digital camera!!?

Question

i'm looking to buy a digital camera but im not really sure where the best place to get one is, some places like best buy, sears maybe? and also i was told to buy a camera that has more than 6 megapixels and to buy a brand name, any ideas?

Answer 1

Look for a camera with a 1) minimum 5 megapixels (mp), this is very good for most users. 2) 4x optical zoom is good, don't worry too much about digital zoom. 3) Best to stick with regular (or rechargeable) AA batteries. Lithium battery are good, but not easy to find if you're on vacation and need batteries at a convienence store or can recharge quickly. 4) I see that many digital cameras are doing away with the optical viewfinder (the old fashioned way of looking through the viewfinder to take a picture), and strickly having just the LCD screen to compose a shot to take. I, personally still like the optical viewfinder to really focus on a particular subject, or use on a really sunny day where it's hard to see your subject(s) on the screen, or just to save battery power on my camera. These are just a few things to consider for your first camera. Here's what I have...

I LOVE my Canon PowerShot A620. It's a 7.1 mp camera which takes awesome still shots, and just as awesome video. Great for home and everyday use. Easy to take on vacations and you can take some really artistic/creative photos too. A great all-around camera. My 35mm cameras are Canon too, and I still love and use it. .

I had a Sony, and I gave that to my daughter, and purchased the Canon PowerShot A610 for my teenage son. The Canon A610 is exactly like my A620, but is a 5 mp digital camera. They both take GREAT pictures, but my favorite thing about the camera, is the vari-angle LCD screen. You can even hook it up to your tv and see your pictures/video on whatever size screen you have. It's pretty neat on the big screens! (The necessary cords come with it). It is very easy to use, and a camera you can grow with. http://www.usa.canon.com
Go to 'products' to 'consumer products' to lead you to the cameras.

Our A610/A620 has a setting, call "kids&pets". Typically you use these on the subjects that usually has a hard time keeping still. But I also use this setting when taking pictures of my soccer team during game play. I've also taken pictures of my kids, nieces and nephews jumping in the air, a la cheerleader jumps, with great results. Lag time is very, very, very minimal. (e.g. delay from pressing button to actual camera capturing the shot). This is just one of the many settings the camera has to offer and you can also manually set and program your own settings.

For ease of point and shoot, just choose the setting in which you're taking pictures of, (i.e. indoor, outdoor, nighttime, portrait, fireworks, snow, beach, and 'auto' [automatic]), and it'll adjust accordingly the proper exposure/settings. And it even has an 'underwater' mode to use, but that's if you purchase the special housing for the camera. (I don't have the housing. I'll wait to save up or find it for very inexpensive). If you get more experience or for the experienced, you can manually choose exposure and settings like the old 35 mm.

I'm a bargain hunter. I purchased both NEW Canon this late spring 2006 on line. My son's was under $200 and mine was $204. Just Google (or Froogle) or Yahoo! Search any Canon model, and then see which merchant has the best price with those low price websites and order on-line. The price is waaaay better than going physically to the stores. If you need it right away, just upgrade the shipping. It's still cheaper than buying at the stores. No matter what model camera you're searching for, better prices are on-line.

I don't know if you'll find this model (A610) at the stores. They have newer models, the A630 (8mp) and the A640 (10mp), they boast more mega-pixels and ISO settings. But 5mp, more than suffices for most users. What I did was physically touched and feel the camera at the store, then go on-line to purchase. But if you prefer to purchase at the stores, some good places are Best Buy, Wal Mart and Target. Suprisingly enough, they have good selection at Wal-Mart and Target.

Here is the link if you'd like to check out the specs on these models and other Canon cameras: http://www.usa.canon.com
and go to 'products' to 'consumer products' to lead you to the cameras. It tells you what the camera has and what it looks like up close.

While you're searching on-line, you'll also find many reviews on these cameras. All with many positives things to say about the camer and you can also find information on these cameras in Yahoo! Tech http://tech.yahoo.com/rc/digital-cameras...

