Digital Cameras?

[Tifa]

Digital cameras are always fun. Tons of people have it these days too, since some are getting pretty cheap. What models have you guys had? Which one has been the favorite? And for those of you who have DSLRs: I hate you Lawl.

I've had a few so far...

- Canon Powershot S30
This one was really nice, but the screen shattered which basically ruined most of my ability to take photos (unable to set certain things, review photos, etc). I can still take photos with it but quality is okay. I still liked it a lot though, despite the size.

- Olympus C-770 Ultra Zoom
Huge camera. Not as big as an SLR but it's still big for a point and shoot. It was nice, took decent photos, but the cap screwed up on me when it fell one too many times (come on Olympus ...) and the options ... I felt like I couldn't take as many different kinds of photos as I could with the Canon Powershot. I missed long exposure, lol. Decent but not so conveinent. Parents use it now.

- Panasonic DMC-FX07
It's pretty nice. Shitty, really shitty in low-ISO conditions though, and sometimes the photos look more like a painting than a photo... it's a little splotchy. Otherwise okay for general use, I guess. It's tiny so it fits easily into my bags, and Tifa pocket XD It has some different settings which are okay, but you can't customize farther than what you're given. Like, they have some long-exposure settings but you can only do like .. 8s, or 15s... Might want to return it eventually and get another camera, but I'm not sure what yet ...

[Furore]

You can get a cheap 5mp digital video recorder which can take photos at aldis stores, if you have one near you. That's what I did and it left me happy. Not only are they as cheap as shit, they come with two lots of rechargable batteries, the battery charger and a miniature tripod. Good crap. And not only do they have internal memory, there is also an SD card slot. THey have a decent battery life too. I used mine for a whole day at the zoo a few weeks back for both video and stills.

[LocoColt04]

Early last year I bought a Kodak EasyShare V530. It's 5.0 megapixels, has AMAZING screen quality (8.0x when in review mode), has twenty different picture modes on top of the standard "Auto" mode, takes excellent video (though the sound quality isn't the best), and basically rocks my socks off.

Tons of settings. Amazing camera. Completely worth the $260 I paid for it.

[Crazy Chocobo]

We got a Digital Camera a couple of years ago now. It's a Samsung Digimax 201. It's only 2.0 Mega Pixels but it's still a neat little camera. It does take very good pictures but the only thing about it (and most other digital cameras) is that it takes up a TON of batteries. They never last long and it costs a fortune to keep buying batteries. We really need to get some rechargeable ones!

It's quite a good camera, I can't really complain about it. I have seen some of the newer cameras that are out now and they look very cool. Samsung is always a good brand though in my opinion, they make top stuff.

[Tifa]

Let's see ... I'm really lazy about replying, haha.

Canon's PowerShot series is one of my favorite. The cameras I've seen from it are nice ~~ but 16MB for a card is way too little, haha. Next camera I get I'll probably look to buy a 1Gig card.

Lol, I hate cameras where you have to use like AA / AAA batteries. Pretty lame-- I already have my laser and Wiimotes using them up! So yeah, Lithium ion rechargeable preferred for me.

Looking at camera models now~~ I'm really thinking about keeping Panasonic for low-key hangouts and buying a dSLR ... Canon EOS 350D / Digital Rebel XT ( http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canoneos350d/ ) for some other stuff like conventions. A bit on the expensive side (~$350 just for the body, no lens, on Ebay) but the quality seems to be pretty damn good. It's one my friend uses, haha. Also hopefully good for getting me to learn the works :] Not sure yet though!

[Cain Highwind]

Early last year I bought a Kodak EasyShare V530. It's 5.0 megapixels, has AMAZING screen quality (8.0x when in review mode), has twenty different picture modes on top of the standard "Auto" mode, takes excellent video (though the sound quality isn't the best), and basically rocks my socks off.

Tons of settings. Amazing camera. Completely worth the $260 I paid for it.

