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katie ta achoo

Blogger emeritus
May 2, 2005
9,166
5
What do you need it to do?
Some expectations would be helpful..

you can get about 55 disposable cameras for $500, for example.

Any specifics?
 

cr2sh

macrumors 68030
May 28, 2002
2,554
3
downtown
The canon sd-series provides a nice selection of quality, compact point and shoot cameras. I just purchased the sd300 ( a 4megapixel), the sd400 is a slightly lower quality 5MP and the sd500 is a brand new 7 megapixel. The range in price from $250 - $450-ish.

Rechargable battery, good image quality... small. Nice cameras.
 

amin

macrumors 6502a
Aug 17, 2003
977
9
Boston, MA
cr2sh said:
The canon sd-series provides a nice selection of quality, compact point and shoot cameras. I just purchased the sd300 ( a 4megapixel), the sd400 is a slightly lower quality 5MP and the sd500 is a brand new 7 megapixel. The range in price from $250 - $450-ish.

Rechargable battery, good image quality... small. Nice cameras.

I agree that the SD series is a good choice. I have an SD400. The major downside is the lack of manual control, even in the new SD550. If you are willing to carry a larger camera that will fit in your jacket pocket. not your pants pocket, you can do better than the SD series for the same money. The Canon Powershot S2, Panazonic DMC-F30, and its little brother the DMC-FZ5 are all good choices for all-around performing "super-zooms." If you don't need the superzoom or very fast focus, I think the Canon Powershot G6 produces extremely high-quality photos. The Poweshot S70 does as well and is more pocketable, though still a brick compared to the SD series. I found the Sony DSC V3 to compare well to the G6 with somewhat better performance. The Sony P series is also a good comparison to the Canon SD. Nikons are of course highly rated, but I have no experience with them. I have pretty much stayed with Canon stuff.
 

SuperSnake2012

macrumors 6502a
Oct 11, 2005
824
19
NY
I also have the SD300 and it takes excellent shots. I forget the exact res but the pictures come out over 2200 x 1700. Something like that. :confused:
 

Must.Get.nano!

macrumors regular
Original poster
Sep 12, 2005
118
0
katie ta achoo said:
What do you need it to do?
Some expectations would be helpful..

you can get about 55 disposable cameras for $500, for example.

Any specifics?

Im basically just gettin a camera to take pics of Vacations/at parties... ETC. ETC.

I found a nice one (Nikon Coolpix S3) that i liked that was about 500$ish.
Any thoughts on it?
 

puckhead193

macrumors G3
May 25, 2004
9,578
862
NY
i like nikon cameras i have the 8800 way out of your price range but i'm happy with nikon, but the SD series is nice too, i think u should go to a camera store and play with them yourself
 

EricNau

Moderator emeritus
Apr 27, 2005
10,730
287
San Francisco, CA
ipacmm said:
I would check out Sony cameras, They are great cameras and take really good pictures.
I agree. I have a Sony 5 MegaPixel camera with 3x Optical zoom, it cost $300. Takes some of the best pictures I have ever seen. A nice thing about Sony is that they make the cameras and the memory cards that go with them.
I would NEVER buy another Olympus again - I was on vacation in Canada, my camera froze (which it claimed was normal), when this happened the instructions said just to remove the batteries, and then everything will be fine. Once I put them back in, and turned it on, it said there was an error on my card :eek: . I took it to a camera shop, but they couldn't help, all of my pictures were lost. :( What really kills me is that I spent extra for the memory card made by Olympus, and thats what broke!

Things to consider when buying a digital camera (I'm assuming you want digital)...
*Quality
*Optical (NOT DIGITAL) zoom
*Can it take video clips? With sound? Does the camera limit the time? (It should let you fill up your entire memory card with one video clip).
*check out the memory card prices
*check to see if the camera remembers the date after changing batteries (may seem stupid, but can be very confusing if it doesn't)
*The batteries it uses
 

Chip NoVaMac

macrumors G3
Dec 25, 2003
8,888
31
Northern Virginia
The Sd series are really great small cameras. The SD200 and SD300 are on its way out, and the SD400 will be the new entry level SD series camera in a couple or so weeks. The price of the SD400 will be $299.
 

cr2sh

macrumors 68030
May 28, 2002
2,554
3
downtown
Chip NoVaMac said:
The Sd series are really great small cameras. The SD200 and SD300 are on its way out, and the SD400 will be the new entry level SD series camera in a couple or so weeks. The price of the SD400 will be $299.

