David K Posted July 30, 2003 Share Posted July 30, 2003 My mother is coming down from Colorado to see the baby again (3 ms old), and my brother who just came in from the sand box (iraq), who is staying with me for a week or 2. My brother is driving back to colorado with my mother to spend a few days with her, then driving to georgia, to report back for duty. While my mother is down here, she mentioned she would like to purchase a gift for the lady and i, so i decided a new digital camera would be nice. What do you gentlemen and few ladies who are out there suggest? Im really leaning toward the Canon PowerShot A70 http://shopping.yahoo.com/shop?d=j&id=1991238533&clink=dmtop5-el-simple-cdigicamera Thats around the price range i feel comfortable springing on my mother, lol. Seems to be between $250-$320. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmyntti Posted July 30, 2003 Share Posted July 30, 2003 The Canon is nice. There is also a Sony with similiar specs in the same price range. This is what I have, I believe it is a P-71. The Sony uses memory sticks which are a little more expensive then the compact flash the the Canon takes. I am an IT manager for a construction company and we have started outfitting all of our superintendants with digital cameras. Many of them like the Sony's that use a floppy disc to store pictures but that is personal preference. I have 12 Sony cameras, 2 RCA, and 2 Canons and have not had any trouble with any of them which is impressive considering the environment they see. I say select by features you want and avoid anything that has doors that fold out (for LCD, flash, etc.), I think that is just asking for trouble. Hope this helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dayz Posted July 30, 2003 Share Posted July 30, 2003 David Yes, I have the Canon A60 and it is great. It is a good quality 2.0 pixels. I'm in the photography industry and the best lenses for digital are canon and olympus ! So with the A70 3.2 pixels, you are going to have a really good camera. I would take it no problem!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris-280ZX Posted July 30, 2003 Share Posted July 30, 2003 yeah..definitely do some research on the olympus cameras, they are top dogs in the digi cam business. i definitely wouldnt go under 3 mexapixels, but what is also important is the optical and digital zoom. optical zoom is just like any regular zoom from regular camera lenses. digital zoom is the computerized zoom the camera is capable of (hence therefore a DIGITAL camera). the greater the zoom, combined with the greater the megapixel, the better the quality. also look at what kind of memory card it uses to save the pictures. there are about 5 different types that vary in price which you may what to consider. i sell digi cams (at office depot) so this is why/how i know about it all. if you need me to check some things in store let me know good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Aaron Posted July 30, 2003 Share Posted July 30, 2003 I recently purchased a sony cybershot p72. It is the minimum I would buy in the sony lineup. 3 megapixels and 3x optical zoom. We looked at the lower models, and the zoom was horrible. From my experience, you want to look for a combination of two things: optical zoom, and pixels, everything else is fluff or personal preference. The pixels available will determine the maximum picture size you can print. 3 megapixels will give you up to an 8x10. Optical zoom works like the zoom on any other camera. Digial zoom "blows up" the image electronically, so it adds some distortion to the picture, and reduces the effective pixels of the camera, and therefore the size picture you can print. While pricing your camera, you should also plan two other purchases. Go ahead and buy a large memory card, most of the ones I have seen bundled with the camera will only hold about 8 pictures at the max resolution of the camera. For the sake of convienience, you may also want to buy a memory media reader that connects to your computer. I bought the $19 kodak 6 in 1 from wal-mart. It is a box that sets on your desk, an you simply plug the media into it, and it shows up like a hard drive on your computer. You can then copy, move, delete, etc just like it was a hard drive. It makes life much simpler. Hope I have not told you something you already know, I just wanted to pass on my experiences. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
denny411 Posted July 30, 2003 Share Posted July 30, 2003 You could ask your mom what price range she is considering, then throw in a few bucks to upgrade to an even nicer camera. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yo2001 Posted July 30, 2003 Share Posted July 30, 2003 I got the Sony Cybershot P52. It's nice. I paid $250. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PETEW Posted July 30, 2003 Share Posted July 30, 2003 Even though you are looking into a digital camera, you have to ask yourself one question. Do you buy a camera from a camera company or a electronics company? You buy one from a camera company. The most important part of any camera is it's lens. I don't care if its 2 megapixels or 6 megapixels, if it has a crappy lens then forget it. You will never take a picture worth crap. I bought a higher end Cannon (D60) beacause I wanted a camera with a 35mm body that I could switch lenses for different situations. Would I recomend this route for anyone. No, it is expensive and not too many people would use the functions available with such a camera. But I do recomend Canon because they are known for good optics and high quality electronics. They are right now one of the leaders in the digital picture industy. Look on E-bay for bargains, people are always selling. There are also a ton of web sites that will give alot of info about a camera. No matter what you buy, I'm sure you will like it. Most of the cameras are decent. Just do some searching on the web and you will find a camera that you can be happy with in your price range. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cruez Posted July 30, 2003 Share Posted July 30, 2003 I just bought a Canon A40 2.1 megapixel camera... It takes great pictures... Pretty simple point and shoot camera.. does panoramic shots...etc.. I got no complaints..... Make sure you buy rechargable batteries though..... Digicams eat batteries.