BuddTX
Flashlight Enthusiast
OK CPF experts, I need your help! Lots of research by me has not turned up a clear winner.
I need to purchase a Digital Camera for work (Not for me personally, but for a multiple users in a large dept). My department is a large Nutrition & Food Services dept for a large hospital (I am the IS person for the dept), and we need a Digital Camera for the Dept.
We do lots of special high end catering events, and lots of special foods etc.
The camera will almost always be used indoors, and will be mostly used for:
-Close ups of plates of food
-Special event activity
-Taking pictures in a very large kitchen, of production staff preparing food etc.
Picture output:
Posting on the Web, Screen Size maximum size
Printing 4x6 or slightly larger
Occasionally printing on 8½x11
Price Range 250-500
Less would be good, only because I think that the camera has a high chance of getting lost or damaged.
Here are my requirements:
-Rugged, durable sturdy (wont break if occasionally dropped or if roughly handled or stuck in a pocket)
-at Least 5x OPTICAL ZOOM (prefer 10-x-12x for close ups of chefs cooking and event activites without having to be "in their face" when taking the picture.)
-Digital zoom does not matter, it will be turned off.
-4 AA batteries (no propritiary batteries) I want to be able to buy a bunch of NiMh 2500 MHa AA's and not worry if they get lost during an event. Also, when someone says "grab the camera" and the batteries are not charged up, I want to be able to use Alkline batteries in a pinch, while the NiMh's are getting re-charged.
(Will be posting a seperate post regarding Li-Ion alternatives for 2AA batteries)
-Smaller, so that it could be carried in a pocket.
-IMAGE STABALIZER for still shots (I think this is important!)
-3MP or better, but as the trend is for more MP, 4 or 5 MP would be better
-Made by a REAL Camera company, not a "johnny come lately" brand. (Like a computer company etc)
-Mostly point and shoot, and zoom, I do not need a bunch of buttons that people in my dept will not use. It can have options, but must have a nice "point and shoot" automatic function, as who knows who will be using the camera.
I do know about Steve's Digicam site:
Steve's Digicams THE BEST CAMERAS
Here are some of the cameras that I like, and while all of these are very nice, "winners", none of them seem to be the absolutely perfect camera for my dept.
Although I have always liked Olympus, it looks like I am leaning towards a Canon or Panasonic.
KODAK EASYSHARE Z740
z740 review at Steves Digicam
Olympus C-7000 Zoom
OLYMPUS C-5500
Canon PowerShot S1 IS
steves-digicams.com review of the Canon S IS
My personal favoite, (the one I will probably buy for myself:
PowerShot S2 IS: Canon's new monster zoom compact
Canon S2 IS Home page
Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z5
Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ5
Olympus_C_765
Olympus Camedia C-5500/C-55 Sport Zoom Digital Camera
Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ1 Digital Camera
or its sister, the DMC-LC2
Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ2
Olympus Stylus 410 Digital
There, that about covers all the major players. All of these are great cameras, but none of them seem to meet all of my criteria.
The Panasonic DMC-LZ2 might be a good choice, but, as nice as Panasonic is, it is not a "camera" company.
My personal favorite seems to be the Canon S2 IS, but as much as I like it, it might be a tad too expensive (still have to add extra memory and rechargable batteries for ANY camera), and might be too complex for multiple users.
If I could magicly create my own camera, it would be this:
The physical body of the Olympus Stylus 410 Digital (Metal, small, lightweight, splash proof) with a 10-12x high quality glass Zoom lens, and Image Stabalizer, with 2 or 4 AA batteries as the power source and took standard, inexpensive media memory cards.
But that camera does not exist, as far as I know!
And remember, this is not asking what is "the best camera for me", but rather, the perfect camera for multiple users in a large dept, when lots of other things are going on.
So any suggestions?
I need to purchase a Digital Camera for work (Not for me personally, but for a multiple users in a large dept). My department is a large Nutrition & Food Services dept for a large hospital (I am the IS person for the dept), and we need a Digital Camera for the Dept.
We do lots of special high end catering events, and lots of special foods etc.
The camera will almost always be used indoors, and will be mostly used for:
-Close ups of plates of food
-Special event activity
-Taking pictures in a very large kitchen, of production staff preparing food etc.
Picture output:
Posting on the Web, Screen Size maximum size
Printing 4x6 or slightly larger
Occasionally printing on 8½x11
Price Range 250-500
Less would be good, only because I think that the camera has a high chance of getting lost or damaged.
Here are my requirements:
-Rugged, durable sturdy (wont break if occasionally dropped or if roughly handled or stuck in a pocket)
-at Least 5x OPTICAL ZOOM (prefer 10-x-12x for close ups of chefs cooking and event activites without having to be "in their face" when taking the picture.)
-Digital zoom does not matter, it will be turned off.
-4 AA batteries (no propritiary batteries) I want to be able to buy a bunch of NiMh 2500 MHa AA's and not worry if they get lost during an event. Also, when someone says "grab the camera" and the batteries are not charged up, I want to be able to use Alkline batteries in a pinch, while the NiMh's are getting re-charged.
(Will be posting a seperate post regarding Li-Ion alternatives for 2AA batteries)
-Smaller, so that it could be carried in a pocket.
-IMAGE STABALIZER for still shots (I think this is important!)
-3MP or better, but as the trend is for more MP, 4 or 5 MP would be better
-Made by a REAL Camera company, not a "johnny come lately" brand. (Like a computer company etc)
-Mostly point and shoot, and zoom, I do not need a bunch of buttons that people in my dept will not use. It can have options, but must have a nice "point and shoot" automatic function, as who knows who will be using the camera.
I do know about Steve's Digicam site:
Steve's Digicams THE BEST CAMERAS
Here are some of the cameras that I like, and while all of these are very nice, "winners", none of them seem to be the absolutely perfect camera for my dept.
Although I have always liked Olympus, it looks like I am leaning towards a Canon or Panasonic.
KODAK EASYSHARE Z740
z740 review at Steves Digicam
Olympus C-7000 Zoom
OLYMPUS C-5500
Canon PowerShot S1 IS
steves-digicams.com review of the Canon S IS
My personal favoite, (the one I will probably buy for myself:
PowerShot S2 IS: Canon's new monster zoom compact
Canon S2 IS Home page
Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z5
Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ5
Olympus_C_765
Olympus Camedia C-5500/C-55 Sport Zoom Digital Camera
Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ1 Digital Camera
or its sister, the DMC-LC2
Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ2
Olympus Stylus 410 Digital
There, that about covers all the major players. All of these are great cameras, but none of them seem to meet all of my criteria.
The Panasonic DMC-LZ2 might be a good choice, but, as nice as Panasonic is, it is not a "camera" company.
My personal favorite seems to be the Canon S2 IS, but as much as I like it, it might be a tad too expensive (still have to add extra memory and rechargable batteries for ANY camera), and might be too complex for multiple users.
If I could magicly create my own camera, it would be this:
The physical body of the Olympus Stylus 410 Digital (Metal, small, lightweight, splash proof) with a 10-12x high quality glass Zoom lens, and Image Stabalizer, with 2 or 4 AA batteries as the power source and took standard, inexpensive media memory cards.
But that camera does not exist, as far as I know!
And remember, this is not asking what is "the best camera for me", but rather, the perfect camera for multiple users in a large dept, when lots of other things are going on.
So any suggestions?