How to buy a cool digital camera??

[JennyRocks]

I want it to be tiny, but have lots of functions, and be sleek and cool looking. Price isnt really a problem

 

[TirelessTongue]

Optical zoom........... thats really the most important thing to consider when purchasing a digital camera. The more zoom, the more useful it is.

 

[stingray61]

Go to your local camera store or circut city or some other likely store and get the cam with the most megapixels. Most any top of the line cam will do and if you aren't satisfied make sure you can return it. Also do a google for digital camera reviews.

 

[Metrodance]

I suggest you list the main functions you want and then stick to them. Think pixels, zoom and size. You want it small enough to be able to take with you but not too small so you can’t use it.

 

[Dstorage]

Jenny,

You want a Canon Elph S400. My only gripe is that my fingers have trouble using the zoom in the winter when they get cold. It is rather tiny, 3X2X1 more or less, has a bunch of features if you're into that sort of thing which it sounds like you are. A really cool one is you can do super long exposures at night, amazing what shows up.

At any rate, check it out.

 

[Weird Harold]

Jenny,

You want a Canon Elph S400. My only gripe is that my fingers have trouble using the zoom in the winter when they get cold. It is rather tiny, 3X2X1 more or less,

The Elph series does fit her decription, but I've always foud them to be too small -- I have fairly long fingers and there just isn't room on an Elph size camera for a comfortable grip.

Visiting a consumer elctronics store or camera store for hands on examination of possibilities to get at least a general idea of how small is too small is probably the best first step.

 

[Dstorage]

Uh oh, now you're going to smoke out my bitches about this camera!

It is small, but it is a little over an inch thick which can be uncomfortable in your pocket. I would rather it be taller and thinner.

Being small can also make it hard to hold still, but a cool feature is there are 2 timer settings, 2 sec and 10 sec. 2 sec is nice as you can set it down when you want a sharp pic and don't have a tripod.

32 megs on the card that comes with it, gimme a break! Buy a 512 meg card. You can hold a couple weeks worth of vacation shots that way. I set the resolution to 3 megs usually, I can't really see a difference between that and 4 megs, especially when hand held. I see they have 1 gig cards now, I don't think that would be that much more useful in a 3-4 meg camera. When they go to 8-10 megs it will be different.

For a small, cute, and cool camera it is pretty good. I wouldn't get the 5 meg version necessarily though.

 

[Galene]

I have two, a FUJIFILM F-402 which is small and slim and easy to carry around even hanging around your neck if you like,

and a SONY DSC-F77 which is little larger than a packet of cigs. It's the one I always use, it has a rotating lens which allows you to point it at youself and still see the display or rotate at any angle that suits your needs.

 

[mblanton]

Slow down and hang on a minute. Before you run off to the store to purchase this camera, first decide what you want to take pictures of. If you want to do closeup photography such as flowers, tattoos, or body parts then you want a camera with the best macro capability. If you want to photograph wild animals then you want something with a really big zoom lens. By the way, stay away from cameras with a large digital zoom. It's a useless feature that degrades image quality. Don't get hung up on megapixels (5 megapixels is plenty unless your doing high end poster size printing; even then there are ways around that). Think about what output you plan to use (print or web). A 5 megapixel camera will produce a image that will be too large for the web. I have a photo website and I have to resize everything drastically.

Think about camera size next. The small, thin, almost miniture cameras are not always what they're cracked up to be. The smaller the camera the smaller the buttons (this can be really frustrating). For point and shoot applications you can't beat the Kodak digital cameras. There size is nice (similar to any compact 35mm point and shoot camera). They take SD memory cards which are inexpensive (as compared to the Sony memory sticks). The Kodak cameras cover the entire range of photography and have the best macro function I have found in a point and shoot type camera. I owned a 3.2 megapixel model and was able to take many closeup pictures and get awesome 8 x 10 prints.

I now own a high end Canon DSLR (10D). It is awesome as it should be with a price tag of $1500.00. It honestly has more functions than most people would ever use. It is 6.1 megapixels and I have gotten flawless prints at 24 x 36. The down side is you have to buy seperate lenses and depending on what you want to achieve that can be very expensive. I have one wide angle lens that I paid $900.00 for. So, just weigh the options and remember that you don't have to spend a fortune to have fun and take great pictures. If you want to take a look at some of my pictures just follow the link below. Some were taken with the kodak that I spoke about and others were taken with the Canon. Have Fun!

Mike

http://www.pbase.com/mblanton/favorites

 

[Weird Harold]

Slow down and hang on a minute. Before you run off to the store to purchase this camera, first decide what you want to take pictures of.

Good points -- although I did NOT recommend running down and "buying" a camera; I recommended some hands-on window shopping.

I'd guess that 99.9999% of digital images are never printed, so any number of megapixels that fill your screen is adequate for most digital images -- usually around 800x600 or so.

The $23 Vivitar Vivicam 3500 cameras I gave my granddaughters for Christmas lack only a flash of being as much digital camera as most people need with a maximum resolution of 640x480. They're not something I'd recommend for a serious photogrpher or someone wanting 8x10 portraits for the wall, but they're more than adequate for photos to e-mil or post online. (and they're not bad as a webcam either.)