The image quality of the SD400 is just slightly better than that of an SD300... and the price of 300 is in the neighborhood of $100 less. In my mind, I'm only going to get so much out of a small point and shoot... spending more for 5megapixels didn't make sense. That said, the camera was taken mostly for around the house snapshots, I'm hoping to see a G7 announcement sometime soon. :p


Whyren said:
Canon S2 IS

For me, a chargeable lithium ion battery is important. I don't want to be buying double A's, or having to recharge A's... or any of that junk. Those batteries don't hold a long charge and they're expensive... it seems like a hassle to me, so I wouldn't buy one.

The battery on my SD300 lasts a week or so.. that's taking a few pictures a day. I'm not sure you get that kind of longevity from double A's.
 

rickvanr

macrumors 68040
Apr 10, 2002
3,259
13
Brockville
The Kodak DX series. I have a DX6490 and it's fantastic. It's nearly 2 years old, still works fine, holds a charge very well. It's also well equipped with a 10x optical zoom, and 4MP. It has lots of different options, and has lots of manual adjustments can be made. No where near an SLR, but it's close. My dad's friend who is a photographer also has the same camera, and has only praised it to me, even after getting a high end DSLR he still says good things about the Kodak.
 

Whyren

macrumors 6502a
cr2sh said:
For me, a chargeable lithium ion battery is important. I don't want to be buying double A's, or having to recharge A's... or any of that junk. Those batteries don't hold a long charge and they're expensive... it seems like a hassle to me, so I wouldn't buy one.

The battery on my SD300 lasts a week or so.. that's taking a few pictures a day. I'm not sure you get that kind of longevity from double A's.

It really depends on the brand and how old they are...I've had double As last for a few weeks, but then once as short as 12 hours (same usage, just old batteries). The advantage in the these though is that almost anywhere you can get batteries for the camera, whereas you might not be able to charge a LiIon battery and replacing it when it (eventually) gets old may be trickier. It all depends on what you're looking for though. I agree, the double As are somewhat of a cost and do make a camera bulkier.
 

Chip NoVaMac

macrumors G3
Dec 25, 2003
8,888
31
Northern Virginia
cr2sh said:
The image quality of the SD400 is just slightly better than that of an SD300... and the price of 300 is in the neighborhood of $100 less. In my mind, I'm only going to get so much out of a small point and shoot... spending more for 5megapixels didn't make sense. That said, the camera was taken mostly for around the house snapshots, I'm hoping to see a G7 announcement sometime soon. :p

First, I only quote MAP prices. You may find lower on the web, but one has to think about before and after sale support (yes, even on a lower end camera like the SD's).

You have good points about MP's. Unless you are doing larger 8x10's or better, more MP's will only give you the ability to do more cropping. I mentioned the SD400, since Canon is dropping the SD200 and SD300 relying on the A series for the lower end.

If one can wait a few weeks, one might get free memory cards and/or Gift Cards from the traditional camera stores and such.

For me, a chargeable lithium ion battery is important. I don't want to be buying double A's, or having to recharge A's... or any of that junk. Those batteries don't hold a long charge and they're expensive... it seems like a hassle to me, so I wouldn't buy one.

The battery on my SD300 lasts a week or so.. that's taking a few pictures a day. I'm not sure you get that kind of longevity from double A's.

Recharging batteries, is recharging batteries in either case IMO. With rechargeable AA's my customers are reporting 300+ shots on a charged set with the S2IS. For some the comfort of knowing that if their rechargeable AA's die while out and about, they have the option of buying easy to find AA's.
 

cr2sh

macrumors 68030
May 28, 2002
2,554
3
downtown
Chip NoVaMac said:
First, I only quote MAP prices. You may find lower on the web, but one has to think about before and after sale support (yes, even on a lower end camera like the SD's).

You have good points about MP's. Unless you are doing larger 8x10's or better, more MP's will only give you the ability to do more cropping. I mentioned the SD400, since Canon is dropping the SD200 and SD300 relying on the A series for the lower end.

If one can wait a few weeks, one might get free memory cards and/or Gift Cards from the traditional camera stores and such.