Funny, last year in NZ, I got an Easyshare C310 (I think it came to about 150 US$), and as my first digital, I've never been happier. It's only 4 MP but it still takes great pictures when ordering 17 x 20 (I think) prints it was only a little grainy and you really needed to look at it up close to see it. I still haven't tried capturing video on it (i'm not sure if it records Sound)

I'd say the only real drawback is that the screen can be hard to see clearly sometimes I remember thinking, "Wow is the picture really that dim, or is it just the brightness of the screen?" and I was suprised how the photos lookedafter being uploaded to my laptop (the photo software it comes with is not too shabby either)

[LocoColt04]

Yeah, the V530 actually has a fairly bright screen -- the colors I see on the camera match what comes up on my laptop nearly identically. Of course, if the screen is used a lot, it tends to drain battery life a little quicker, too... but that takes a lot of usage, really. I can go to two or three different social events before I have to charge it again, so it's pretty good unless you're taking a lot of video and using it non-stop.

[Tifa]

Got my dSLR, Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT (int'l: 350D). Excellent camera so far, it's beautiful, I'm in love with it ... even the kit lens I've been pretty happy with. Beautiful photos so far. So fast too~ Webcam shot of me with camera <3

[Secret Azn Man]

Congrats on the Canon Digital Rebel XT, Tiff.

I hate you.

Anyways, I'm in the market for a new camera. My trusty Canon PowerShot G3 was a really good camera and takes pretty damn good pictures. It does suffer in low light as well as exhibits purple fringing.

I considered the Canon PowerShot G7 but despite it being a good camera, I just wasn't sold. For the longest time, I had my eye on the older buy much loved Canon PowerShot S3 IS. It's an ultra-zoom camera with a 12x optical zoom. It's quite fast and very useful for sports shots. I've sold a ton of these to soccer moms. But then I took a look at the Olympus 550 Ultra-Zoom. The specs on paper looks great. 18x Optical zoom, 15 FPS continuous shooting, wide-angle lense? Wow. But in real world tests, it's a bit disappointing. The newly announced Sony H9 looks great. But no reviews yet.

I'm gonna rent each camera for a week and test them all out. I'm hoping Canon comes out with a worthy competitor to the other two like the S4/S5. But outlook's not so good.

EDIT:

Canon recently announced the PowerShot S5 IS!!!

http://www.usa.canon.com/html/templa...s_sd850is.html

[DragonHeart]

As of right now, my first and only digital camera is a Vivitar Vivicam 3315. It's a piece of trash. 1.3 megapixels, only 2x digital zoom, virtually nonexistent battery life. It can only handle up to a 128mb SD card. The few pictures I've managed to take with this thing have contrast issues. Namely, in strong light conditions, it tends to turn the brightest parts of the picture pink. Example.

Yeah. They stopped making this camera 5 years ago.

Anyways, I'm in the market for a new camera, and I was hoping for some recommendations from you camera-minded peoples. I'm really just looking for something with good quality in the $150 or less range with at least half decent battery life.

Battery recommendations are also welcomed - I've tried normal alkalines, the Energizer E2 lithiums, and rechargeables, but my camera eats all of them in 20 minutes or less.

~DragonHeart~

[Tifa]

Here are two quick suggestions you can look at ... they're slightly over your price range ($150) but they seem to be good cameras.

Canon Powershot SD1000: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...SIN=B000Q30420
I had a Powershot a long time ago and I loved it. AFAIK their quality is always good.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX12k: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...SIN=B000Q30420
I hate my FX07 but this seems to have gotten good reviews, and I've heard alright things about the other Lumix's.

I'll update with more options and research later since I'm actually supposed to be studying for my exam right now. But these seem to be good ... you'll likely want to do further research on C-net and DPreview... good sites. What other specs did you want? (Regarding zoom, specific types of photography, etc...)

[DragonHeart]

Confound it all, I had a big long response all typed up and "database error". TFF hates me! ;-; The one time I don't copy it first...dammit!

Anyways, the gist of it was that I've been doing some research, I'm just having a hard time deciphering the technical stuff. The $150 range is a just a base figure, I am willing to go higher, but when I factor in all the extra costs like memory cards and batteries, it becomes less manageable on my current paycheck.

