Digital Cameras

[HereComes30]

I have wanted to buy a digital camera for a long time now, but have been putting it off mostly because of the cost. I am really tempted to get one this weekend though before my trip next week.

Do you have one? Do you like it? What are recommendations on megapixels and brands and zoom size? Heard anything about Kodak, Olympus, Fuji, or Canons?

I will tell you that I have been leaning towards something with 10x zoom and 4 or 5 mp. I have heard that 4mp is really all anyone needs. Is this accurate? Can you see a difference between 4 and 5? Ideally I would like to get one with stabilization too which means I can use the full 10x zoom and still be crystal clear.

[wordsmith]

I have a Nikon D100 that I use for work (i.e. I didn't buy it) and it's my favorite camera ever. However, it's a $1,000 camera.

I have a Kodak DX 3900 that is more what you're probably looking for, and I've had good luck with it.

[Mad Dawg]

I have a Nikon CoolPix 5200. 5.1 megapixels, 3x optical zoom, rechargeable Li+ battery. I bought an extra battery for it and a 1 gigabyte SD card. It takes amazing images, and is small enough to take just about anywhere. It is the second Nikon CoolPix I've owned, and I have to say that I bought this one because I was so pleased with the first one.

Canon seems to make pretty good digital cameras as well. I have friends with them, and they've all been pleased. Olympus is good, too. I owned one of those before switching to Nikon. No real problems causing me to switch, I just liked Nikon's features better at the time. I would say avoid Sony since I've never known anyone to not have a problem. One girl's lense assembly actually fell out while she was playing with her zoom.

5.1 megapixels is probably all anyone will ever need except for the most serious and professional photographers. I know 7 megapixel cameras are all the rage these days in the consumer lines. 3x optical zoom is sort of an unwritten standard for consumer digital cameras, but you can get them with higher optical zoom. This means a physically larger camera you have to lug around, but even so they're not quite so large as the digital SLR cameras used by serious hobbyists and professionals.

[SmilesSoSweet]

I just bought an Olympus Camedia 5.0 megapixels a couple weeks ago. I waited for awhile because of the price, but I finally gave in and bought one at Best Buy with a Best Buy credit card - 18 months no interest. That was the only way I could get one. I also bought one that uses AA batteries instead of the rechargeable ones. I thought this option was a little better for me; that way I don't have to worry about always having to charge the battery or forgetting to charge it before I go somewhere. It's been great so far. I also don't be the really cheap batteries but the mid- to high-level ones. It works great!

[HereComes30]

I guess I am leaning toward something with a 10x because of the flexibility of being able to take pictures at sporting events, concerts, graduations, or whatever where you are not on top of the action.

I am back and forth on brands too looking at things like overall picture quality, size of zoom, price, battery length, type of battery, type of cards used (I think it is Olympus or Fuji that used xd cards which are pricier), and quality of the lense (which of course ties in closely with the picture quality).

I've read tons of reviews on cnet and best buy and circuit city, but they all start sounding the same after awhile.

[coll214]

I have a Minolta Dimage 6.0 megapixel with 4x zoom that I bought about 3 months ago only b/c they no longer carried the 5. It's an awesome camera though and the pics come out crystal clear- I've been using shutterfly to have them developed. And the camera really wasn't all the expensive... My photographer mother has the lesser model and initially recommended it to me. It uses a rechargable battery and the SD cards or a memory stick

[SmilesSoSweet]

The Olympus one I bought has a 12x zoom. The camera, 128 memory chip and warranty cost $324 out the door. I bought a really cheap but nice (on clearance plus a discount coupon) camera bag at an office supply store for it. There's room for the camera, cable, batteries and extra chips.

[Mad Dawg]

Here are some photos I've taken with my Nikon. They've been manipulated, but certainly not in any manner that would offer improvement over the originals (shrunk the images and cropped them to be a 16:9 aspect ratio).

