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Shlup
03-25-2008, 04:00 AM
Simple topic: digital cameras. Do you have one? Do you like it? What do you like best about it?

Basically, I'm getting a digital camera for my birthday and am trying to decide which one to tell my mommy to get me.

Priorities:
1) Decent optical zoom
2) Fast shutter
3) Small
4) Less than $500

Go!

ETA: Now I'm thinking between the Canon PowerShot SD850 IS, the Canon PowerShot SD870 IS, and the Canon Powershot SD1100. SOMEONE TELL ME WHAT I WANT! (http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/compare_post.asp?method=sidebyside&cameras=canon_sd850is%2Ccanon_sd870is%2Ccanon_sd1100&show=all)

Araciel
03-25-2008, 04:04 AM
http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?logon=&langid=EN&sku_id=0665000FS10092661&catid=

Oh...nevermind..I like this camera though.

XxSephirothxX
03-25-2008, 04:05 AM
Alas, I don't have one, but the first dozen or so displayed here (http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2070070012&bop=And&Order=RATING) look like they fit your criteria pretty well.

Shlup
03-25-2008, 04:07 AM
Yeah, I'm looking at those same ones on dpreview.com. NewEgg is a source I hadn't thought of though--thanks. :D

Rye
03-25-2008, 04:09 AM
Simple topic: digital cameras. Do you have one? Do you like it? What do you like best about it?

Basically, I'm getting a digital camera for my birthday and am trying to decide which one to tell my mommy to get me.

Priorities:
1) Decent optical zoom
2) Fast shutter
3) Small
4) Less than $500

Go!

A Sony Cybershot is probably the best one to get. The one I got when I was 15 (about 3 years ago then, and it's still working, though it's on it's last legs even after being dropped and mutilated often), and it's very easy to use, small, and light. And $200 dollars! It'd be very good for a beginner!

My Dad got a digital camera from his company for working there for 20 years! He's been taking pictures like nuts.

I have the camera I mentioned before, and my $800 dollar nice Canon Rebel XTi DSLR, to take my nice artistic photographs.

rubah
03-25-2008, 04:16 AM
I've had several in my tenure;

1) I don't know what on earth it was. I think it was a nikon. I got it for christmas in 2001. It's pretty crappy. I found it recently and marvelled how I could ever stand to take pictures with it for 4 years.

2) It's actually my mother's but I used it far more and beyond what she ever did. It's a minolta d-image Z and pretty amazing for a beginner to manual camera settings. i used it until I went to college and mom wouldn't let me take it with me. For some reason my old digital one wasn't good enough for her, although she did try to sneak it in when she visited my sister in prison because it was smaller.

3) I bought a d-SRL when I started college mainly because I had always wanted one. A pretty frivolous purchase, but I probably won't need another one ever (just new lenses!). I recently discovered how to use the manual focus (I am ashamed about this enough as it is, trust me) so I'm even more pleased with it, although the automatic focus is amazing in itself. Oh yeah it's a Nikon D-40.

4) The d-SRL is huge, so I got a small digital camera that I could feasibly take around places. It's not hugely small, but it's smaller than the d-image. It's a samsung S730 I think (I'd have to check, it' sone of their S ones). It was a birthday present actually :p And it's one I'd recommend to you shlup-kun.

It ran me about $120, but I saw they had them at radioshack for about $80 atm. It's small, you can manually adjust the shutter rate, it'll capture voice for you as well (can't vouch for the quality as of yet), is way less than $500, and if the 3x optical zoom isn't enough, they make ones with 5x for $130.

(I don't even know what a good optical zoom is. It's not something I look for in a camera xD)

Shlup
03-25-2008, 04:26 AM
PowerShot is a good idea. I'm looking at PowerShots now. My current camera (http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/specs/Canon/canon_s2is.asp) is a PowerShot. I'm all conflicted about giving up some awesomeness when getting a smaller one, but I guess I can't have my cake and eat it too.

You like Samsung, rubah? I haven't heard much about Samsung cameras.

XxSephirothxX
03-25-2008, 04:33 AM
Samsung is a good brand. I can't speak for their cameras, but they make great HDTVs, both in terms of quality and price point.

Aerith's Knight
03-25-2008, 04:34 AM
I wouldnt know, I never had a camera.

I used to sell them though, samsung makes good ones around that price, but some of the more expensive canons are good too.

just make sure never to buy a camera where the box says digital zoom, no matter if its in combination with optical.

rubah
03-25-2008, 04:40 AM
you don't have to use digital zoom xD when the lens stops moving outwards, you just backtrack and don't use it!

Shlup
03-25-2008, 04:43 AM
They, like, all have digital in addition to optical. You just don't use the digital. Because digital zoom is evil.

Aerith's Knight
03-25-2008, 04:46 AM
We should destroy digital zoom.. FOREVER!! *sounds brave and noble*

Shlup
03-25-2008, 05:24 AM
I think I've narrowed it down to these three (http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/compare_post.asp?method=sidebyside&cameras=canon_sd850is%2Ccanon_sd870is%2Ccanon_sd1100&show=all). I'm worried that the shutter speed might not be decent, because I don't know what a decent shutter speed is, but they have image stabilization so that should help, right?

rubah
03-25-2008, 05:39 AM
shutter speeds;

If you're taking a picture of the sun, then you might want a shutter speed of 1/800s. Otherwise, 1/500 should be amazing for fast shots, and 1/250 good for anything else in daylight.

But remember you need a lot of light to make up for the fast exposure, otherwise your stuff will be crazy dark (you can make up for this a little bit by increasing the ISO but you don't want to do that too much because then you get yucky grain in your pictures)

Miriel
03-25-2008, 07:46 AM
I have the Canon SD800 IS and I looooooove it. It's a 28mm wide angle lens and believe me, once you go wide angle, you won't ever want to go back. I think the 870 you're looking at is the upgrade to the 800 one that I have.

