Digital Camera preferences

[hipsterdoofus]

Hello all,

 

As part of my geocaching activities, I would like to buy a digital camera. This bunch was good at helping me decide which GPS to buy so I thought i'd post my preferences on camera here. I HAD been leaning towards the Kodak DX3600 simply because I have a friend who has one and so I am familiar with it and also it takes very nice pictures.

 

However, that camera is nice but it is made better with additional options and I just want to make sure that I get the best camera for the $$$! I am looking to buy something hopefully not TOO much more than $350 or so. I KNOW there are cameras much cheaper than this, but what I would like is something that works like that Kodak that can take video with additional memory, so I plan on buying about 256 MB of memory for about $100 so I guess I really want a camera that would go for about $250-300...I don't want anything that is really less than the 2.2 Mega pixel that the Kodak has. If you all could post some comments about your cameras, brag on them some :-) Let me know what you think of your camera as far as picture quality, zoom ability, user interface (how easy is it to use), configuring it to download pics to your PC, Battery usage/recharging, etc.

 

Thanks for all your comments.

 

HipsterDo0fus

Edmond, OK

[+GoldKey]

Had two of the low/mid range Kodaks and they both died on me. Luckily, I had purchase the extended warantee and got to trade up each time. I now have the Canon Powershot S30. I have had it for about 6 months and have been very happy with it. But it is about 2x your price range. I just bought a second camera just for caching. It is a Sipix (seach it on Amazon) it was only about $40. It only takes 640x480 and the picture quality is not as good as my $500 camera (obviously). But for caching, it is a good choice, because if you drop and break it, you won't feel too bad.

 

"We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Your culture will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile. We are the Borg."

[+Team Tecmage]

Sony CyberShots are good. We have a P20, which has been replaced. The P31 is also a good camera. We went with a 64MB memory stick, but the higher end ones are coming down fast.

[+Markwell]

digital cameras

Which Camera to buy?

and

For those who post photographs...

 

Last Christmas, we decided to get a digital camera, so we went out and spent bucoo bucks on a 4mpix minolta. It was BIG-TIME overkill for what we wanted. So we returned it within 4 days.

 

We decided that the only reason we wanted the digital camera was for posting pics on the web, so we went out and got a 1.1Mpix Kodak in February. I've been ecstatic with the results, and we actually use this camera now more than our 35mm REALLY nice one.

 

The fact that Windows XP runs a screensaver with slideshows of all pics in the "My Pictures" folder is an added benefit of going digital.

 

The only reason I felt that I would need to go higher resolution would be if I wanted to print off 8x10s (I'd proabably have gotten a 3mpix for that). According to everything I've read, 4mp is overkill, as it prints sharp clear 11x14 copies. How many of us have printers that will accommodate that size paper?

 

Markwell

Chicago Geocaching

[+Ducky]

CANON EOS-1D DIGITAL SLR CAMERA 11.1mp

 

It's a really nice camera but make sure you have something under you when you see the Price!!!

 

$5095.19USD

 

Work Smarter, Not Harder!

[+eroyd]

I really like my Sony P51. Its got all the basic desirable options. Seems most camera's with same options are all priced competetively. Next jump up in price is for macro which is over a hundred bucks. With high res. on the p51 you can crop in for close ups anyway. The Sonys are a nice flat package as compared to a box. Can't give you a long term opinion, haven't had it long enough.

[+LarsThorwald]

I went for the Minolta DimageX, which is currently the smallest digital camera out there. Basically the size of a feck of cards, it's "only" 2 megapixel... but, like Marwell, we only use it for caching, screensaver slideshow pix, and reference pix for my wife's landscape architecture projects. The christmas card shots, and photos we've framed, are all 35mm anyway. Thus the Minolta is perfect: truly shirtpocket small, about $350, great for caching.

 

Charlie

"One should never begin a journey by heading in the wrong direction."

