Digital Cameras

[Sanda]

If you were to buy a digital camera what would you buy and why? What features are important to you and why?

[Jill]

I bought a H/P 618 last year.
2 mega pixel, optical zoom/plus digital zoom (never use) prints great 8"x10" I wanted a little higher but at the time money was an issue! (cost apx. 380.00) I started a few years ago with a 1mp but only could get a good print at 4"x6".
The reason I chose H/P is..... I went to the google search site and did a lot of comparison checking and for the price this one stood out for what I need it for. Optical zoom was a must and the ability to buy additional lens add ons.
I also had an H/P before and never had one problem and haven't with this one all year.
There is a menu on this 618 to adjust everything as you would a normal 35mm. Although I still am much faster with settings with my 35mm!
This takes great close ups to lanscape. I have been very happy with this but will be trading up again as soon as I can for a camera with a higher pixel count.
I like the weight of this camera, some were so tiny, they felt like a toy. Personal choice! I like the heavy weight of my old 35mm Nikkor!

[Ed_L]

Sandra,

I have a Canon S-10, which was a Christmas gift two years ago. I am well satisfied with the quality, but there is no provision for lens interchangability. After using many cameras through the years (mostly instamatics through medium format SLR's, and 4 X 5 and 8 X 10 cameras on occasion), I was a little surprised at the quality this digital put out. There are a lot of options for the user, but there are no manual settings for shutter speed and f/stop. In other words I miss the control, but it performs better than expected. It is 2.1 megapixels, and no problems making decent 8 X 10's. It can probably be bought for around $300.00 now. It uses a compact flash card, which I think is a plus.

Jill,

Does the HP offer manual control? It sounds as though it does, but I'm probably misinterpreting your post (for that price).

Ed

[DJ Dubovsky]

I haven't shopped the latest models but I do like Epson products so I might turn to them first to see what options I could get.

What I would go for is the maximum amount of Mega Pixels because I would like to use it for scanning photos with matte finish grain as well as regular photos so I want to get a large enough file size. Next, I would get the best zoom capability. I bought one when digitals were relatively new to the market so I didn't get in on the Mega pixels and the zoom feature wasn't available in my price range. Neither was the camera for that matter.
DJ

[Jill]

Ed, You were right. There is a menu on the back lcd viewer to manually choose all settings. exposure, iso speed, white balance, focus, ae meter, image stamp, date/time, text, logo, file type (tiff,jpeg) sepia/black and white setting,time lapse.....all sorts of choices that I have yet to make use of for the most part. I almost always get a good shot just using the default settings...If I don't I just delete and set it to the right settings. I use it to do close ups of photos that I can't scan (glued on wood for one)and get a very good size file to work with. I would love to get one of the really high end camera's (besides the extra pixels, they look so cool! but out of reach...still this has everything I need. 3 mp would be nicer......oh yes, one neat feature is a recorder so you can add your voice to the picture file. Very cool, but rarely use. I think this same camera is now going for about 100 dollars less than last year!

[BigAl]

A good site:

http://www.dpreview.com

A friend of mine has a sony dsc 505v, and she's very happy with it. What I like most about the dsc 505 and 707 is the Zeiss lens. I've seen some pretty good macro work with this camera.

However, if I had money, I'd go for the Nikon D1, which uses standard Nikon lenses (costs the price of a small house here in South Africa). I like the idea of being able to change the lens in different situations.

The Canon EOS range also has interchangeable lenses.

[Vikki]

I have an Olympus 2020 zoom, and love it (my third Olympus digital).
I chose this camera because:
Good picture quality
Threaded lens (able to add filters, etc)
Manual or automatic settings (fstops, aperture, shutter speed, iso, etc, can all be manipulated)
Zoom (3 optical - don't even consider digital zoom)
Comes with a remote (great for low light shots & tripod)
You can attach an external flash unit.
Excellent macro capabilities
Accepts rechargble batteries
The camera is small and compact.

Although I know practically nothing about photography (fstops, etc.) I wanted a camera that had advanced features, just in case I ever do decide to learn how to use it.

[CJ Swartz]

Sanda,

I bought the Olympus 2100Z last year
Reasons
2 megapixel CCD which gives me enough resolution to make acceptable enlargements to 5"x7"
10x zoom Equivalent to 38 - 380 mm lens on 35 mm camera) - which is important to me for photographing wildlife.
through-the-lens viewing
offers manual setting as well as aperature or shutter priority or programmed shooting,
USB transfer of images to the computer (which now I don't use as I use a USB card reader and just pop the card out of the camera into the reader attached to my computer.)
received good reviews (dpreview.com and www.steves-digicams.com)
Price

I hope to someday get a Nikon (D--whatever it will be when I can afford it), so that I can use my current 35mm lenses with a digital.

[chris h]

I have an Olympus 3040z which has all the usual digital facilities. I only want a camera for snaps and this fits the bill. There’s a tremendous amount of customisation available within the camera but its difficult to configure via the rear screen when your out in the field. Big plus is it uses rechargeable AA batteries instead of expensive proprietary cells such as Fuji. There’s superb back up for the camera online as well. Dislikes ? not much, the supplied photo handling software is generally agreed to be rubbish but that’s not really important.

The camera has been superseded by the 4040 which has various slight improvements. Most of my snaps in the gallery have been taken using it on ‘auto’.

[Sam]

I bought a Fujifilm Finepix 1300 last year, because it was about the cheapest digital camera I could find! It's a real snappy-happy, it goes everywhere with me, I have taken HUNDREDS of photos with it and I love it to bits. But I wouldn't recommend it to anyone wanting to take "serious" (i.e. professional-quality) photos!

[Mike L. Whitten]

It depends on what you want to use the camera for, if only personal use I also would suggest Olympus or Sony cameras.
I have owned the Sony CD-1000.

If you are going to use it for prints or making your living get one of the Nikon D1 series.

I have the Nikon D1x and I would highly reccomend it to anyone that is serious about their photography.
Hope this helps....

best wishes,

[Sanda]

Thanks for all the advice guys. I just bought a Nikon coolpix5000. It wasn't my first choice but I was able to get a great deal on it. Apparently this model had problems when released in the US but they tell me that the problem chip has been corrected now.
It seems preety good so far, but I've only had it 2 days and am still learing how to operate it. I've attached (I hope) one of my first pics taken with it. My dog Junior.

[DJ Dubovsky]

Thats an excellent picture Sandra. That camera seems very good in capturing the details. It's a picture worthy of framing. Well done. Wish I could take pics like that. Of course he's a good looking subject. Love those markings.
DJ

[ItzRandy]

Personally, I want the new Canon 1D ..... now all I have to do is find me a "Sugar Mamma" to pony up the funds for it! I don't think I could convince my wife that this is a "necessary" item in life.

In realistic terms, I wouldn't mind having the Canon G2 or the Nikon 995. Still a pretty penny to be layed out for either of those!

[BigAl]

Very nice definition in the white hair Sandra . You should try one with a black cat/ dog for the opposite test to see how well it resolves black hair.