Camera Suggestions

[Little Old Lady]

I am in the market to get a new digital camera. I am still using an old Sony that uses a floppy disc. What do you have that you love? Am willing to spend about $300.
JoAnn

[Roun2it]

You can't go wrong sticking with the Sony my P200 is fantastic.

Small light weight and so easy to use.

It hasn't got the anti-vibrate though that the Panasonics have, it help with camera shake and with good pictures in low light, I bought one for my daughter and it is brilliant.

[ameliajordan]

love our panasonic because it has an anti-shake feature and my DH has the shakes but I think it was about $400.

[scribblet]

Originally Posted by Little Old Lady

I am in the market to get a new digital camera. I am still using an old Sony that uses a floppy disc. What do you have that you love? Am willing to spend about $300.
JoAnn

Hey, I have one of those...just gave it to my son. Not to mention that new computers no longer come with a 3.5 drive.

I did move up to an HP R607 and love it, but not enough optical zoom so splurged and bought a Canon IS 12 x optical zoom. As much as I love the additional optical zoom I prefer the smaller HP for convenience. Mine also has image stabilization but I find I still need a tripod when using the full zoom.

If I had to do it again I would maybe go for a 5 x zoom and stay with the smaller camera. Not a lot of choice out there for more than 3 x optical zoom, maybe later.

[Yorky]

Check out the Canon SD700. It's a 6Mp pocket camera with optical stabilization and a 4X zoom.

Here's an excerpt from a forum:

The SD700 is a dynamite little camera. While the absolute resolution isn’t as good as the SD550, that isn’t something you are likely to notice. It is almost as large as the SD550 but has some advantages over it. It has a little more zoom and true mechanical stabilization. That is a big help in limited light. Canon is the only camera company that has bucked the trend to drop the optical viewfinder on most small cameras. If I were getting a pocket camera today it would probably be the SD700.

Dpreview has more complete tests than any other site I know of. They gave the SD700 a “Highly Recommended” rating which is rare. The only other small camera I’ve seen them give that to is the Fuji F30, and that is slightly bulkier and has no optical viewfinder.

Here's a review.

Here's their conclusion

I have a Canon S1-IS which has 3 Mp nd a 10X zoom, but the SD700 is a newer more compact model.

Doug

[painterbear]

JoAnn,
I have a Nikon Coolpix 3200 (it is several years old, so they have more capacity now and a higher number). The reason I got it is the high rating the lens on Nikons have, plus it has a zoom lens and a macro lens plus other features like a Museum setting.

Just looked at the Sunday paper and there are lots of sales now on digi cameras—you should be able to get one for around $200 unless you are looking for even more bells and whistles than I have.

One thing I think you should look at is how large the LCD window is. I wish mine were larger to make it easier to see what I am photographing.

Sylvia

[NodakerDeb]

JoAnn,

I just bought my son and DIL the Cannon SD600 because I want better photos of my grandson. It's a 6MP camera, and about 100.00 less than the SD630 which had the larger LCD screen, but was not nearly as crisp. When I got the camera (they are getting it for Christmas -- early), I put it through the paces first. I am SO impressed with the picture quality and what this puppy can do I can't tell you. I'm uploading a couple of photos I took. One in macro mode, both without flash.






I was able to get the camera, extra battery, and upgrade the memory card for under the $300.00. The camera camera came with a battery charger.

I always recommend having a second battery, and larger/faster memory card, esp. if you are shooting 6MP photos.

Good luck. You will go nuts trying to decide I'm afraid.

Deb
Edit: I should warn you... this is a very small camera. Here's a photo of it compared to my ELPH. But... the LCD screen is so much nicer. Warning.. it's easy to cover the flash in front with your finger. Must be mindful of that.

[MontanaDonna]

JoAnn, a few weeks ago I upgraded to a Kodak Easyshare E650. It has 6 megapixels and a 10x zoom. It's extremely easy to operate... I haven't even looked at the manual. The only drawback that I've found is that I have to be careful not to move when snapping a picture. I had a lot of trouble with that at first, but with practice I'm getting good pictures. I don't have a tripod. Here are a couple of sample pictures. The first was taken from my front yard, and its a shot of the southern end of our Bitterroot Mountains at least 40 miles away...

