N2it

Regarding storage. I just bought a Sandisk 256mb compact flash memory from ZipZoomFly.com for $39.58 including delivery and tax, less a $10 rebate that expires 8-12-04. Net cost is $29.58!

Mucky

I have to disagree to a certain extent with jpichicago, of course 5.0 meg is fantastic but 4.0 is perfectly adequate for the average camera user, in fact I have a 3.2 and the results are excellent, of course if I wanted to enlarge a picture to a huge size I would lose some of the quality, but I don't want to do that.
The moral I think is, to buy a camera suitable for your use. Decide firstly what you want it to do and get the spec accordingly. Remember too that the higher the pixels the more memory you need to store the pictures.

Muck

wojazz3

Regarding memory: For most point and shoot cameras, a regular CF card is fine. Some of the prosumer cameras are helped by the high speed card which I purchased which admittedly cost more. It does seem to vary with the manufacturer, but the card I got increases the speed by 30% in my camera, or so the reviews say.

Don't spend the extra money on the high speed CF cards for a point and shoot. It doesn't actually do anything for most of them. That is at least my understanding.

Bill

scully

Thanks for all your useful advice. I ended up ordering a Canon Powershot A80 from Amazon.com for $299. I want to get a 256mb memory card to go with it. Where is the best place to buy one?

FlyFish

I've always been pleased with both the pricing and the service at Mobile Planet (www.mobileplanet.com) - but if you Google on "compact flash" you'll have lots of places to do some comparison shopping.

RufusTFirefly

We bought an A80 in January and have been so pleased with it. Even at low resolution, it takes nice pictures. At high resolution it is fantastic. We've used it in all sorts of conditions with success--indoors, outdoors, Costa Rican rain and cloud forests, day, night, Nova Scotia fog, deer in the backyard under the shade trees. It has always risen to the occasion.

Gretchen

you can get memory units at WalMart. Instead of a 256, why not get 2 128'. I have a variety of memory cards, mainly because I have had my camera long enough that the cards used to be very expensive. At any rate, I don't feel as if I will lose EVERYthing if something goes wrong. Just a thought.

BTilke

We just bought today the Sony DSC-P120 (a special edition of the P100). Has good reviews and we'll find out for ourselves after it's charged up and ready to go.

Jim_Tardio

Congratulations...the A80 is a great little camera, as is the A60.

You might try amazon.com. They had some Sandisk 512 ultra cards for something like $80.00. That's a good deal.

annieladd

I'm thinking about buying a Canon elphs410. I found it at Circuit City for $400 (without tax), I found it on Amazon for $400 (with tax and delivery) and I also looked at dealtime.com and came up with a price of $300 from newegg.com. I rarely buy things on-line and have never heard of newegg.com But $100, is $100. Any opinion on buying it from dealtime/newegg.com?

mikemo

buy.com and overstock.com
Also, I guess most know there are two major incompat type of cards - SD and CF.
Amazingly, my 18 mo old 4.6 oz 3.2 MPx Dimage Xi is now 3 generations old.
M

traversn_tony

spend a bit more to get more megapixels - this will pay off in a fw years when you have a huge TV (this is where you will view all your picts once you get a newer TV) and great printer that a designed to take advantage of higher resolution. Digiatl cams allow you to save so much on film - so spend more on megapixels and a bigger emmeory card - there's more to it, but I think those are critical points - I have a Pentax Optio 550 (5 MP, 5x zoom, and compact for about $450) - takes awsome shots (if you will have LOTS of flash picts, you may want to shop around more)

DonnieD

annielad

When shopping digital cameras, buying from internet sites can produce nice savings.

http://www2.shopping.com/xMR-NewEgg.com~MRD-300168~S-1

The link above is a collection of 800 ratings of newegg from real people. Keep in mind that with such a large sample, there will always be unsatisfied people.

It looks like newegg has a good overall rating, but you should read some of the individual reports and decide for yourself.

