Digital Camera question

[Bryan Tuvell 33ZX]

I use an old Sony Mavica, takes the floppy disk, it is great for still pic's, but not action, time to upgrade, and I am clueless on where to start.
My requirements are simple, non blurry pictures if there is motion involved.

I will NOT be printing them, only posting on the club website or on sites like this.
Recommendations? Budget is about $300 for a new one.
Thanks in advance folks.
Bryan

(listening to the ice hit my windows, winter sux!)

[TuxedoPk]

About 9 months ago I needed to purchase a digital camera and gladly gave up doing the research and just went with Chris's (CDMA) suggestion for a 4 megapixel Kodak w/Docking station.

The camera takes great pictures and my significant other and everyone else who has borrowed it has found it to be very simple to use. I would definately reccommend Kodak if ease of use for both the camera and software is a consideration.

[Bryan Tuvell 33ZX]

Thanks
What model?
Bryan

[mphatc]

I use an Olympus Stylus 300 Digital
It is water resistant, uses small cards and was just a bit over the $300.00 at Best Buy. My previous digi camera was also an Olympus, I have found them to be tough, having dropped the old one many times.
A fully charged battery lasts a LONG time, and recharges real quickly.

Software is easy . . . camera operation is a bit more comples than others, but the strength and water resistant feature out weighs a longer learning curve.

MPHATC

[Rootsy]

i opted for a cannon S50 a while back.. i don't regret it in the least but it is a bit more than your 300 dollar price cap... i just liked the manual adjustability for any given situation. From what i have read cannon has most beat in terms of optics, etc, and that is why i went that route after reading endless reviews online... my parents have a sony cybershot 3.3 megapixel that is a few years old and it works well as you can see from some of the older photos of the 16 by the dock... I also used a kodak dc260 when i worked for OI and it rocked for the time and technology (4 years ago)... we have one of the new sony's here at work that takes the small CD... still a mavica, big and heavy, cumbersome, slow, pain in the arse... i generally do not take advantage of the mexapixel capability of the camera either... i will shoot in 1200 x 1600 and resize the photo which affords me options of large format or resizing without too much loss in detail or pixelizing...

as far as transferring to the computer... USB cable from the camera to your puter running win 98, me, 2000 or XP is by far the easiest without extra equipment such as flash card readers, etc... the operatiing system should automatically recognize that you plugged the camera in and should ask you what you want to do.. as far as photo transfer to your computer... essentially it makes the camera a removable hard drive... you can use explorer to manipulate your photo locations, etc... fairly painless these days.

best buy i have found is generalyl a wee bit more expensive than say circuit city... both carry generally the same products.. check website for any possible sales cause i found they are not always posted in the store... if you look around on the net at online camera stores you can find some really good deals... just happned that circuit city was running a sale on the one i chose and it was within 10 bucks of what i had found online...

hmmm where is our resident photographer mr brad lyons when ya need him?

happy shopping!

Jamie - Researched out...

[John W]

My wife is a professional photogragher and uses the nikon D1H, about 5k, plus the lenses. I had her photog buddies do a bit of research for a decent digital camera and I ended up buying a cannon g2 Powershot. Awesome pics. I beleive the price has dropped, to a more reasonable price since I bought it (Imagine That).
It is fairly fast and has a mode that takes a burst of pics.
Try to find it at ecost.com.
One other thing if you find it really cheap, it is probably a grey market camera, no warranty. Buy the warranty.

John W :cistineb:

[Ranman]

Cannon is the only way to go. I just bought a digital camera for Christmas. I did a ton of research. I settled on the Cannon ELPH S400. It is literally the size of a pack of cigarettes. The feature set is a tad limited, but my priority was size and quality. It is a kickass digital camera. If the size were not such a big concern of mine, I would have went with the more robust PowerShot S50. I just absolutly had to have an ultra compact, pocketable camera and he S400 is the ticket.

check out www.imaging-resource.com for all the latest reviews.


Surprised I have not seen Brad Lyon on this one...

[ToonaFish]

Randy, Jamie and I did gobs of research just before Christmas, each ending up with a Canon; I opted for the Canon A80 (mid 300's) due to the manual controls and nifty accessories (underwater photography, anyone?).

I was a dyed in the wool Kodak kinda gal, but it really is everything the glowing reviews said it would be and I've happily jumped ship. Now if I could find a few hours to read the instructions, figure out the automatic features, and find a trustworthy assistant for a photo shoot... there just might be a Toona Can(did) in the Donzi Girls gallery.

You can also try www.dcresource.com for information.

Bunches,

Celene 'and no pesky negatives to haunt her in later life'

[McGary911]

Bryan,
I am by no means an expert, but I'll tell you what I have. I bought a Casio Exelim Z3. It is a 3.2 megapixel camera, with a decent amount of manual control. Like ranman's Elph, it's tiny, which was a big selling point for me. It fits in an altoids box. I find i carry it more - get more pix - because of the size. Feels very well made too. I dislike the "plasticy" feel of some friends' cameras.
3X optical zoom (dont fall for the digital zoom hype - its pretty useless)? Very good optics. takes 30 seconds of video at a time, with sound. USB connection via a docking cradle, that also handles charging duty. Tons of other features...ill just post a link. I bought mine in November when they were about $400.....I believe theyre about 3 now, right on target for you. You can probably find one a bit cheaper with a bit of searching. I would highly recommend it. Radio shack carries them. An extra $100 gets you a 4 mp camera, but sounds like you dont need that.

BTW i was a bit iffy about buying a casio, but pentax actually makes the camera \ lens. They even have the exact one with a pentax label on it, but the name escapes me at the moment.

Here's the first link i found with all the specs: http://www.digitalliquidators.com/detail.asp?id=csexexz3&l=google

price on this link is only $289 too. any other questions, shoot me an email.

[harbormasterextra]

I have a canon A-70. It Rocks. It is rated as one of the top digital cameras for the money. I had a Mavica till I stuffed a wave and drenched it with salt water. Canon makes an underwater enclosure for the A70. I got that also. Its good for a depth of 130 feet. It will also do video/Audio inside the enclosure (even Underwater). It does 3 minutes of video and sound.

camera - 289.00
enclosure - 160.00

[Brad Lyon]

Hey guy's, my computer and this new software are not getting along so well. Sometimes I see posts and sometimes I do not. I aint got it figured out yet. Anyway, I would agree with Jamie, Randy and Toona, in the 300 to 400 dollar range Cannon does the best job. The colors are more true to life than you will get with say Sony, Kodak, Epson and alike. Going a little highter up in price I am Nikon all the way. Just my two cents.

Brad