Choosing a Digital Camera

[Mitch Hatfield]

I'm looking to choose a digital camera. I have several 35mm SLR's, but this a first for me and I want to get it right.

Firstly, I'm on a budget and can't spend more than $400/450.

Secondly, I'm looking for small, rather than a tiny camera.

Thirdly, I want a minimum of 2 million pixels and 3x zoom - although not sure what the difference is between optical and digital zoom, and whether you add the two numbers together - with a minimum display screen of 1.5".

I think that they all have built-in flash?

Ideally, it could do with a docking station, like the Kodak DX4900 for example.

I'll use the camera mainly for leisure-type shots. Nothing too creatively demanding.

Any thoughts.:confused: :confused:

[Budfred]

Depending on how urgently you need it, it may be worthwhile waiting until next year. I read in either PCWorld magazine or ZDNet online about a new technology that will blow current digital photos away. Apparently it is going to be cheaper and they claimed that it will produce better photos than analog. I am sorry I can't remember the name of the process, but I remember it is supposed to be available by early next year.

Budfred

[david eaton]

Mitch. I can't tell you much about the current crop of cameras, but I can say that my Olympus C800 has performed well for five years, and I would recommend the make.

Go for optical zoom rather than digital, as the digital zoom just "magnifies" the central portion of the field, without an equivalent increase in resolution. If you use optical zoom, the image is enlarged BEFORE being digitized, and the resolution remains the same.

I haven't worked it out exactly, but it look to me as if a 3X digital zoom on a 3Mpx camera gives the equivalent resolution of a 1Mpx.

Hope that helps (or lessens the confusion anyway!)

David

[philzee]

i have recently bought a Fuji Finepix 2800 zoom...it cost me £269 and it is a 2 megapixel camera with 6x optical zoom (the best i found anywhere at the price) and it also has 2x digital zoom. there are also loads of features and it has a TTL kinda thing (which is kinda hard to see at night) but apart from that i am well pleased with the camera and if you are looking for quality at a good price this is the one to get ;)

*edit*
it also comes with a 16MB smart-media card and software, and the company i got it from also gives delivery free!!
www.fotofirstdirect.com

[Mark Miller]

Mitch.
Take a look at the mid price sonys, especially some of the new ones. I have an expenseive one, but sony uses superior lenses and the optical zoom is usually better. Optical more important than other. As said in other posts check out the pc mags and camera mags for best choices. Your choices are different than what is here in the states, so remember that when you read these posts
Mark:cool:

[hiredgoonz]

I'm partial to Canon myself...have the original digital elph (2.1 MP) and the pictures look as good or better than some 3MP+ cameras I've seen...

[Jhorner1]

Mitch
I have an Olympus 1.3MP that takes very good pictures, and I would that brand to anyone. One important note (when using any quality camera) is that your printer and paper combination will have as much an effect on the finished photos as your camera's resolution.

[stefanus]

Mitch, This might be of interest to you. There is a digital camera on offer intodays Sun newspaper on page 51. Jenoptic Digital Camera 2100F 3.1 Megapixel for £79,99A SAVING OF £50-00, from The Computer World. This Scarborough phone No. might be of assistance to you, 01723381818 and www.thecomputerworld.co.uk

Stefanus

[BigBlue66]

I recently purchased the HP Photosmart 318. It's a 2.3 megapixel with 2X digital zoom. Good enough for what I wanted it for and it fit into my budget of ~$200 for a camara. I then added to the purchase a 64mb flash card (gives me 69 high resolution pics), a battery charger and two pkgs of rechargeable batteries.

My company had bought the very same camera a few months before I got mine. I had borrowed the company's camera for a few pics and was very impressed with the picture quality, both on the screen and printout.

A couple of weeks after I bought this camera, I saw that Fresh Gear on TechTV was going to do a review of it. I thought, cool, so I tuned in to watch. Kinda funny really, they had very good things to say about the picture quality, but there were a couple of things they didn't like, for example, no movie mode and optical zoom. So they threw it in the garbage can. Huh?

So anyways, to heck with Fresh Gear. They're just a bunch of yuppie snobs anyway. (No offense if any of you have relatives that work on the show. :D)

I used the digital zoom to take a pic of my modded AX-7 and it turned out really good.

OK, so with all that said, if I had twice as much to spend, I would certainly have gone with either Olympus, Kodak or Sony. But I'm very happy with what I got.

[Mitch Hatfield]

Hi to everyone

Grateful and sincere thanks to everyone who participated.

Very rewarding!;)

I'll now go away and mull it all over, but I'm still more than interested in the Kodak 4900DX, or possibly one or other of the Olympus cameras, which have different model codes in the UK.....and different prices!!! (:(

Anyway, I couldn't have gotten to this point without all of your input.

My understanding of what to look out for in a digital camera has vastly increased, so thanks again.:D :D :

[Mitch Hatfield]

Hi All

To bring you all completely up to date, I am now the proud owner of a new digital camera.

Poorer by £249, I bought the Olympus C200, with 64k memory card, plus various other goodies.

Now to study the manual!!!

Thanks again for helping me spend my money! :D :D

[Mark Miller]

Congrats mitch, Get a bigger memory card and a card reader!
Mark:D

[Mitch Hatfield]

Hi Mark

Although the new camera's on-board memory is only 8k, the deal included a 64k smart card. Plus, you get to keep the 8k card.

I'm not sure what a card reader actually does, though?:confused:

Thanks for your interest. :D

[Mark Miller]

Hi Mitch,
Acard reader makes it much easier to download your pics to the computer. It is read as a storage drive and you can use it with usb, You don't have to hook your camera up and hope that the drivers work with windows. Also less of a chance of an accident knocking camera off or down. Also saves on camera batteries. 64k mem will limit the amount of pics taken until its full. I have 2 128mem cards. They of course don't tell you all this when you buy camera. Once you are all done though the price costs nothing to take all the pics you want. It's just the start that costs all the money. You will love digital, you can take all the shots you want ,and get ride of what you don't need. I love it!
Mark:D :D

[Mitch Hatfield]

Thanks again Mark.

I'll have to do some more reading, obviously.

Your input on this "project" has been invaluable.!:D :D :D

[Budfred]

You can also use a card reader to transfer other types of files if you would like, so it can be handy beyond the photography. They can be found pretty cheap these days if you look for the deals.

Budfred