Recharging batteries, is recharging batteries in either case IMO. With rechargeable AA's my customers are reporting 300+ shots on a charged set with the S2IS. For some the comfort of knowing that if their rechargeable AA's die while out and about, they have the option of buying easy to find AA's.

All very good points.

The S2 IS is not a bad choice, it certainly does produce high quality images.
 

Must.Get.nano!

macrumors regular
Original poster
Sep 12, 2005
118
0
I also liked the Fujifilm Finepix Z2
-anythin i should kno about it?

-Thanks for the help so far guys:)
 

Must.Get.nano!

macrumors regular
Original poster
Sep 12, 2005
118
0
Guys, i cant find a precise price for the Fujifilm FinePix S3100 in canadian$ ?

any help (links)?

THANKS FOR ALL THE GR8 HELP SO FAR:)
 

James Philp

macrumors 65816
Mar 5, 2005
1,493
0
Oxford/London
Agh, I'm tired of all these camera threads but here goes...
1) Go to a camera shop and actually hold and use the cameras you're looking at buying. This will really help you decide. The "feel" of a camera, and how it works and how the menus suit you (or not) and where the buttons are, how it feels in your hand are all more important than feature lists you can read from hours on the net, or arguments on forums about which camera is the better one. It doesn't matter what the features are if it takes ages to get to them or the menu is unintuitive or you simply got the camera through the post and it wasn't quite how you hoped and so you don't really use it that much!
2) Buy from a camera manufacturer (as opposed to an electronics manufacturer in on the digital camera market). This is because optics are not just important in cameras, they're crucial. Canon, Nikon, Olympus etc.
3) Think about the media format. If you have, or are thinking of having any other devices that take a certain media type, you may want to get a camera with the same. - I sure wished I had a Memory Stick Duo camera when I bought my PSP!!

So get down that shop - even if you don't intend to buy! It's seriously the quickest, easiest, most natural and most valuable way of shortlisting or even deciding upon a camera. The internet's great for stuff like DVDs etc, but when it's something you will use a lot and hold in your hand, and have to operate and live with you'll want to try it out in person first.

Good hunting!
 

ZoomZoomZoom

macrumors 6502a
May 2, 2005
767
0
Must.Get.nano! said:
I need help buying a new camera.

My price range is 0$-500$

Seriously, did you even search "digital camera" on the forums?

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/157305/

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/153024/

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/152578/

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/152358/

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/149765/

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/149761/


There's a couple dozen more threads about digital cameras, some going into more details. Seriously, this one's not something you would have trouble digging for. Search term = "digital camera"
 

EricNau

Moderator emeritus
Apr 27, 2005
10,730
287
San Francisco, CA
James Philp said:
Agh, I'm tired of all these camera threads but here goes...
1) Go to a camera shop and actually hold and use the cameras you're looking at buying. This will really help you decide. The "feel" of a camera, and how it works and how the menus suit you (or not) and where the buttons are, how it feels in your hand are all more important than feature lists you can read from hours on the net, or arguments on forums about which camera is the better one. It doesn't matter what the features are if it takes ages to get to them or the menu is unintuitive or you simply got the camera through the post and it wasn't quite how you hoped and so you don't really use it that much!
2) Buy from a camera manufacturer (as opposed to an electronics manufacturer in on the digital camera market). This is because optics are not just important in cameras, they're crucial. Canon, Nikon, Olympus etc.
3) Think about the media format. If you have, or are thinking of having any other devices that take a certain media type, you may want to get a camera with the same. - I sure wished I had a Memory Stick Duo camera when I bought my PSP!!

So get down that shop - even if you don't intend to buy! It's seriously the quickest, easiest, most natural and most valuable way of shortlisting or even deciding upon a camera. The internet's great for stuff like DVDs etc, but when it's something you will use a lot and hold in your hand, and have to operate and live with you'll want to try it out in person first.

Good hunting!
I disagree somewhat. Digital cameras are very much electronics, and an electronics brand such as Sony make great digital cameras. Usually a brand like this will get their "optics" from another company (ie: Sony uses Carl Zeiss).
And on the other hand, the two digital cameras I have owned made by "camera" brands (Vivitar & Olympus) were awful, because the electronics just didn't cut it (ie: Olympus claimed it was 'normal' for their cameras to freeze, one time when it did I lost all of my pictures).
I love my Sony Camera - never freezes and the pictures are the best out of all of the cameras I have owned. (compared to those "camera" brands)
 
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