Digital Camera

[MannyIsGod]

Say I wanted to buy a Digital, what would be the main things I should look at?

[PM5K]

I thought you was an expert Manny?

Go to Walmart and buy something....

;-)

[mcornelio]

well the first thing you should look for is that its not over 1.0 megapixels, because if it is people would actually be able to see in detail how really ugly you are...

[PM5K]

well the first thing you should look for is that its not over 1.0 megapixels, because if it is people would actually be able to see in detail how really ugly you are...

LMFAO....

[leemajors]

Say I wanted to buy a Digital, what would be the main things I should look at?

megapixels, size, brand, what kind of screen you want on it. then check out amazon for the reviews and pricing. i got a 5.3 megapixel fuji for $130 last christmas - it's a great little camera, but there are better ones out there. this one happened to have great picture quality at the right price.

[ObiwanGinobili]

also make sure the camera has optical zoom , not just digital zoom. digital zoom looks like shit.
optical zoom looks beautiful.

oh - and make sure it can run on re-chargeable AA's or AAA's. If not and the camera takes one of those funky weird camera batteries you will end up spending a shit load on batteries over time.

[PM5K]

Seriously though:

It depends on what you plan to use the camera for. For example I want to do some semi-serious photography, and in hindsight I should have gotten a camera with a hotshoe for a flash.

Also if you are going to do sports you'd probably want something with a quick shot to shot rating, and probably a burst mode.

My shot to shot is a little slow but I do have a burst mode.

Also with some cameras you can use standard lenses with them, but you might not be planning to spend that much money, maybe you want a point and shoot.

I probably also would have gotten a camera with image stabilization because a 12X zoom can be pretty useless if you can't keep things straight.

Also some people like their cameras to take movies, I personally don't care because I have a seperate camera for that type of thing.

So it really depends on what you plan to use it for and how much you plan to spend...

[Mark in Austin]

Manny, I just bought a Canon PowerShot SD700 IS a few months ago and used it quite a bit as I travelled for a couple weeks in England and Isreal - came back with almost 2 GB of pics and video. I am incredibly happy with it - probably one of the best consumer choices I have ever made.

It is the top camera in their elph line - so although it won't fit comfortably in a shirt pocket, I had no problem at all carrying it in a pants pocket. The best thing about it is that it is the only elph that has an optical image stabilizer, which allowed me to take unbelievable low light and nighttime pictures without a flash. It made me look like a pro. I can email you a few samples if you like.

Other features I like - it has a large 2.5" LCD screen you can use to preview pictures and video, but you can also use it as a viewfinder. It also has a traditional viewfinder, which isn't very common on compact digitals. Six megepixels. 4x optical zoom. Intuitive menus. Great outdoor modes.

:tu

edit - a little more on my decision

Sony had some compelling products, but their bullshit proprietary memory stick memory cards instead of the near universal flash/compact flash cards the rest of the industry uses pissed me off. I think there might be more flexibility now, but back then lack of flash/compact flash support in most of Sony's products was pretty limiting for me.

When I was shopping for mine I looked at customer feedback along with your typical product reviews and feature comparisons. CNET's feedback page (http://reviews.cnet.com/Canon_PowerShot_SD700_IS/4852-6501_7-31740585.html?tag=sub) for the SD700 IS is filled with pretty positive reviews. Usually, customer reviews tend to be lower becuse the dissatisfied are more likely to take the time to post, but the consistency of the positive reviews was impressive to me. I also read a lot of good things about the digicII processor the camera uses.

Looks like prices have dropped with the impending release of the SD800 IS in October. I paid $429.00 from Beach Camera (http://www.beachcamera.com/shop/product.aspx?omid=108&ref=cnet&utm_source=CNET&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=CNPSSD700&sku=CNPSSD700) in July and while I had reservations when I bought it about the price after using it for a few days I felt it was well worth it. It has now dropped to $332.00. At that price it is a hell of a deal.

[ducks]

cannon has a new 10.1 megapixels that just came out
my photograph friend told me last night
it is $899

[MoSpur]

Anything over 8 megapixels should be good. The battery thing is important. Brand is important.

[ducks]

the 8.4 was $1499

[ashbeeigh]

Just from a "I want to take a picture of what's going on" standpoint, Kodak's are super easy and don't even go near an HP (because I did and I regret it horribly). HP's are moody. And batteries, zoom, etc like everyone else has said.

