Digital Camera For Christmas

I don't know if I'll have time to research this so I'm hoping some of you nice people will give me some more good advice.

My Wife wants a digital camera for Christmas and I know nothing about them.

I can afford to spend up to $200.00.

From what I've seen so far it looks like the ultra compact one's would work out good and she could keep it in her purse.

Here's what I got so far:

http://www.digitalcamera-hq.com/nikon-coolpix-3700-reviews.html

http://www.digitalcamera-hq.com/canon-powershot-sd110-reviews.html

Any Suggestions? I really don't know much about them and have never had or used one..

Thanks Allot
Rockit

 

I like the Kodak EasyShare cameras. Having regular AA batteries is a plus. Get rechargeables and the docking station. Later on, you can add on the printer dock. (Sweet!) Has plenty of onboard storage too. Having to have a separate memory card just bugs me, as is necessary with alot of others. Nice to have the option for one though.

 

Rockit--Have a look at the November 2004 issue of Consumer Reports.
Lots of good ideas and some recommendations.

 

My wife has a Canon IXUS model similar to the Canon PowerShot SD110 in your link. I think hers is only 2.1MP. It is 3 years old now and has performed flawlessly, using compact flash cards. I like the canon range because of the brushed aluminium casing, and they don't feel plasticy. A 3.2MP would be considered entry level or below now days, but fine for normal print sizes and slightly above. If you can stretch to a 4MP camera (or above) all the better. But the lens needs to be good quality as well as the MP count. The canon lens is quite good and even though hers is only 2.1MP, professional normal size prints look nearly as good as a 35mm print to untrained eyes, and great on the PC at high res.

 

Jim !!
So what does it say? ,, Like I said I'm short on time right now..

Thanks Allot
Rockit

 

You can get a Canon PowerShot A75 3.2megapixel for $200 now...I have the A70 and it's an excellent camera.

From Steve's Digicams:

Steve's Conclusion
Building on the success of the highly popular Canon PowerShot A70, the PowerShot A75 incorporates all of the key features of the A70 and adds a number of upgrades such as a new Special Scene mode (SCN) on the command dial, which allows you to select any of six scene modes to insure proper exposure of special shooting conditions. There's also a new Print/Share button that speeds printing (to Direct Print and PictBridge compliant printers) and transferring images to your PC. Many of us find today's ultra-compact cameras too small to comfortably handle. The Canon "A" series is a mid-size compact that's positioned between the diminuitive Digital ELPH and the larger "G" series. We liked the size and ergonomics of the A70 and were glad to see that Canon retained them with the A75.
The A75 features a high-quality 3x optical zoom lens, a 9-point AiAF auto focus system (instead of the 5-point AF system on the A70) with a low-light focus assist illuminator, Canon's DIGIC image processor, the ability to capture motion video at resolutions of 640 x 480, 320 x 240, and 160 x 120 with sound, a 1.8 inch TFT color LCD that is very usable in all light conditions, uses readily-available CompactFlash memory cards, and is powered by standard AA-type batteries.

The image capture options are Auto (Point and Shoot mode), Program ( "Auto" with all the override options), Shutter-speed priority, Aperture priority, Manual, and the Scene modes: Portrait, Landscape, Night Scene, Fast Shutter, Slow Shutter, and SCN (Special Scene mode) which adds six new scene modes to choose from Foliage, Snow, Beach, Fireworks, Underwater (when used with the optional WP-DC30 underwater case), and Indoor. The Stitch Assist mode lets you create a panorama with up to 26 individual images taken in left-to-right or right-to-left orientation. A great panorama requires that the exposure and white balance is locked after the first shot and that each picture has about 20-35% overlap from the previous picture. The A75 automatically locks the exposure and using the onscreen prompting, makes the overlapping process very easy. The final step is to use the included Photo Stitch software to merge the sequential shots into a wide and gorgeous panorama. And last is Movie mode, which allows you to capture movies at 640 x 480 with sound for up to 30 seconds or 320 x 240 and 160 x 120 at up to 3 minutes with sound. As with most digicams that record video with sound, you cannot use the motorized zoom during recording.

