Digital camera recommendations?

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MrBenchmark

Enlightened
Joined
Aug 31, 2004
Messages
616
Location
Dallas, TX
I'm in the market for a new digital camera. I'm thinking I want:
- less than $500
- greater than 3 megapixel
- physically small - pocketable would be nice
- some optical zoom for taking outdoor shots
- some ability to control exposure, I'm not a pro photographer, but dumbed-down, EZ2Use devices annoy me.
- not completely suck in lower light situations (i.e. not need a tripod to take a photo on a moderately cloudy day.)

What I really want is a high-end digital SLR, but that's not practical at the moment. So maybe something that's easier to carry?

Thanks for any suggestions!
 
[ QUOTE ]
MrBenchmark said:
I'm in the market for a new digital camera. I'm thinking I want:
- less than $500
- greater than 3 megapixel
- physically small - pocketable would be nice
- some optical zoom for taking outdoor shots
- some ability to control exposure, I'm not a pro photographer, but dumbed-down, EZ2Use devices annoy me.
- not completely suck in lower light situations (i.e. not need a tripod to take a photo on a moderately cloudy day.)

What I really want is a high-end digital SLR, but that's not practical at the moment. So maybe something that's easier to carry?

Thanks for any suggestions!

[/ QUOTE ]

I really enjoy my Canon S500. Great picture quality, convenient size...good resolution (5.0 megapixel...)...decent price!

Check one out at your local electronics retailer... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
Back in December I bought a Sony V1 on clearance and been quite pleased. It might be hard now to find one of them. At that time I briefly checked out a Fuji E550. It also had 4x optical plus manual controls, but cost $50 more. And, I was a little blinded by the Sony's bells and whistles. If I could change it, I might pick the Fuji. It has a real nice feeling in the hand, runs on 2 AA's, is 6.3 MP, and appears to have all the settings you'd need. I wouldn't call it pocketable like a Canon Elph, but it's not bad. I think they still go for around $350 at all your favorite vendors.
 
the Canon S70. after using a friend's i'm strongly considering it myself. it's $500 @ Staples.

another camera i've seen that i was impressed with was the Pentax Optio 750Z. it looks alot like a regular camera from the front end. i think you can find it for around $470.
 
How about an Olympus Stylus

The Stylus series has ALWAYS been a great little camera, both in the film and digital world. They have a new colorful Verve series, and it has been getting great reviews. It is small, pocketable, produces great pictures and is weatherproof!! What more can you ask for!!
 
Canon S500 is nice for picture quality and size, but I dislike the rechargable batteries, kind of hard in the field to drop a lithium out and replace it. CF cards are fairly inexpensive ~ $100 for a 1 gig lexar 80X pro grade card.

The Sony W-1 as said above was the platoon favorite, everyone liked i when they played around with it. There were 2 or 3 sony W-1's in the company. Uses 2 X AA batteries and they last a long time if you use Lithium AA's.

The Sony T-1 is small and pocketable but again the lithium rechagrable battery pack was present hard to recharge when you are out in the boondocks with no outlet to recharge. the pictures sometimes don't come up well in dark areas due to weaker flash and flash being so close to the lens.

The Sony's Memery stick is fairly expensive, cost the guys $185 or so for 1 gig Sandisk Ultra II cards.

The guys with the W-1's stored it in a pelican 1010 case in their cargo pocket. So it is a bit bulky but it can drop in a bag. The Sony W-1 can also take Wide angle and Telephoto lenses with the proper adaptor.

I personaly carried the Konica Minolta X20 Dimage camera and I have grown to like it due to price and size. I paid $144 for it 2 years ago and it takes decent quality pictures and sand gets into everything when you are in Iraq. I think I am going to buy a Sony W-1 for the trip to Hong Kong in the end of June. Sony also came out with the W-5 which looks just like the W-1 but with a darker casing. I haven't had the time to look into it yet.

www.newegg.com is where I purchase my cameras and most flash memory cards. www.bhphoto.com is also good but sometimes a bit mroe expensive.