When it comes to cameras, I only know the basics of 'em. So I'm not sure what it would translate to on the specs. I'm looking for something that would be mainly personal use, but I am interested in playing with photography as an art a little bit. 5 megapixels or so would be preferable, not sure on the print quality but the biggest print I'd go for would be an 8x10, though unlikely.

Honestly, I've been eying the Canon Powershot 560 and 570, they both look nice. A bit pricey, but I've heard a lot of good about the series. I'm just wary about having to put the price before the quality, thanks to my Vivicam. It was cheap, and it's very obvious.

So more of a middle of the road kind of thing, I don't need a lot of features, but I wouldn't mind having a few options. Optical zoom for sure though, digital zoom is nowhere near as good in my (limited) experience.

Thank you for the recommendations so far though, I will be sure to check them out. ^^ It's so hard trying to compare everything. ;-; Too many choices!

~DragonHeart~

[Secret Azn Man]

I second Tiff's recommendation on the Canon PowerShot SD1000. It's a great camera and a great value. I don't own one, but have used one myself when a friend lent me hers.

I actually sell a lot of these at Target. It's our most popular camera. Thanks to me, of course.

The things I like are:

- It's fairly slim. So, it's easy to take with you everywhere, everyday. Yet, it's not too slim and small that it becomes hard to use.

- It doesn't feel cheap despite the price. Its body is made of metal, so it has a nice, confident heft to it yet still light.

- The specs are respectable. Standard 7 MP, which is more than enough for most people. 3X optical Zoom is standard. It has Safe-Zooming where it limits digital zooming before losing image quality. The lens is also pretty decent fare.

- The image quality, typical of Canon, is very nice for the price. Colors are nice and vibrant. I will attach some pictures I took with the SD1000. Keep in mind, I reduced the resolution from 7 MP to around 2 MP because I wanted to save space.

http://img85.imageshack.us/img85/43/img0004eu9.jpg
This example demonstrates the SD1000's Macro capability. Which isn't too shabby.

http://img81.imageshack.us/img81/1065/img0035pj7.jpg
This was set using Auto-Mode.

Another thing about Auto-Mode is that it has Face Detection capabilities. Meaning, if you're taking a picture of a person or group of people, the camera will detect and prioritize the faces, adjusting exposure, shutter, and focus to ensure the faces turn out great. Other dumb cameras just prioritize the center of the pic, which is sometimes not where the face it.

http://img81.imageshack.us/img81/1558/img0095vw9.jpg
http://img81.imageshack.us/img81/3707/img0104gs2.jpg
http://img81.imageshack.us/img81/3783/img0112fl8.jpg

Some sunset shots using manual settings. This camera has some basic manual controls, which is nice if you know what you're doing.

http://img85.imageshack.us/img85/2938/img0001ik2.jpg
Daytime...

http://img81.imageshack.us/img81/3240/img0061cz1.jpg
Nighttime! Its a bit crappy because I had to hold the camera over the railing and the wind was blowing hard. Now, if I had a tripod...

Overall, its a nice camera and I really recommend it. Especially after the price drop.

[DragonHeart]

Wow, awesome pictures. ^^ I liked that second one so much I set it as my wallpaper.

That is definitely some good quality, and I really like the options you have listed there. Hmm...I might be tempted to go see if I can find one locally so I can bring it on vacation with me. There's no way I'm bring my current camera and my friend's letting me borrow his, but it's not quite the same as having one of my own, you know?

Thank you both very much, I am definitely going to look into the SD1000 based on your recommendations.

~DragonHeart~

[Secret Azn Man]

You can find the SD1000 at Target and Best BUy. I dunno about Wal*Mart.

If you do buy from Target, ask for the 3 Yr Extended Service Plan. For only $19, you extend the warranty an additional 3 years. Unlike other ESPs where you gotta keep reciepts and the plan itself, all you need is the little sticker they give you. On it has the case number, web address, and phone number to call. Just put the sticker on the camera itself or someplace else you won't lose.