[+ABXGuy]

I have a Sony Mavica FD-90 and it takes excellent pictures. About $500 for 1.6 MP and 10x zoom. The part I like the best, though others may not, is the use of standard floppy disks for picture storage. No serial ports or USB ports required to download pictures, no special software neither. I can take pictures and load them onto a computer without the need of any special software to download the pictures from the camera. Depending on resolution I can get from 5-30 pictures on a disk. A friend recently purchased a Kodak 4MP camera, don't remember the model, but it takes the worst pictures I have seen from a digital camera.

 

[+Kodak's4]

I use a Minolta Dimage X, which is fairly low on the resolution scale (2 Mp). But it's great for web photos, documentation, snapshots. For real work I'd take a real camera anyway.

 

The big win of the Dimage X is that it's very small, and it allows voice annotation of the photos, a really useful feature IMHO.

 

[+bigredmed]

I received some grants to develop media at work and have obtained two cameras. A Casio Exilim and a Canon Cybershot. If you are going to get only one, get the Canon because it has more features. If you don't plan on macro shots or such, and want a pocket snapshot camera, get the Exilim. Credit card sized and 2 megapixels. True WOW factor.

 

By appointment to the Court of HRM Queen Mikki I.

[hipsterdoofus]

Thanks everyone for all the replies so far and hope to get some more, you are very helpful.

[hipsterdoofus]

Ok sorry forgot to add in some comments. I am probably going to stay away from Sonys that use their memory because from what I can tell the sony memory sticks are proprietary and more expensive. I am also looking for DEFINATELY more storage than a floppy disk, as mentioned, will want to look into as much as 256 mb of additional memory. I will use this camera primarily for geocaching but also for some outdoorsy shots and stuff so I want something with a pretty decent Megapixal..as mentioned, that 2.2 seems good although I might possibly drop to 2 if there is a good deal out there on one, but the 2 mp is kinda of an older standard out there and low in the barrel as well as the 2.2 is as well but keep suggestions coming :-)

[targetdrone]

I have an Olympus D460 that broke after I dropped it for about the umpteenth time. It came with pretty good software. I also like the software that came with my scanner.

 

I can now do good things to pictures taken with cheap cameras.

 

Now, how come I've never dropped the cheap camera???

 

Don't blame me, I voted for Jeremy.

[+eroyd]

Memory sticks for Sony are now available through other mfgs. ( Lexmark I think) and are no more expensive than the others. My Sony came with the software, USB cable, Video cable, rechargable batteries and battery charger.

 

Enjoy your shopping.

[+eagleflyby]

I bought an Olympus D-510 and I love it. I have worked with other cameras as well but the Olympus is my favourite.

Check out refurbdepot.com

I preffer refurbished units because they are testet more thorroughly than the regular retailed ones. Also you can by a protection plan for a mere $20 for 2 years.

Have fun.

 

So Long Eagleflyby

[+Arpy]

Take a look at the Nikon Coolpix 4300. It has everything you could ever need. 4 megapixels. Excellent price at $380.00 on web...

[+Time Travelers]

I love my digital camera! I have an Olympus 2040 I bought it almost two years ago. I originally purchased two additional 56 mg smart media cards, and have never filled them both to compacity (all depends on the quality desired) using a 'high quality' as opposed to 'super high quality' I can take 128 pictures on one 56 mg card. I also purchased a charger and 8 rechargable batteries so I always have a fresh set (keep in mind, rechargable batteries will not hold a charge very long when stored for a period of time). Check out http://www.consumerworld.org/ for consumer reviews. I found prices better over the internet than in the stores. The 2040 is fully automatic or can be totally manual or set anywhere in-between. It's a 2.1 megapixel w/5x digital zoom (I also like the hand grip). I don't 'print' many photos but have tons of shots on CDs. Did I say I love my digital camera?

Happy shopping.

 

"We judge ourselves by what we feel capable of doing, while others judge us by what we have already done." Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

 

[+Goodguys]

I now have a Fuji 2600. The features I like:

takes 2 x AA batteries so spares are no problem.

has sliding lens cover - helps keep the lens clean.

power switch separate from sliding lens cover.

can download without software (maybe its an attribute of Win XP).