Summit Of Mauna Kea (http://engr.smu.edu/~hicks/Images/oldandnewcontrast.hawaii.hi.us.2004.07.12.ed.jpg)

Sunset Over Hanalei Bay (http://engr.smu.edu/~hicks/Images/hanaleisunset.kauai.hi.us.2004.07.18.ed.jpg)

Akaka Falls (http://engr.smu.edu/~hicks/Images/akakafalls.hawaii.hi.us.2004.07.12.ed.jpg)

Sunrise In The Haleakala Crater Valley (http://engr.smu.edu/~hicks/Images/holuadawnscene1.haleakala.maui.hi.us.2004.07.07.ed .jpg)

Waves Battering The Shore (http://engr.smu.edu/~hicks/Images/southeasternshore.hawaii.hi.us.2004.07.13.ed.jpg)

[HereComes30]

12x zoom? Is that 3x optical and 4x digital? Or 12x optical? Do you know what model it is?

[HereComes30]

Awesome Mad Dawg...thanks for sharing!

I know Nikon has good lenses and their film cameras are some of the top made. Wasn't sure how their digital stacked up to the competition and so far I don't have one of their models in my top 4 picks.

[SmilesSoSweet]

12x zoom? Is that 3x optical and 4x digital? Or 12x optical? Do you know what model it is?

It's an Olympus Camedia here's the link from best buy:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7022447&type=product&productCategoryId=pcmcat44100050012&id=1099394287048

I haven't quite tested out my camera to its full potential yet. But I hope to soon. :)

[midtwenty]

We have a Sony. Steve is super-loyal to Sony products. It's over 3 years old, but man it takes good pics.

Whatever you get, I highly recommend getting a camera with the highest number of megapixels you can afford. It will make a huge difference in your picture quality.

[LakeJay]

Whatever you get, I highly recommend getting a camera with the highest number of megapixels you can afford. It will make a huge difference in your picture quality.

I would also add that you make sure you use maximum resolution especially if these are pictures you want to keep for a while. I know I would get shy about that because I wanted to take a lot of pictures and I worried that I wouldn't have enough memory on my memory stick (sony) or media card. If that's the case, get a storage with plenty of memory so you can just keep shooting without any worries. I definitely have a good number of pictures that could have looked much better when I printed them if I had shot them at a higher resolution.

[SunDevil]

I'm thinking about getting this camera to replace my 6 year old one.

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/specs/Panasonic/panasonic_dmclz2.asp

5MP, 6x optical zoom, $250. Meets my requirements.

[lostindc]

you might consider the canon powershot S2-IS (5 Megapixels 12x optical zoom, image stabilizer, rotating 1.8" lcd, $500)

[cheshrcarol]

Try this: http://www.igodigital.com/bestbuy/digitalcamera.asp

It has a bunch of options on the side that will help you figure out what you really need. If you don't feel like spending $500+ you'll probably want to decide what your priorities in terms of zoom and megapixels. More mp can't hurt, but if you're not blowing your pics up to over 8x10 all the time, you probably don't need 6 mp. I have a Fujifilm s3100, which works great for me, 6x optical, 3x digital zoom and 3.2mp, which gets me to somewhere between 5x7 and 8x10s.

[HereComes30]

SunDevil...I was talking to someone at Circuit City last night about the Panasonic cameras. I was like "come on...it is a panasonic" but he started telling me about the high quality parts in it especially the lens and about how long and what the process is to make the lense. Apparently the lense company, Leica, is also one of the top makers of lenses for film cameras. A good quality lenses can make a huge difference. And also I kind of like that Panasonic has a 12x zoom camera with image stabilization.

Midtwenty...the guy at Best Buy was drooling over the new Sony that came out. 12x zoom and 5 or 6 mp. Tons of bells and whistles. Just as a warning in case Steve sees it!

Lost in dc....I was drooling over the S2 last night! It is a SWEET loaded camera and you should see the pictures it takes! One of the guys at Circuit City last night was showing me pictures he took with it. WOW! The clarity, the colors, and on top of that...the zoom! He zoomed from their parking across a huge valley to another hill top where there are other stores and zoomed in with the optical and digital zoom and there was a clear picture of a woman with her little dog that I could barely see with the naked eye! You could almost read license plates!!