Konica Minolta's X50 is nice along with the G500, but I am partial to Sony. A Secure Digital card can be had for under $100 for 1 gigabyte.

as mentioned above, those reviews sites have lots of cameras.

The Canon S500's, S410's, Sony W-1, T-1, W-5, and the M-1, along with the Konica Minolta's can be had for under $500 and have 4 or 5 MP. The Sony P-150 and P-200's are 7 MP for under $500. But you also need to factor in accesories such as flash memory and a carrying case. there are several other camera companies out there, such as Pentax, Casio, Kodak, Kyocera, etc. etc. but the Sony, Canon, and Konica Minolta are the three I am partial too.
 
[ QUOTE ]
MrBenchmark said:
I'm in the market for a new digital camera.
- some ability to control exposure, I'm not a pro photographer, but dumbed-down, EZ2Use devices annoy me.

[/ QUOTE ]

I posted this over 2 years ago:
Some General Digital Camera Advice

2 years is an eternity in digicam terms - so all the models and prices are completely out of date -
but the general advice still stands.

However one would be hard pushed to find any new 2Mp digicams - the lowest entry level seems now to be 3Mp.

So bearing that in mind and the requirment for the ability for control -
I would recommend looking at the Canon Powershot A85 (4Mp ~$208 delivered)
a85_586x225.jpg

However the A85 is being replaced -
so also look at the replacements
Canon A510 (3Mp ~$170 delivered)
and
Canon A520 (4Mp just released, so street price is still "high" ~$270 delivered, I'd wait for prices to drop)

These Canon Powershot "A-Series" all can be used on full-auto for simplified usage, as well as a number of "scene" modes - but also offer a full array of manual and other controls.

Reviews -

Canon A85 Review at dcResource.com

Canon A510 & A520 Review at dcResource.com

Canon A85 Review at Imaging-Resource.com

JFYI - I do a lot of photography - please see the links in my sig -
http://UnknownVT.cjb.net
was the page for my 2004 photos - that's well over 100 albums of multiple sets of photos.

And this year's page at
http://UnknownVT2005.cjb.net
already has 40 albums many with multiple sets/entries.
(Many of these photos are on bands'/artists' websites)

Those photos are all done with an inexpensive 3Mp Canon A70.....
 
Another vote for the W-1. I bought my wife one, and have ended up using it more than I do my high-end F717. BTW, the W-5 is basically the same camera with a 7MP sensor. Unless you're doing studio or pro work (and who does that with a point'n'shoot???) 5MP is more than enough for great photos.

But if you have the time, definitely spend the time to peruse those review sites that were posted. There are tons of cameras that fit your stated needs/wants.

I like the Sony cameras because of their high quality and user-friendly interfaces. They are pricey, and use a proprietary storage media that will fit nothing else. As far as I'm concerned, those are the only two drawbacks.

That said, any of the other "name" brand cameras will do you a fine job. Just remember that the lens is the heart of the system. The Sonys have excellent glass, which is why they're more expensive than nost. Some of the other brands have so-so glass.
 
Here's some shots I have taken with my Canon s500. Click to see larger photo. These photos were originally 5MP but had to decrease size for imageshack.











 
I have a Canon A95, and LOOOOVE it.
I think its pretty much one of the very best cameras you can get till you start spending 700+

Its not really a pocket cam though, but its not bad.
If you want pocket, get a Canon S series.
These are very nice cameras, take great pics,
downfalls.... they cost a good bit more than an A series cam with the same features (small cost $)
They use battery packs. (i hate battery packs, thats why I went with the larger A95, it takes 4AAs, and will last alllll day)

If you havent noticed yet, every time one of these threads are started, you will see one word repeated over and over.... CANON
 
I just bought a Canon Powershot SD300 that seems to fit your requirements. I found it for a little over $300 shipped here. Got an Extreme III 1Gig SD card for $110, a few extra batteries for $15 and a form fitting leather case off ebay and I'm a happy camper. In it's case on my belt I hardly know it's there, but when I want to take a good pic or short video I've got my camera by my side most of the time. It also fits in an Otterbox #1000 to keep it waterproof and crushproof. I use a cleaning cloth for eyeglasses to surround it in the Otterbox case.

