I just returned from the family reunion and saw all the "new" digital cameras that my relatives purchased on the way to the reunion....

I didn't even bother taking any pictures with my Kodak 3800.

My sister got her Kodak digital a few years before I got mine and hers takes much better pictures - clear, focussed etc. Mine are fuzzy and grainy.

Now, I have about $300 USD that I can spend - what do you recommend??

I like the convenience of a digital, so I think I'll go that way again, but I don't know what to look for.

I have a "universal" card reader with 4 slots, but some of the relatives had newer media that wouldn't fit in any of those slots....

What do you recommend??

Margaret

Can you stretch your budget just a little bit?
Take a look at this (http://www.beachcamera.com/shop/Product.asp?sku=OMC5050RB)

While prices have plummetted, I suspect you're going to be as disappointed with a $300 camera (today's prices) in less than a month or two; those units are very thinly stretched to cover the costs, and a lot of corners usually get cut. Not from the feature list, as that helps sell cameras, but the actual image quality--the reason people want one.

If you can identify which features you must have, and which you can live without, you'll be in a better position to find the best camera in that price range. But it may well be better to wait and save for one that you'll be happy with for at least a while rather than squeeze into something that ou'll be unhappy with almost as soon as you've started using it.

Good point Kevin - that's what happened when I bought the camera that I have now!!

I went looking today, and found a Canon and little photo printer in the $1200 Canadian range - and I think I've decided that I really can't justify the price right now.

I seem to have acquired a lot of stuff that doesn't quite do the job - Kodak DC3800 camera that takes fuzzy pictures. Epson 1280 that prints muddy pictures. I need to get a grip on what I actually need before I spend any more money.

Thanks also Doug and Don - in trying to come up with a list of features I really wanted/needed, I realized it was the glitter that I was lusting after.....

Take care, Margaret

Don't give up yet Margaret. The Christmas season is comming up soon. The new models will be out and the current models will be reduced. Also you might look on ebay for a good buy on a slightly used model.

I wouldn't trade my Nikon Cp-995 for anything less than a SLR. I have been so pleased with the results I get. But, to tell you the truth, even after I can afford the digital SLR I want I may still keep the 995. I do a lot of macro work and the 995 just excels at macro. I haven't been able to top it yet with my film SLR in the macro department.

Margaret,

I am always a bit reluctant to "recommend" something to someone. However, I do believe that a little time and research is well spent when thinking about a purchase such as this. Therefore, my recommendation is, if you have not already done so, you visit this site (http://www.dpreview.com/).
Take a careful look at the cameras. Read the detailed reviews on the cameras that seem to fit your needs and then price them. If the cost is too high for you right now, wait. The price will definitely come down. In the meantime, just make sure you know what you want and why. That way when the moment presents itself you will be prepared.

Good luck,

Catia

Margaret,

I dont think youll find much wrong with any of the models Canon, Olympus or Nikon produce even Minolta. I've a few digital cameras and at the end of the day the one that gets most use is a Canon Ixus simply because its convenient to carry and after many years using large format cameras thats a big plus, its size encourages you to carry the thing on a regular basis.

Drifting off topic: Margaret, you might want to ask for help with your 1280; it's an excellent printer when fed the right papers and using good color procedures (either profiles or other methods). It's generally considered the best 'affordable' color printer on the market, with a better color gamut than Epson's 2200 (no slouch!), and better longevity than Canon's 950 and 9100.

Like any printer, though, a bad profile or some bad settings (even ONE!) will give garbage results.

Hi Margaret,

I just had to jump in on this discussion and throw in my 5 cents.

I've had a nikon coolpix 990 for a couple of years now and had tried various other digital cameras. All I can say is that I hope my 990 doesn't break down...it's excellent and has given me hundreds of good clear pictures.

One friend just got the nikon 5700 and another friend got the olympus C-750. Both are nice cameras but for the added bucks they have spent you could grab a 990 on ebay or through an online store for much less and get just as good of quality.

You might watch on ebay as that's where I got mine 2 years ago and have not regreted it at all.

Take care and have fun
Christie

my Canon bias will probably show thru here but now that the Canon Powershot G5 (5 megapixel) model has been released the G2s and G3s will become dirt cheap both on the new and used market. The G2/G3s are great 4 megapixel cameras with full shutter/aperature control, manual or auto focus and the ability to mount an external flash. They also have a wealth of accessories available. I have made some real nice prints up to 16x20 with my G2. You may want to check out some of the better mail order houses like B&H or Adorama for their price and availability.

Thank you all again for your suggestions.

I went back to the camera store and looked at one of those Canon G5 models, but that is too much camera for me - although if anyone wants to send one to me, I'd be happy to accept.

I took stock of the equipment I have and came up with the following requirements:

The Kodak DC3800 takes fuzzy pictures because of the digital zoom (which can't be turned off) - I want clear crisp images.

