want to buy digital camera, help on selection. amature/family photographer?

Question

which one is best among
-nikon
-sony
-canon
& model#

Answer 1

You didn't specify your budget or your photographic interests, which leads me to believe that you are new at digital photography. Please forgive me making the assumption that you are looking for an entry level camera if this incorrect.

Consumer Reports for November 2006 has ranked the Canon Powershot A620 as the best compact digital camera. It is becoming almost a legend for longevity at the top of various consumer lists. It looks like this model has been replaced by the A630, which I would expect to be just as popular. The A640 appears quite similar and shares the "600" series numbering, so I guess it's just another upgraded version of the now-classic A620. It looks pretty much the same except for being a 10 MP camera.

I own a few Nikon DSLR's and I'd buy the Canon A630 or A640 for myself.

The A620 was rated about twice as good as any as far a battery life. I hope the A630 and A640 are just as good. Use Energizer e2 LITHIUM batteries and you will be happy with battery life.

With this camera, you will find the memory card is a cute little token of thanks from Canon, but not much more. Buy a 1 GB Sandisk Ultra II or Extreme III card. You will NEED the increased capacity and write speed to fully realize the benefits of your camera.

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/compare_post.asp?method=sidebyside&cameras=canon_a620%2Ccanon_a630%2Ccanon_a640&show=all

http://www.steves-digicams.com/2006_reviews/a640.html
http://www.steves-digicams.com/2006_reviews/a630.html

If you want a sleek, smaller camera that will easily fit in your pocket, consider the Canon Powershot SD600. It gives up some of the features of the A630 and 640, but at least it still has an optical viewfinder, which I consider to be essential.

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/compare_post.asp?method=sidebyside&cameras=canon_a630%2Ccanon_a640%2Ccanon_sd600&show=all

http://www.steves-digicams.com/2006_reviews/sd600.html

If you want to trim the budget a little, the Canon Powershot A430, A530 or A540, are all great choices. You will need a decent memory card, though. I'd say get at least 512 MB.

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/compare_post.asp?method=sidebyside&cameras=canon_a430%2Ccanon_a530%2Ccanon_a540&show=all

http://www.steves-digicams.com/2006_reviews/a530.html
http://www.steves-digicams.com/2006_reviews/a540.html
http://www.steves-digicams.com/2006_reviews/a430.html

Answer 2

Amature Family

Answer 3

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T90 Silver 12MP Digital Camera with 4x Optical Zoom, 3.0" Touch LCD, Image Stabilization, Face Detection $269.88 12 megapixels 3" Touch LCD Support for Memory Stick Duo/PRO Duo Media Model#: DSCT90 $269.88

Answer 4

1) Spend your money on optical zoom instead of megapixels. 6 megapixels produces an image about four times as big as your computer screen. That's too much resolution for most of us-- unless we're taking a picture of something that only occupies a small fraction of your frame, like a humpback whale a mile out to sea.

2) I, personally, adore my Sony DSC-H1 with a 12X optical zoom. I use it to take fairly detailed photos of flowers, honeybees, spiders, surfers, fish, landscapes, and the moon. I don't believe the DSC-H1 is still in active production, but Sony has several comparable models out now.

3) You gotta have autofocus. You just gotta, but most cameras do come with a macro function for taking close-up photos these days.

4) For point-and-shoot models, participants in a Consumer Reports survey reported the fewest repairs and major problems with Sony and Panasonic, followed by Olympus, Canon, Kodak and Samsung in a four-way tie. A higher percentage reported problems with Vivitar cameras than with any other major brand.

5) Instead of buying a memory card with a huge amount of memory, consider buying maybe half a GB and investing in a combination hard drive/memory card reader. The Wolverine FlashPac is a little bigger than the bigger iPods, has between 40 GB and 100 GB of memory, and is super easy to use.

Just turn it on, insert your memory card, and hit the download button. The Wolverine tells you when it's downloading and tells you when it's finished. I took about 1500 photos on a three week vacation and didn't come anywhere near filling my 40 GB Wolverine up. So much easier to carry than a laptop, too!

Answer 5

io suggest you buy one.