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Scribble · May 19, 2002, 02:28 PM

Hello all -

I'm in the market for a nice digital camera. I'm looking to spend no more than $500, which I think should get me something in the 3MP range. I've been told that the Olympus 3020 is a great camera.

Does anyone have any opinions on what other cameras are worthy of looking at???

I'm not really into photgraphy all that much, so I'm not all the familiar on what to look for in a camera. I envision using this for vacations, family events, blah blah blah. I also see myself printing photos that I take, whether is be from an online printing service or from Costco. I don't even see myself printing photos above 8x10 sizes...

Do I really need something like 3MP or can I get away with a 2MP or higher camera??? And where is the best place to buy a camera; i.e possibly online where shipping is free or CHEAP and no sales tax??? What are some websites to do some good research on digital camereas???

Thanks in advance!

spiky_dog · May 19, 2002, 02:58 PM

Canon Powershot S30. Google its name, read about it at dpreview. Amazon.com won't rip you off, and has it for $499. I'm very pleased with mine, btw.

OldManMac · May 19, 2002, 09:23 PM

Nikon Coolpix 885, which sells on the street for $499. It has a multitude of settings available to shoot in a number of different conditions, it is very small, and it takes great pictures!! I got one in January, and I've been extraordinarily pleased with it.

G4ME · May 19, 2002, 09:57 PM

definatly read dpreview.com it has more then enough in formation then any other site for digital cameras.

Ken_F2 · May 20, 2002, 12:00 AM

Scribble,

If you look around, you can find the 4 megapixel Canon S40 for about $520 online. You get the internals of the awesome G2 in a small/compact case.

Scribble · May 20, 2002, 08:11 AM

Originally posted by Ken_F2:
Scribble,

If you look around, you can find the 4 megapixel Canon S40 for about $520 online. You get the internals of the awesome G2 in a small/compact case.

I've seen some really cheap prices at some of these ionline places, but I'm a little catious. I don't want to be sent a 'grey market' camera, or worse yet, never recieve my camera.

Where are some good places to buy. Amazon.com seems to have some really good prices going on right now.

OldManMac · May 20, 2002, 10:48 AM

Originally posted by Scribble:


I've seen some really cheap prices at some of these ionline places, but I'm a little catious. I don't want to be sent a 'grey market' camera, or worse yet, never recieve my camera.

Where are some good places to buy. Amazon.com seems to have some really good prices going on right now.

Buy a camera at a camera store, whether it's online or brick and mortar. I bought my Coolpix 885 at B&H Photo & Video. They were $100 cheaper than 20 other places I checked, and they are a huge photo and video specialist who've been around for a long time. I got the camera within four days of ordering.

spiky_dog · May 24, 2002, 10:00 AM

I bought my S30 through amazon, and was very happy (as always) with their service, and recently picked up a Firewire CF reader through B&H. They shipped the item the next day (I ordered on Sunday, it shipped Monday) and it arrived a day early to boot.

bilingual · May 24, 2002, 01:25 PM

Powershot S30, hands down. Canon makes incredible digital imaging products (their lack of OS X scanning support notwithstanding). All the specs of G1 in a smaller, tighter body (that's how I like them ).

Mac Zealot · May 24, 2002, 02:22 PM

Originally posted by bilingual:
Powershot S30, hands down. Canon makes incredible digital imaging products (their lack of OS X scanning support notwithstanding). All the specs of G1 in a smaller, tighter body (that's how I like them ).

me too

brachiator · May 24, 2002, 02:28 PM

Are there any 3MP cameras smaller than the s30/s40 or the Coolpix 885? And any good experiences with them?

It would be ok if over $500 bucks. It would also be ok if it was a camera not sold in the US...

I like the size of the Canon Digital ELPH (or IXUS), but it is feature poor and only around 2MP. I'd like something that small, or a bit bigger but flatter, like the Fuji Finepix 50i.

Any experiences with the Finepix line? (I know that they are not the most Mac compatible...)

Thanks!

pdot · May 24, 2002, 04:13 PM

I second the dpreview.com. Also check out their links to other sites (Steve's digicam site is another good one). Don't forget to consider storage options, size, battery life/type, and zoom and video capabilities. I found that getting the right combination of those misc features I just mentioned was harder than finding an affordable camera with a good lens.

