Need an excellent digital camera
 

For my daughter's birthday and our trip to France. She's a novice and stb 14 but she wants it to take video also. Any ideas for something close to $200. This is way out of my realm so I'm looking to my clever Fodorite friends for advice. thank you
MC

Try this website for reviews. I found it helpful...

For a bit more than $200 you can check out the Sony W-5. 5 megapixel and pretty good. Of course, you'll then have to buy a large memory card. But...

There are those who will tell you to buy less. I wouldn't.

My advice would be to find a good used camera on eBay, something around 4 megapixel should do fine. The chances of her misplacing the camera are high and you will only need to replace it later. 4-megapixels are great for uploading to the Internet and making small prints.

Before you buy <i>anything</i> with <b>Sony</b> on the label, check out the 76 pages of user reports on reliability and customer service at http://www.hardwareanalysis.com/content/topic/5449/

If her use of the photos is for sharing, upload to website or emailing, a 3-4 megapixel camera should suffice. If she wants to blow up these pictures for framing, you should at least get a 5+ megapixel.

On a 1GB memory card a 5 megapixel camera takes around 400 photos while a 4 megapixel camera can take around 800 photos. Of course these numbers will reduce considerably if she's also recording video on her camera.

Other things you may consider are the battery life and the kind of batteries the camera takes. I find it more convenient if the camera takes regular AA batteries instead of those model-specific batteries.

If you're the type to do a lot research and enjoy reading reviews here are two links that may help you:

steves-digicams.com
dcresource.com

We use a Canon Powershot A60. It takes excellent pic's and is easy to use...probably around $200 or less. Make sure you buy a couple of 512 MB cards so your daughter can take plenty of pic's.

Well it would have been helpful if my link had POSTED LOL!

http://www.steves-digicams.com

PS: the Powershot also takes short videos with sound as well. Video will take up a large part of the available space on cards, so maybe buy a couple of 1 Gigabyte cards.

I would highly recommend the Pentax Optio series - check for pricing and features that appeal to you.

We have an Optio S4i (several years old), 4 MP, and it's really simple to use and it's very small. It really DOES fit into an Altoids box, although I've chosen a plastic soap box (like you use for travel) as the protected mode of travel for mine. I also have a slim leather case (really cheap on ebay) that the camera fits into. When it's just in the leather case, it fits into my jeans pocket, or any jacket pocket or my husband's shirt pocket.

It takes terrific pictures (in my opinion), and is pretty simple to use.

Gayle

P.S., dpreview.com has tons of reviews of cameras...very useful! My favorite ebay seller for cameras is cametacamera - they sell the camera and the accessories you need for a reasonable price.

Take a look at www.bhphotovideo.com. It is probably the largest, reputable, mail order house. I've purchased high-end equipment on it without any problem. You can search for all point and shoot digital cameras and check the prices, features and specifications. I agree with others that 3 - 4 megapixels is quite adequate unless you intend to blow pictures up to poster size. Most all the popular names are of similar quality unless you're looking for esoteric bells and whistles. One thing: check out the optical zoom versus the digital zoom. The digitial zoom is just a computer enhancement, whereas the optical zoom is a real glass lens. Most photographers prefer the optical zoom since it is &quot;real&quot; versus comptuer generated. In any event here is the truth: the most important part of any camera is the vision of the person holding it. You can take &quot;great&quot; pictures with any camera, if you can &quot;see&quot; them. Also, avoid taking pictures in bright daylight. The best times for pictures are early morning and late afternoon. Also, overcast days are excellent for taking pictures. Happy shooting!

You'll definitely have to check reviews, and decide for yourself what features are important. Also, you should go to a store and handle some of the cameras and see what feels comfortable in your hands...I know you are buying it for your daughter, but if you like it maybe she will.

Good advice about looking at optical zoom, and ignoring digital zoom. You can always digitally zoom your photos afterwards, on your computer. Most of the simple cameras in your price range are going to have a 3X optical zoom.

Probably 4MP is going to be about right, as I think its sufficient for casual needs. (I say that, even though I have a 3MP and a 6MP camera, and I really like the 6MP better...more capabilty for enlarging and cropping afterwards).

If your budget is really tight, keep in mind that you will HAVE to buy additional memory, probably 1 gigabyte card or so. I think you can get memory cards for ~$40/GB.

All that said, I'm a big fan of Canon cameras. I have a new Powershot a540, and its great. The ultra compact ELPH series are nice as well, though I find them too small to handle easily. I also think Olympus and Nikon make pretty good products.

Please do not buy an eBay camera.
There are SO many excellent cameras in your price range.
She's YOUNG. Shop the sales on Sunday on CompUSA, OfficeDepot, Wolf Camera. Almost all take short video clips.

