I need digital camera advice

[PlayboyJoeShmoe]

Update:

The pressure worked! I have my Sony FD-90 back!

It is a 1.6MP, 10x Optical model from a couple three or four years ago. I got it new in box off Ebay whenever I did get it.

It takes decent, sometimes very good photos, and uses floppy disk storage, making it useful for my non USB ancient 'puter.

Anyhow, it's back! Yippee!

 

[txwest]

Joe,
Glad to hear you recovered your camera. It'll probably do what you need it to do. A short while back they broke down & bought a cheap Sony at work. I could have saved them $100, but hey, we have it & it does all we need. In fact, the only short comming is inadility for good micro. TX

 

[SurefireM6]

Digital Cameras are interesting. If you just want to carry it around with you everywhere, size is key. You want it to be small enough to have on you at all times.

The canon S230 is the biggest bang for your buck in my opinion. It's so small you can EDC it if you want(smaller than a pack of cigs), 3.1mp, up to 512mb memory for up to 7000 pictures, movie mode, panarama mode, etc etc. And it just looks good, a picture of it just does not show it's elegance. The smooth brushed aluminum looks very nice. Here is one on Ebay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3002642145&category=3335

 

[geepondy]

Wow, no deal there. With current $375 price and $20 shipping, I'm only saving $5 compared to walking in a local camera/electronics shop. If the S230 camera was $100 cheaper, I'd buy one, just to have for a second camera because of it's size.

 

[PlayboyJoeShmoe]

I've been reading a lot of reviews and have this to add...

In a budget, say $250 price range I would go with a Canon A-40. Period. This one is a little large for always carry.

Step up $125 or so to the $375 range and it's a Canon s-330 baby! Those things look SWEET! And it could be carried around easily too.

The buddy who had my FD90 will probably get an A-40.

 

[The_LED_Museum]

Originally posted by PlayboyJoeShmoe:
The pressure worked! I have my Sony FD-90 back!

It is a 1.6MP, 10x Optical model from a couple three or four years ago. I got it new in box off Ebay whenever I did get it.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Congratulations on getting your camera back!!
I ended up losing one of mine while I was in the hospital, but it was a crappy one; 0.8 megapixels, no zoom, etc. But it worked on a non-USB computer by hooking up to a serial port.

It was a Polaroid PDC-750 if I remember right.

Now I have a Nikon Coolpix 775 and an Olympus Brio D-100.

 

[geepondy]

Originally posted by SurefireM6:
Digital Cameras are interesting. If you just want to carry it around with you everywhere, size is key. You want it to be small enough to have on you at all times.

The canon S230 is the biggest bang for your buck in my opinion.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">You know as I posted, that camera is on my short list for a second camera as well. However if one was willing to spend $400 for the camera, might it be worth it to spend a hundred more for the Canon S45? Just an inch longer but much more powerful with higher res, bigger zoom, etc. I'm going to have to look at both in person before making a choice if it comes down to those two cameras.

 

[PlayboyJoeShmoe]

A bit of clarification on my Sony.

8x optical + 8x digital, and 1.3 MP extrapolated to 1.6

Anyhow if there is enough light to focus by it will take a pretty nice sharp picture.

I don't believe I have ever taken anything bigger than 1024x768, and most 640x480.

 

[The_LED_Museum]

I got a 1.3 megapixel Fujifilm digital camera for a friend, and the standard sized prints he had made from it are totally indistingushable from prints made from a regular film camera!!!

So I know it can be done.

 

[geepondy]

Originally posted by SurefireM6:
Digital Cameras are interesting. If you just want to carry it around with you everywhere, size is key. You want it to be small enough to have on you at all times.