The A75's image size choices are: 640 x 480 for use on a web page or as an e-mail attachment, Postcard(1600x1200) this is a special 3:2 ratio mode for making 4x6 in. prints, 1024 x 768, 1600 x 1200, and 2048 x 1536 which is sufficient for 8 x 10 inch prints. There are three JPEG quality levels for each image size; SuperFine, Fine or Normal. There is no uncompressed TIFF mode but nowadays nobody misses it, the SuperFine JPEGs use very little compression and produce excellent prints. You can also select a flash mode; Auto fires whenever more light is needed, Red-eye reduction is ideal for "people" pictures, slow-sync (in Night Scene) is used for night pictures where you want to illuminate a foreground subject but not lose the detail in the background and the always-on or fill mode is useful for eliminating harsh shadow in bright outdoor or backlit situations.

The A75 has excellent image quality. The color saturation and white balance is nearly bulletproof in most shooting conditions. When needed, the "one-push" white balance feature makes it quick and simple to manually set the proper color temperature in mixed-lighting conditions and with the six new scene modes you're sure to get the proper exposure for unusual shooting conditions. The A75 has several color effects that include Vivid, Neutral, Low Sharpening, Sepia tone and Black & White. There was little need to post-process the vast majority of the pictures that we shot. The focus is sharp and well defined especially when shooting closeup objects.

Timing and performance was impressive, it's obvious that Canon's new DIGIC processor does its job well. It takes about three seconds to power up and be ready to take the first shot. In the Large SuperFine mode it takes about three to four seconds to process and store an image. And going from Record to Play or vice-versa takes about two to three seconds. The all-important shutter lag (delay from pressing shutter until picture is actually captured) is about 0.5 to 0.7 seconds, a little faster than average thanks to its robust autofocus system. Sequential shooting wasn't quite as fast as the specs, we achieved about 2 frames per second as the camera captured eight frames in just a fraction over four seconds. This mode always varies depending on the shutter speed and will most likely be used outdoors with good lighting and fast shutter speeds. Our timing was with the Preview option disabled and the LCD turned off. The buffer flush after a burst of eight shots was less than ten seconds and the camera was able to take another shot in just under two seconds and could maintain that pace indefinitely. (Timing tests based on the use of a medium-fast 24X CF card.)

The A75's zoom lens is sharp and relatively fast with a maximum aperture of F2.8 in wide angle. There is a little barrel distortion at full wide angle but almost no pincushioning at full telephoto. The zoom mechanism is smooth and quiet. Canon has auxiliary wide angle, telephoto and super-macro lenses that are easily attached after removing the dress ring around the lens barrel. The lens adapter used to mount these lenses can also be used to hold 52mm filters in front of the lens. The Canon AiAF autofocus system is accurate and fast even when shooting macros at two inches or in dim light to total darkness thanks to its focus assist lamp. Canon is one of the few manufacturers that has realized that cameras need help focusing in low light conditions. This AF assist lamp also serves as the red-eye reduction light and the self-timer warning light.

I was happy to see the continued use of standard AA type batteries to power the A75. Many of Canon's other cameras use a proprietary lithium-ion battery pack. It's nice to be able to use rechargeable or "off the shelf" batteries. There's a multitude of high-capacity NiMH rechargeable batteries to choose from as well as rapid and portable chargers. You can use alkalines in this camera but they only yield about 1/3 the number of pictures that you can get with high-capacity NiMH. The battery life (when using NiMH) was very good even when using the color LCD all the time and frequently reviewing the pictures and making menu changes.

The Powershot A75 is an excellent choice for beginners who need a simple point-n-shoot camera that takes better than average pictures and its advanced features will also appeal to more experienced photo enthusiasts. This camera is a great combination of well rounded performance, image quality and ease of use, all at a very affordable price.

 

Do you have to have a memory card reader or do they all connect via usb port?

Like I said I'm lost

Thanks Again
Rockit

 

Rockit--The Consumer Reports article is six pages long. Impossible to summarize. You can probably find it at your library. If you are a beginner, it gives you most of what you need to know. Like your last question.

 

RichC
I have the A75 and been happy with it. http://www.digitalcamera-hq.com/canon-powershot-a75-reviews.html The only thing with this camera is I would get a larger memory card. As it comes with a 32MB and you can only get 18 shots at the best setting. The camera will use a USB port to download your photos or you can use a card reader. The reason the camera is coming down in price is because there is a newer model out. They are just like computers. As soon as you buy one a newer better model comes out.

 

Yea I bought a larger memory card when I bought the camera. It seems all digital cameras come with an impractically small memory card, but the cards are fairly inexpensive.

