[davidflas]

Friends,

I have $1,000 to spend on a digital camera, but I have next to no expirience with them. I'd like to hear what people who use them all the time think. Which one would you recommend and why?

Thanks in advance for the advice.

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"life is pain, Highness, anyone who tells you different is selling something."--The Man in Black from The Princess Bride

[scaught]

the nikon coolpix 990 seems to be the one people are talking alot about and costs right around a thousand. great resolution, easy to get good pics inside or outside, etc. it gets really good reviews at www.cnet.com if that means anything to you. the one i actually have (kodak DC280) is much cheaper, but fulfills my needs quite well.

scott

[davidflas]

Scott, I have heard a lot about the Nikon, I already use a Nikon F-100 SLR that I love. Staying with Nikon would be a natural for me. Thanks for the input.

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"life is pain, Highness, anyone who tells you different is selling something."--The Man in Black from The Princess Bride

[Aussiemac]

I like the canon s20, 3.35 million pixels a square inch and small enough to fit in my wifes hand bag, the G1 canon has 3.35 also but has interchangable lenses but larger camera, and then there is the G2 canon that has 4.4 million pixals and my brother who lives in japan said it was on the shelves there.
a camera that has 3.35 is going to create a 9.9MB file per image, so you need a fast computer and a big hard drive.
I have a canon a5 zoom 850,000 pixals a square inch, 3,000 images equels 460MB.

[Milio]

We just bought the Canon G1 and it rocks!

It's shaped like a normal compact, and can be used as a point and shoot, but it also offers plenty of manual controls. It has a really wonderful swivel-out LCD, like you find on video cameras. It really is better than having it fixed to the back of the camera. I used it to good effect when I was doing tripod work at a non-natural height. I just swivel the LCD to let me compose the picture. Another great feature is the battery life. It is absolutely the longest of any digital camera I have ever used, hands down.

The Nikon 990 is a good camera too, but I don't like the shape and the battery life isn't as good as the G1. But these are the two best cameras in your price range.

[Milio]

Here's some excellent review sites:

Digital Camera Resource G1 specs
Digital Camera Resource review comparing G1 with Nikon 990.

Steve's Digicams - G1
Steve's Digicams - 990

Digital Photography Review - G1
Digital Photography Review - 990

I have to defiantely chime in on the Nikon CoolPix 990.

My wife and I picked one up before Christmas and we are in love with it. We were (and still are) SLR junkies - we love to take, develop and print our own photos and we were looking for a digital camera that might offer some of the same feeling of an SLR. We first looked at the new HP and Pentax E-2000 and were sorely disappointed in features, feel and performance - it was billed as a great digital SLR.

Our second choice was the Nikon series and we fell in love with the 990. Full automatic is fantastic, and the manual mode lets us do lots of photo manipulation to get the shot we want. We can adjust white balance, f-stop and all of the features of an SLR on the fly. Also, there are 5 or 6 different lens modes available and they are very* sharp. All of the features can be adjusted at whim and the ability to review a photo just after it's taken is fantastic. I've used it for snapshots, still product shots and art photos and I am sold.

Better yet, you can buy it for about $750 online. Look at Pricepulse.com and buy from a rated vendor only. You'll want to buy online so you'll be able to buy a compact flash card for more and better quality photos. The camera comes with only a 16 meg card which will do a max of 1 'super' hi quality photo and 10 hi quality photos - not to mention a slew of normal and low quality photos. We bought a 64 meg card online for $85 (you'll pay $100+ at a store) and it effectively 4x the number of photos we can take. Spend the extra $250 and buy a large compact flash card - even a 128 would be great.

Enjoy!

-David

I have a Nikon 950 that I bought new. You can get them for about 600.00 now. The 990 has more resolution, but it's pretty much the same camera. The thing I like the most about the Nikon is that it is very easy to use. It is very hard to get a bad picture. It also uses the compact flash card for media. All you need is a card reader and the images come right up on the screen. having all Nikon gear myself, the only problem I have with the camera is that I am used to shooting a lot faster with 35mm. It is a lot harder to get grab shots with a digital camera. You can shoot in B/W also which is nice. The only way to shoot like a 35mm is to spend thousands, which is what I am going to do when Nikon updates the D1.

