OT - anyone know anything about cameras?
Sorry to use this board for this, and trust me - I would much rather be talking football. But often you guys are really knowledgeable about a lot of things.
My current camera sucks. It is a Canon Powershit A550. It makes my kids look terrible and I think my wife and I are going to regret it if I don't get a nice one.
My stepson has a $600 (or maybe $900) nikon that takes exquisite pictures. But it is big and bulky - like professional cameraish.
I want an all in one dealy like the Powershot that takes beautiful pics. Price is and isnt an object. I think $500 would be acceptable.
Anyone have any ideas?
What if it is your kids?
Good one.
with posts like this.
Epic win, sir. Epic win.
... you need to get a new one before the Holidays:
Just got one, myself. It's about $850 on Amazon, but it's by far the best entry-level dslr.
Canon powershots are generally accepted to be as good as it gets for point-and-shoot cameras, so if you aren't happy with the picture quality, you probably will have to move up to a dslr.
There are some hybrid options from Samsung & Panasonic in the $600 range, but IMO if you are going to go there, you might as well get something way better for a little bit more.
Wife and I just got one as well. We love it.
Splurge and get a nice zoom lens and you'll be all set.
is really the way to go if you aren't real concerned about price and want good quality. You can get plent of megapixels with some point and shoots but that doesn't necessarily translate to high quality pictures.
Anyway, this will be helpful no matter what you decide:
if you want something that's quite point and shoot, but takes great photos and has plenty of bonus features, you might like the Olympus SP series. I have a slightly older one which is great, so the newer ones should be excellent.
http://www.olympusamerica.com/cpg_section/product.asp?product=1499
That's their top of the line PS-800UZ, for about $350.
I picked up a Sony A200 DSLR a couple years ago, but it ended up being a pretty bad purchase because of what you mentioned: the thing is huge. If you don't want to carry around something big, you'll never get any use out of it no matter how nice the camera is.
If you're looking for something tiny, the Canon PowerShot SD line is great. If you're looking for something with a lot more zoom and don't mind a little bit of extra size, something more along the lines of the PowerShot SX20 IS could be a better fit.
At some point, the megapixels really don't help you out if the camera doesn't have a good lens, so take some time looking into which brands of point and shoot have the highest quality lens. It'll never be quite like a top-notch DSLR, but you can still get great pictures out of them.
If you are a casual photographer, it is extremely important to get one with good image stabilization. The higher priced PowerShots have it (not sure about the lower ones). Also, if you are taking flash pics, surprise, you need a good flash. Many small/pocket cameras (even PowerShots) have limited flash capabilities. Unless you are relatively close to your subject, the flash is just not powerful enough. If you take alot of flash pics, you might be better to move up to a camera like your stepson's because it likely has a better built-in flash than most pocket cameras and you can add a higher powered flash if needed.
on consumerreports.com are:
Nikon Coolpix S8000
Canon PowerShot SD1400IS Elph
Sony Cybershot DSC-HX5V
Also, check out http://www.dpreview.com/ for reviews or just cnet's camera section.
Is that, to get good pictures, you have to learn about all of the picture-taking options, particularly some kind of "scene mode" that automatically adjusts shutter settings, exposure, etc. By the time you've done all that, you might as well get a DSLR and have that control for yourself.
What you need to ask yourself, however, is how you intend to use your pictures. Are you just posting them up to Flickr or Facebook for friends and family? Making video albums? Or traditional albums? Think that through before you drop $750 - $900 on a good DSLR. And if you spend that much, take a photography class or two. Make the investment worth it.
The DMC-FS15, and its a great camera. I bought it to take on vacation, and its of the best point-and-shoot's around. Color saturation is very, very good.
HOWEVA, (as they say) Panasonic really let me down. My vacation spot didn't come with a Panasonic dealer, and (of course) I promptly forgot my battery charger. The Lumix DMC line uses an "ID-security" battery that requires the correct charger. Although both the battery and charger are available from online retailers, they're impossible to find in bricks-and-mortar shops, even high-end camera stores. The only option available to me at the time? Buy a whole new camera, or do without. Fortunately, I had given my old camera to my daughter, so we were able to take some decent vacation photos anyway, but I couldn't use the Lumix.
The Olympus E-PL1 DSLR is a small, user-friendly camera that seems to be up your alley. $530, weighs less than a pound, yet still takes good shots. Got 5/5 on Attack of the Show.
