Recommendations: inexpensive digital camera?

Paul Reid · Post by **Paul Reid** » Wed Mar 14, 2007 8:47 am

so desperate to record their good memories, that they forgot to have any

I hear ya!

anniemcu · Post by **anniemcu** » Wed Mar 14, 2007 8:59 am

I've got a Kodak EasyShare 4530 that we purchased some years ago. I love it! They've come down greatly in price.

BillChin · Post by **BillChin** » Wed Mar 14, 2007 9:15 am

peeplj wrote:I appreciate everyone's input...there have been several valuable responses here.

But no way in hell am I going to sell a musical instrument to finance a camera purchase!

See, I play my whistles just about every day.

I use a camera maybe once a month, probably less.

Perhaps that helps explain my priorities?

Anyway, the Panasonic is looking pretty good to me right now. Research continues.

--James

The camera geeks are hilarious. Paying a lot of money for a camera a person uses once a month and will break or be out of date in five years is in my opinion, idiotic. Like I said for family photos and vacation shots, almost any camera on the market will be lightyears ahead of what you had before, and more than suitable for preserving memories.

Not everyone is taking artistic photos, or has the desire or need for that stuff. DSLRs are not even on my considered list, not even used at half price. It is another expensive hobby that I have neither the time or inclination to indulge in.

peeplj · Post by **peeplj** » Wed Mar 14, 2007 9:28 am

Well, I certainly don't mean to knock anyone else for their priorities; being several kinds of geek myself, I understand the perspective.

I wish I had the money to get good equipment for everything that interests me!

Of course, I'd also best wish for a much bigger house to hold it all, and for much more time as well. Most days just finding a free minute to catch a tune or three is a real challenge.

I respect what can be done by a real artist with a good camera. Peter in particular has shared some lovely shots here, as have many others.

Unfortunately, you could give me a $2000 camera, and I still wouldn't have the knowledge or ability (or time!) to take those photos. For what I'm going to do with it, I'm just not sure there's much difference between the $2000 camera and the $200 one.

--James

I.D.10-t · Post by **I.D.10-t** » Wed Mar 14, 2007 9:46 am

So far the links to shopping guides nice to read though. I have been looking for a 5 Mpix camera for a while now, mostly wanting something small with point and shoot capabilities. We have an expensive 35mm, but it takes up to much cargo room, and a camera that is not with you is worthless. Add to that the chances of the airport (if we ever fly again) losing it and the chances of it getting damaged we have been looking for something similar to the Kodak EasyShare ~$50-100.

I guess it really depends on what your minimum requirements are.

Cayden · Post by **Cayden** » Wed Mar 14, 2007 10:35 am

you could give me a $2000 camera, and I still wouldn't have the knowledge or ability (or time!)

But nobody suggested you should. What I did suggest was maybe look just one step up at cameras that will give you easy handling with a decent quality.

My son is into these things and he is shooting with a Fuji A 330, that takes nice shots but as soon as you step away from the outdoor holiday snapshot beach and nice weather environment you end up with glare, dullness, unsharp corners and mostly dissatisfying stuff. Now that camera was all I was prepared to throw at him for his 11th birthday and he won a few competitions with pics he shot with it. The links I posted above , to the more uppity Fujis, were actually found by himself just to remind me of his upcoming 13th. And fair play to him.

I see a lot of people her suggesting a Burke whistle to a beginner who want to sink his/her teeth into twinkle twinkle, what happened in this thread may seem similar but spending that bit more on a camera wit ha good lens (Sony cameras with Zeiss lenses do very well for example) does actually give you a distinct improvement over the low range snappers.

Now you should see the medium format rangefinder camera I got off e-bay last week and the two lenses that I got for it. That is serious business and even at ten years old now it will not go out of date any time soon (and neither will my grandparents Voigtlander with superb lens that I sometimes use or my old reliable Rolleiflex TLR) but I wouldn't think of suggesting anything like it here. Images from it outperform all 35mm digithings though. By miles.

pipersgrip · Post by **pipersgrip** » Wed Mar 14, 2007 5:06 pm

i am very happy with my nikon, it is great.

harpmaker · Post by **harpmaker** » Wed Mar 14, 2007 6:41 pm

last November I picked up a Vivitar 5100 for about $100 and added an expansion SD card. It is a 5MP that will also take short videos, although those will obviously not be of a great quality. But it does take nice snaps, has a good zoom and is fairly easy to use. I'm pleased with it so far.

dfernandez77 · Post by **dfernandez77** » Wed Mar 14, 2007 10:46 pm

I used to buy only Fujifilm equipment. Last year I bought a Panasonic DMC FZ5.

Not a bad camera. Like I said, good features to dollars. Here's some examples:

http://www.beancurdturtle.com/ImageGall ... 132323.jpg

http://www.beancurdturtle.com/ImageGall ... 151331.jpg

http://www.beancurdturtle.com/ImageGall ... 054946.jpg

http://www.beancurdturtle.com/ImageGall ... 134102.jpg

They are rather large, so you can click and zoom in to see the details.

peeplj · Post by **peeplj** » Fri Mar 16, 2007 7:36 am

Everyone, thank you for your good advice and your input. I appreciate you all!

I have settled on a Canon A540; it was recommended to me on a photography board because of the quality of photograph it can produce, as well as having both a simple "auto" mode as well as full manual controls.

When I get it I'll let you know what I think.

And who knows? If this spurs an interest in Shan and myself, maybe I can get decision maker approval

later for one of the bigger cameras that was recommended here.

--James

Cayden · Post by **Cayden** » Fri Mar 16, 2007 7:47 am

You'll do well with that, brandspanking new ones on e-bay from $165 upwards.

chas · Post by **chas** » Fri Mar 16, 2007 8:10 am

Peter Laban wrote:I see a lot of people her suggesting a Burke whistle to a beginner who want to sink his/her teeth into twinkle twinkle, what happened in this thread may seem similar but spending that bit more on a camera wit ha good lens (Sony cameras with Zeiss lenses do very well for example) does actually give you a distinct improvement over the low range snappers.

After my wife has had great luck with two Sonys with Zeiss optics, I got one. 6 MP, very good low-light and bright-light pics, compact, and reasonably fast, all for about $200. I said I'd never go digital, but except for vacation landscapes, which I sometimes blow up into posters, I'm sold.

Cayden · Post by **Cayden** » Fri Mar 16, 2007 10:25 am

I am (sort of ) sold too, it great for doing shots I would normally not do (outdoor stuff like on the Irish Vacation thread at the moment), for quick and easy colour stuff etc.

I must say I have just returned to the old B&W stuff for certain projects but digital is very convenient (Just sold half a dozen shots to go into a book with the digital ones not taking much work at all compared to the B&W ones so I am extra happy today).

peeplj · Post by **peeplj** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 1:42 pm

Just got the Canon A540 and started learning how to use it.

Wow.

I know there are fancier ones out there...but still, when your standard of comparison is an old 2-megapixel Olympus D-390....

wow. just wow.

--James

rhulsey · Post by **rhulsey** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 2:24 pm

Another site you might find useful is: http://www.steves-digicams.com/

Reg