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Need a decent camera under $200.

Dybbuk

Dybbuk

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Aug 8, 2006
976
35
Hi,

I need a camera that will take decent pictures and video. This is not for any sort of professional or high grade photography. My girlfriend has the Canon Powershot A460 and seems to like it. Any suggestions?
 
Deuz Augustine said:
Hi,

I need a camera that will take decent pictures and video. This is not for any sort of professional or high grade photography. My girlfriend has the Canon Powershot A460 and seems to like it. Any suggestions?
Click to expand...


If you like the A series of Canon's then go for an A series that has optical Image Stabilization, like the older A710is (cause you can do a firmware hack on the DigicII image processing engine, that gets you a live histogram & zebra highlight over-exposure warning from the more expensive G series cams, as well as support for taking RAW images...albeit slower than a dSLR), that has many manual controls available for you to use, should you ever decide to learn to use them for more creative control.
 
Butthead said:
If you like the A series of Canon's then go for an A series that has optical Image Stabilization, like the older A710is (cause you can do a firmware hack on the DigicII image processing engine, that gets you a live histogram & zebra highlight over-exposure warning from the more expensive G series cams, as well as support for taking RAW images...albeit slower than a dSLR), that has many manual controls available for you to use, should you ever decide to learn to use them for more creative control.
Click to expand...

I honestly don't understand a word you just said. :eek:
 
Butthead said:
If you like the A series of Canon's then go for an A series that has optical Image Stabilization, like the older A710is (cause you can do a firmware hack on the DigicII image processing engine, that gets you a live histogram & zebra highlight over-exposure warning from the more expensive G series cams, as well as support for taking RAW images...albeit slower than a dSLR), that has many manual controls available for you to use, should you ever decide to learn to use them for more creative control.
Click to expand...

That Canon does not record in MPEG4/DiVX/H.264, so you can't store much in a card.
It also doesn't optically zoom in movie mode.
 
I've been reading reviews of low-cost cameras and found two that seem very good: Canon Powershot A560 and Canon ixus 55. A camera shop tried to steer me instead to Nikon L12, which they thought was a better camera, but I decided against it because the between-shots delay is too long. However, it is a beautiful compact camera with many other features that are excellent.

I will keep watching this thread in hopes that others will have some good recommendations for entry level compact digital cameras for, preferably, less than $150. Any suggestions?
 
He killed the subject with the video requirements. It's not a generic inexpensive camera thread.
 
I've read a lot of reviews on budget compact cameras and I finally settled on a Canon A570 IS. It has a lot going for it: Digit III, image stabilization, optical viewfinder, AA batteries (preferred due to availability of batteries and other reasons), SDHC memory card compatability, comparably fast shot-to-shot speed, and high quality images. PADI, the well know SCUBA divers organization, recommended this camera to its members because it handles very well and takes great pictures underwater. It was also highly recommended by a reviewer with dpreview.com (the review goes into great detail on the camera's functionality and compares it to a few other very popular cameras). The camera also has a great ergonomic feel and balance, much better than the ultra slim and sub-compact cameras like the Canon SD1000. Just purchased it from Amazon for a great marked down price of $159, and it comes with a free 2GB SD card. Great value for the price. Good luck hunting (which is half the fun anyway).
 
Olympus

Olympus has good cameras for right around $200. The FE series looks good. The FE-290 in particular,note the Avi movie format. Also the Stylus 780 looks good, though more expensive. The Fe-290 is on sale at Circuitcity right now for $209.
I have had the C7000 zoom and loved it. The resolution was great, but was difficult to get sharp shots. I now have the SP-550UZ. the day I got it , I got exactly what I wanted, A worthy upgrade from the c7000. the macro modes in the Olympus cameras are amazing, and with the new image stabalizing tech shapness has improved in all shooting modes. The zoom is decent, and the Video is Good at max settings. I think the Xd Mem cards are good too.
 
cube said:
He killed the subject with the video requirements. It's not a generic inexpensive camera thread.
Click to expand...

Is it so? I've seen many cameras that can take legible video. I am not needed anything even remotely approaching high quality. We're talking Youtube here.
 
Deuz Augustine said:
Is it so? I've seen many cameras that can take legible video. I am not needed anything even remotely approaching high quality. We're talking Youtube here.
Click to expand...

I am not talking about video quality. I'm saying most digicam do not allow you to zoom while recording video, and of those there's very few that record in MPEG-4 so that one can capture more than 8 minutes per GB, as in Canon's M-JPEG. Then it has to take good still pictures. It's too tough a requirements set.

There are Casio's that allow this zooming and record to MPEG-4. Just be happy with whatever still quality those tiny sensors can provide.
 
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