I am looking at like $250-300 especially since I figure I will need to buy $100-$150 in extras with the camera (256 or 518 memory card, extra battery, camera bag and you are already over $100). The S2 is a little out of my range I think but I would buy it in a heart beat if it were not. I think it one of the best cameras I have seen out there.

So I will likely either save up for the S2 or the Panasonic Lumix (lense blew me away and 5 mp 12x optical with image stabilizer) or get the Kodak DX6490 (great lense and 10X optical) or the Olympus C-765 (4mp, 10x optical zoom, 1.8" LCD, good quality pictures)

[Stormshadow]

Unless you're going to blow things up past an 8x10 picture, anything over 3 megapixels is a complete waste. I send pictures on the net all the time to my fishing website. Putting the resolution up increases the file size, and limits sharing. Anybody notice how hard it is to find a good camera under 4 megapixels? It's the companies' way of making MONEY.

[HereComes30]

I was tempted to buy the S1 last night. Exactly the same as its big brother the S2, but it is only a 3.2 MP instead of a 5 MP. I agree that people do not have any use for 7 or 8 but I want at least 4. Maybe you should look at the S1 Stormshadow...good pictures, high 10x optical zoom, crazy features, great design, 3.2 MP, and under $300!

Camera companies are doing the same thing computer companies did....bigger is better and sells. Like my mom and dad really need an 80GB hard drive!! But that is almost the norm now. I just wish the little memory cards for camera would come down some in price.

One of the reasons I am leaning toward the Olympus as well is that it uses xd cards. They are like $15 more in price than the SD cards, but they are supposedly faster and more reliable too.

[Stormshadow]

Actually I have a 4, and had trouble actually FINDING one.

[SunDevil]

I can definitly see a need for 12 MP cameras. It comes in handy if you are really far away from the action and need to crop your picture or use digital zoom to get closer. Also, if you take a lot of pictures of landscapes, skylines, trees, and a lot of other things where you need to get lots of detail from a distance, MP count. Optical zoom is more important than higher megapixels if you take pictures from far away. For people, 4-5 MP will work just fine. And your computer monitor can only display 1280x1024, 1024x768, or 1600x1200 pixels at a time, so sharpness is more important than MP count, and that is where good quality lenses, image-stabilization, and lighting come into play.

I think I am going to buy the Panasonic DMC-LZ2 camera, it is exactly what I am after. It's small, light, 5MP, 6x zoom, has image-stabilization. It might not be the best, but it is the best for me.

This page shows what image stabilization does:
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/panasoniclz2/page5.asp

[HereComes30]

Yeah....image stabilization can make a HUGE difference and is one of the reasons I am looking at some of the pricier cameras. Eventually it will be on all cameras.

[SunDevil]

I just bought that Panasonic DMC-LZ2 camera today, so I will know how good it is next week. Anything would be better than my 1MP, 2x zoom digital camera that I bought for the same price 6 years ago.

[joneshen]

I bought a refurbished Nikon Coolpix 4100, which according the people at Adorama (http://www.adorama.com) , is essentially similar to the new Coolpix 4600.

I really like it. I still am jonesing for a D70 though :)

Putting the resolution up increases the file size
Seriously. Whenever I open up any of my images in Photoshop, I don't realize how huge they are until I am about to save them. Then I have to resize them so I can send them by e-mail.

[Stormshadow]

bingo.








extra letters......

[Stormshadow]

Yeah....image stabilization can make a HUGE difference and is one of the reasons I am looking at some of the pricier cameras. Eventually it will be on all cameras.

If it's gonna be on all cameras, isn't it best to buy a cheaper model in the meantime?

[SunDevil]

If it's gonna be on all cameras, isn't it best to buy a cheaper model in the meantime?

My camera was $250. And I plan on having it for 6-10 years at least. The next camera I will get will probably be an SLR, so this camera will still be small and useful.