The Epson 1280 does a decent enough job of printing - when I use the right paper and get it cleaned and I use the roll paper to produce 4X6 (or other size) prints, BUT the prints are sort of "gummy" not smooth like from Wal-Mart. When I hand out pictures from the 1280, people complain that they don't feel "right"

Soooooooo ........ I went to the camera store and got a Canon S400 camera (that's IXUS 400 in Europe) and a CP-300 card photo printer.

The batteries are charging as we speak and as soon as I can, I'll post some examples.

I thought about the on-line vendors that you all suggested, but our monetary exchange rate is fluctuating so much lately, that it is not advantageous for us Canadians to buy anything that has to be purchased in US funds (my brother's new Olympus camera was much less expensive here)

Now I need to go and do some reading,

Margaret

Thats the updated version of the V3 I mentioned earlier so I'm sure you'll be pleased with it. My brother has one and being a tremendous butterfingers has dropped it many times, its covered in dents and still works perfectly!

Originally posted by chris h
My brother has one and being a tremendous butterfingers has dropped it many times, its covered in dents and still works perfectly!

That is good to know - my grandson dropped the camera I had before when it was only a couple of days old. It still worked, but I wonder if that's been part of it's problem :(

The new gear is charged up now and I understand the basic functions, so I'm going to do some testing.

256 MB Flash Cards were down to $100 CDN today so I treated myself to one of those too!!

I'll keep you posted

Margaret

wow, this is kinda of funny, I came to RetouchPro today with the intention of posting exactly the same question that Margaret just posted!! I'm going crazy trying to decide what printer/digital camera combination to get (I've got money in hand, just can't decide for the life of me what to decide on..)

I've narrowed the choices down a fair bit, so this is most likely list of what I'm looking at buying:

Printer:

Cannon i550, Epson Stylus photo 825, Epson Stylus C82 (unlikely since what I've read in reviews about the color issues with it)

what I need from a printer: basically I just need the best photo quality I can get in a low cost printer, nothing else really matters that much to me since it's almost exclusively photo's that I'll be printing from it.

Digital Camera:

I'm looking at the Toshiba PDR-3300 right now, but if I'm gonna get it, I gotta get it this evening since the sale ends today, I can get it for $300cdn if I act fast, which is a pretty good deal for a 3MP camera with a 3X optical zoom I think.

What I need from the camera: I just need a good all around camera, zoom is nice but not a requirement for me, color quality is the biggest thing for me, if there's slight problems with some photos it's not that big a deal since I can fix it in Photoshop, but I just need good, fairly high res. images to work with.

I'd appreciate and help I can get quickly, because if I'm gonna get this stuff I have to get myself over to futureshop within a couple hours...
thanks in advance..

- David :)

Ok well I was just checking out the epson website and found out that they'll give you a rebate if you buy the epson 825 and a Print Image Matching capable camera, which the Toshiba camera is, so that's making this look like a deal I can't pass up.. unless anybody tells me to avoid either of these products I'm running off to futureshop!

- David :)

David,

Unfortunately, I don't have any great advice for which camera or printer to buy. But, if you buy the Toshiba on sale, can you return it for a full refund? That would give you the option to get the sale - but still do some more research. In case you decide you don't like it or there's something better, you can just return it.

Jeanie

good point, they've got a good return policy there, I've dealt with them quite a few times so it should be fine. in the mean time, I did some searching on google quickly and I've found some reviews and sample shots and I'm quite impressed so far with what I've seen. I'll keep you guys updated with what happens and post some photos when I have everything running.

- David :)

well darn!! I phoned every single future shop in edmonton and they're all out :( I guess I'll keep looking for another camera..

- David

Can you get a rain check (so you can get the sale price when they have stock again)?

Jeanie

big thanks Jeanie, I phoned them again, and they said they'd do it! :bigthmb:

- David :)

Originally posted by photomauler
David, are you against buying on the net or something? I paid $1300 and some extra for two day shipping and was happy as a peach. Tons of reputable places to purchase from on the net. Maybe you wanted to play with a new camera tonight...

well the fact that I'm not 18 yet means I can't get a credit card. no credit card = no web purchases.. I also prefer dealing with an actual store, much easier to deal if there's problems.

P.S. yep, i'm not really the patient type.. can't stand waiting for stuf!!!

Tough luck David, sorry you didn't get the camera. I'm not familar with their cameras so I not much help on a recommendation.

I can help on the printer. The bad rap the C-82 has gotten is a design issue. The printer uses pigmented inks which is good. The prints made using this printer will last a long time. The Epson design team made a poor decission, at least I think so, when they decided to not incorporate a black cartridge using "micro-encapsulated" inks like they did on the 2200, 7600, 9600 and so on. What this means is that you cannot print on resin coated papers, which most Epson glossy papers are, using this black ink. What they did was to design the driver to create the black in the photos using only the color inks and not use the black cartridge. What results is a very lack-luster photo prints. They recommend using the matt papers for this reason. On matt paper this printer really does a great job and the print-outs are very archival. I guess they did this to save money and offer this printer at such a low price. It's a great printer, I bought one for use at work. But, if you like to print glossy photos it may not be the one you should get.

