Digital Camera Recommendations

Doc

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Time to replace my digital camera. I'm looking for something with a good size pic viewer. My current camera is just 3 mega pixel, so 5 or 10 mp would be fine. At least a 3x optical zoom but more would be better.
And I want to get one in the $200 price range.

One of the biggest frustrations with my current camera is the recovery time when using a flash. It seems to take forever to recycle and be ready for the next pic. This might because it operates on two AA batteries. I love that I can get batteries anywhere for it, and it's easy to carry spares. I hate the long recovery time when taking pics with the flash.

Any suggestions?
 

Lefty

Yank
I will recomend Canon all day long. They have the best user menus that are easy to learn and take great shots in varying conditions. 2 C notes will get a very good camera with lots of options including image stabilization. I will look around and see what the current deals are.
 

chowhound

New member
If they can still be found.... I always recommend my Canon PowerShot SD800 IS. It has a very fast recovery time, can be figured out without burying your head in the instruction manual, came with great, easy to use software and has a viewfinder, which IMO is a must for outdoor pics on a sunny day.
 

Doc

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Thanks guys. I have heard good stuff about Cannon's and they are definitely in consideration. A couple users over on FF recommended Casio Exilim EX-Z1000 which used to be 400 but now can be had for around 200. Both are in the running.
I'll let you know what I decide when I place the order.
Thanks!
 

Doc

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How is the recycle time when taking pics with flash Lefty / CH? Can you take a couple of shots close together mere seconds apart with the flash on?
 

High Cheese

Saucier
Hey Doc, I know you said $200-ish but have you considered a SLR? You can find the Canon Rebels between $4-500 and you'll probobly never need another camera. It seemed like every 2 years I was upgrading my point and shoot at $250 a clip so I took the plunge.
 

Doc

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I see the Cannon SD780 for 229 but have yet to see a SD800. I've shopped newegg and amazon so far.
 

Doc

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Hey Doc, I know you said $200-ish but have you considered a SLR? You can find the Canon Rebels between $4-500 and you'll probobly never need another camera. It seemed like every 2 years I was upgrading my point and shoot at $250 a clip so I took the plunge.

Know what you mean HC. I find those bigger ones are not carried as often because of the size. I've stayed with my little Fugi 3 megpix one for 8 years now. I would like an SLR also but now I need a little carry around one that is easy to offload and recovers fast for flash pics.

Plus my son is getting married Aug 8th and the expenses keep coming in. A whole lot more than I had anticipated. No one item that we agreed to pay for for the wedding seemed that bad, but now that it's all hitting us we'll be good to get off for less than 3k if we are lucky. I know that is cheap for a wedding but that is only 1/3rd of the total cost. The kids and the brides parents are paying the other parts. I'm sure yall know how it goes.
 

chowhound

New member
lol, just noticed they are out of stock. Sorry.
That must be why it's over 500 now. It's a discontinued model, but a highly rated one.
 

Cooksie

Well-known member
Site Supporter
I have had the bug for a new camera for a while now. You might want to check out the prices at Best Buy. Depends on which camera, but you can get free shipping, a free memory card, and what looks to be a pretty good price on some of them. Good luck, comparing can get pretty tedious.
 

Doc

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Boy you got that right Cooksie (the tedious part) there are so many to choose from without real obvious differences. I have ordered a Cannon PowerShot SD1200 IS Digital ELPH, 8gig SD card and a leather camera case all for $203 and change from amazon.

Thanks for all the help and the links everyone. My head is still spinning so I'm glad the deal is done. I'll post a review once I get it and use it a little bit.
 

Doc

Administrator
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Purty cool. That is fast for sure. The Cannon I ordered is said to recover in 3.2 seconds for flash pics. My current Fugi FinePix takes 15 or 20 seconds to recover. 3 seconds will be such an imporovment for me that I think I'll be happy.
I might buy a rebel sometime down the road though. I have a Nikon and Minolta old fashioned film cameras with multiple telephoto and wide angle lenses. I haven't used either in years. I wonder if there is a market for them on ebay. I'll have to check.
 

chowhound

New member
Purty cool. That is fast for sure. The Cannon I ordered is said to recover in 3.2 seconds for flash pics. My current Fugi FinePix takes 15 or 20 seconds to recover. 3 seconds will be such an imporovment for me that I think I'll be happy.
I might buy a rebel sometime down the road though. I have a Nikon and Minolta old fashioned film cameras with multiple telephoto and wide angle lenses. I haven't used either in years. I wonder if there is a market for them on ebay. I'll have to check.