 

I'm not sure of the price now, but the Olympus stylus 300 is an excellent camera. Very nice pics, 3.2 megapixels. Very sturdy if you travel. It is water resistant. We have travelled extensively with it, gotten it wet and sandy (death to most digitals). I carry it in the pockets of cargo pants and shorts. It comes with a rechargeable battery (much better than AA's) using both 120 and 240 Volts power supply. Very compact, I couldn't ask for a better general use camera.

 

Hi Rockit

You have been getting good advice. Like you, I was ready to buy and recently bought a Fuji FinePix 4.0-Megapixel Digital Camera for under $200 .. bundled with rechargeable NiMH's, charging cradle, 3 volt dual use transformer, USB and Video cables, and extra 64 MB xD memory card. When I started to look, my minimum spec's were 3 MP and 3x optical. Ignore digital zoom, completely useless. A nice feature is through the viewfinder "see what camera sees" that responds when using the zoom. Many use the LCD display to center / compose the picture ... not as easy as it looks. Don't forget to take a minute to check the warranty, mine came with one year parts and labor.
I would suggest investing in a memory card reader for tranfers to computer. Very handy, very fast, does not require you to download ANY software provided with the camera .. which is generally a safer way to go.

 

Some specials at your local Walmart
for this week. They include Canon A75, along with Fuji, Kodak and others. Reduced pricing along with bundled extra's. For some of the final pricing, must carry the link all the way to the "Add to Cart ".

 

Hi Rockit,

This Kodak is a best buy, 4MP with a professional German f2.8 lens, wide range of shutter speeds 64sec to 1/2000, both manual and automatic as preferred by the user. Uses inexpensive MMC and SD cards (my recently purcahsed 256 MB MMC card was $10 after rebate). I own the previous model (3 MP) and it has been very satisfactory.

Don't be fooled by MP (megapixels); 3-4 are plenty. All MP are equal; i.e. the higher number just means the picture's 'raw' size is larger. It doesn't mean the picture is sharper; there's no increase in detail at the same magnification.

You don't need anything but the USB cable that comes with the camera. No docking station or printer for the time being. I edit the pics in my PC with Paint Shop Pro, and generally just email them to family members. You can put individual pics you've edited (cropped, fixed 'red-eye', resized for emailing, etc.) on floppy disks to take to a local photofinisher for prints, or do the same with CDs.

 

Sparrow,
Believe it or not I came to the same conclusion after many hour's (day's) of research on the web and in the electronics stores in my area.

Now the only question is where will I get the best deal?

This seems to be the best price so far but I need to call them to find out what the shipping charge will be. They are not open today so I'll have to wait till tommorrow.

http://www.amphotoworld.com/product.asp?id=kddx7440&l=DigitalSaver&ds_ref_key=DHHHDDODOBJCHC

Where did you find the 256mb MMC card for $10?

Thanks to all for your insites.
Rockit

 

Hi Rockit,

Be sure that's the lowest price including shipping. Newegg's shipping is the best and only $1.99 .

But I'd go for the lowest price (incl. shipping) from any reputable deaer.

The $10 MMC was a Kingston special at newegg about 2 months ago; you just have to keep an eye open. I started with a 128 mmc which is plenty, but I use my card reader to bring things to classes - it's about the right size and I don't have to burn throw-away stuff to CDs.

BTW, I've had BAD luck with a SD card - I lost the little slider and the card is now useless without it.

 

Hey,
What do you all think of this one?

https://www.clickfordigital.com/detail.tpl?productid=7109

Happy Holiday's
Rockit

 

Olympus C765 Ultra Zoom Review
http://www.steves-digicams.com/2004_reviews/c765uz.html

 

Overall, looks good; kodak has a 10X for $345, not that much more, but
10X zoom is overkill for an average user. I still think the lens is critical for user satisfaction. Olimpus lenses aren't noted for quality, but I've worked with a camedia a few years ago and it was very good; IMO, Nikon is the only comparable lens to the schnieder.

 

Thanks Mike,
I found the olympus for $250 delivered but when I called the jerk hung up on me because I wasn't buying his sale's pitch for buying a bunch of extras? I'm looking into the Kodak to find the best price I can get on that one. I guess I forgot to mention I use to be quite the photographer. In school I took the pictures for the newspaper and yearbook and was involved in graphic arts. Also developed all the picture's for the school. I have a 35mm that has a 70x Zoom len's and I love the zoomin action for some reason so I'm going to try and swing one if I can. Thanks Again for all your help !!
Rockit