Anyone know anything about digital cameras?

[bornl33t]

Well I found out last week I'm going on vacation to the grand canyon in may!!!! And I decited that it's time to invest in a camera. Digital is the ONLY option for me, but I haven't really been keeping up with whats out there and what's good.

Anyone that has a digital camera or knows alot about them want to give me some ideas while I research different models? prices range 200$-400$, it's gotta have at least 3 megapixel preferably SD for storage.

My roomie swears by his nikon...says the lenses make all the differance?

[impostal22]

canon powershot a70..i have the a60 and it's beautiful..has the ability to do 3 minute movie clips as well (which are really good quality, considering). lots of other features for close up shots, night time shots, panoramic shots (good for the grand canyon, eh?), etc. the negative reviews on amazon are all for canon's bad customer service, which i have yet to have to deal with. take care of your camera, and you won't have to either (they're really solidly built, just don't drop it in a puddle)

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00008OE5G/ref=pd_sbs_p_1/104-3059340-7933525?v=glance&s=photo

[bornl33t]

after reading a few reviews it seems that no camera is without problems.

the canon a70 looks like it's decent, the biggest problem seems to be a flimsy battery door and grainy picutres.

I really likes the reviews on the miolta Dimage z1, again the biggest griep seems to be the batter door and a lense that rattles.

Also looked at a Nikon cool pix 4300, which seems to have issues with battery life

and then the fujifilm s5000 seems to be junk when zoomed and of course grainy pictures...

I think I'm just going to have to go try some out... there isn't a camera without bugs....just gonna have to decide which one has bugs I can live with.

[impostal22]

Originally posted by Heat
after reading a few reviews it seems that no camera is without problems.

the canon a70 looks like it's decent, the biggest problem seems to be a flimsy battery door and grainy picutres.

uhh first..the battery door is far from flimsy...it's actually really sturdy, dunno wtf they were on when they said that. grainy pictures? never got a grainy pic w/ my camera..and i have only 2MP..so.....lol.

[MantisMag]

digital photography review
canon a70
nikon coolpix 3100. should be very similar to the 4300.
fujifilm s5000 zoom


lot of information. very in depth camera reviews. probably more than you need. if you can decipher it you'll know without a doubt what camera is best.

[AMessy]

I have a Nikon 4300 which i like very much. It takes pics at 4 mgea pixels. The only real downfall is the fact that it came with a 16mb starter compact flash card which is pretty useless. It is very easy to use and has excellent picture quality. When i bought it i was also looking at the Canon A80 and that seemed to be pretty much identical to the nikon in features and quality. I'm sure either would be an excellent camera.

[joeyjoe367]

My roomie swears by his nikon...says the lenses make all the differance?

Heat, your roomie is spewing some nice smoke at you about his Nikon. "Lenses make all the differance" may be true to some extent, but you gotta realize that 99% of the lenses out there are better than the photographers using them. Not to mention that the image sensors of a 3 MP Camera probably couldn't resolve the differance in the quality of glass being used in the camera unless there was a serious flaw in manufacturing.

SD Memory is good, however I'd recommend something that uses a Compact-Flash card. They're pretty generic, and you can find about 5 differant brands that make them. Competition drives the price down on these things so they provide the best value, IMO.

The A70 is a good recommendation, IMO. Take a 2nd look at it. You shouldn't get grainy pictures unless the ISO setting is very high. You should be able to adjust them in-camera. I have a friend that owns an A60 and he literally beat the crap outta the thing and it keeps on ticking. Essentially, the A70 is the A60 with a higher-resolution sensor.

Olympus also makes the "Stylus" Series which are resistant against water. You can take them out in the rain without worry, they won'y survive a dunking though. They also come in 3 and 4 megapixel versions with zoom lenses standard.

The 3 MP version goes for $269 at www.adorama.com

just FYI, don't expect to get prints from a 3 mp camera larger than 4x6. 5x7 might be ok, but that's probably pushing it.

[bornl33t]

thanks joey, that's the kind of information I was looking for. I actually did ALOT of reading on the "digital photography review" website.

I actually talked with some guys at work today and some of them pursuaded me to take a closer look at the olypus cameras. My biggest turn off with those were the xD media that can ONLY be used for olympus cameras. Turns out it's the fastest flash media availible, so maybe it's not such a draw back afterall? I'm going down town today and will take a closer look at some models at a photo center and come back with a few opinions of my own....

thanks for all the info ppl

[bornl33t]

does anyone have an olympus c-5000? it looks very promising!!!

[joeyjoe367]

You can use XD Picutre cards in Fuji Cameras as well.

[Koosh]

Just my 2 cents...

I've had a Canon ELPH S200 (2 megapixel) for almost 2 years now, and I love the thing to death.

Takes GREAT pictures, has good movie modes (Those are grainy, but they fixed that with the later models), and its small, durable, and feels "solid"... I know some of the digital cameras just feel flimsy... too much plastic. Mine has some weight to it, and that isn't a bad thing.

Think of it like holding an old school all stainless steel automag to an impulse... the mag will just FEEL better, no matter what it shoots like

[fire1811]

i think a good rule of thumb is to stick with people that make there own camera stuff. examples canon, nikon

its made with there parts.

i have a Canon Digital Rebel EOS now but thats a bit more then your looking to spend

although my last digital camera was a sony 2.0mp cybershot and that was a good camera never had a prob with it.

[banzaimf]

I've shot Olympus digi's for years. Still use a e-100rs for fast action stuff. Biggest problem is their fondness for astandard memory (SM, xD) and their white balance.

I am moving over to Canon. Digital Rebel for my main camera. Planning on getting either a canon sd100, or s400, or a minolta f100 or f300 as my "little" camera. Note, all of the last four cameras are smaller than a pack of cigarettes.

[CMDane]

http://www.dcresource.com/

One of the better camera review sites to go to.

Shouldn't have visited the site, I just found out that the Nikon Coolpix 5700 I just got for Christmas is going to be replaced in March with the 8700. 8 megapixel vs. my 5megapixel for $100 more. GRRR!


Charles

[DaosBeoulve]

I bought my mom a Canon A70 for Christmas. I can tell you I was thoroughly impressed with it after she opened it and then I got my hands on it to play around with it=)

Never a grainy picture from it with the pictures I took with it. She played with some settings and ended up with a blurry picture, but nothing grainy.

I'm partial to canon though, seeing as I personally have a Canon Powershot G3.