 

I don't like:

LCD display panel is hard to read in bright sun.

battery strength icon doesn't display until moments before batteries die.

 

Wish I had:

more optical zoom.

more manual control to know and control exposure (aperture, shutter speed), manual focus.

infinity focus feature.

[+Mudfrog]

Im new to the digital camera world also and for our first camera we bought a Samsung 1.3mp from wallyworld. Not too bad for a cheap $128 camera that does great with low res web pics, but of course now i got the bug and want a higher resolution camera to use with my printer. I see all the brand names listed above and it would be hard to make a decision on one at this point.

 

My idea for a great camera would be that its small, that it would have high enough resolution to print out sharp 8x10 pictures, has at least a 3x optical zoom, easy to use and download into the computer, is somewhat water resistant, and that doesnt eat up batteries like crazy. Havnt seen any mention of power comsumption here. This camera probably doesnt exist but i'll ask anyways. Any feelings on this? Thanks

[+trippy1976]

Olympus takes the best pictures of any camera I've used.

 

I owned an Olympus D-360Z camera (I think) and loved it. Eventually I got hit by my NEED to upgrade and sold the 360 and bought a C-3000.

 

I used the 3000 for one day on vacation when I went online and had a Canon Powershot S100 overnighted to me.

 

I've been using the Canon since. The 3000 takes better pics at a higher res, but since 99% of my digital pics are for web posting... I don't need to have 3000000x203433000 resolution Either 640x480 or 1600x1200 will do in any giving situation. And the quality on my camera is good.

 

I have an Olympus C-3000 I'm selling. If anyone is interested let me know mike@wunderware.com

 

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trippy1976 - Team KKF2A

[+Scook]

Originally posted by GoldKey:

Had two of the low/mid range Kodaks and they both died on me. Luckily, I had purchase the extended warantee and got to trade up each time. I now have the Canon Powershot S30.

 

I'm currently using a older Kodak DC-290 and also still have a even older but working Kodak DC-120. I've had very good luck with my 2 cameras and would recommend Kodak to anyone else. My daughter just bought a Canon S30 and it looks and works great too. Much lighter and smaller than the Kodaks!(I'm jealous but too cheap to buy a new camera right now.)

Just don't buy any digital camera with just a digital zoom unless that's all you can afford. Optical Zoom is what really works for closeups.

I even have a JamCam ($30 for 640x480 pictures ) but it performs poorly except in a perfect daylight exposure.

 

"Pluralitas non est ponenda sine neccesitate"

- William of Occam

 

[This message was edited by Scook on November 14, 2002 at 08:03 PM.]

 

[This message was edited by Scook on November 14, 2002 at 08:03 PM.]

[+trippy1976]

Sorry for two posts, but I never gave a reason for preferring the Canon Powershot.

 

SIZE. Buy a small camera. My PowerShot fits easily into my front jeans pocket or a shorts pocket, etc. and the lens pulls into the casing when shut off, automatically protecting it.

 

With the 3000 it was like having a regular camera with me. So big and bulky and always having to put the lens cap back on. The quality of pictures didn't outweigh the inconvinience of carrying around a large form factor IMHO.

 

Sony has a good small camera for around $200 now (at Best Buy, so likely cheaper online). But if you are going to go Geocaching, I would recommend size be a consideration as well as price. If you take the camera with you... you may end up dropping it in a puddle.

 

I meant to post this in my last post as well. While not the greatest camera on the market, there is a deal on the Fuji Finepix camera at this link. Pretty good price for the camera.

 

http://www.compgeeks.com/details.asp?invtid=FINEPIXA101-R&sourceid=00384104774967759786

 

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trippy1976 - Team KKF2A

[+Alan2]

Here's a good web page for digital camera reviews, pricing, comparisons, latest ones released, specs, etc.

 

Alan