OT: Digital Cameras

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tgdrums1990
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OT: Digital Cameras

Post by tgdrums1990 » Thu Aug 02, 2007 4:49 pm

My GF asked me to help her pick out a digital camera. Now I know next to nuthing about the quality of cameras, I know what the specs mean and such, but as for which brand is better I am clueless.

Anyone wanna point me to a forum that could help?

All I need is something that takes good pics ( dosen't need to be large, 5mp is plenty), but I am concerned at how well it takes moving pics, like if your hand isn't steady how much that effects the picture, and how easy the camera is to use period. I really couldn't imagine her trying to figure out how to change settings a such to set her cam up to take good pics, so this thing needs to be VERY user friendly.

Thanks to all. If I come through and get her something nice... The thanks will be very rewarding on my end, hehe.

AZBrandon
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Post by AZBrandon » Thu Aug 02, 2007 5:05 pm

Not knowing what your price range is, I would just point you to DPReview.com and you can check out the reviews yourself. I have found that to be one of the most helpful websites around for digital camera reviews.

tgdrums1990
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Price

Post by tgdrums1990 » Thu Aug 02, 2007 5:09 pm

AZBrandon wrote:Not knowing what your price range is, I would just point you to DPReview.com and you can check out the reviews yourself. I have found that to be one of the most helpful websites around for digital camera reviews.

Sorry, yea I think 150 would be about the max..

cansan
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Post by cansan » Thu Aug 02, 2007 5:15 pm

Well, I would suggest trying it in the shop before buying any camera. Some digital cameras are so sluggish and slow that you can never get the picture you want, you always get like 1 second later. SO frustrating...

Other than that, might be useful to get one that is quite wide angle at the bottom of the zoom, for example 28mm instead of 35 or 38. Much better for shooting indoors.

mimwdv
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Post by mimwdv » Thu Aug 02, 2007 10:50 pm

You could look at www.steves-digicams.com too, they also do good reviews. They also have a link on the left to a list of the best cameras in a range of categories which might be a good starting point. As far as brands are concerned, I'd stick with the biggies - Canon, Nikon or Olympus, but that's just me. Both these sites have lots of sample images, too, which will give you a good indication.

floffe
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Post by floffe » Sat Aug 04, 2007 5:38 am

I'm looking at buying a Panasonic LZ7, which has gotten pretty good user reviews on dpreview. 6x optical zoom and AA batteries, but it's a little more expensive than $150 (found from $165 and up). It's an update of the LZ5, which is among the Steve top ones at 6-10MP

dhanson865
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Post by dhanson865 » Sat Aug 04, 2007 8:07 am

To me the memory type is the best rule of thumb on picture speed.

Back when I bought my first digital camera the only cheap camera that had fast speed between pictures was the Fuji because it used xD memory. Of course xD was more expensive than SD or compact flash but it saved battery costs (longer battery life, more pictures per charge) by using the more expensive memory.

In addition I just used the camera for a year with the 16mb card and waited for the price of xD memory to drop. At the time I bought the camera a 64MB card was about $80, a year or so later I got a 512mb card for $30.

You'll want the extra memory if your camera comes with a small card to start but don't rush to buy it, look for a good deal.

It's also worth noting that I was able to use cheap NI-MH AA batteries with the Fuji. Batteries are the big consumable cost to digital photography. Pay attention to how much the batteries cost, what kind of charge they hold, and how universal/interchangeable they are.

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