digital cameras

[winterbadger]

Anyone have experience in researching and buying digital cameras? What resources did you find most helpful? Dr. B wants to get a new camera to take to Scotland with us, and any advice woudl be greatly appreciated.

Comments

[robbysmom.livejournal.com]

See here, which is a good summary and contains references to all the places I've looked.

Some expeirience here. . . and I just got a digital SLR (Canon Rebel), which I can tell you is well worth every many pennies for a number of reasons-- from its lens quality (and changeable lenses), to its own reachargable lithium ion battery (many low end EAT batteries), to its common (and thus affordably upgraded) storage medium, and its other features. But it's also up front expensive and unless Dr. B is a camera buff, also perhaps more camera than she'd use.

One of the things i like about it is you can take shots in RAW format. It uses up the card, but it's not s lossy file, as are jpegs. Note HOW the camnera saves the data as part of its features, especially if you'd like the option for files of more than just 3x5 vacation snapshot quality.

Generally at this point, anything fewer than 4 megapixels is no longer worth it. See the reviews and decide among various features, not least may be how the files downlaod to what-- you knwo what you do to make a digital thing "make photos." On that score, I would recommend going to a store and actually picking them up and getting the features explanation, then price shopping on the net.

Be VERY wary of battey use and odd storage media, poor flash or hard-to-understnad interface. (Yes, I know she's brilliant, but you don't want to have to look at the book on the trip to figure out how to take a picture in low light or set the red eye reduction, etc.)

Whatever you do, INVEST in the storage media. A 128 meg card is minimally requisite. Two are better. Most cameras coem with a 16, 32 or such-- depending on how many megapixels it produces (more pixels = larger fiel size). And the dumbest thing is to set the camera to take the MOST shots to save card storage, because most shots means LESS PICTURE QUALITY. If you were going to settle for that, you could have purchased a cheaper camera.

Hope that helps. . .

[winterbadger]

Thanks for the advice! You're so right about reading the manual thoroughly ahead of time. I used a digital camera from work a couple of years ago, and it had lots more facilities than I was able to employ, because I just hadn't read up on how to sue them all.

[sidhne.livejournal.com]

I am in the market for a DSLR and would be interested in sharing information. A friend uses the Nikon D70 and loves it. My sister has (and I've used) the Canon version, and have been very pleased. I've not yet investigated the lens issue, but plan to squeeze that in this weekend. Where have you been looking?

[sidhne.livejournal.com]

Consumer Reports article (http://www.consumerreports.org/main/content/display.jsp?FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=422857&ASSORTMENT%3C%3East_id=333133&bmUID=1110996737317).

[winterbadger]

I haven't been looking anywhere yet myself; I'm not sure where Nora might have looked.

If you're interested in SLR, you might get in touch with Lee (robbysmom) and with Melissa (shy_kat). Lee's bought one ad Melissa I know has researched them. I don't *think* NB wants something as high-end as a SLR, but I could easily be wrong. I imagine she may chime in next week (she's off on another business trip, this time to FL, and then we're having a weekend awaytogether).

[robbysmom.livejournal.com]

indeed, my household has three. A Fuji Finepix, an Olympus D-70, and the Canon Rebel DSLR.

In fact, badgie, I can pack up the Olympus if NB wants to play with one.

[winterbadger]

When were you thinking you might be down this way? N and I will be around most of the rest of March after this weeked; we're going down to see the Ps the middle of April, and she has exam grading int he middle of May, after which we hie ourselves to the Hielans.

[robbysmom.livejournal.com]

mid-May, in fact. I won't miss the Olympus for a few weeks, as the Canon is still a new toy.

The D-70 is a good low-mid end model to play with.

I'm sorry your love is away for your birthday :-(

[winterbadger]

I'm sorry your love is away for your birthday :-(

Me too, but nothing like she is! She is *furious* that she has to be away on Friday, even though we have a very nice weekend planned afterward. She's very bitter about this having fallen on my birthday, which I think is utterly sweet of her. :-)

[sidhne.livejournal.com]

If I wasn't looking for DSLR, I would get Nikon Coolpix 8700, CR's pick for serious photography, at around $600.

[curiousangel.livejournal.com]

I found this article helpful when I was looking recently. You will have to do some thinking beforehand about what you're wanting to do with the camera, what your photographic skill level is, what your budget can handle, how tolerant you are of lugging around assorted gadgets, and what sort of nifty features you want to have. CNet did a nice "picking a digital camera" piece, too, and I always found it helpful to read other people's opinions about a camera or a printer before I actually bought it. CNet has opinions, as does Epinions.

There are lots of digital photography sites that provide extensive reviews of equipment (I liked Steve's Digicams and Digital Photography Review), but there's no substitute for going down to BestBuy or a camera store and actually trying out any model you're considering buying. You want something that will feel right in your hands, and you want to make sure that the controls are something you can get your mind around. That's not to say that I'd buy the actual camera there -- you'll be amazed at how much you can save online if you buy from a reputable source. Be wary of folks who try to lowball you at first and then bait-and-switch you into buying something you don't want or don't need, though.

Be prepared to spend a fair chunk of change on accessories, like high-quality rechargeable batteries, high-capacity media, carrying cases, cables and readers, and so forth. If you're planning to print out the pictures, you may want to invest in a good photo-printer, but you can also find good services online that will handle making prints for you at reasonable prices -- Snapfish does a good job, as do many others, and you don't have to screw with buying printer cartridges if you use them.

You may also want to look into some affordable software for processing the images, unless you've already got Photoshop or something like it. I've heard good things about The GIMP, and you can't beat the price.

We bought the Kodak DX7440, and have been very happy with it. We liked the 4x zoom, the low price, the large LCD, and the capability to record 640x480 VGA video with the only time limit being what our SD card would hold -- some other cameras restrict you to 30 seconds. Then again, we were mostly wanting something to send pictures and video clips of a new baby to Grandma and Grandpa, and your needs may differ. ;)

[winterbadger]

Cool! Thanks for all the input!