Check it out here:
http://g4tv.com/attackoftheshow/gadgetpr0n/71317/Olympus-E-PL1-DLSR-Rev…
The key to taking good pictures is the lens. Don't be fooled with Megapixels. Anything over 6 megapixels, you would never notice the difference (unless you are in the habit of printing your pics to Lebron-Cleveland-downtown-billboard size).
In my experience Sony and Canon SLR's are fantastic but bulky and not worth lugging around for regular outings (now if you are taking a once in a lifetime trip to some exotic country, thats a diff story).
So my recommendation is the Sony Cybershot. This comes with the Carl-Zeiss lens which is virtually unbeatable in terms of picture clarity. You will love the easy to use interface and never ever have to deviate from the default "Auto" settings.
Be warned however that Sony memory sticks are proprietary (meaning they are incompatible with everyone else in the world) and therefore freaking expensive (you are looking at a total cost of $20-$30 more for these memory cards than other generic ones.
Either of these would do just fine for your purpose:
($200)
http://www.amazon.com/Sony-Cybershot-DSC-W220-Digital-Stabilization/dp/…
($272)
http://www.amazon.com/Sony-Cyber-shot-DSC-W290-Digital-Stabilization/dp…
The second one has more optical zoom (5x compared to 4x) which is the second most important thing about a camera after the lens.
DO NOT BUY any camera before going to brick and mortar store (Best Buy or Walmart would do just fine ) and trying it out yourself. The key is that YOU should like the camera. Experts be damned.
If you want to learn about digital cameras, this site rocks:
All great advice. Lots of leads to begin my research.
Thanks a lot.
Had one myself. It seemed fine at first, but after a couple of years it started feeling like last-generation technology. There were just too many situations where we weren't getting good results.
However, we've had good experiences with Canon in the past, so we replaced it with a Powershot G11 last year. My friend who is a professional photographer has a G10 that he uses when he doesn't want to carry his gear, and he recommended it. Anyhow, we've been happy with it, and it's right at your price point.
The Canon S90 might be what you're looking for. It's just a step or two down from a full DSLR. Plenty of manual controls, not too expensive (~$350).
Solid review:
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canons90/
As long as you're not opposed to another Powershit, that is.
Is a good resource for all cameras.
Look for something that focuses quickly and takes a picture without much shutter lag.
I'd love a pentax (body mounted anti-shake), but would like something with the features of the T2i by Canon. I don't know what I'm going to do, but dpreview is a great site to start with.
I have a Nikon D40 and love it. Very simple and very versatile. You can make it as simple or complex as you need. You can get the basics for around $500.
That said, Canon makes a nice camera. I'm surprised you had trouble with it.
I did a bunhc of research on this subject looking to buy a top of the line point and shoot camera and in the end I settled on the Canon Powershot S90. I am told this is the camera that many professionals use as their every day or backup camera.
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/cameras/s90.shtml
http://www.dpreview.com/news/0908/09081906canons90handson.asp
I am very pleased, great photos and easy to use.
I have a Canon XTi. It's one of those big and bulky ones...but we got it to take photos of our kids and it's awesome. Once you get past the bulkiness you realize what a powerful camera it is. I think it's comparable to the Nikon D60 or D90...one of the mid-range ones.
I guess what I'm saying is just go to a Target store or something, and try one of these larger cameras, you might find that the size isn't all that bad. (that's what she said)
I bought this camera back in January because I didn't want to spend the $$$ for a DSLR but yet I wanted something that would take good pictures, have HD video and have a great zoom for less than $500. I found all that I wanted in this camera and it takes great pictures. Most places have it for $350 - $400.
Another vote here for a Panasonic Lumix.
I have a Canon PowerShot SD 1200 Digital Elph.
Cost me $150 when I bought it at end of last year.
I freaking love it. 10 megapixels, takes great pictures, even decent video. I'm not a technichally proficient photographer, so one thing I like about this camera is there's a setting where it will automatically adjust to the lighting and stuff, making taking great pictures easy for retarded n00bz like me. But, if you know what you're doing, you can tweak all the settings manually. I just choose not too and it still takes great pics for me.
Best of all it's the size of a deck of cards. Small size was crucial to me as a dude, since it's not socially acceptable for men to carry purses in America I wanted something that would fit in my pocket and not be a pain in the ass to carry with me. This one fits the bill.