have have a kickin' camera, but if you don't have a good quality printer and good photo paper, don't bother. If you, like me, don't print out the pics, then all those megapixels are useless. You can take that big ol' 5 megapixel picture, but then if you want to post it on the internet or send it as a file, the file size is huge. You can compress it, or resize it, but then you are back to square one, and you have added a ton of steps to a process that is supposed to be fun. Also, resizing and compressing a large picture can degrade the picture quality, so then you spend more time with a program like Photoshop. I don't recommend Photoshop, it imbeds hidden markers in the file that increases file size and is not as user friendly as a program I like, Paint Shop Pro 8.0. PSP is less expensive, and works far better that Photoshop.<br /><br /> Like I said before, mine is only 2.1 mp, but I never take pictures at that size. I keep the camera set at 640x480, since most internet activity can handle that file size. If you have ever seen the guys who post those huge pics, it is because they had the camera set at a higher pixel rate and did not resize the pic. Those are frustrating because it takes four years for the pic to come up when you click on the post. I don't want to start a big debate over mega this and how to take digital that, I am just saying that you should ask yourself what you will really use the camera for, look for the features that you want, and buy what you can afford. Good luck...

 

[LubeDude]

Re: Digital Camera

OK SBC, I just changed my handle to CameraDude! You have some great advice here, but here is the skinny!!!<br /><br />You will get great results with a 2,1 camera! If you are into photografy at ALL, you will enjoy being able to blow up a picture to 8X10! There for 3.5 or higher is good! I have 3.4 in a Toshiba Camera I use, (Not recomended) Toshiba that is! I almost never have it set that high!<br /><br />You want at least 3X Manual Zoom, forget the digital zoom!<br /><br />Using AA Bateries is good, you can buy rechargable ones cheeply, (Thats good) And get at least three sets! They will last a long time!<br /><br />Also you need to think about your computer, You will need more memory, and a larger hard drive and lots of free space!<br /><br />Oh, Forget just spendin less than $100.00 on a digital camera, I think you need to step up to at least $150-200.00!! <br /><br />Digital Camera 101!!<br /><br />CameraDude