I need a digital camera...

[martyo]

....and I would like to own it and understand it before I get to Marauderville.

Ease of use and compatability with peripherals would be a plus.

Thoughts and suggestions would be welcome.

[Mad1]

The stars must have aligned.Buying the 'right' digital camera (http://www.nashvillecitypaper.com/index.cfm?section_id=10&screen=news&news_id=25304)

My tech columnist wrote this column for Monday's newspaper.

As a former tech writer, news photographer and part-time digital camera salesman at a CompUSA myself, I think these are some very good cameras that he recommends at the end of his column.


The Fuji Finepix A303 has received super ratings, 3.2 MP, for $180; it prints great photos to 8-by-10. That is an awful lot of camera for a great price and perfect for a beginner. For the true rank beginner, try the easy-to-use Kodak DX3500: 2.2 MP, great pictures, and only $130. Olympus has always been known for its small size and extremely high quality lenses; the Camedia C-50 Zoom is pricier at $380, but it’s 5 MP, 8 oz, all metal, and cool. I’ve always liked Nikon glass, and the Nikon Coolpix 5000 is a serious camera at $585, 5.24 MP, or try the smaller Coolpix 4300, 4 MP at $340 (don’t buy the “International” version!). The Canon PowerShot S400 is 4 megapix, 6 oz., light, very high quality, for just over $400; or try the Powershot S230, 3.2 MP for $280.

Best of luck with the purchase.
Mad1

P.S. If you have any questions on digital cameras, PM me and I'd be happy to talk you through some pros and cons.

[martyo]

My post is up an hour or twoo and I have already gotten several very helpful responses. Thanks guys!!

[Logan]

Marty, one of the most informative sites regarding digital camera's I came across when making my decision was www.dpreview.com

I ended up with a Sony DSC-F717, 5megapixel camera. It quite simply rocks. In combination with a Canon S9000 Photo Printer, I'm able to reproduce lab quality prints in my house up to 13" by 19" for less than an $1100 investment.

[martyo]

Logan: I looked at that camera just this a.m. I wasn't sure if it was "more" than I needed, but I sure liked it. Where did you get yours? Is this the sort of thing I can buy online with out worries?

[Logan]

I bought mine direct from Sony via their online store with no issues. They gave me 6 months same as cash too. :)

The 717 is very easy and intuitive to use, and produces awesome quality photos. 90% of the time, I use it to take pictures of the kids and stuff and print 4x6's and the occaisional 8x10, but it sure is nice to know that I can print lab quality stuff all the way to poster size. (20" by 30" on Kodak paper via www.ofoto.com)...

[Directedby]

Go to epinions.com.

They rate all electronics and have customer reviews and also tel you the cheapest place to buy.

I have an Olympus and like the quality very much.

http://www.epinions.com/Digital_Cameras

[Petrograde]

I love my Sony Cyber-shot. The only thing that sucks is you really have to buy the $100 rechargable battery pack. Two AA batteries last less than 10 minutes! :mad:

... and the price of the 128MB memory sticks have dropped to around $50!

[Logan]

The DSC-F717's battery lasts about 8 hours and is regchargable....... :)

[nhinterceptor]

Here's a pretty good site for reviews
Steve's Digicams (http://www.steves-digicams.com/)

I purchased an Olympus 3030Z from here...
BuyDig (http://www.buydig.com/)

As for batteries, I like the Maha brand batteries and charger.
Thomas Distrib. (http://www.thomas-distributing.com/batteries.htm)


Hope this helps - Good Luck!

Dan

[martyo]

Thanks again guys!

[nhinterceptor]

You might also want to make sure the seller is an "Authorized" dealer. It can get messy if there's warranty issues. Also some of these low price sellers have gray market camera's, some don't have instructions in english, ie:Japanese only for that was the intended market.

I also registered my online at the Olympus web site and they had a promotion at the time to extend my standard warranty by six months.

-Dan

[Marauder57]

Consumer Reports is not a bad place either...but there are some really good comparison places on the net......

[engine23ccvfd]

I ended up with a Sony DSC-F717, 5megapixel camera

Ditto on the camera here...did alot of research and for the feature/money this is a dang fine camera....I am saving for the telephoto attachment lense....I went with a different printer than logan but have been very happy.