Are you insane????

Unless you've been out of the camera market for a couple months, the Nikon 990 is far overratted and overpriced. Go witht he Olympus 3000 or 3030....if you're a camera pro, go witht the 3030! Its got internal memory, so you can burst several shots at once without waiting to write to the card, and when it does its much faster than the 990. I sell dig cameras as part of my job and I've seen both in action. the 990's image tends to "muddy up" dark areas of the the screen.

DOn't do it!

go with a the olympus

[tonywong]

There's a lot of information to digest about digital cameras. I'd suggest brushing up on some information first.

Go to dpreview.com or steves-digicams.com for in-depth reviews instead of taking only anecdotal comments.

Make a list of what you currently do with your analog camera, then a list of what you think the digital camera will do to improve your picture taking. Compare that list with the features of cameras in your available price range, then go down to your local pro shop and compare the cameras directly.

Some of the things that you want to check for:
f-stops, ISO ratings, lens quality, flash, mega-pixel ratings, colour fidelity, low-light noise, battery life, included accessories, cost of peripherals, interface type, storage media type, camera-computer software, warranty, construction quality.

Personally, I like Nikons and Canons over the other cameras. Nikon has better technical and imaging qualities but the Canons seem more innovative and better priced. I also think that compact flash is going to be the defacto standard over SmartMedia and Memory Stick. I think that you should go with the camera that fits your own personal preferences and habits best instead of trying to find out which camera is the "top of the heap"; almost all cameras available today are quite good and offer a diverse range of choices and features to fit anyone's needs.

[Cyberskip]

I just bought the Canon G1. It was a toss up between the Nikon 990 and the G1, but the G1 offered a few more useful features than the 990, like a wireless remote, a longer lasting battery and it could also take the IBM mircodrive giving you up to a Gig of photo storage in the camera.

There are other factors as well but it all depends on what you want to do with it.

Good luck.

Canon Powershot G1, not even a tough decision.

Fuji Finpix 4700

4.1 megapixel Does 2400x1800 pictures, USB, SmartCard, Optical Zoom, MacroFocas, all in the size of a pack of cigarettes.

[fritzair]

I would suggest you look at the Casio QV3000EX pro pack. This camera can be had for less than $800. comes with USB cable, charger, batteries and a 230 mB HD. Thats 243 highest resolution shots on one disc. Has all sorts of manual modes, a great timer, slow shutter >6 sec, and built in flash. What do you do on vacation without a HD? Download into a Powerbook? This a great cameras,turn off the flash and you can get 50 pics on one charge. The optics are by Canon and has screw adapters.

Rollerhead

[jamesa]

I have three recommendations.

First off, the camera I have. Sony DCS s70. Great camera, uses Sony Memory Sticks. Get the memory stick adapters, you stick it straight into a PCMCIA slot, or get a USB drive.

Only problem with this camera is the light has to be just right. The zoom isn't huge, either. And like all digital cameras, takes a while to shoot.

Takes brilliant photos at trade shows, where the light is generally good, and is smaller than the next two.
http://64.14.40.97/explore_products/productinfo.jsp

(if that link doesn't work, follow through from Sony.com onto electronics, then digital imaging, then select DSC S70).

Then this Canon: http://www.powershot.com/powershot2/pro90/index.html

And, if this had been out when I'd been buying digital cameras, this is what I'd have bought: http://home.fujifilm.com/products/di...00z/index.html

On a related note, does anybody actually use the "movie" mode on these cameras? It just pisses me off. I wish they'd take photos faster and dump trying to take movies at 10fps!

Hope this helps.

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"The pen is mightier than the sword" -- Sylvester Stallone gives a new perspective on irony

[elvis]

the most important thing to remember is that your digital camera will be instantly obsolete.

i've gone through several cycles now (early kodak, kodak DC120, coolpix 900, coolpix 990)

as of today, I'd go with the O 3030, but my next upgrade isn't for at least another 18 mo.

just spend your 1000, enjoy, and get ready to spend another 1000 on a vastly superior setup in a year or two.