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZR8ED Posted July 31, 2003 Share Posted July 31, 2003 I have a 3.1 mega pixel Sony digi camera. it uses memory stick (cool if you have other Sony equipment ie computers, tv. I am really impressed. It came with a 16meg memory card, and I bought a 128 meg card for it as well... 250 pics with excellent printable quality. 1000 of Web postable pics... easy to use.. has some cool effects, easy to use, and awsome battery life.. I would recommend it to anyone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David K Posted July 31, 2003 Author Share Posted July 31, 2003 Wow guys, thanks for all the replies. It looks like you all recommend Canon, and some of you have a lower model than the A70 and still say its a good cam, which makes me feel good that the A70 itself is one of the better cams. The lady wants me to take a look at the Nikon Coolpics series digital cameras. Any feedback on those cams? http://shopping.yahoo.com/shop?d=j&id=1990952779&clink=dmss/4300/ctx=sc:alltech,c:cdigicamera,mid:6,pid:1990952779,pdid:6,pos:1&__yltc=s:41258547,d:57690343,w:t,k:4300,pdid:6,id:1990952779,pos:1,ppos:0 Really leaning toward the A70. Is it possible to upgrade the memory on the A70. Also, how does one transfer pics to a computer? USB cable? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris-280ZX Posted July 31, 2003 Share Posted July 31, 2003 cool pix 3100 is a neat little camera definitely worth it... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dp351zcar Posted July 31, 2003 Share Posted July 31, 2003 I have a cannon PowerShot S30. 3.2mpixl and more features than I want to know about. Takes great shots. Don Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zgeezer Posted July 31, 2003 Share Posted July 31, 2003 Stick to a well known brand name (Canon, Minolta, Nikon, etc), shop for as many megapixels as you can get at the price you wish to pay. I would say at least 3.1 MP. I looked at your Canon, liked it, but chose the Minolta Xi because it was a much smaller camera. z Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drax240z Posted July 31, 2003 Share Posted July 31, 2003 You know, I really like Nikkor lenses, and Nikon SLR's, but I'm not impressed with their low-end consumer digital cameras at all. I imagine the D100 etc. at $4000 are wicked, but I'd go with the sony or canon first if you are looking for a camera in the less than $1000 range. The digital elph series from canon is quite good in my experience, I haven't used the A70 at all, but I've used dozens of digital cameras, including 4 or 5 canons, and I have nothing bad to say about the canons at all. Fuji announced today 2 new high end cameras to be released this fall, and historically the fall is huge for new camera's being released. If you can wait, I'd wait to see what happens in September/October for new camera releases. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff G 78 Posted July 31, 2003 Share Posted July 31, 2003 You can't go wrong with the Canon. I have a G2 4.0 and love it. It takes better pictures than any other camera I've owned. I'm sure the other Canons are equally impressive, but will just give smaller pictures. I have about $1700 in mine with all the accessories. I bought a 1Gb microdrive and multiple lenses etc. Poster-sized pictures are no problem and the colors are incredible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David K Posted July 31, 2003 Author Share Posted July 31, 2003 Im really liking the Canon A70, but im concerned about batteries. What kind of batteries would it take, and how long will these batteries last? Ive also found a nice Olympus. Any feedback on it? http://shopping.yahoo.com/shop?d=j&id=1990912958&clink=dmss//ctx=sc:cdigicamera,c:cdigicamera,mid:6,pid:1990912958,pdid:6,pos:6#description Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tannji Posted August 1, 2003 Share Posted August 1, 2003 Hey, just thought I would throw in my 2 cents worth.... I have almost 20 years in the Photography industry, most of it in 1 hour processing, digital printing, and camera store sales and management. I will agree that the main brands are best to stick with.... and optical zoom is of far more importance than digital, unless you do not plan to enlarge any photos. The differences in lense quality among the major brand names is has only recently become an issue in my opinion.... as most of the cameras didnt have a fine enough resolution to make the scientifically measurable differences in lense quality noticeable without a very nice printer and a higher pixel count from the camera. As far as brand preference, I like Canon and Nikon. Olympus and Fuji both have impressive technology, and certain models are easy to use and make fine prints, but I have had to honor manufacturer's warrantee far more often on them than on either Canon or Nikon. I also prefer Compact Flash memory to the cards that Fuji and Olympus tend to use. If you have an active life-style and plan to use the camera heavily, please get the extended service plan, and use it, even for cleaning and such. The average repair bill for digital cameras will usually send you shopping for a new camera. In the price range you mentioned I would be looking at the Canon A70, or either the Nikon 885 or 4300. I am replacing my older, broken 885 with the 4300. (was a gift, or it would have the extended service plan = ) The 4300 is reasonably priced (under $400) and uses almost all the accessories that I had accumulated for the 885. It also has a nice macro (for close-ups of small details) and easy sizing of photos. (so you dont try to put poster sized images in an electronic album that really needs large thumbnails.... Good luck... and as usual.... any questions will most likely be answered here quickly..... Z or otherwise....... God, I love this place = ) tannji post-edit....I think battery consumption is fairly equal between the canon and nikon... look at the replacement battery price before you decide... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David K Posted August 3, 2003 Author Share Posted August 3, 2003 Gentlemen, i went with the Sony Cyber-Shot 3.2 MegaPixel cam. Its really nice, came with a charger, and batteries. We already have a Sony Vaio computer, so the Memory Stick is a charm Its actually really clear, ill post a pic here soon. With 2 year warranty, additional 128mb memory stick, tax and all....$488. Im satisfied in a sense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yo2001 Posted August 3, 2003 Share Posted August 3, 2003 that's the same camera I got. I like mine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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