It's seriously a great camera. The wide angle thing is just really sweet, but more than that the colors that come out of the camera are really extraordinary. I did comparison test shots with p&s cameras that were twice as expensive and the SD800 consistently came out with cleaner, crisper, and more colorful shots. And it's pretty fast. And it's cute and small. And the video capabilities are really good as well.

All the photos I posted of my Mexico trip on my LJ were taken with the SD800 IS.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v516/hannahgoesrawr/TonyandHannah/IMG_0679.jpg

Pretty, no?

If you're looking at the upgraded version, I'd definitely go with that.

Marshall Banana
03-25-2008, 08:56 AM
I think the price of my Sony Cyber-shot was about $250. I like it a lot, and outside I can take good pictures of Tiki or Jinx no matter how fast they're moving.

Breine
03-25-2008, 10:05 AM
I don't have my own yet, I just use my parents' camera. I will buy one soon, though, since travelling all over Asia without one would be pretty darn stupid.

41-Inches-Wide
03-26-2008, 02:12 AM
I have a Casio Exilim and I like its Best Shot features.

Mirage
03-26-2008, 07:28 AM
If you're buying a compact camera, don't bother with more than 6 MP :p. It could actually be reducing image quality rather than increasing it, because the optics in compact cameras aren't good enough to give a decent amount of light to image sensors much bigger than 6 MP, thus causing more noise on your images.

Source:
<a href="http://6mpixel.org/en/">http://6mpixel.org/en/</a>

KoShiatar
03-26-2008, 08:09 AM
I HAS POWERSHOT. :D :D :D

http://img409.imageshack.us/img409/7076/gimmealpser8.jpg
http://img397.imageshack.us/img397/2453/gimmerosesjm7.jpg

It's a really good camera for its price. If you want a more compact one, you could consider one of those models with lithium batteries, they are a lot thinner. I chose one with stylus batteries so I can always have spare batteries with me, though. I suggest you get either a Canon or a Nikon, I think they're the best in that price category.

Zeldy
03-26-2008, 01:39 PM
Simple topic: digital cameras. Do you have one? Do you like it? What do you like best about it?

Basically, I'm getting a digital camera for my birthday and am trying to decide which one to tell my mommy to get me.

Priorities:
1) Decent optical zoom
2) Fast shutter
3) Small
4) Less than $500

Go!

A Sony Cybershot is probably the best one to get. The one I got when I was 15 (about 3 years ago then, and it's still working, though it's on it's last legs even after being dropped and mutilated often), and it's very easy to use, small, and light. And $200 dollars! It'd be very good for a beginner!

My parents have the Sony Cybershot and it's pretty epic. This (http://a10.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/68/l_213db5639909c4c70b122eb640e78591.jpg) is a picture of my cat I took with that camera.

escobert
03-26-2008, 02:43 PM
I have one I got for about $100. It takes pictures and that's all I wanted it for :P

Aerith's Knight
03-26-2008, 03:31 PM
Just get a chemical one :P.. it has a million or so megapixels(pixels equal the space between molecules, if i remember correctly) and is dirt cheap xD

Roogle
03-26-2008, 04:53 PM
I use the Sony Cybershot DSC-T200 (http://cameras.pricegrabber.com/digital/m/48576429/search=Cybershot/st=product/sv=title/). I purchased it on Black Friday (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Friday_(shopping)) for an obscenely low price, so...

rubah
03-26-2008, 05:52 PM
How low is obscene, roogle?

edczxcvbnm
03-26-2008, 06:05 PM
I have the SD 1000. I got it over christmas and I like it. I don't know much about all this fancy camera what ever but I do know that it auto adjusts the ISO for me and I think I have a manual option available. Good enough for whatever I am gonna be taking a picture of. Here is a picture of my dog.

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa206/edczxcvbnm/IMG_0020.jpg

rubah
03-27-2008, 03:08 AM
Dell has a special on the sd870, shup;
Dell : Canon Canon PowerShot SD870 IS Black 8.0 MP 3.8X Zoom Digital Camera : Digital Cameras & Camcorders : Home & Home Office (http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?sku=A1284765&cs=19&c=us&l=en&dgc=CJ&cid=24471&lid=566643)

Balzac
03-28-2008, 11:57 AM
If you're buying a compact camera, don't bother with more than 6 MP :p. It could actually be reducing image quality rather than increasing it, because the optics in compact cameras aren't good enough to give a decent amount of light to image sensors much bigger than 6 MP, thus causing more noise on your images.

Source:
<a href="http://6mpixel.org/en/">http://6mpixel.org/en/</a>

Truth!

I use one of these mostly:

Sony Alpha DSLR-A100 Review: 1. Introduction: Digital Photography Review (http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/sonydslra100/)

But when I'm out and about for fun, I use a 6MP Casio thing that cost like £400.

KoShiatar
03-28-2008, 12:16 PM
I think she's looking for something a bit cheaper...?

Balzac
03-28-2008, 12:31 PM
Well since she asked if we had one, I told her.

Pointless
03-28-2008, 12:54 PM
I have my Canon Digital IXUS 75 and I love it. :)

I got it for £100 new when I went home to Germany. It was a good price already but we also got mehrwertsteuer off.

Peegee
03-28-2008, 02:48 PM
My parents' cameras be so super duper amazing. I want one. It costs 1500$

KoShiatar
03-28-2008, 04:17 PM
My sister's got a reflex camera like that, with lenses and all, from when she married 11 tears ago... I think she never even fully knew how to use it. I'm considering asking her to sell it to me. But I'll bet she won't so willingly... >_>