Fuji finepix s5000. Fabulous with a 10X zoom. About $300

Hi
Check out dpreview.com for reviews. I just bought my first digitel camera, Nikon P2 and I really like it.

How about the Olympuz SP500UZ? It can be had for around $250, is 6-7mp with a 10X optical zoom. Only drawback is lack of image stabilization.

Mark

Gretchen, what is the problem with buying a camera on ebay? I bought a pretty expensive Nikon Digital (D70) through Cameta on ebay, along with quite a few accessories, and so forth and have had great experiences. Better prices, fast shipment, in-stock equipment.

So I'm very interested to understand why you feel so strongly about this.

I know that intent is very hard to &quot;read&quot; in message boards, so please read this as a serious question, without malicious intent.

Thanks.
Gayle

Hi, mariacallas,

We bought a Lumix before our trip and had very good luck DMC LZ2. Optical zoom,6x; digital zoom, 6 mp, plus an image stabilizer. I liked our pictures of Italy on this camera.

The batteries do not last as long as I'd like, true of a lot of cameras these days. We all want large color viewfinders and large zooms, etc and all these things draw more power. With most cameras, extend battery life on Economy mode.

Our Lumix uses AA batteries--so easy to pick up extras in Italy.

As to EBay, digital cameras and camcorders are not good to buy used anywhere. If you buy a NEW camera on EBay (and I just bought a brand new phone there), that could work. There may be warranty and return issues though.

Why not used? I read somewhere that a camcorder was the best item to buy an extended warranty for. A still camera similarly has more and more features packed on. A small drop may not break the camera, but things may be a little fuzzier, etc. Unless you are buying a classic Leica or Brownie, then buy NEW!

Hi

I normally use http://dpreview.com to check out reviews of cameras. They have excellent reviews with sample pictures and pros and cons.

Regards
Gard
http://gardkarlsen.com - trip reports and pictures

Interesting Question MC! The young lady is 14. Has she ever taken photographs? Does she belong to a camera club? Has she (or you) read any photography books? Amateur videos are often just that. Suggestion: Buy a Kodak digital within your price range, include a battery and charger plus memory card and a tripod. Don't forget a carrying case. The hyped brands include far to many unneeded and never used features; specially for a neophyte photagrapher.
Buy the gear now, set your daughter to taking local pictures...have someone critique.

Robespierre: that thread is about a Sony laptop, not camera. I have one of their cameras (DSC-W1, great camera, it's sucessor, the DSC-W7, is a little overkill, but still great, btw), and it's built like a tank, still works great after several rather high falls on concrete, no problems whatsoever, &amp; takes great pictures. Don't condemn a whole label because one model of a different product is faulty; if that were the case, no one would buy iPods or Dells or pretty much cars at all.

difficult to recommend from UK because camera models(particularly Canon) seem to change on either side of the Atlantic.

Given that the young lady in question is 14, and the budget is $200 I don't thnk many of the cameras recommended above would be suitable.

If it were me, I would be looking at one of two options. Amazon list a Canon A610 for $199. This is a 5mp camera, with a 4x optical zoom. I have an older A70 3Mp camera that takes superb pictures, that blow up to 8x10 inches with no problems.
I really like Canon cameras, and this one seems to be easy to use, but with a few more complicated features that could be used if the daughter develops (sorry) an interest in photography.

The other alternative, for a lot less money, but would take perfectly acceptable pictures would be a Kodak Easyshare 340 or 330 . Around $125 on Amazon. Friends have various flavours of Kodak digitals , and I find the lower end a bit &quot;plasticky&quot; in feel, but there is nothing wrong with the image quality.

I agree with giving a Kodak Easyshare, that is what we gave our daughter for Christmas a few years back. I organised with other members of our family to give the camera cover, battery charger etc so she was set to go.
The camera has been with her to Reunion Island, Canada, her school ball and everywhere in between with no problems. It takes great photos, we are more than happy with it.

Hi M,

I would look for a refurbished Canon A60. It is 2-3 Mpx (depending on the year), has 3X zoom, very good optics.

It does video with sound.

It will be more than enough for her. If she finds that photography is interesting, it has many features that will allow her to do more than just point and shoot.

You can find one for under $100.

You can find a 512 Mb flash card for about $40.

I like mine very much.

((I))

Thank you for your replies. I'm trying to find something today. Still a bit confused but now am more informed. The reviews aren't always clear if the camera has video. Also, I've been advised to only buy a camera that uses standard AA batteries in case we can't recharge. Also, do all cameras take the 1 gb card?

Hi M,

&gt;...buy a camera that uses standard AA batteries in case we can't recharge. &lt;

Buy 8 rechargeable AA batteries. Keep 4 in the camera and carry the other 4. Recharge the originals when they go dead.