Glad to help David! :D

Jeanie

Well thanks again, I have my rain cheque in hand, so I'll have my camera within the next couple weeks, and I got my printer today (Epson Stylus Photo 825) :pleased:

Kevin - interesting info, I was wondering what was causing that. the guy my dad works for got it and was instantly dissapointed by the fact that the color he was getting on it was worse than the cheap HP he was replacing with it (he's still using the HP.. took too long to take the Epson back, and didn't want to make too much effort trying to fix it!) I was actually over at the place for a couple hours helping him with some network problems and seeing if I could get the epson to print any better by adjusting settings but nothing I could do really helped it much.

PM - I'm not afraid of buying stuff on the net, I've borrowed a parent's credit card a couple times to buy stuff, but in my experience anyway, I've been able to find stuff just as cheap or cheaper at local stores. anything I could find for cheaper was usually in the states, and don't even get me started on our exchange rates and border fees!!! most of the stuff I buy is computer components and I can find it cheaper at the OEM stores around town than I can at any website I've found, especially when you add shipping to the cost. I guess it depends on what you're buying - for consumer electronics stuff I would agree with you that it's cheaper on the web.

- David

I'm with David as far as buying locally - you have to remember that we're in Canada and have to calculate exchange. Given the current exchange rates, it is usually cheaper to buy an item locally than to buy it from an American company and then pay for shipping and duty.

Service is also an issue and on things like cameras etc, it's just not worth the hassle.

David, I hope you're happy with the new printer. I decided that my camera needs were pretty simple, small size and clear pictures - I think the Canon I bought will do the job. I'm not in to apertures and f-stops :)

Take care, margaret

Margaret - Thanks, I'm extremely happy with this printer, just printed off a semi high res scan of a photo I took a while ago on the included Epson premium glossy photo paper, and it came out great, held it up by the screen and the colors are right on (I've already calibrated my monitor) definitely photo lab quality by my eye anyway!

- David :)

Margaret, Have fun with the new camera and let IT worry about the exposure for the time being getting out and taking photo's is the priority. Otherwise good shots will just fade away while you agonise over the buttons!

Originally posted by photomauler
Their are no prices really given at DPR so you will have to get your prices elsewhere.

All the cameras have the street pricing mentioned in dpr.

I would say that Canon A70 is pretty popular at $300 range.

In case anyone is still interested in my camera woes....

This is a comparison of an image taken with my Kodak 3800 and a similar one taken with my sister's really old Kodak digital.

....and here's an image taken with my new camera in auto mode. I also took some images in manual mode with disappointing results (operator error I'm sure ;) )


Margaret

Margaret -- I'm so glad that your new camera does focus well, and takes good images. If that image you posted from your old camera was an example of what you regularly got from it -- it was definitely damaged -- that lack of focus is not normal for any digital camera I've ever seen. (Of course, I should ask -- did you have your glasses on when you took both pictures? ;) )

Originally posted by CJ Swartz
(Of course, I should ask -- did you have your glasses on when you took both pictures? ;) )


:D :D :D :D :D

It never was a good camera, but it seems to have gotten worse. I suspect that dropping it didn't do it any good :(

In fairness to Kodak, I know that lots of people have them and are very happy with them - I just got a dud. And I learned to buy from a reputable camera store so you can go back to them if something isn't right.

So far I'm happy with the new one and with the prints made by my teeny-tiny printer.

Take care, Margaret

Hi Margaret, I glad you got the camera and printer you wanted. Thats one of the most important aspects of ownership is that you are satisfied with your purchase. That camera has gotten very good reviews and I don't think you can go wrong with a Canon.

I have gone the other way and have recently bought a film camera. Actually I'm one my third one. I bought a Canon AE-1 then I sold it and bought a Canon A1. Now I have a Nikon N80. Hopefully this will do me until I can raise the money for the Nikon D1 that I want. It's been hard going back to film after shooting digital for 3 years. So far I am a little dissappointed at the results. I wanted better control and sharper images. I'm not there yet.

Originally posted by photomauler
I bought a kodak 1 mp dc3200 when they were first available.

I think that's probably what my sister has - I know it's a Kodak, but I forget which model.

The camera store where I bought the new one thinks it has something to do with the digital zoom. In fact, I just tried it again and the image in the LCD was very fuzzy so I fiddled with the zoom control and got it better but still not good.

I'm going to take it over to the store and see if they can do anything with it - as it is, it isn't even good for the kids to use :)

Take care, Margaret