Which digital camera should I invest in?

P

Preachers Sheets

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We used a one megapixel unit in work, it's awesome, pictures are amazing but I know I am going to want more (not 5 megapixel's but more than 1).



Should I go with 2 or 3 (3 seems to be VERY VERY, as good as regular film) and what brand should I buy? I'm not looking for all the toys to go with the camera, I rather save some money and just get the camera with the basic setup.



What do you guys recommend?
 
I can only recommend the Canon A40 because its the only camera I've owned. Well, I guess I owned the A20 too, but the A40 is better anyway. You can usually find it for $250 or less. It has a 3X optical zoom and a 4X digital zoom on top of that. An optical zoom is very important because that is actually zooming. A digital zoom is just enlarging the pixels and you loose resolution really fast.



It has interchangable lenses so you can get more zoom if you want or even a wide angle lens.



It has a waterproof case available in case you want to take it snorkling or something like that. I'll never need it, but its nice to know the options.



It uses compact flash cards. The 8MB card it comes with is good for 30 or 40 good resolution normal sized pictures. I'd invest in a 128 MB card when you get the chance though.



The A40 also takes video with sound. You can take about 45 seconds on the 8MB card. Its not meant to replace a real camcorder, but it is a nice feature that I use all the time.



The other features like photoediting from the camera, lighting effects, ability to change the camera settings like f-stops and so on are just really great. Its a 2 MP camera that I think is well worth the money. You can get a better camera if you want to get a 3 or 4 MP, but a 2MP works for me. Most of the pictures I post come from that camera. I've never wished that I had a better one. Its always been plenty of camera for me.
 
Hey there man, thanks a bunch for the info, I am locating that model for 210.00. I am going to see the price gap from 2 mp to 3 mp. If it's alot and your saying 2 mp is awesome than I will pick that.



210.... thats nice. I was thinking on an Olympus model but they are pricey compared to other models with the same res.



Thanks again for your help man.



*** Update ***



The 3 MP Canon camera is 372.00 shipped... OUCH!
 
Not a problem. :xyxthumbs Hey, one other thing you need to get for that camera is a good set of batteries. It takes AA size batteries and it will eat through them like candy. I got some rechargable Energizer batteries from Target. They are silver and green. I don't remember much more about them than that. All I know is that I can take a couple hundred pictures before they go dead. Awesome little things. I'll try and find a link I can point you to. I think these batteries are good no matter which camera you get. As long as its one that uses AA.
 
That is quite a list. Just to give you an idea of what I was looking for in a camera...



1. AA batteries. I wanted to be able to get new batteries if the need should arise. I didn't want some internal battery or something else that would be hard to charge or replace while on vacation.



2. Compact Flash card memory. Those suckers are great. They can be found anywhere and range from the included 8MB for most cameras to 256 MB. There are these nifty little readers that will pull the pictures off the card and onto your PC without having to connect the camera to do so. That saves on battery life too. CF cards are inexpensive too. That is a big plus.



3. Optical Zoom. I didn't want a camera that had only a digital zoom. It doesn't matter what your MP resolution is when it is all digital zoom. You gotta have the optical part to actually take advantage of it. The A40 has the 3X optical first and then the digital beyond that. I really liked that. I love how it has the different lenses you can get for it. You can get a telephoto lens and a wide angle lens with caps and cases for the A40 off ebay for about a hundred bucks together. That is next on my list.



4. LCD screen size. Gotta have a decent sized on. Not too small because then it would be pointless.



5. User friendly. I didn't want to have to take a 5 week course in photography to learn how to use it. I knew my A20 was easy to use and so I trusted that the A40 would be easy. They made some huge improvements to it. It is way easy. Right down to the 3 boxes on the LCD screen that tell you where the center of focus is going to be.



Basicly what I would suggest is that you make a list of what you want the camera to do and then go shopping for that. If you find out that the camera that has all the features you want costs more than you want to pay then start making compromises. You may want a 5 MP but you are willing to settle for a 2 or 3 MP based on prices. You are already working your list. :)



Edit: I'd get that Fuji camera too if I had the 500 bucks to spend on it.
 
Jngrbrdman said:
That is quite a list. Just to give you an idea of what I was looking for in a camera...



1. AA batteries. I wanted to be able to get new batteries if the need should arise. I didn't want some internal battery or something else that would be hard to charge or replace while on vacation.



2. Compact Flash card memory. Those suckers are great. They can be found anywhere and range from the included 8MB for most cameras to 256 MB. There are these nifty little readers that will pull the pictures off the card and onto your PC without having to connect the camera to do so. That saves on battery life too. CF cards are inexpensive too. That is a big plus.



