Digital cameras....

Cant go wrong with a Canon. I have found this search engine to have the cheapest prices. I bought a canon camera with it:

PriceGrabber.com - Comparison Shopping, Online Shopping, Product Reviews

Im glad my most recent Olympus camera is water resistant though: Shockproof Waterproof Digital Cameras Olympus

Its only 8 megapixel but shoots good enough photos. The spider was actually farther away than it looks... the high dpi allowed me to zoom in.

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Much appreciated lads!

rochie said:

Well old boy you wont go far wrong with the fuji finepix S1000fd, Terry and i both have one.
FinePix S1000fd Zoom Digital Camera from Fujifilm UK

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Disagree I also own that piece of Shrapnel and found the Canon 7mp a far better unit at least for aircraft pics in fact I'd I hate the Fuji

Fuji and Olympus use the XD memory card, which (at least around here) are usually in VERY limited supply and massively overpriced. A 1G XD card was going for about $40, whereas a 4G SD card (Canon, Nikon, pretty much everyone else except Sony) was around the same price or cheaper.

I'd say go for a camera of a famous brand name, good optical zoom options (I agree wholeheartedly: Digital zoom usually stinks to high heaven), standard AA or AAA batteries and SD-card, plus most accessories for the price.
I had to go buy a camera bag for my Konica Minolta Z6, and they're expensive in that size - annoying, so if you get a free camera bag, camera hand strap, extra card or something like that, it's good.

Try searching for offers - usually some sellers offer camera packages with accessories for a special price.
It's cheap to buy rechargeable AA or AAA batteries, go for the good, long lasting ones.
If the camera comes with a small memory card, buy a bigger one at once - you'll need it, once you get started.

Once you've chosen three or four models you like, read camera tests of the models - even though the cameras may look and have mostly the same functions, there can be differences.
I usually use Steve's Digicams - Main Menu, as his reviews are well done and thought through, and they give you a good overview of what the various tested cameras can and won't do.

RabidAlien said:

Fuji and Olympus use the XD memory card, which (at least around here) are usually in VERY limited supply and massively overpriced. A 1G XD card was going for about $40, whereas a 4G SD card (Canon, Nikon, pretty much everyone else except Sony) was around the same price or cheaper.

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that's certainly part of the equation but I, hate to say it, would never buy the camera or memory locally. There isnt limited supply on the web. I have a 1g in my Olympus and its more memory that I'll ever use for a point and shoot using jpgs....

No worries. but when you've had a card take a dump on you, and need to pick up a new one in a hurry, this comes into play.

I've got an 8 Gb card in my Olympus, and that's a bit small for my needs.
There's only room for 230 photos in RAW format, and that's not enough for me, as I sometimes shoot 500-1000 photos during one day. (Air show, motorcycle arrangements).
But then again, it depends on what you want to shoot, what your needs are, and what resolution you'll be happy working with.

Lucky13:

Accesories interesant for your camera, in ocassions not present:

The screw mount in the basis of the camera for mount in a tripod, useful for photos with extense exposition without flash.
The optical visor -is sunny conditions, the display is more difficultose to view.





Jan.



Jan.

I know there are lots of folks here with more camera experience than I have but I haven't seen anyone mention these issues:

Electronics is NOT all the same. The menus and organization directly impact how easy the camera is to use. I believe it was Casio that had a pretty well spec'ed camera but the reviews claimed it tended to have a lot of unrecoverable "Lens Errors". I saw one in a store and tried turn it on.... Lens Error. Took the thing immediately out of consideration. I believe that is an electronics problem.

Lots of cameras are made by the same company, but that doesn't mean they are anywhere close to the same quality. I have two Canon cameras. One is MUCH better than the other. The better one is made in Japan. The other I believe is made in Malaysia. Lens quality is VERY important. Zoom for me is almost as important but you are probably not going to get much zoom with a little pocket camera.

I did a lot of reading before buying mine. I also went to the stores and tried out a LOT of cameras side by side with shots on the same subject so I could compare. Before you do this, make sure the settings are the best you can get with each camera. A lot of them default to "Normal" quality. Set everything to highest resolution and Super Quality. Try quick shots, long range shots, shots into a poorly lit area, etc. See which ones do best. What I found was that generally I liked Canon, Olympus, and Nikon in about that order.

I bought a Canon S5IS and a Canon A650. The A650 isn't the best. The S5IS does pretty much what I want except at low light and doesn't have quite enough zoom. The Canon SX10IS looks pretty good from what I have seen. The S3IS also does well enough but is out of production. I have seen it heavily discounted.

Pardon the long-winded reply.
- Ivan.

Most of the Canon and Nikon Point and Shoots are good options. My brother had one of the Canon IXUS cameras which he broke 3 times mainly due to water damage (not due to the camera). Best thing to do is read reviews and more reviews whilst also knowing what you want.

As for memory cards for P&S cameras it doesnt really matter unless you shoot more than a 1000 pictures in a day. I have 2 2GB for my XTi and when on holiday I don't shoot in RAW (keep to Large JPEG). A) I can't be bothered converting them and B) I get 4 times as many pictures on the card.