Boy you aint the only one wondering if there's a market for such stuff.
How about 8mm video cameras, too?
I'm such a pack rat.
 

GotGarlic

New member
Well, that was a quick decision - I didn't even get a chance to weigh in :cry: :wink:

For the benefit of anyone else who might read this, all my digital cameras have been Sonys. I love the Zeiss lens - images are sharper than sharp. My current camera is the Sony Cybershot H3 - it has image stabilization and burst mode, so it takes many pix in a row with no lag. I rarely use flash because it actually makes the images worse - the automagic settings on the dial do great. 8 mp, 10x zoom, 2.5-inch LCD, and several scene settings work great for me.

Hope you're happy with your new purchase, Doc :smile:
 

High Cheese

Saucier
Purty cool. That is fast for sure. The Cannon I ordered is said to recover in 3.2 seconds for flash pics. My current Fugi FinePix takes 15 or 20 seconds to recover. 3 seconds will be such an imporovment for me that I think I'll be happy.

Haha...I saw some 3 sec. cameras but I was looking for faster ones. Alot can happen in 15-20 seconds. I read Casio cameras were pretty fast and underrated, also 3 sec.
 

Doc

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Well, that was a quick decision - I didn't even get a chance to weigh in :cry: :wink:

For the benefit of anyone else who might read this, all my digital cameras have been Sonys. I love the Zeiss lens - images are sharper than sharp. My current camera is the Sony Cybershot H3 - it has image stabilization and burst mode, so it takes many pix in a row with no lag. I rarely use flash because it actually makes the images worse - the automagic settings on the dial do great. 8 mp, 10x zoom, 2.5-inch LCD, and several scene settings work great for me.

Hope you're happy with your new purchase, Doc :smile:

I know, I procrastinated so long that I had to move fast. I was overwhelmed with all the offerings. I'm glad you added your 2 cents even though I had made my decision. Others down the road will find this thread and be able to take it all in. :thumb:

I still have a Sony digital. It was my first one. The Sony Macniva (sp). It was the big ole one that used 3 1/2 floppys for storage. :yum: I bought it in the late 90's and paid close to 600 for it. :eek: Most expensive digital I've ever bought. It did a good job. Carrying extra disks was easy enough and each disk would hold quite a few pics. Sure like the size and capabilities of the newer digitals now offered though. We've come a long way, and they've sure gotten cheaper.

Now I'm waiting for the flat screen TV's to get cheaper.

I've heard good stuff on Casio's also HC. One I considered this time around was said to have to many features where it was cumbersome to use because there were 20 some pictures settings to choose from. I decided to go with simple basic point and shoot for this go round.
 

buzzard767

golfaknifeaholic
Gold Site Supporter
For anyone still reading this thread, I need a camera that takes excellent high res close ups without breaking the bank. On knife nut sites we show a lot of pictures of knife edges and the like and my present camera can't hack it. Thanks.
 

GotGarlic

New member
How high res? The highest available on my 8.1 mp Sony Cybershot H3 is 3264 x 2448.

Are you familiar with Imaging Resource? Great site for comparing digicams and getting comprehensive reviews. They have sample full-res images by each camera you can use to compare results. Here's the page for my H3.
 

AllenOK

New member
....I have a Nikon and Minolta old fashioned film cameras with multiple telephoto and wide angle lenses. I haven't used either in years. I wonder if there is a market for them on ebay. I'll have to check.

I have a Nikon D40 in need of a new lens. The older Nikon lenses are supposed to fit. Do any of the ones you have offer auto-focus?

