Digital Cameras?

[buddy]

I'm in the market for a decent, inexpensive camera (My Fuji FinePix needs repaired). Family snapshot kinda' thing. Went to consumer reports and their "Best Buy" was a Canon Powershot A 75 which they listed around $200. Sounds good to me. Features are 3 megapixel, excellent battery life, 2 sec. next shot delay, movie mode (w/ sound).

Comments welcomed and encouraged.

Would like to keep the price around a deuce but might shell out another buck if I can get talked into something I really like.

 

[The Boys]

Check out this 5 meg Canon at Costco. There is no time limit on returns at Costco. I think Best Buy and Circuit City have 30 day retun policies.

http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11036366&whse=BC&topnav=&cat=3264&hierPath=79*3264*

 

[buddy]

This is the "consumer report" write up on the Canon S500. Seems like a real nice buy! I don't need the 5 megapixels, but I do like the battery and charger feature.


RECOMMENDATIONS & NOTES
Very good overall. Very good battery life. Supports PictBridge direct print system. Has "Quick Shots" mode to reduce shutter lag time, "long shutter" mode with a variety of shutter speeds from 1 sec. to 15 sec. available. Can edit movies.

FEATURES
The following features are among the most important in determining whether this model will meet your needs.

GENERAL FEATURES

Camera Size Compact

Maximum Aperture f2.8-f4.9

Shutter Range 15-1/2000

Exposure Compensation Yes

Camera Connections A/V out, USB

Flash Modes Auto-flash mode, Forced-off flash mode, Forced-on flash mode, Red-eye reduction, SloSync mode

Manual Controls No

Manual Focus No

Macro Focus Yes

Movie Mode Yes, with sound

Secure Grip No

Charger Yes

AA Batteries No

EDITING/VIEWING

LCD Size (in.) 1.5

Viewfinder Yes

Optical Zoom 3X

35mm Equivalent Zoom Ratio 36-108

Still Image File Formats JPEG

Eyeglasses No

MEMORY/STORAGE

Storage Type CompactFlash I

Storage Size (MB) 32

RESOLUTION

Megapixels (MB) 5

Still Image Resolution Settings 2592 x 1944, 2048 x 1536, 1600 x 1200, 640 x 480

Sensor Type CCD

 

[The Boys]

Whatever you do, Cannon sure does make a nice digital camera. I've had mine for 3 years and it's great.

 

[dawgball]

From my experience, Canon makes the best digital "pocket" cameras. Sony is the best for digital camcorders. And Nikon is the best for the upper level amateur digital camera (D70).

$200 for a camera that does what the A75 does would have been unheard of a few years back. i don't think you will be disappointed with this choice.

 

[GM]

I have the A75 - It is excellent value for the money. The movie mode is great. You can shoot up to 3 minutes of movie at a time, and a 128 meg card will hold about 5 of them. The little speaker on the camera is nothing special, so the sound won't sound great when you play it back on the camera...but then you hook it up to your TV and you're pleasantly surprised at the quality, both sound and vision.

The other really nice thing about the camera, and probably the main reason I bought it, is the extra large video display. It has a 1.5" screen whereas most others have 1.2". The difference is huge...you don't have to squint to see what you are taking a picture of. For some odd reason it is not easy to find a camera with a display this big. I wouldn't settle for anything smaller.

I bought the camera last summer and have no complaints about it at all. The picture quality is fantastic, I was just amazed. And you see a lot more detail in your pics that the human eye would ever see. (Sometimes almost too much detail!). You'll want to buy a larger memory card than the one that comes with it.

 

[GM]

Oh..another really good tip that someone gave me on digitial cameras to keep in mind whatever you decide.... there is optical zoom and digital zoom. Get a camera that has either optical, or both (not just digital). The A75 has both. Optical is the better, more traditional form of zoom (you may already know this, but just in case you don't). When you zoom in, from 0 to 3x it is using optical zoom. Beyond that it switches to digital zoom, which is sort of like simulating zoom. It's a computer re-enhancement of the photo (expanding the size of the pixels instead of actually zooming in. So pictures taken at the maximum zoom level (10x) can appear "blocky" or "boxy".

I don't have a lot of need to zoom in more than 3x, so the digital zoom doesn't kick in too often, and it doesn't matter to me. But any camera with digital zoom only is going to give you inferior picture quality. I am not a real camera expert, but I notice a visible difference in quality between the two zoom types.

 

[Regular Joe]

Buddy,

Just wondering if you ever got the new camera. Old Butterfingers (me) dropped ours, and my wife has the "You broke it, you replace it!" mentality.

Thanks!
"Joe"

p.s. I'm digitally impared!

 

[buddy]

Joe,

I'm still using my FinePix. I messed around with it and accidentally fixed it.

How's things? Around here, the mayor of Forest Hills was arrested last Sunday for being drunk and disorderly at the Steeler game.

 

[vinnie]

I wouldn't go with anything less than 4 megapixels you won't be happy in the long run

 

[Regular Joe]

Buddy,

Outside of things rattling around inside my camera,(a bad sign, huh?) things are o.k. We're entering the windy season, so hot, windy days will be in order. Don't worry, you'll see us on the news in a bit when the brush fires start.

Hope all is well back there.

By the way, how much was bail for the mayor??


Take care,
"Joe"

 

[Jaxx]

Did alot of research and came up with the Canon A80. Had it for a year and has done very well. I dropped it on the concrete in Taos N.m. on vacation a month ago and it still works lol. Cannot go wrong with Canon. Good luck on what ever you choose.

 

[Regular Joe]

Ricknjax,

I'm leaning towards the Canon. How many megapixels does the A80 have?

Thanks!
"Joe"

 

[White Shadow]

Just bought a Sony Cybershot DSC-T7 tonight. It's the one that's about the size of a credit card. My wife just had to have that one(it looks cute she says). Sears had it on sale for $475 and also got a $50 mail-in rebate so not a bad deal (if it turns out to be a nice camera). She told me to read the manual and let her know what she needs to do....lol.

Also bought a Sony Digital DVD Camcorder (model #201, if I remeber right). Been using it for about a month and pretty happy with it so far. If I could do it over again, I'd probably shell out an extra couple of hundred for the 403 model. We have that one at work and it is nice but pricey. My 201 has a 1 megapixel digital camera also but I don't use it for that, just for video.

 

[saint]

I have the canon SD400...5 mpix,3x optical zoom..very good point and shoot camera. My only gripe is that there is no battery indicator so when it's low you get a 5 mins warning and it poops out. Also know that you will need more memory than the 16megs that come standard, I opted for half a gig which has been plenty. I also like that the screen on the back is 2" which is huge compared to others. It makes it easy to see if your pictures were a good shot or can be deleted on the spot. Go to this site it's got good reviews on cameras:

www.dpreview.com

Let me know if you have any questions. The SD400 is a tiny, tiny camera which is what I wanted (fits easily into a pocket or the woman's purse w/out being too bulky).

 

[Jaxx]

Ricknjax,

I'm leaning towards the Canon. How many megapixels does the A80 have?

Thanks!
"Joe"

It is a 4 meg.

GL