With the ESP, should something go wrong with your camera and its not your fault, they'll fix it, replace it, or best of all, give you a Target Gift Card equal to the camera's price, which is $199. You can use that for another, better camera down the road.

[DragonHeart]

Ah, thank you. ^^ That seems quite reasonable. Usually I don't bother with warranties and such just because the cost is equal or more than what it would cost to just get something fixed, heh. Or, as in my car's case, completely useless for the area I live in. >.> (Curbs? In New Hampshire? Please. We're lucky to have paved roads.)

I'll probably check Wally world first simply because they're the closest. Five minute drive as opposed to half an hour. I hate going in there though. -_- Every time we go there we have some sort of issue. Plus, they're creepy. My uncle worked there a few years back, he only lasted a week cause the people he worked with were psycho. XD

Update: After careful comparison and much deliberation, I've ordered an SD1000 on Amazon. They're running a sale so it's actually cheaper than Wal*Mart, heh. Also getting a spare battery pack and a 2GB memory card. That should be enough to get me through vacation.

~DragonHeart~

[ekimeinna]

well right now i just got Sony Cybershot DSC-S700 this christamas... it has 7.2 megapixels on it.. this one is really good but it just that when i am going to record a movie, when it is ready to watch directly in the camera, there's no sound on it... i need to plug it to the computer or to the tv to hear the entire sound of it...

i like my-soon-to-be sister-in-law's camera, it was Casio Exilim... eventhough it was 6.0nmegapixels, still al lot of good features on it, you can record a voice, make a beautiful slideshow, etc. my fiance wants to buy that some other time but with higher pixels on it...

[Tifa]

Hey DH, how do you like your camera? Work well for you?

Also congrats on the camera gift Also have you checked the manual? Cameras should be able to play back sound. I think the default for one of my older cameras was the same-- couldn't hear video sound until I changed the settings. By the way, megapixel only really deals with how big the file can get for printing. So a lower MP camera might not be able to create as big photos, but the quality can still be higher.

Maybe we should have this thread also so we can have sample photos from our cameras... it might help people looking for digital cameras as well I managed to snap a few good shots from Christmas with my SLR (<3).

[DragonHeart]

Yeah, it worked out awesomely. Thanks for all the help, I really appreciate it. The only problem (and it's a minor one) I had was when I took pictures with the full digital zoom, they came out quite grainy. Other than that, the quality's been fantastic. I'll upload some of the pictures I took in the next couple days, I just haven't gotten around to it yet.

Update: Actually, I uploaded a few already. I took a total of about 200 pictures. I've just picked a rather arbitrary handful, basically some of the shots I thought were exceptionally neat or cool.

Miami - Ah, the beautiful people...not really. I just like the angle and the way the vegetation, sand, and water all curve the same way.

Sunset - I really love the way the lady in the foreground (no, I don't know her, she just happened to be standing in my way) is all shadowy and mysterious looking.

Waves - I love the ocean.

More waves. - Only this time, very creepy. I was fascinated by the way the water was lit by sunlit yet all those dark heavy clouds lurked overhead. You'll see the cause in a moment.

Twister! - Waterspout, actually. Talk about awesome! No, I didn't get that close. That was my first use of the full 12x optical zoom. I fiddled with it in Photoshop just to reduce the grainy effect. If it had turned out just a little better I so would have made a 16x20 print.

Ship at night. - Just testing one of the different modes. Turned out fairly well, despite the blur. The ship looked so cool when it was all lit up and glowy like that.

Belize - Just a random scenery picture. Very pretty area around the general area of the docks.

Perspective. - Just a little size comparison, haha. The ship on the right was our ship, the Valor. The one on the left is her sister ship, Conquest. Pretty damn awesome walking down the pier between these two floating behemoths.

A neat angle. - This picture is one of my favorites for some odd reason. I think it's because of the angle I took it at. I was laying down on one of the upper decks, looking up at the "tail", which is actually the smokestack.

~DragonHeart~