I too am in the market for a digital camera and have looked around. While I was impressed most with the quality and features of the CoolPix 990 and 880 (another option nobody has mentioned) I noticed something that aggrivated me. Being used to SLRs and 35 mm, I am used to having no gap between the trigger push and taking the picture. The Nikon (compared to the Olympus and others) had a NOTICABLE delay before the flash fired and the picture was taken. It appeared that the camera was metering and focusing during this 1sec (I think) delay. Most annoying!! Is this true of the Nikon in the experience of those who have used it?

[screamingFit]

I give my nod to the 990. Of course, it's also the one I own. When I bought it when it first came out, it was the top of the line for under $1000. I'm sure it has been outpaced by newer models by other manufacturers - it always happens, but I haven't been checking out the others since I made my purchase so can't offer anything on them.

One thing to do is go to a good camera shop (Wolf Camera if you have one near) and try out the cameras in your price range. Opinions are like...well, you know the rest...so, read everything from Steve's Digicam Site and from Digital Camera Resource Page, shoot every camera they have in the store, go through the features that are important and make a decision based on all of the above.

Also, see if you can score some copies of DigtalFoto magazine - they have good reviews with picture samples on CDROM so you can really see how the pictures look on your computer at full res.

-s'fit

[screamingFit]

Originally posted by heart doc:
{snip}
Being used to SLRs and 35 mm, I am used to having no gap between the trigger push and taking the picture. The Nikon (compared to the Olympus and others) had a NOTICABLE delay before the flash fired and the picture was taken. It appeared that the camera was metering and focusing during this 1sec (I think) delay. Most annoying!! Is this true of the Nikon in the experience of those who have used it?

My 990 did have a delay but there was a firmware update awhile ago that helped speed things up a lot all through the camera. There's still a delay, albeit small, but much better than it was out of the box.

-s'fit

[HeartDoc]

Thanks for the input on the Nikon. I think I'll probably end up going that way. I also looked at the Sony S70 because it has the Zeiss lens, but that has the WORST delay of them all. The Sony logic seems to do better than the Nikon for indoor exposures without flash though. Pehaps it is just the way the cameras are set in the store that is playing with me.
One additional question to all: How many and what size flash cards are recommended for everyday photography? Like stock RAM in a PC, what comes with the camera is never enough. I'm kind of worried about running out of memory on a trip or holiday party.

[Milio]

Originally posted by HeartDoc:

One additional question to all: How many and what size flash cards are recommended for everyday photography? Like stock RAM in a PC, what comes with the camera is never enough. I'm kind of worried about running out of memory on a trip or holiday party.

Well if you get a camera that supports the IBM MicroDrive, you won't ever need to worry about running out of space.

In my experience, I'm more concerned with battery life. Digital cameras just devour batteries. That's why I like cameras with Lithium Ion batteries.

[slboett]

I vote Nikon as well. You could easily get a 950 (so what it's ONLY 2.2Mpixel) and get lots of extras - like compactflash memory, lenses, etc.
OR
The CoolPix 990. A great camera - does QuickTime video as well. Both are nice cameras and are easy to use.

Scott

I hemmed and hawed for months with the same decision. Was considering the Nikon 990 but ended up buying the Canon G1 two weeks ago. Positively no regrets.

[cteselle]

Kodak 4800 is a great camera too, and cnet rated it pretty high as well... 3.1mp, nice physical size, great GUI, etc.

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Promote Chicken Randomness

[mkincaid]

Consider the Sony DSC-S75. It has just about all the features offered by cameras in this price range, all the manual controls (if you want them; otherwise you're free to use automatic), good color reproduction, excellent resolution, sharp Zeiss optics, good design, excellent price ($699!) and it fixes the shutter lag, which was the biggest problem of the S70. It's shipping around 5/9/01.

It got glowing reviews:

http://dpreview.com/reviews/sonydscs75/
http://steves-digicams.com/2001_reviews/s75.html

http://imaging-resource.com/PRODS/S70/S70P.HTM

Definitely a worthy competitor to the CP 990, Canon G1 and Olympus C3030-Z.

(Hope I don't sound like a shill; I'm not trying to be. But I don't think Sony gets considered as seriously as they deserve to be sometimes...)

[This message has been edited by mkincaid (edited 04-12-2001).]