Logan you scene the new 512 MB mem sticks that came out a couple months ago!!!!

[Logan]

Yeah, I saw them, but the 128mb sticks are so cheap, I have 3 of them, which fit 51 full res pictures each... I rarely take that many pics unless I'm at ummm... A National Marauder Roundup. :D

[engine23ccvfd]

Yeah I am waiting for the price to drop...currently have three 128's myself. The great thing about digital is deleting crap pictures when they happen and freeing the mem for other pics...

[studio460]

Well, I guess it's time for me to add my $0.04 . . .

Two other excellent review sites for digital cameras in addition to dpreview are:
http://www.steves-digicams.com/ (http://www.steves-digicams.com)
http://www.imaging-resource.com/

IMO, digicams are like cars or women. It's up to you to choose the one you like. But here's a brief outline of my personal criteria:

Since it's a pretty serious hobby for me (I shoot television for a living, not stills), I own several cameras, and I often recommend to serious hobbyists to buy two cameras: a small, inexpensive one that you can carry around with you, and a second more sophisticated camera for more demanding work.

Aside from the megapixel debate, two of the most-often ignored specs are maximum 35mm-equivalent wide angle focal length, and maximum flash sync speed (more of a pro requirement). Many manufacturers used to produce cameras with 28mm (35mm equivalent) focal lengths at their widest setting; however, now, nearly all have now settled with 35mm-42mm as their widest focal lengths (not very wide). By the way, only consider the optical zoom range spec--digital zoom is a totally useless feature--ignore it--it's a "faux" feature, IMO.

I really love the feature set and ergonomics of Nikon's SLR-like Coolpix 5700 (5 megapixel), BUT its widest focal length is only 35mm. And the size of the wide angle adapter Nikon offers is HUGE! I mean HUGE!!! And, the camera takes expensive, proprietary Nikon Lithium batteries, so count on another few hundred dollars for extra batteries and chargers.

Canon's consumer digicam line-up has always produced nice colorimetry, but all of their consumer offerings now offer only a 35mm-wide view at their widest (except one). However, for a quick, simple, cheap (under $200) point-and-shoot, the non-zoom Canon PowerShot A300 3.2 megapixel gets my vote. It's got a fixed focal-length 33mm lens (slightly wider than the rest), uses Compact Flash memory (which I already own a ton of), and is powered by standard AA nickel metal hydride rechargables.

For a bit more money, you can get the Canon PowerShot A70 3.2 megapixel for about $350 mail order, but its widest focal length again, is only 35mm. Canon's digital Elphs are also nice, but a bit too small for my taste. Nice thing about the A70 is that Canon makes a beautiful underwater housing for it for under $200. Olympus' more full-featured Camedia C-5050 5-megapixel (again 35mm at its widest) now sells for under $600--it also has an OEM underwater housing available for it for about $200. The 5050 now also takes advantage of Compact Flash in addition to SmartMedia (prior "C" models are SmartMedia-only).

My personal choice is Minolta's 5-megapixel Dimage 7hi. Expensive, at about $850-$1,000, but it has everything I need. The f/2.8 built-in, non-interchangeable lens goes from 28mm-200mm--a very sweet range. For pros, the beauty of this camera is its flash sync . . . Flash sync is available AT ALL SHUTTER SPEEDS up to 1/4000th!!! This is a feature not even available on Nikon's multiple-thousand-dollar offerings in their pro line of D1/H/X/100 D-SLRs!!! The Dimage 7hi also has built-in support for wireless TTL flash using Minolta's 5600HS external flash--very, very nice. The only downside to this camera is that it eats batteries like crazy. I bought two Quantum Compact external batteries (at $170 each) to power this thing!

Look at the review sites, go to the camera store, and play around with several different models before you decide. You'll quickly (hopefully, anyway) find things you do and don't like about certain models. One last note . . . I've owned several cameras which used proprietary Lithium-ion batteries. For each, I purchased at least four batteries and two chargers (amounting to hundreds of dollars). For low-to-mid range cameras I would suggest considering only AA-powered models.