I really like a camera with Burst. I keep my Nikon set in Burst Mode. It's slow enough that I can pop just one image at a time, or if I need to capture several, just press and hold....pop pop pop pop pop.

At the same time, I really do need a smaller point-and-shoot, for capturing food at work, and to take fishing with me (in a Pelican box with my wallet, keys, etc.).
 

High Cheese

Saucier
For anyone still reading this thread, I need a camera that takes excellent high res close ups without breaking the bank. On knife nut sites we show a lot of pictures of knife edges and the like and my present camera can't hack it. Thanks.

I would got to a store and test some out. I found that some cams take pretty good close-ups while others you have to depend on the pixels which could lead to editing. Make sure thay have macro.
 

Doc

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I went through so many reviews yesterday, and my PC was patched and rebooted over night (I hate when that happens) so I don't have the windows still open .... but I thought one of the reviews of the Cannon I just purchased said they worked mostly in macro mode and they were thrilled with the camera. But, I can't find it to verify it was the Cannon SD 1200. Google for camera reviews with macro mode and maybe you'll stumble upon it. Amazon had quite a few reveiws on most cameras available now. And take my word for it, there are lots and lots of cameras in the 150 to 200 price range. Even by the same manufactorer without any obvious differences in the cameras. Enough to drive you to drinking. :D :beer:
 

buzzard767

golfaknifeaholic
Gold Site Supporter
How high res? The highest available on my 8.1 mp Sony Cybershot H3 is 3264 x 2448.

Are you familiar with Imaging Resource? Great site for comparing digicams and getting comprehensive reviews. They have sample full-res images by each camera you can use to compare results. Here's the page for my H3.

Thanks, GG. A most informative site.
 

Wart

Banned
.... I have a Nikon and Minolta old fashioned film cameras with multiple telephoto and wide angle lenses. I haven't used either in years. I wonder if there is a market for them on ebay. I'll have to check.

I don't know about a market but there is a Flickr user group:

No metering lenses on Nikon DSLRs


For anyone still reading this thread, I need a camera that takes excellent high res close ups without breaking the bank. On knife nut sites we show a lot of pictures of knife edges and the like and my present camera can't hack it.

For me that would be the Nikon D40. But then thats what I have. :yum:

The D40 and the crappy 18-55 kit lens is good enough for forensics/ shooting fingerprints/ will show Lincoln on the back of a penny. The local U is setting up a forensics program, I dropped by to informally consult, the following pictures are from the D40 with kit lens 'demo'.

00.jpg


Pictures are links to full size versions:





Incidentally, these are the basic low quality JPGs, not the higher quality RAW converted to JPG. THe basic JPG is good enough for Web work.

The Academy is happy to this point, and as they and I discussed, if they need more than this they can save bucks by buying an old manual Macro (Hey, Dock! Got one of those??) and if that isn't good enough, get a generic manual extension tube or bellows and they'll get over 1:1, but that's getting into Micro Photo.

And about a manual focus lens is the camera really needs a Katz Eye focus screen.

But I've found for us duffers shoot and review is good enough.

Continued:

I have a Nikon D40 in need of a new lens. The older Nikon lenses are supposed to fit. Do any of the ones you have offer auto-focus?

From above,

The reason I pointed the Academy to the manual lenses is because the CPU Macro lens for the D40 runs $400 ~ $600 bucks. WOW! You can get an old Quality Macro lens for under $100, probably well under $100, and splurge on a Katz, and you got a dedicated camera. Added benefit is the unit is no longer a point and shoot, they have to learn how a camera works.

Problem with the D40 is it needs a CPU lens with the motor IN the lens for auto focus, unlike the older Nikon auto focus lenses with the motor in the camera body.

I really like a camera with Burst. I keep my Nikon set in Burst Mode. It's slow enough that I can pop just one image at a time, or if I need to capture several, just press and hold....pop pop pop pop pop.

I shoot everything in RAW+B (basic, low res JPG), RAW sure does slow the camera down. LOL!
 

pugger

New member
OK, I've got one (not a camera) - how about a good digital camera for the shaky picture-taker (moi) ? My bberry camera is not very forgiving :mellow:.
 
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