DigiCam Shopping!
In the past, I’ve had very bad luck with digital cameras. I never know what’s a good brand, what features I need, number of pixels, and just generally what to look for in a quality, yet highly affordable camera. I’m no photographer so it doesn’t have to be a proffesional model!
I’d like to spend less that $100 on one that isn’t too high tech, but will last me. I’d rather have a camera with a rechargable battery because I hate having to buy batteries all the time and they tend to suck the life out of them quicker than the rechargable ones that usually come in the camera.
Does the number of pixels make much of a difference? I saw a camera on sale the other day that was $79 and was 8mp. But I was turned off by the AA batteries so I left it alone and kept looking. I’m keeping my eye on eBay and I’d rather buy new than used on there. What I’m really looking for is a discount warehouse type of website to buy from.
If someone could recommend a certain brand, give me some general things to look for or even link one for me I’d be forever grateful to you!!
Warning Rambling Reply - reread it a few times i think it makes sense
Oooh, a topic that I can be a geek on, well sort of I really enjoy digital photography. I guess a good starting point would be brand in my experience Canon, Nikon & Olympus are amongst the top (not the only brands but these are just from my experiences) then look at what that brand can offer in your price range (I’m from England so prices are gunna be alot different) If you’re looking around the $100 mark then look at what these brands offer in your price bracket. the higher the megapixel the better the photo will be when you print, and the better the picture will be when enlarged (onto A4 or A3 paper sizes) but if you’re not gunna be printing, or the prints will be of standard size then anything above 4mega pixels is more than adequate (I used an old 3.1mp Nikon camera for ages and had great shots from that). Bear in mind the more mp the camera does the larger your file sizes are going to be therefore you’ll need larger memory cards in the camera.
So in answering your question Do Pixels make a difference - yes and no (lol) all depends what you are going to do with the picture (the more you blow the picture up the “grainier” it will appear so higher pixels will reduce this.
Onto Links, well from my perspective I dont know the best dealers in the US to shop at:
I’ve had a quick look at pricegrabber (US) and Amazon.com - pricegrabber have the Canon PowerShot SD1100 IS - slight problem the best price I can find is $149 (so blown the $100 budget) but it is a nice camera, and it seems Canon dont offer anything much closer to your budget without the AA batteries, Nikon seem to have gone the same way as Canon as their models seem to have AA batteries also (not sure why they are doing this - probably cheaper to produce, but if you’re prepared to look at AA batteries and buy the 2500millamp rechargable batteries then you could get good service from them……… gah i’m not beaten yet)
ooooh… think i might have something with Olympus:
http://www.amazon.com/Olympus-FE-20-Digital-compact-supported/dp/tech-data/B001E1ECOE/ref=de_a_smtd
$100 exactly, no AA batteries: might be worth checking out?
Nikon offering with AA batteries (not ideal but might be worth checking out)
http://www.amazon.com/Nikon-Coolpix-L19-Digital-Optical/dp/B001PK8FG0/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=photo&qid=1239277953&sr=1-2
Yeah, go with Cannon. You’d never go wrong with it.
My last 2 camera’s have been Canon. They were great little point n’ clicks!
I actually dislike my canon. It’s a Powershot A560, 7.1 Megapixel (MP), and was $150 when I got it (it was on the market for a while iirc). I feel the quality of pictures is a lot worse than my old Nikon Coolpix E3200, which was 3.2 MP and $250 when I got it (brand new to the market). I have really shaky hands, and it’s not so good at correcting that as my Nikon was. It’s much heavier, too, although it’s only a few ounces, it’s noticable. I’d still be using my Nikon if it hadn’t been smashed when I was moving. :/
As far as MP go, the higher number the better detailing the photos will have.
As far as AA batteries go, I found that neither camera sucked the batteries up much. I bought a 20 pack of AAs last year and between my Canon and my remote control I’ve only used half the pack. My old wireless mouse would need a new set of two AA’s every 3-5 days, though. I only take about 10-40 pictures a month with my canon, though. Mostly I carry it with myself / in my purse along with a disposable camera in my glove compartment in the case of a car accident so I can take pictures in case anyone else involved tries to move stuff to make it look like I’m at fault. <.< Although my Canon is used for more.
I’d go for Olympus…well canon works for me as well. Even my point and click cams are Olympus. But what would matter is the purpose of the digicam. As what Buel said, “all depends what you are going to do with the picture”. I’m using a 7.1 Olympus and using my 120N Holga toy camera. The toy camera is for my experimental photos (lomography) which uses films (i love the vignetting in holga and lomo cams) and the 7.1 cam are just for anyday pictures…if you want really great pictures, a more expensive dslr will be you next choice.
I have a Kodak Easy Share that I love, which was a little bit over 100 dollars, but it uses double AA batteries. And it must use a lot of energy, because it likes to eat…in other words, we go through a lot of double A’s.
I’m not much help am I? I just realized something- Digital Camera shopping is HARD…I suppose that’s why everyone in my house ran when I asked them to accompany me shopping. Hmmm…
I really wish I could’ve been more of a help to you to, because you’re one of my first advertisers from CMF advertising.
Plus, I have enjoyed reading your blog, and I really wanted to do something nice for you, but I will.
Thanks again, O.K.? And have a Happy Happy Easter holiday.
Annie
If you can, try to get a good Fuji camera. I have found them to be most reliable in a variety of locations, both at home and abroad. Good luck. Lord James.
I was lucky to get a brand new digi cam for my birthday. A Casio Exlim. This particular camera is out of the price range you listed but its also the higher end model. My first digi cam over 7 years ago was the first Casio Exlim. That camera still works today, I just can’t find the cable for the charging base.
Casio makes very good and long lasting cameras. There are actually several websites out there that will help match you to your perfect camera.
This website makes you fill out a lot of information but it helped me find what I wanted.
http://www.myproductadvisor.com/mpa/camera_/inputSummary.do
Honestly with MP, if you aren’t taking professional photos anything 5mp to 8mp should be fine. Not everyone needs the 10mp and 12mp cameras. Now if you plan on blowing your images up to very large sizes then I would recommend the higher mp cameras.
-Kanti
Thank you all for your comments!! This is a much better response than I expected and has given me a much better understanding of what it is I need and what I should consider.
My birthday is coming up in about a month’s time so I will point my fiancee to this post in hopes of some results haha!!
Or someone reading can send me a new camera for my birthday if you’d like! I’d even review it for you
hey guys, i just came here after a fast google search. Fine site you got here! Keep it up!
Hi… I don’t know if you’ve been making changes, but your pages aren’t displaying correctly for me. The edges of the text are running into each other. I didn’t do this the other day. I don’t know if it’s something on my computer or if you’ve made a change… Just thought you might want to look at it. Thanks!