I now own a high end Canon DSLR (10D). It is awesome as it should be with a price tag of $1500.00. It honestly has more functions than most people would ever use.

Your camera is the opposite extreme of what's available from the Vivicam and about $1400 more camera than most people need. I'd love to have one but I seldom use the camera I do have (an old, discontinued, inexpensive RCA model).

Before the advent of digitl cameras, I watched many GIs take advantage of BX prices to get 35mm cameras comparable to your Canon and either never ue them or use them for pictures an 110 Instamatic would be more than adequate -- or even preferable -- for.

For many people, the capacity of the camera's memory is a more important consideration than the maximum quality of the pictures.

 

[Monazwx]

Slow down and hang on a minute. Before you run off to the store to purchase this camera, first decide what you want to take pictures of. If you want to do closeup photography such as flowers, tattoos, or body parts then you want a camera with the best macro capability. If you want to photograph wild animals then you want something with a really big zoom lens. By the way, stay away from cameras with a large digital zoom. It's a useless feature that degrades image quality. Don't get hung up on megapixels (5 megapixels is plenty unless your doing high end poster size printing; even then there are ways around that). Think about what output you plan to use (print or web). A 5 megapixel camera will produce a image that will be too large for the web. I have a photo website and I have to resize everything drastically.

For point and shoot applications you can't beat the Kodak digital cameras. There size is nice (similar to any compact 35mm point and shoot camera). They take SD memory cards which are inexpensive (as compared to the Sony memory sticks). The Kodak cameras cover the entire range of photography and have the best macro function I have found in a point and shoot type camera. I owned a 3.2 megapixel model and was able to take many closeup pictures and get awesome 8 x 10 prints.

remember that you don't have to spend a fortune to have fun and take great pictures. If you want to take a look at some of my pictures just follow the link below. Some were taken with the kodak that I spoke about and others were taken with the Canon. Have Fun!

Mike

http://www.pbase.com/mblanton/favorites

I followed the link and I loved your pics, (esp. the one of the snake). They're extremely clear and colorful. The images are quite stunning. I'm thinking of getting a Kodak digicam as well. I had my heart set on the DX7590, but I'm hearing mixed reviews about it.

JennyRocks, why do you want a tiny camera? Is it just size, or is there a noise issue as well? I read somewhere that the SLR makes more noise because the lens has to tilt for the pictures to focus correctly. Someone, please correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[Weird Harold]

JennyRocks, why do you want a tiny camera? Is it just size, or is there a noise issue as well?

I can't speak for Jenny, but I chose a camera that was roughly the size of a cigarette pack becuase I've owned 35MM SLRs in the past and they're a pain in <choose your body part here> to have available and ready when a photo opportunity presents itself.

A camera that can be dropped in a pocket and/or doesn't require a bulky accessory bag will get used more than a more capable but bulky camera.

 

[lisasmurf]

I want it to be tiny, but have lots of functions, and be sleek and cool looking. Price isnt really a problem

eBay i do bump

 

[dutchtulip]

I am looking for a digi as well and came across this web site that lets you search for reviews with a couple of different criteria like: Make, Mega Pixels, and zoom. Have a look at the website very useful.

http://ca.pricegrabber.com/search_a...]=0&form_keyword=digital+camera&lo_p=0&hi_p=0

 

[Monazwx]

I can't speak for Jenny, but I chose a camera that was roughly the size of a cigarette pack becuase I've owned 35MM SLRs in the past and they're a pain in <choose your body part here> to have available and ready when a photo opportunity presents itself.

A camera that can be dropped in a pocket and/or doesn't require a bulky accessory bag will get used more than a more capable but bulky camera.

I understand what you're saying.

The camera I want would just be for pictures that I plan to take ahead of time. I don't really see incidents that I would want to "point and shoot" very often, which is why products like cameraphones, etc. don't really have the appeal to me that everyone else gose nuts over. But, one never knows; having a small, portable camera might be just the thing to have in a pinch.

Thanks for the link, Dutchtulip.

 

[Weird Harold]

The camera I want would just be for pictures that I plan to take ahead of time. I don't really see incidents that I would want to "point and shoot" very often, which is why products like cameraphones, etc. don't really have the appeal to me that everyone else gose nuts over. But, one never knows; having a small, portable camera might be just the thing to have in a pinch.

This really just emphasizes the point that the first step is to decide what you need a camera FOR. Until you know that, it's pretty much a waste of time to check out all of the neat features and capabilities that are available in digital cameras.

Also, there are some features that on the surfce, you can't understand why they're desireable -- the Vivicam 3500's I bought the granddaughters have a "triple" mode that takes three pictures with each push of the shutter. A seemingly useless and wasteful ability in a camera that only holds 55 images in memory, but on reflection, it's perfect for capturing something in motion with a better chance of getting "the perfect shot."

Do most people need that feature? Probably not until they discover the potential once they have it. I don't think it's something I'd base a camera choice on.

 

[JennyRocks]

Thanks for all the advice. This is making it a lot easier for me to eliminate some cameras and add more to my selections. That Sony DSC thingamabob that someone mentioned really caught my eye.