3. Optical Zoom. I didn't want a camera that had only a digital zoom. It doesn't matter what your MP resolution is when it is all digital zoom. You gotta have the optical part to actually take advantage of it. The A40 has the 3X optical first and then the digital beyond that. I really liked that. I love how it has the different lenses you can get for it. You can get a telephoto lens and a wide angle lens with caps and cases for the A40 off ebay for about a hundred bucks together. That is next on my list.



4. LCD screen size. Gotta have a decent sized on. Not too small because then it would be pointless.



5. User friendly. I didn't want to have to take a 5 week course in photography to learn how to use it. I knew my A20 was easy to use and so I trusted that the A40 would be easy. They made some huge improvements to it. It is way easy. Right down to the 3 boxes on the LCD screen that tell you where the center of focus is going to be.



Basicly what I would suggest is that you make a list of what you want the camera to do and then go shopping for that. If you find out that the camera that has all the features you want costs more than you want to pay then start making compromises. You may want a 5 MP but you are willing to settle for a 2 or 3 MP based on prices. You are already working your list. :)



Edit: I'd get that Fuji camera too if I had the 500 bucks to spend on it.
Click to expand...



I am trying to find something with AA's, I forgot to look in the 3 links I just posted, GRRRR



I am trying to put aside a few bucks so I can get a 128 meg stick at least.



Now I understand the zoom, I'd like to get 3x at least.



I can't view all of the cameras, some of them allow you to rotate them to see how they look. I just thought they all came with a nice screen, I'm going to look into what I have posted.



I posted those links because my mind is racing too fast about this stuff, sloooooow down Joe, breath, breath.
 
That camedia one is actually not a bad looking camera. It definitely has an edge on the A40 in a few areas. Not bad at all... I'd do some research on what kind of memory sticks they use. I've seen the type that Camedia one uses. I can't remember what they cost though.
 
One guy complained about the Camedia saying it was too heavy, give me a break will ya.



There is also a shutter delay, you press the button then a slight pause then the pic is taken, thats normal right? Once the flash goes off the picture is taken right? I don't think the flash would go off then you would need to wait .5 of a second for the image to be taken, that doesnt sound right. So I can take the picture, once the flash goes off I can put the camera down as I am done with it right or do I want to wait for that sound of the picture processing?



Doesn't state the lcd screen size of the Camedia.... :(
 
There is a delay in most digital cameras from when you press the button to when the shutter actually opens. It is the time it takes for it to focus. The flash and the shutter are simultaneous.



Heavy could be an issue if you carry it around a lot. Mine is just right. I don't know the weight of it though. I think we get really caught up in weight. When I was working for Sprint PCS I would hear customers complain because their phone A was 2 ounces heavier than phone B. 2 freaking ounces!! Even if you could feel that I doubt it would be enough to whine about. If there is 3 pounds difference then I would look around but I wouldn't complain over a couple lousy ounces.



Have you checked on eBay for cameras? You may not want to buy a used one but there are a lot of dealers who sell brand new stuff all over eBay. Ebay serves several purposes for me. It lets me know kind of what the market value is on a product and it also sometimes gives more detailed information about the products. You might be able to find the LCD size there. :nixweiss
 
avoid used. Used means that you have no recourse if it is broken. The warranty might be void even. Get it new unless you are buying it from a friend.
 
For a 2MP

Either the Fugi 2600/2650 (50 having the newest and not necessarily the best memory chip).

Canon A40

Canon S200/S300



For a 3MP

Kodiak 4330

Canon S230/S330



Personally, I shoot for the 3MP. However, the 2600 is a great bargain. Only thing is that it doesn't do sound. If that important for you, then definitely go with a Canon.



For the 3MP, both do sound so it's not an issue.



Paco
 
Great recommendation about the A40 Jngrbrdman! :bow



I bought my own A40 last month. I'd been dying to buy my own digicam for a long time and had finally narrowed it down to the Fuji 2600z or the Canon A40. I stayed with 2 MP cameras because I found the price of 3 MP cameras prohibitive and don't expect myself to print out anything larger than a 5x7 anyway...



The Fuji is more of an (excellent) point-and-shoot camera and is great for people who want a good, simple camera. It also comes with 2 rechargables and a charger (!!!) which was a huge draw.



The A40 won out because it had a lot of advanced features and manual controls that I could use later if I really got into digital photography. It was also about the same price as the Fuji. Overall, it just offered more for the $$$ than any other model out there - and I looked really hard.



At the risk of duplicating some of the features Jngr listed:



-Lots of manual exposure, ISO, aperature, white balance, flash modes, etc. settings. Basically everything except manual focus.