[DirkAB]

Megapixels can be very misleading as far as picture quality, so don't base it all on that. The quality of the lens is very important, IMO. I personally like cameras with large LCD displays on them, it makes it much easier to tell if you snapped a quality pic or if you need to take another one.

I have had two Sony cameras and have been very pleased with both, the first one was 5.1 megapixels and my new one is 8.1, for me the 5.1 was plenty. I upgraded for other features like size and weight, larger screen, and touchscreen.

Megapixels has to do with the native size of the picture, and doesn't necessarily improve the photo quality, but I would get at least 5 megapixels since they aren't that expensive. The more megapixels you have the bigger your pics can be printed or viewed w/o distortion. Anymore 5.1 is about as small as they sell them, unless you go really cheap and buy one of the lower end ones from Wal-Mart. So don't put all your eggs into the megapixels basket, because if the lens isn't high quality then you will have poor picture quality.

As far as brand goes, I think that there really isn't a brand that is that much better than the rest. There are lots of good brands of cameras and it has more to do with the individual camera itself and it's features.

To me a nice selling point is the memory, do you have a card reader built into your computer? I have a Vaio and it has a cardreader for Sony's memory stick, to me that is really handy to be able to take the card straight out of the camera and put it right into my computer. Much more convenient than hooking it up through a USB chord, which drains the batterys in you camera. Or buying an add-on card reader, which costs money and is a hassle to carry with you if you have a laptop.

[leemajors]

Megapixels can be very misleading as far as picture quality, so don't base it all on that. The quality of the lens is very important, IMO. I personally like cameras with large LCD displays on them, it makes it much easier to tell if you snapped a quality pic or if you need to take another one.

I have had two Sony cameras and have been very pleased with both, the first one was 5.1 megapixels and my new one is 8.1, for me the 5.1 was plenty. I upgraded for other features like size and weight, larger screen, and touchscreen.

Megapixels has to do with the native size of the picture, and doesn't necessarily improve the photo quality, but I would get at least 5 megapixels since they aren't that expensive. The more megapixels you have the bigger your pics can be printed or viewed w/o distortion. Anymore 5.1 is about as small as they sell them, unless you go really cheap and buy one of the lower end ones from Wal-Mart. So don't put all your eggs into the megapixels basket, because if the lens isn't high quality then you will have poor picture quality.

As far as brand goes, I think that there really isn't a brand that is that much better than the rest. There are lots of good brands of cameras and it has more to do with the individual camera itself and it's features.

To me a nice selling point is the memory, do you have a card reader built into your computer? I have a Vaio and it has a cardreader for Sony's memory stick, to me that is really handy to be able to take the card straight out of the camera and put it right into my computer. Much more convenient than hooking it up through a USB chord, which drains the batterys in you camera. Or buying an add-on card reader, which costs money and is a hassle to carry with you if you have a laptop.

you can get an 8 in 1 or 25 in 1 media reader for under $30. they're tiny.

[Tres_Till_it_MHz]

all you need

Sony Cybershot DSC-H5 7.2MP Digital Camera with 12x Optical

great for all around shooting, not high end not low end. gets the job done and provides great looking prints esp the larger ones.

if you go high end you'll need all the lenses too, like having a porcshe without wheels.

[DirkAB]

you can get an 8 in 1 or 25 in 1 media reader for under $30. they're tiny.

I know, but it is still a hassle, just one more thing to carry around if you travel with your laptop and camera. Not that it is a deal breaker as far as finding a camera, but it is an added bonus if you buy one that is compatible.

[leemajors]

the only reason i would balk at a sony is buying their expensive memory sticks. you can get a 1 or 2GB mini XD or sd card for under 50 bucks at fry's.

[DirkAB]

the only reason i would balk at a sony is buying their expensive memory sticks. you can get a 1 or 2GB mini XD or sd card for under 50 bucks at fry's.

I just bought a 2 GB memory stick 2 weeks ago on ebay for $40, and it was new and sealed in the package.

[leemajors]

I just bought a 2 GB memory stick 2 weeks ago on ebay for $40, and it was new and sealed in the package.

ahh, didn't know they dropped the price. i can use the sd card i have in both my miniDV camera and use it to play ds games i downloaded. i have a miniXD card in my fuji.

[DirkAB]

ahh, didn't know they dropped the price. i can use the sd card i have in both my miniDV camera and use it to play ds games i downloaded. i have a miniXD card in my fuji.

