need a new digital camera for Italy, what do you use?
 

So while in Mexico last October, my Kodak Easyshare gave up. Thankfully, it was in Mexico, and not Europe!!!!
I am considering:
--Fujifilm FinePix S5200

--Canon PowerShot A620 (has a 180* swivel
LCD, which is kinda cool

--Nikon Coolpix 7600

They are all priced about the same (less than $300) but I am hoping for your input-
I want my Italy pics to be perfect, of course! And since my Kodak died after less than 3 years of only moderate use, I am hoping to get a more durable camera
Thanks! ((P))

I took am shopping digital cameras, and the Canon A620 has me very interested. This site has been very helpful in selecting a camera.

http://www.neocamera.com/

Just before my recent trip I bought my first digital and went with the Sony P200. It took great pictures.

I've been a fan of Olympus and Fuji for several years now. I like the xD media. I just purchased a Finepix 9000S for our next trip and also a Z-1 to fit in my wife's purse. It is great for our evening dinners and such because it is so small. Good luck!

2Italy I want the 9000 series for Italy!

I have an S-5000 and my DW has the F10. We should manage in all circumstances with those two, but the 9000S would make a nice upgrade for me.

Daisy - The S5200 would actually be a great upgrade for me and especially because of the price! If you like the way that Fuji feels by all means get it. I have had great fun with my S5000.

I too like the xD media and am looking forward to those evening and low-light shots with the handy F10.

VS

I have the Canon PowerShot A620 and I love it!!! Its lightweight, easy to use and takes great photos. I have had nothing but great results with it.

I have two Nikon Coolpixes but there are other good cameras in the same range. The Sony has good cameras which have Schneider lenses. They produce superior photos-better than my last Nikon.

The main thing is the battery choice,when you're going to travelling. I would try to buy something which uses AA batteries. Many of the cameras have nice lith.-ion batteries and they're quite fine for being home. Yet, when you're on a long trip, the AA batteries are everywhere. When you're home, you can buy a couple of rechargeable batteries, to keep the prices down.

Now that you've been sorted about the batteries, there's another issue.

You want some sort of keeping your new photos. Most cameras will have some sort of memory card. Sony uses a unique memory card and it's not really found everywhere. Plus, it's more expensive than other methods. Ask your camera shop which memory card is best. I have two different models and both seem okay. You want some which have enough room to keep all of your travel photos. I have 512 megabyte cards and I have several. Then I can fill out what photos are filled on one card, I can swap to use the second card.

Again your camera shop guy to ask which size is best for a long trip. I certainly think two 512 cards are minimum for a big trip.

I hope that this has helped a bit. It might be confusing but if you talk your local camera shop, they will give you pretty good advice.

Blackduff

OK, I am no brain when it comes to cameras....but I bought my first 5 megapixel digital camera from HP.

It has 5 mp and 6.1 optical zoom,
it is great!

It is not a professional grade camera, and may not be great for super wide photos, but I got great shots when just using the 3 megapixel option.

And it is about 150 bucks.

midwestgal77-the canon is actually the one I am leaning toward, have you used the swivel lcd? how about photo capacity? It's only about 8ish ounces, right, so perfect for walking around Italy for 2 weeks (the Fuji is over 13
ounces, which could get heavy, or maybe not, I remember lugging around my Minolta SLR on many trips)Thanks to all for your replies, and keep 'em coming!

I like neocamera.com as a resource. You sort by size and then it gives you rankings of the various cameras with links to their reviews.

We'd never had a digital and just bought one prior to our recent Paris trip. For the most part, I was blown away by the quality of pictures I got. But, the price is more (aroound $500). A Konica Minolta A200. It has a range of 28-200 which is perfect for those vacation landscape/architecure and family shots. It too has a fancy flip and twist LCD, but I find that having used a film camera all these years I use the viewfinder 99% of the time.

julies and I have both recommended the same web site...please check it out. It is very useful.

I did go on that site, very very useful indeed! Quite a bit of info and education. Also found the Canon I have been looking at is very well reviewed!
Thanks for the tip!! My trip is in but 44 days :), so I figure I should make my final decision, so I can practice with my new toy! ((P))
lil Miss Daisy, my spoiled yorkie, is bound to get a bout of "flash burn"
in the next few weeks! ((&))

Hi D,

I have a Canon with a 3:1 optical zoom. I got a 2:1 telephoto lens for it. Still not quite good enough.

I suggest that you go for a 10:1. Optical zoom is more important than Megapixels.

((I))

Although megapixels can compensate to some degree for running out of zoom range.

I set the resolution at max so I can crop the middle out of a long shot. At hi-res, I can make a decent print of a very small area of the image.

Hi Robe,

Good point, but we point and shoot types want a pic of what we want a pic of. :)

((I))

had the sony 2. megapixil, got fancy and went to 5., back to the 2., smaller and works just as well.

ttt anyone else with input ? ((P))

BTW, what if anything, are the differences or benefits of the Fuji's
xD media vs the SD card used by Canon??
The Fujufilm FinePix s5200 and the Canon Powershot A620 are virtually to the penny the same price. (296.65)

The camera I am waiting to buy is the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ1S it comes out in May, which may be too late for you, but it is a 5 megapixel camera with a 10x optical zoom with image stabilization, shutter release lag time is as little as .006 seconds, shutter interval is approximately .5 seconds and weighs 8 ounces.

