Post for Digital Camera Owners

I'm in the market for a digital camera. I'm looking for at least 3.0 megapixils, something that has decent zoom capabilities, and takes good pictures. I know I can go to all the review places and read till I'm blue in the face, but I would like personal recommendations.

If you have a digital camera, I would like to hear what camera you have and your likes and dislikes of that camera. I want to hear the good and bad. Hopefully, more good than bad! Any helpful tips that you've learned would also be nice. I've searched through some of the posts here and see that a card reader is mentioned. I assume that is something to look at.

Thanks and happy New Year!

Mike

 

Hi Mike: I have a Kodak DX3700, 3.1 MegaPixel, digital zoom, Easyshare Dock.

Pro's: Very easy to use most funtions are automatic; very easy to upload pics to computer over USB port using Kodaks software that comes with camera and dock. Is a basic digital camera with nothing fancy. Takes fairly good pictures in good light, has 3 image quality settings, good (e-mail), better (snapshots) and best (enlargements). Has 8 MB internal memory and capability to add flash cards for more memory. Price about $300 CDN I think. Software that comes with camera has lots of gimicks, options if you want them.

Cons: Rechargable battery is the pitts. Doesn't keep charge unless left on the charger dock, so have to carry a non-rechargeable batt. as a backup. Need good light for pic's unless using flash. Can be difficult to centre picture on closeups and zoom shots as lens is to one side of camera and viewfinder is centred. Hard to see lcd screen in bright light.

I like the camera for it's ease of use, but the battery thing is frustrating. Also the offsett lens can cause you to miss some shots or at least get them off centre.

Recommendations: If you have the bucks to spend I would go with something like the Cannon Eos Rebel Digital or the Nikkon equivalent. Both have interchangable lenses (you can use lenses from existing film type Cannons and Nikkons if you have one) optical and digital zoom. Pricey at around $1200 CDN but probably worth it in the long run. Also being a full size camera are larger than many of the more compact digital cameras.

 

Thanks for all the info John, just what I was looking for from owners! Not sure I want to spend that much yet. I was looking at the Canon cameras though. The A80 and A70 don't look too bad. I would like to stay around $400 right now.

Mike

 

One hint though is that optical zoom is preferable to digital zoom. Digital zoom is basically taking the image and enlarging it to give the effect of zooming with an increase in graininess etc, whereas optical is a true zoom. So the more optical the better.

As to brand it is not so clear cut as it was with 35mm film cameras with the usual brands Pentax, Canon etc etc. They still produce fine digital cameras just like they do with film however the large film manufacturers eg Kodak, Fuji etc also produce excellent digital cameras usually at a more budget friendly price. Fuji in particular have a fine range but so do the others. It comes down, like often, to budget and requirements.

 

MinnesotaMike--Info on digital cameras is available at many websites. One of the best is
http://www.dpreview.com/ (see the left column for many options including comparisons)
And then there are all the referral sites, some of which offer opinions
http://www.epinions.com/
www.pricegrabber.com etc.
Consumer Reports November 2003 issue rated digital cameras. Your local library should have it.
For a few more days you should be able to access the ratings, but not all the prose at
http://www.consumerreports.org/main/home.jsp
Near the bottom right is a box "CRXtra ". Enter code 1106. For a little more enter code 1205b the next time around.
This is really a do-it-yourself job once you satisfy yourself about the quality of a product. Other people cannot really tell you what camera is best for you, since they do not know what type of photography you are interested in.
Buy a spare memory card when you do buy.
And concerning a "card reader ", many cameras permit direct link to the PC so you do not need a separate reader.

 

kiwicolin,

Thanks for the tip on optical zoom. I'll take a look at the brands you mention.


Welshjim,

Thanks for the links and codes. I wasn't looking for somebody to tell me what camera to get. I was just looking for their likes and dislikes with the camera they have. Just trying to get a feel of what brands are good and which ones are not. I just need one for basic photography.

Mike

 

I have a Nikon Cool Pix 5700 5 mega pixle camera.
I have taken some awsome pictures with it as it has 8x optical zoom and then a ***** on 32x telephoto.

Problem is it has too many bells and whistles for an amature like me. The smallest picture it will take is still a whopping 1/2 meg in size. (actually 2560 x 1920)

 

MinnesotaMike, I've got a little cheapie(?) HP-C200, that I mostly use for posting Web Site Pictures. I've been using it for at least 3yrs. or so. Advantages I feel for the digitals are you can download and print Now, as opposed to the Film type of camera. Disadvantages are the innards are not up to snuff compared to the Film cameras, I guess primarily the lense with respect to the 'capture" of a scene speed, or something like that. (That's why I didn't spend the big bucks) Outdoors, picture Quality is great, but inside with the built in Flash, that leaves a little bit to be desired. Just recently, I've seen inside shots with the High dollar digitals and they were only a little better than mine. Point is Digitals still have a long way to go to match Good Film Cameras. (By the way my 35MM is a Minolta Maxxum 3xi, with 50 mm lense and a 80-200 Zoom lense) I'm very well satisfied with my little C200 because I can still edit the Pix in my Photo Editor (Paint Shop Pro) and make it look just like it was taken with the expensive Digital or a good Film Camera.
So if I may suggest, for whatever it's worth, is get whatever you can afford, and enjoy.

Here is a place to view some of my work, some digital pix and some 35mm Film pix:

http://www.eyeballexpress.com/