You can always buy some AA batteries. You can't always get the battery packs.

&gt;Also, do all cameras take the 1 gb card?&lt;

No. Some take CF cards, some take SD cards, etc.

I wouldn't put all of my pix on one card anyway, in case it failed.

I took 1050 shots using 3 128 Mb CF cards on a Canon A60 (highest resolution); brought back about 850, and still had room left on one card.

You edit your shots, movies, in the evening.

((I))

mc, different cameras use different memory types. These include CF (compact flash), SD (secure data, I think), SM (smart media, used in older cameras I think) memory stick (Sony only). I believe all of these come in the standard sizes:
128MB, 256MB, 1GB, 2GB. MB stands for megabyte, GB for gigabyte. As you might know, 1000 megabytes = 1 gigabyte.

The prices of the different types vary a little bit, but I think they are in the same ballpark.


And I highly recommend this article:
http://www.nyip.com/tips/flashcards0604.php
It was posted by a helpful Fodorite quite some time ago. It has good information about taking care of the cards so you hopefully won't have any failed card problems. They really shouldn't fail if they are handled carefully.

grsing: that thread is about <b>Sony's corporate attitude towards reliability and service</b>, <i>i.e.</i>, &quot;if we screw up and sell you poorly engineered crap, we deny all responsibility.&quot;

The fact that your camera works okay is great, but that doesn't really mean much, because many Vaio owners have been lucky, too. The thread is about the myriad who haven't, and what happened when they reported their issues to Sony.

Check out this previous thread:
http://fodors.com/forums/threadselec...p;tid=34785296
for some good tips on buying a digital camera.

Sony is hardly the only one to suffer from that ailment. Google the problems with Canon's mysterious E16 error, that Canon doesn't deign to do anything about, for another example, specifically about a camera.

Who said Sony was the only one? I was pointing out that the poster should think more than once about buying anything with that label.

Now we find that the Canon E16 also has issues that the manufacturer won't fix. Good to know.

&gt;Now we find that the Canon E16 also has issues that the manufacturer won't fix...&lt;

Not quite true. I believe that the Canon A5 and A6 series had some problems with the &quot;power off&quot; process that showed up as an E16 error code on the screen.

It happened on my A60.

I called customer service, and they had me send it back, and shipped me another camera, within one week of my complaint, all at their expense.

((I))

Two things:

1. There are 4 main types of memory chips that consumer digital camera use these days: CompactFlash (CF), Secure Digital (SD), xD, and MemoryStick. The first two are usually about half the price of the latter two, per MB.

For example, you can often find 1GB SD or CF cards for &lt;$30 without rebate. Same size MemoryStick may cost close to $50 and xD close to $60.

2. Video eats up a lot of memory, especially if one shoots at higher resolution. For example, at 640x480 30 frames/second (broadcast quality), a 1GB card can hold at most about 15 minutes of video. To increase shooting time, one needs to cut down on the resolution or frames/second. If one's planning to take lots of videos, get a camcorder.

&gt;Google the problems with Canon's mysterious E16 error, that Canon doesn't deign to do anything about...&lt;

Not quite true. I believe that the Canon A5 and A6 series had some problems with the &quot;power off&quot; process that showed up as an E16 error code on the screen.

It happened on my A60.

I called customer service, and they had me send it back, and shipped me another camera, within one week of my complaint, all at their expense.

((I))

Just google it, and that experience, like mine with Sony, is by no means not the only one that has been had. Seems a lot of people get the error right after the warranty runs out, and then they are SOL. Just saying, don't judge any brand too much (except the really cheap crappy ones), research the model itself as extensively as possible.

On the other hand, rkkwan's statement about MemoryStick is a valid criticism of Sony; it is a PITA to be locked into a non-standard memory, though I've managed to find pretty good prices on eBay, even for new memory. Still a little more than you'd pay on standard stuff, though.

Every company screws up once in a while. Compare the customer satisfaction of the Vaio owners with that of ira. See the difference?

It (almost) doesn't matter if a particular model is a lemon if the company will <b>take responsibility</b> for it and make it right. It's easy enough to google <u>that</u> and not buy anything from a manufacturer with a history of lying and stonewalling.

ira got lucky; look at all the complaints about the Canons with the error, many of them are highly pissed off and have not been satisfactorily resolved.

Gosh, this is getting argumentative. I said that Sony's stonewalling their Vaio problems amply demonstrates that they don't take responsibility for their design failures (of which there have been four over several model series)¹. What any other manufacturer does simply isn't relevant.

¹ Capacitor frying, DC jack breakage, memory slot soldering, heat dispersion.

Wow! A thread with posts from Robespierre getting argumentative. Who'd have thought...