Most of these places are as legit as CircuitCity and support returns/replacement of defective products. But you must research them. I have had only transaction with newegg, and it was a small purchase and it went fine.

A few of these outfits are shady:

BEWARE OF THE FOLLOWING: I placed order because of great price. I get a phone call trying to pressure sell me to buy overprices accessories. When I refuse, they say that the camera is out of stock.

SUMMARY: Look for a merchant with LOTS of good ratings (overall rating 4.5/5 or 5/5). Factor in shipping costs, because this can vary greatly. Expect to pay 15-20 bucks for shipping for a digital camera. I never buy anything that is out of stock.

I am unafraid to buy from a reputable internet merchant, especially when the price difference is significant (100 BUCKS !!!).

annieladd

Thanks, Donnie, you've reassured me.

Annie

DonnieD

annielad,

You've chosen a real good camera, for the price. It looks like you did some research, as there are alot of manufacturers/models of this type to choose from.

Good luck with your purchase.

rfb

I bought a canon a-80 for our vacation in March. Itallian Chauffer has listed most of the good points already. All the review I read said I could get a good 8x10 and maybe an 11x14. I just had a 16x20 printed and you can not tell it from film. I am extremely picky about picture quality.

This is readily available for $300 or less. Trust me, buy this one; you will not be sorry.

Robespierre

I think 3mp is plenty for TV display. My little Fuji A210 fills a 42" plasma at 1280x768, and it looks like a Kodachrome.

The best place I know of for memory cards is eCost. Their prices are really good, and free shipping over $25. In addition, they very often have last year's models free-after-rebate. I recently got a 32mb SD and a 64mb CF that way.

almesq

I bought a canon printer from newegg for my then new digital camera. transaction went fine, I would buy from them again.

rfb

Annieladd

I have made something like two dozen purchases from newegg over the years and never had a problem of any sort. I purchased my above referenced canon a80 from them as well.

You place your order and two days later you get your merchandise.

The only time anything that could remotely be considered a problem was when they shipped me a whole case of an item instead of the single one that I ordered. It took a little while to get a return authorization for the extra items; however, they called me twice and sent several emails thanking me and then sent me a thank you gift.

I don't think you can go wrong dealing with these people.

Randy

My decision to buy a digital camera a few years ago was difficult for me to make. It was hard to retire my old 35mm that took great photos. I have not taken a picture with my 35mm since. There is only one problem I have with a digital camera. When you push the shutter button there is a hesitation and it does not take the picture instantly and the result is that it is difficult with action photography or when your subject is moving and you are trying to capture a certain moment in time.

There is a lot of fantastic advice on this thread. A choice of camera is a personal thing and I feel you have enough options here to make your own decision.

My first digital camera was a 2.1 pixel and the present one is a 3.2 pixel. I have taken pictures from both cameras to Sam's Club to have regular 8 x 10 photographic prints made and I can not tell any diffenence in quality. If you were to enlarge to 16 x 20 you maybe will see the effect on quality. In some ways I would like to have my old 2.1 pixel camera back because with my new camera it has cut back about a 100 pictures that I can store on a memory card. FYI: You can have auality 8 x 10 enlargements made at Sam's Club for $1.96 each. The point made about in the future the higher pixel count will be of a helpful for equipment not currently on the market, is a good one. I never thought of that.

I have also found that the more you use your LED viewer at the rear of the camera, the faster the batteries lose their life. I only use this viewer to compose the shot when I feel it is necessary and use the normal viewer for about 75% of the shots. I also use the Energizer e2 photo Lithium battery, this battery will last me six months of typical use, where the standard AA batteries will only last a couple of weeks, if that much. When I go to France for two weeks I will normally take 500 to 800 pictures and one set of these batteries will last the whole time and then still have power long after I have returned home.

I am sure you will enjoy your new digital camera and I hope you will share some of the photos of your trip on one of the many web sites that let you post your own pictures. I use www.webshots.com.