-Records movie clips with sound



-Auto focus assist light. This helps focus in low light conditions and just doesn't exist on other cameras of this price. :up



-AA batteries. You can use Alkalines in an emergency and AA rechargables are easy to find and relatively cheap.



And other minor details that were a nice bonus:

-Can accept a small variety of external lenses with an adapter.

-Really long (15 sec) maximum shutter time for those night shots

-Chunky hand grip

-More buttons on the outside (as opposed to being menu-driven which is a PITA).

-TV out

-Auto lens cap

CF is nice, but up here it seems to be the same price as SmartMedia for some reason.



It was just the best bargain feature-wise, and the A40 gets very good reviews in general. We also got a nice 128 M card for it so now the camera is permanently stuck on the highest picture quality setting. :D



Some other things I'd like to mention are that:



-Zoom: most cameras with optical zoom only come with 2x to 3x optical zoom. Any more zoom, and you're always looking at a huge price jump. My dad had his heart set on the Fuji 2800z (6x zoom), but the price for what you got was just too high.



-Most cameras come with a 1.5" LCD with the Fuji 2600z I mentioned having a 1.8" LCD. It's noticably bigger but not a deal-breaker.



-If you get the Canon A40 check its firmware version and see if it needs a downloadable patch. There is an issue with the AF system on some older models and they need a patch to work properly (mine was new enough that it didn't).



-Get a high quality battery charger to make the most out of your Energizers (these are the best deal for 1850 mAh cells up here). One of the popular websites (Digital Imaging or Steve's Digicams? Can't recall.) was helpful with this though I went all out and bought a really nice charger from Radio Shack (23-140). It's discontinued, but if you look it up on the RS website you can see it's got lots of features you'd want and the few people on the net that mention it seem to love it.



-To reduce "shutter lag" people suggest getting into the habit of pre-focusing. You push the button down halfway and it focuses. Push harder and it takes the picture. All cameras work faster/better this way, but some cameras are better performers just snapping picutures "cold". The Fuji was better at this I think. This is one reason I researched the heck out of the cameras and read all the reviews and tests I could find.



Unfortunately I've hardly used my new prized posession yet, so I can't comment on my personal experiences with picture quality. :( What am I supposed to photograph this time of year anyway?

:sosad



So unless you think you need the extra megapixel and go with a 3 MP camera I think the A40 is a "smart" buy for the price. Hope some of this helps. :wavey
 
I think I am going to go with the 3 MP Camedia D-550. It all depends on what the regional VP says when he comes to Boston next week. I'm trying to find out if I am going to lose my job if I don't go out and buy a car to get around in work.... We'll see. If I stay then I'll purchase the camera, if not then it's peanut butter and jelly time until these other job offers are worked through.
 
paco said:
For a 2MP

Either the Fugi 2600/2650 (50 having the newest and not necessarily the best memory chip).

Canon A40

Canon S200/S300



For a 3MP

Kodiak 4330

Canon S230/S330



Personally, I shoot for the 3MP. However, the 2600 is a great bargain. Only thing is that it doesn't do sound. If that important for you, then definitely go with a Canon.



For the 3MP, both do sound so it's not an issue.



Paco
Click to expand...



The Kodak is inexpensive (285.00 shipped) but ONE person said the pictures stink when uploaded, sounds like a boat load of garbage to me.



The Canon is nice, but "nice" comes with a price tag out of my range. If I was willing to spend that much I would go 4 MP.



Thanks for the links Paco. I am not going to have to decide between the Kodak and the Camedia, they are both 3 MP and both within my price range.





--------------------------------



Check out this camera....



http://www.pricegrabber.com/search_getprod.php/masterid=511690/ut=402dad426c3cefbc
 
joed1228 said:
I think I am going to go with the 3 MP Camedia D-550.
Click to expand...



If you have a Target Store near you, check out their price on the D-550. My wife saw it on sale there yesterday for $249!



I checked the Target website and it still shows $299, but the local stores are running it for 50 bucks off.



A great deal for the money. I have no complaints about mine.



One complaint I've heard about the camera is that you can't change the default settings...WRONG.....



They are easily changed, all you have to do is read the manual and it explains how to do this.



(Maybe you can't change the defaults if you don't read the manual!):nono
 
Luster - Yea, I work in the tech biz, seems like alot of people are dogging very nice products because they get a little frustrated that they cannot operate the hardware properly.



it sounds bogus it usally is. Thanks for the heads up though, if you can find them for 250.00 new then buy one for me and I'll send you the cash. We don't have Wal Marts around here.
 
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