If I would have bought it direct from Sony it would have cost $200, thank god for ebay.

[Duff McCartney]

If you aren't gonna take professional pictures....go with Kodak. They are super easy to use and not that expensive. Anything over 5 MP would be good. I bought one at work and it works great.

Make sure you buy rechargeable batteries. They pay for themselves very quickly.

[ORION]

the main thing I would look at is if you can attach it to your foot and take pictures up skirts

[DirkAB]

Every camera nowadays comes with optical zoom. Digital zoom will distort the picture, so don't fall in love with that number as well when the retail boy says its 16x DZ.



Very good point, ignore digital zoom, look at optical zoom.

[Mixability]

Watch out Manny, your girl will absolutely KILL you if you get a camera with this feature:

http://www.hp.com/united-states/consumer/digital_photography/tours/slimming/index_f.html

:lol

[MannyIsGod]

:lol

[Johnny_Blaze_47]

From our good friend, Cyber Bob.

http://www.woai.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=CF748985-347F-4620-AE69-378B621449E0

Oh, yeah...inagra...Classic.

[Phenomanul]

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a79/donmegga/other/Untitled-2.jpg

:lol :lol

That can be done with the most basic picture editing programs... even Windows Paint can do that....

[tlongII]

My personal opinion is that anything over 5 megapixels will give you good enough quality. If you're a pro photog you might want more, but to an amateur I think it would be cost prohibitive.

[ShoogarBear]

:lmao @inagra

[Phenomanul]

Since I see that SequSpur is lurking in this thread .... the question is: Can it make you appear taller?

















Sorry, Sequ... I couldn't resist.









You're still cool in my book... even if Kori thinks you can't spell IP. :spin

[MannyIsGod]

Thanks for everyone's advice. I ended up getting this:

http://reviews.cnet.com/Canon_PowerShot_A530/4505-6501_7-31740578.html?tag=pdtl-list

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

* Optical zoom - at least 4x but look for higher if you can get it. Disregard digital zoom, you'll never use it - or shouldn't. All digital zoom does is crop your photo with a shoddy in-camera cropping algorithm. You can do better with Adobe.

* Look at the memory card type. It's why I'll never buy Sony, their memory sticks are proprietary and cost more than SD, xD, etc.

* Check the battery type. You want to get one that will take AA batteries, so you can use rechargeables. When you get your camera, get an extra set or two of rechargeables so you can have one in the camera, one charging (Google Thomas Distributing - they make great batteries).

* Other than that, it depends on what features you want extra, i.e.:

- Macro capabilities
- Max ISO speeds
- Video recording type - lots of cameras have a built in recorder, some do Quicktime, some do AVI. In my experience the AVIs are much better
- Capability to save settings, that way you don't have to re-program custom settings in every time.

[MannyIsGod]

* Optical zoom - at least 4x but look for higher if you can get it. Disregard digital zoom, you'll never use it - or shouldn't. All digital zoom does is crop your photo with a shoddy in-camera cropping algorithm. You can do better with Adobe.
4x OZ. Wooo



* Look at the memory card type. It's why I'll never buy Sony, their memory sticks are proprietary and cost more than SD, xD, etc.
I got a 1gig SD card. This is good too because my computer has a built in SD reader.



* Check the battery type. You want to get one that will take AA batteries, so you can use rechargeables. When you get your camera, get an extra set or two of rechargeables so you can have one in the camera, one charging (Google Thomas Distributing - they make great batteries).


It takes AA and I have AA rechargeables out the ying yang.

* Other than that, it depends on what features you want extra, i.e.:

- Macro capabilities
- Max ISO speeds
- Video recording type - lots of cameras have a built in recorder, some do Quicktime, some do AVI. In my experience the AVIs are much better
- Capability to save settings, that way you don't have to re-program custom settings in every time.[/QUOTE]This one has great ISO speeds, and I think it has macro capability.

It got the best reviews online in the price range I wanted and the guys at Best Buy and Circuit City both reccomended this one way before the others.

[Slomo]

It's not the camera, it's the person behind it :p

[ShoogarBear]

It's not the camera, it's the person behind it :pAnd the person reposting it.

[leemajors]

Thanks for everyone's advice. I ended up getting this:

http://reviews.cnet.com/Canon_PowerShot_A530/4505-6501_7-31740578.html?tag=pdtl-list

how much did you pay for it?

[MannyIsGod]

199