G4ME · May 24, 2002, 10:46 PM

Originally posted by brachiator:


I like the size of the Canon Digital ELPH (or IXUS), but it is feature poor and only around 2MP. I'd like something that small, or a bit bigger but flatter, like the Fuji Finepix 50i.

There is nothing wrong with the features with the newest ELPH S330, it is still only a 2MP camera but it is full of features, compleat manual settings, with tons of filters and the size is unbeatable. read the review at Dpreview and you'll be impressed at how full featured this camera is.

IE i just got one and love everything about it.

brachiator · May 25, 2002, 01:04 AM

Originally posted by G4ME:


There is nothing wrong with the features with the newest ELPH S330, it is still only a 2MP camera but it is full of features, compleat manual settings, with tons of filters and the size is unbeatable. read the review at Dpreview and you'll be impressed at how full featured this camera is.

IE i just got one and love everything about it.

wow, you are right! I think that the last version I looked at must have been pretty old. It must be the smallest digital camera, as well. Does it sync up smoothly to d/l the pix in OSX Image Capture? The Apple compatibles page only lists up to the 300 model.

thanks!

spiky_dog · May 25, 2002, 12:46 PM

Originally posted by brachiator:
Are there any 3MP cameras smaller than the s30/s40 or the Coolpix 885? And any good experiences with them?

Yes, the Sony DSC-P5. Picture quality has some issues, tho, as noted on dpreview.com and in my limited experience with my grandparents' P5.

G4ME · May 25, 2002, 10:09 PM

<blockquote>:<hr />Originally posted by brachiator:
<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>Originally posted by G4ME:


There is nothing wrong with the features with the newest ELPH S330, it is still only a 2MP camera but it is full of features, compleat manual settings, with tons of filters and the size is unbeatable. read the review at Dpreview and you'll be impressed at how full featured this camera is.

IE i just got one and love everything about it.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

wow, you are right! I think that the last version I looked at must have been pretty old. It must be the smallest digital camera, as well. Does it sync up smoothly to d/l the pix in OSX Image Capture? The Apple compatibles page only lists up to the 300 model.

thanks!<hr /></blockquote>Sad to say it doesn't I got it without even looking at the specs and pluged it in and nothing happend, But it does come with OSX native software, but for some odd reason i couldn't get it to load, dunno why?

I purchased the Lexar FireWire CF reader so I am fine.

msc1974 · May 26, 2002, 04:53 AM

Only one thing to say about digtal cameras:

IF YOUR GOING TO BUY A DIGITAL CAMERA....BUY ONE THAT SUPPORTS IBM MICRO DRIVES.

ALL other memory is'nt worth the money or the time it takes to keep puting new empty ones in the camera.
Simply ask yourself one thing...How many images can you fit on one 32Mb flash card or 340Mb Micro Drive?

(ps. if is good enough for NASA then mayby it could be good enough for U)

rjenkinson · May 26, 2002, 08:16 AM

<blockquote>quote:<hr />Originally posted by msc1974:
Only one thing to say about digtal cameras:
IF YOUR GOING TO BUY A DIGITAL CAMERA....BUY ONE THAT SUPPORTS IBM MICRO DRIVES. ALL other memory is'nt worth the money or the time it takes to keep puting new empty ones in the camera. Simply ask yourself one thing...How many images can you fit on one 32Mb flash card or 340Mb Micro Drive?<hr /></blockquote>no one i know keeps every photo they've ever taken on their digital cameras. people take a bunch of pictures and then download them to their machine. a 320MB microdrive is overkill for a digital camera. 64 or 128MB of flash memory or memory stick media is enough for most people.

-r.

msc1974 · May 27, 2002, 04:24 AM

I went on a months tour of the far east and on my journey I took loads of photos....I really glad I was able to take 2,3 even 4 pictures of the same thing because when I was finally able to download them on to a computer, some of the images that did look okay on the back of the SMALL LCD screen, where in fact not that good at all. If I only had a small card as (64Mb-128Mb) then I would have lost photos that I could never retake.
Thankfully I had a card that WAS FAR TO BIG so it was not a problem.