It's super small and takes great pictures and videos. I can take requested pics or pics of the camera itself to show the size if you want.
 
Canon is leading the digital camera market.

I have three canon digicams - an older (circa 2001) S30 (3MP), a SD300 (5MP) and a Pro1 (8MP). Even the 3MP camera takes incredibly shart pictures. The two newer cameras are just totally amazing.

The SD300 will take pictures at 2.5 frames per second until the card fills. The pictures are great right out of the camera with little post processing required - all that from a camera much smaller than a deck of cards.

The Pro1 is an incredible camera with razor sharp pictures. It is the closest you can get to a digital SLR without having interchangeable lenses.

J.
 
I've had a Canon S50 now for quite a while and love it. I'll soon be ordering the SD300. I've used them several times, and they are dreamy little cameras!
 
I'm going to toss my two cents in here even though the camera I'm using is outside the price range.

I own three point & shoot digitals, A Cannon digital Elf, A Cannon A85 (only four months old) and an older 3mp Kodak DC280. I hate all three of them; and before everyone gets all up tight, let me explain; it's a matter of speed.

These cameras are slow. I push the button and wait, one maybe two seconds until it finally takes the shot. I can't tell you how many shots I've missed with them because of the slow performance. I take a picture of a child and by the time the silly point and shoot thinks about it, focuses, computes the exposure and finally, takes a picture, hell, the kids off to college already! (That may an exaggeration, but not much sometimes). The ELF and the A85 both annoy me no end being so slow.

My wife used the Cannon A85 to back me up during a wedding shoot recently and missed nearly all of the shots; the A85 just took too long for candids, although it did all right on the formals. I normally use a Mamiya RB67 (120/220 roll film) for pro work, but a couple of months ago I did a wedding (a freebee) using a Nikon D70 I borrowed from my office and I finally found a digital that performs like a REAL camera, not a sluggish toy. When I push the button, it takes a picture, Right Now, not in 3,4,5 seconds (or never if the light's too dim), but Right Now!

Last month I bought my own with two lenses and was delighted to find that my older AF lenses also worked just fine.

I can shoot an entire wedding, maybe 500-600 shots and never change a battery or slow down. I get the shots I couldn't even get with the massive RB67 because of its size. It's the first digital I've used that I can truly say is worth the extra money. At 5 mp the quality is still no match for the RB67's 6x7cm negatives but its plenty good enough for anything up to 11x14 prints.

I know it's a lot more than you want to spend, but think about it just the same. With rebates and discounts, it will run you $1100.00. I know it's a lot of money, but if you plan to use it a lot, you won't regret the expense in the end.

Sorry if this is off the subject too much but I have a real thing about painfully slow digitals, and after owning three of them I really appreciate the D70.

Al
 
I hear you, Al. When I moved to digitals, after years and years of using top-shelf 35MM SLRs, the "digital delay" (especially when using flash) was very annoying.

But you know what? I've learned to deal with it. When shooting a fast-moving subject, like my youngest grandson, I just pre-frame by pressing the shutter button halfway, then shoot when I want to. Yes, I do get some blur in some shots and the occasional mis-metered shot, but that's one of the joys of digital; you preview and delete what you don't want. And you don't worry about burning expensive film on iffy shots. I might take a dozen shots to get the one I want; but so what? How many times did we do that with film; and pay dearly for the priviledge of selecting the good image? Yeah, your DSLR does the same thing; but I'm no longer willing to hump around a full-size camera and lenses.

My daughter got a D70 for Xmas. For a brief moment when I first held it, I was back in the old days of 35mm. Then common sense took hold. I'm as into nostalgia as much as the next guy, but even if I could afford one I wouldn't buy a DSLR. The utter convenience of having a high-quality camera that literally fits in my pocket unnoticed unless I need it, and the extreme convenience of digital imaging, have totally changed the way I look at photography.

While a purist may turn up his nose, I WAS a purist. Digital photography is one of those areas, IMO, where newer is most definitely better.
 
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