And this one was taken on my kitchen counter...


The camera cost me $250 at KMart. Happy shopping...

[droll13]

JoAnn,

First decide what kinds of pictures you'll be taking, and what you'll do with the pictures: Print? at what size? Web use only? Make cards? What you'll be doing with the camera and photos determines what features you will and won't need.

If you'll want to print the images, especially at 8 x 10 or larger, then you'll want higher resolution (more megapixels) - probably at least 7 MP. On the other hand, if you won't be printing your photos (or printing them small - 4 x 6 or so) then 4 to 5 megapixels should suffice.

If you won't be printing your images, just posting them online, a low resolution (3 to 4 megapixels) will work.

If you're interested in taking extreme close-ups shots, then you'll need a camera with a good macro capability.

If you'll be taking shots of birds or other wildlife, a good zoom is a big help. (And it must be optical zoom, not digital zoom. Digital zoom is useless - it just takes the pixels in the image and makes them bigger, and you get a fuzzy, blocky, lousy image.

If you'll be taking photos of sports or other moving subjects, a fast shutter speed is essential.

If you think you'll want to adjust settings yourself when you take photos, make sure the camera lets you do so. If you're more likely to be happy with the automatic settings, make sure the camera has several modes available.

Consider the batteries - best (IMHO) to have rechargeable ones, either proprietary or standard. If you'll be taking photos for hours at a time, you'll want extras.

Also consider the storage medium. SD cards are one common medium, and I prefer them.

Lot's to think about - not an easy decision.

I've been very happy with my Panasonic FZ20. New it was around $700. But I just checked ebay, and there are used ones going for $150 to $400. Depending on what you'll be doing, this may be more than you need. Most or all of Panasonic's digital cameras have a good image stabilizer (anti-shake) system. I looked on the Panasonic website and found:

DMC-LZ5: 6-megapixel, 6x optical zoom, image stabilization, good autofocus, burst mode (up to 8 consecutive shots at 3 per second), uses AA batteries, uses SD card for storage. Panasonic's price is $229.95. You'll probably want additional SD cards, can get a good sized one (512 MB to 1 GB) and still be under $300.

DMC-LZ3: 6-megapixel, 6x optical zoom, image stabilization, good autofocus, burst mode (up to 5 consecutive shots at 3 per second), uses AA batteries, uses SD card for storage. Panasonic's price is $179.95. You'll probably want additional SD cards, can get a good sized one (512 MB to 1 GB) and still be under $300.

DMC-LS2: 5-megapixel, 3x optical zoom, compact, image stabilization, burst mode (up to 5 consecutive shots at 3 per second), uses AA batteries, uses SD card for storage. Panasonic's price is $179.95. You'll probably want additional SD cards, can get a good sized one (512 MB to 1 GB) plus additional batteries and still be well under $300.

I'm sure there are other brands that will work for you, too. It's just that I know about Panasonics and think they're well designed and built; very reliable.

[Aquarelle10]

Wow this is fantastic,I need help choosing the camera I want from Father Christmas. ( You are NEVER too old to believe in this guy and hey,so what if he's gotten it wrong a few times in the past I can still wish! )

I'm torn because I want a small digital but I would love a great zoom lens too for close ups of faces etc when I'm travelling.

Oh and I KNOW I take useless photographs and I'm too embarrassed to share my recent ones but I will purely to let you all laugh at my efforts!

I'll be reading all the replies with great interest.

Jean.

[jaytee]

JoAnn .. I went for the panasonic DMC FZ5 because of its enrmous zoom, antishake and light weight....I absolutely love it.... don't know what it costs ove in US now though....or even if available.... except perhaps on Ebay ??

[Little Old Lady]

Thanks for all the advice and good pictures. My head is jumbled but with your suggestions re: Canon and reviews I just ordered the Canon Power Shot A710 IS. It has anti shake and 6x optical zoom. It had great reviews so just hope it lives up to it.
Thanks again.
JoAnn

[jaytee]

JoAnn... sounds like an excellent choice . Look forward to seeing some of the results