I had no worrys about keeping all (390) of my photos on my camera because I had loads of room left for 25 AVI movies as well as 40 panoramic images aswell...

As for everyone you know... I think you should get out more and meet more (adults) people.

rjenkinson · May 27, 2002, 08:55 AM

<blockquote>quote:<hr />Originally posted by msc1974:
As for everyone you know... I think you should get out more and meet more (adults) people.<hr /></blockquote>what an incredibly stupid thing to say.

<blockquote>quote:<hr />I [was] really glad I was able to take 2,3 even 4 pictures of the same thing because when I was finally able to download them on to a computer, some of the images that did look okay on the back of the SMALL LCD screen, where in fact not that good at all. If I only had a small card as (64Mb-128Mb) then I would have lost photos that I could never retake.<hr /></blockquote>many, if not most, cameras these days allow you to zoom in on images you've taken. while you are still reviewing them on a small LCD screen, you can enough detail to tell if the shot was in focus, over exposed, and so on.

<blockquote>quote:<hr />I had no worrys about keeping all (390) of my photos on my camera because I had loads of room left for 25 AVI movies as well as 40 panoramic images aswell...<hr /></blockquote>digital cameras are great when you go on long trips. and when you go on long trips without a laptop or some other means of downloading your photos while you're on the road, the biggest storage medium you can buy is, of course, the best. however, for people who want to use a digital camera to use in their daily lives, where they have access to a computer, there is absolutely no reasonable need to have a 320MB microdrive in the camera. it's a needless frill.

-r.

[ 05-27-2002, 11:02 AM: Message edited by: rjenkinson ]

May 27, 2002, 02:03 PM

I really like the Olympus cameras.
I just purchased the 520 digital camera.
Takes great pics, the storage cards show up on the desktop as a removable disk

Scribble · May 27, 2002, 06:32 PM

Hey all -

I just put the order in today from amazon.com for the Sony DSC-P71.

I was thinking about the Olympus 3020, but I decided against it.

Nice things about this particular model is the 3.2mp CCD, utilization of AA batteries, compact size and good reviews. I got a 128 meg. memorystick and a set of NiMH batteries and charger. I saved myself over 100 bucks by going to amazon versus a store like circuit city.

It should be here sometime this week.

Thanks for all the replies!

Cellery · May 27, 2002, 07:36 PM

<blockquote>quote:<hr />Originally posted by Scribble:
Hey all -

I just put the order in today from amazon.com for the Sony DSC-P71.

I was thinking about the Olympus 3020, but I decided against it.

Nice things about this particular model is the 3.2mp CCD, utilization of AA batteries, compact size and good reviews. I got a 128 meg. memorystick and a set of NiMH batteries and charger. I saved myself over 100 bucks by going to amazon versus a store like circuit city.

It should be here sometime this week.

Thanks for all the replies!

<hr /></blockquote>Good choice, the camera size and image quality are similar to my Sony DSC-P5, which I really enjoy. Be sure you check the back LCD for dead pixels, I had a bunch on my initial camera and got it replaced for free. Enjoy your purchase!

chris v · May 28, 2002, 08:08 PM

Add me to the list of satisfied Canon Powershot S30 owners. The color is really good, it'll take B&W, Sepiatone, can be set on fully manual, fast motion, or even take .avi movies w/audio. It'll hold the 1GB IBM micro drive, and believe me, when you're on vacation, miles form your computer, you'll be glad you've got the storage. I'm just waitingf for the next round of price reductions on the microdrives.

I've been shooting 35mm slide film for years, and was prepared to be not-too-happy with resolution and color, and have been pleasantly surprised by the S30 all around.

CV

snomac · May 29, 2002, 05:03 AM

Another Canon S30 user here, I use mine with a 512 meg Microdrive. I used to own a Sony camera that stored the images on a floppy disk, and the vastly increased storage space is great! The pictures look pretty darn nice too.

nana2 · May 29, 2002, 10:39 AM

1GB Microdrive roXors. I used it on a trip to New Zealand and came back with over 600 photos (~1MB each). Why bother carting your laptop around uneccesarily, or wasting time zooming in on a pic, just take a dozen and have fun