It's going to be my birthday present.

Barbara, any idea of the proposed cost of that one?

$349

I absolutely love my Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ20 digital.
It has: 5.0-Megapixel CCD delivers 2,560 x 1,920-pixel images; 12x optical zoom lens covers 36-432mm equivalent range while maintaining f/2.8 aperture; Full range of manual and automatic exposure options, with nine preset shooting modes (I copied that info off the web site because I don't know all the technical stuff). The one thing I do know is that I am extremely please with the quality of pictures and how easy it is to use. The zoom is incredible. It costs ~$400-500.

I also have a Panasonic Lumix, the
DMC LZ2. I took it on our trip to Italy in December and had very good results.

My only negative: sometimes it would claim to be low in battery, and several minutes later it would turn on and work fine again. Note that the Lumix, like many cameras these days, has an Economy mode. Also, it has no viewfinder at all.

Mine has a 6 optical zoom, 5 megapixels and an image stabilizer. I find the stabilizer to be important. There are two levels of the stabilizer you need to be sure to use the higher one for the full zoom usage.

I played with it some but not enough before our Rome trip. For us, the Lumix model we chose was a good mid-range purchase within our budget. There appears to be a big gap between the $150 and $500 cameras.

Ira is right, there are instances where you would love a 10x zoom, but definitely you need a stabilizer.

The other poster's comments about getting one with AA batteries is also very true. I did buy batteries over there even though I thought I had plenty beforehand.

I would advise you to make your decision soon and get snapping away, and also print a few out as well.

A constraint is lighting. Museums, churches etc., all require no flash. I would play with my purchase more in low-lit conditions without a flash to see what worked the best.

Finally, if you are taking a laptop computer, bring the appropriate cords to load your photos onto your laptop. Or, if you are staying at a hotel with Internet use, see if you can burn a CD there of your photos. Or, it is worth popping into a photo shop or maybe an Internet Cafe and paying 5Euro to have them burn a copy of your photos. Otherwise, if your camera is stolen, you have no memories of your trip.

Good luck!

We have a Nikon (so we get good to better results). Where it falls short is in the optical zoom. My recommendation is to try for 10X optical zoom if you can.

We have screw on lenses for the Nikon (both wide and zoom) but the edges blur on the really wide shots - just somthing to consider.

Then its batteries. I have paid as much as $14 for the batteries the Nikon uses. But the Nikon's results are awesome.

This website is wonderful for digital camera comparisons and reviews:

www.dpreview.com

yes, the canon is very lightweight, I carried mine around my neck while walking through a large zoo and never really noticed it. The swivel LCD is great...I use it all the time! As far as photo capacity, it depends on the CF card you have, but it seems like I can take pictures forever until I need to switch cards. I think you would make a good choice with this camera. I am going to London in the fall and cant wait to take pictures with mine.
Check prices with different stores, mine came with a bonus memory card!

Good Luck!!

One thought. Many people think they need a really long zoom lens. How often will you really utilize that? If need be, and you have a high quality camera, you could just manipulate the image on your computer at home by zooming in there and cropping. On the other hand, for the types of scenery shots many people want to take in Europe, a wide angle of 28 is much, much more useful because you can fit so much more in the frame than the 35-38 end that most of these super zoom cameras come with.

Canon S1 with image stabilization. Rotateable LCD panel. 10X optical zoom. User friendly controls right on top of the camera. Easily under $300. The s2 is 5 MP with 12X zoom.

Also, consider a digital from a company that makes cameras. It isn't all about the computer--lenses are important also.

In Italy, and most travel destinations, I've found the need to be a wider angle lens vs a long telephoto (unless you're shooting wildlife). Many times it's difficult to get a good shot of the facade of a church or something because of the limits of the wide angle or the buildings around the church.

So I've opted for and purchased from circuitcity.com the Canon Powershot A620 (7 megapixels) It was rated top of the heap at neocamera.com, whereas
the Fuji finepix s5200 only rated a
"good". It will be here in a few days,
So I can practice with it before our
43 days and counting Italy trip!

With most digitals they have a panoramic feature. You "stitch" the picture together when you print it. You can do a 360* picture, if you want.

Hi daisy,

I'm sure you will be happy with your A620. I very much like my A60.

With only a 4:1 zoom, you might find yourself wanting to get the 2:1 telephoto adapter.

((i))

With the 7MP you can "zoom" when you do your cropping adjusting.It will still be sharp with the added MPs.

We just bought the 8 mp Olympus Evolt E-500 from Circuit City for our trip to Germany and Greece in May. It comes with a 2 lense package.

Ira--tell me about this adaptor!!!

Hi daisy,

Go to www.canon.com.

Under "accessories" look for a TeleConverter for your camera.

((I))

Comments of a Canon Powershot S2 with 12X optical zoom, for $349 on sale at Office Depot? It says, normally $499.

Gretchen you mentioned it along with the S1. Is this S2 better for any reason than the extra 2X optical zoom?

there's a good give and take on this topic at
http://tinyurl.com/jmpgz

the Canon SD550 has been going for 340 lately... 7.1 megapixels and a darn fine camera. I'd stop there if you can go up another 40 bucks.