P.S. A note about AA batteries: Alkalines will only last a few minutes. Only high amp hour (1800-2200 mah), high quality nickel metal hydride (Ni-MH) AA rechargeable batteries will do. Also, many makes of quick chargers (even major brands) will easily damage your batteries by building up too much heat during the charge cycle. Sanyo 2100 mah Ni-MH batteries are supposedly among the best (the Mahas are reportedly as good or better as well). Don't know if this violates the vendor policy here but, I've found this link from Steve's Digicams as a good source for both the Sanyos and a recommended (safe) quick charger: ripvan100.com.

P.S.P.S. Oh, I forgot to mention Nikon's Coolpix 5400 5-megapixel digicam. It's not an SLR design like its sibling, the very slick-looking Nikon 5700, or the Minolta Dimage 7hi--it's more like the Olympus 5050 in design. The nice thing about the 5400 is that it is the only other consumer digicam in production that I can think of that has a 28mm-wide zoom (28mm-116mm 35mm equivalent) other than the Minolta Dimage 7hi.

P.S.P.S.P.S. I JUST saw Minolta's press release (dated August 7, 2003) and dpreview.com's preview of Minolta's Dimage 7hi replacement, the new A1. Very, very nice, but it uses proprietary Li-I batteries--the 7hi uses AAs (you can get a handgrip that takes six AAs for the A1, however). This should usher in some significant discounting of the current Dimage 7i and 7hi models a month or two after the A1 flows through the distribution channels.

The A1 basically offers a 14-bit A/D (vs. 12-bit), anti-vibration CCD technology (to stabilize handheld shooting), progressive scan (vs. interlaced), 3D focus tracking, and 50% faster autofocus performance (over the 7hi). However, I would save my money, and try to buy the 7hi as the price drops after the A1's introduction.

[martyo]

If this rain keeps up, I will likely be camera shopping this weekend. Thanks again for the help!

[studio460]

Martyo:

Wrote some more stuff I forgot about in the post above . . .

Oh, I just re-read your requirements in your initial post:

1. Ease of use:

All digicams have a "program" mode (or "dummy" mode) where everything's pretty much automatically done for you. So even though the more expensive cameras may look more complicated, they all have an easy-to-use mode. The higher priced cameras merely have more features, should you ever need them. They will also have "smarter" dummy modes (i.e., better metering algorithms; faster, better autofocus, etc.). For example, instead of just a few metering samples, the better cameras will have hundreds (the Minolta 7hi has 300).

2. System compatibility:

Generally, any camera made by a company that also manufactures traditional film cameras are more likely to have more complete system accessories. For example, many of the Nikon, Olympus, and Minolta digicams work with each respective company's sophisicated TTL (through-the-lens metered) external flash units. Some models offer extensive OEM wide and tele adapters made specifically for your camera, depending on model, which are generally better quality than after market products such as those offered by Tiffen, Kenko, and Raynox (Century-Precision is the exception).

[martyo]

Hey Guys: Thanks for all of the help! I dragged Jerry (gja) out of his office at lunchtime and he helped me select and buy a Canon Elph S400 and a few peripherals to go with it. I know NBC said that he thought it was too small, but that is what attracted me to the camera (hopefully I won't lose it).

I will play with it this weekend and post some pics of the rain or something. Based on what the weathermen are saying, I think NY is scheduled to get rain for the next month or so.

Thanks again to the full service website for all of the help.

[engine23ccvfd]

Send some rain this way...we are getting very parched

[studio460]

Oh, Martyo--I just wrote some more stuff above. STOP ME!!!!!

Like I said, JUST BUY WHAT YOU LIKE! I'm sure you'll be very happy with the S400!

[martyo]

Originally posted by NBC Shooter
I'm sure you'll be very happy with the S400!

If only I could take pictures as good as you, I would be plenty happy!!

[MM03MOK]

Originally posted by martyo
(hopefully I won't lose it). Or wash it. :lol:
Welcome to the 21st century!

[martyo]

Originally posted by MM03MOK
Or wash it. :lol:
Welcome to the 21st century!

Man that's a low blow bunny lady!!!