The canon S230 is the biggest bang for your buck in my opinion. It's so small you can EDC it if you want(smaller than a pack of cigs), 3.1mp, up to 512mb memory for up to 7000 pictures, movie mode, panarama mode, etc etc. And it just looks good, a picture of it just does not show it's elegance. The smooth brushed aluminum looks very nice.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">I just picked one of these up last weekend. You're right, it's a good camera, very nice, rich "Canon" color. What's surprising is how powerful the flash is for such a little camera. I also like the auto focus assist beam, something of which Nikon refuses to implement in their consumer digicams, even the $1200 CP5700. The only real thing I'm disappointed in thus far is that there isn't a constant battery indicator icon. It only pops up when the battery is low and at that point it is really low. Here's a picture for size comparison. I know there are cameras even smaller but this is a great package and will slip in a shirt pocket.

 

[rdwilson]

After much research, reading, getting opinions and searching for the best price, I got the Canon S45 last August. The main reason for non getting a Sony was the Memory Stick storage media. The Compact Flash is not proprietary and IBM's micro drive uses this from factor. A $15 PCMCIA (now PC Card) adapter slips right into my laptop and emulates a Windows hard drive. For transfers to the desktop box USB is used.

Since you've read the reviews, I'll not go into features here. Several mods made the camera much more useful.

1. A cable release adaptor fashioned from a aluminum shelf bracket.
2. An adapter that allows the use of standard 37mm filters.
3. An additional flash with a slave trigger to compensate for the lack of a hot shoe mount.

The mods add functionality approaching the G2 at a much more affordable price.

I hope that this helps.

 

[Silviron]

I have to admit I made a mistake on buying the Minolta 7i..... I love everything about the camera... EXCEPT.... the quality of the pictures it takes.

The controls are great; all the various auto and manual features are easily and almost intuitively accessed, the zoom range is great, it feels good in the hand and is very well engineered.

But the color rendition and "crispness" of my old Nikon and even older Olympus are better even though their megapixels are much fewer.

Ah well, It will do for a while. Save up my pennies and buy a Nikon D-100 SLR next time. ought to be down to $1500 or so by then....

 

[Sigman]

Pentax Optio 330GS - $299 w/free shipping from <a href="http://www.bestbuy.com/detail.asp?e=11183947&m=82&cat=83&scat=84" target="_blank">"Best Buy".

</a>

I really like mine! It's probably one of the most "affordable" 3.2 MP cameras on the market. Meets the requirements in Ravens post above and more! I did alot of shopping for this and didn't want to spend more than $300 - This did it for me!

 

[Max]

I bought a Canon A20 about a year ago. I'm very pleased with it. I believe the A40 has replaced it now. At the time, I was deciding between the A20 and I think the Olympus C2040. What made me go for those two units was picture quality, especially the nice color. The Olympus seemed to have a definite edge, better image quality, more control and a better lens, but at the time the best deal I could find made it about $100 more than the Canon A20, so the cost factor made the decision in the end.

 

[geepondy]

Ya, the Pentax cameras are really coming on strong in recent month's, aren't they. Rumor has it Pentax is coming out with a digital SLR to challenge the big boys, Nikon, Canon and Kodak.

 

[Vikas Sontakke]

Pentax has also coming out with Optio Ultra to challenge the credit card size digicam market currently owned by Canon S200/S230. The new Pentax is 3MP/3X and is smaller than S230. But it willl be taking the SD media (or is it xD).

- Vikas

P.S. I am waiting until S230 drops down to $199; a long wait; I know

 

[Silviron]

Well, I'm happier about the 7i today. I re-programmed some of the "standard" program settings and took some SUPER quality pictures today. What a relief to not have wasted all that money.

 

[Stingray]

There sure are alot of choices, it's difficult to pick one. I can get the Canon S230 elph for $366. Is that a decent price? Does the S230 let you download pictures to PC's without having the Canon software on it first?

How does the S330 compare to the S230?

Is it better to have 2 megapixels and 3X optical zoom/2.5 digital zoom or 3 megapixels and 2X optical zoom/3.2X digital zoom?

tia