Hope this helps in your hunt for a digital camera!

Answer 2

All of the major brands have their fans, and I have no doubt that they are all good cameras. The only camera available at the moment that I would stay away from is the Fuji S9500. I bought one and the photos are just not sharp and clear.

Take your time looking, they are getting better and cheaper as time goes by.

Optical zoom is the most important thing, get the most you can for your money.

Digital zoom is a complete waste of time, do not consider this as a factor when buying a camera. Once you have bought a camera, turn digital zoom off.

Get the most megapixels you can for your money.

As a very rough rule of thumb when comparing your final choices in camera, take the number of megapixels and multiply that by the amount of optical zoom. Buy the camera with the highest number.

Try to avoid a camera that uses two 'AA' batteries (except perhaps the Kodaks that can use the CR3 Lithium ion Battery Pack). Get a camera that either uses four, or one with its own dedicated Lithium Ion battery pack. (If you want to keep it for a long time, check the price and availability of replacement batteries. perhaps ebay?)

Answer 3

I guess ur not a hardcore Photography enthusiast but a normal occasion-photo enthusiast so:

Skip SONY as its accessories are patented and do not fit into easily into the PCs & are hard to find a replacement.
I would suggest CANON.

Skip the slim-thing they are basically for looks & within a 6 feet target area similar to a mobile camera.

Take one where the lens can zoom out physically when u press the power button. It means that the camera enlarges than it really is.

Pixel could range be from 3pixel up to 10pixel. but 6pixel would be the optimum.

No need to go in for a larger LCD display (its going to drain ur battery faster) unless u have some visual disability.

Memory card could range between 128mb, 256mb, 512mb or 1GB. For a occasional shooter 256 could suffice, But if u click a lot every month then 512mb but if u click every week or more then 1GB.

The best thing is u dont have to spend a cent more than the initial investment. Do do not hesitate to pay a little more as it will even out in the long run.

After clicking u can keep adding them to a writable CD through ur pc but remember to keep the CD open-written. If u close-write the CD then u wont be able to add to the CD. U finnaly will have to close-write the CD when it is full or around 650mb.

Best place -
dont buy online.
Go to a place where there is not too much crowd so that u can go through at least 5 to 7 models to choose from. It helps more if they have the models displayed along with their price.

Always check the model u buy clicking with it & checking it out on the LCD screen. Shoot a near object (digital cams can shoot real real close) and a far object at different levels of zooms. Then compare the pics in the LCD screen. Ofcourse the highest zoomed pic is going to be pixelated (square boxes) but that will indicate how much u will be able to zoom into.

Answer 4

Digital Camera........

Answer 5

I would recommend just one website: http://www.bhphotovideo.com
And i think Sony DSC W-100 meets what you are looking for...otherwise, try to focus on cameras that have 6-8 mega pixels (personally i think all 6-8 PX are same for regular shots except if you gonna use them for A3 or big size-picture purposes) and consider the optical zoom than digital.... Good luck!

Answer 6

Try the Sony Cybershot DSC-W50 or W70. They have internal memory, take 6.0MP-7.2MP pix, good quality vids, they start up fast, nice lcd screens and go for about $199-230. Check amazon.com for prices or froogle.com. when buying the camera, u might get asked to buy a service plan, but if u take care of ur camera u might be ok without it. sometimes those are useless because they replace ur camera with a refurbished one and charge almost 15% restocking fees. good luck shooping around.

Answer 7

Try the following stores...

Circuit City
Ritz Camera
Newegg
Best Buy
CompUSA
Office Depot
Walmart/Target

As far as the brand goes...Canon is the best. Other good brands are Nikon, Sony and Olympus.

Answer 8

Get a Sony Cybershot 7 megapixel. Try to get the best you can afford.

Answer 9

You can get a new digital camera from http://linkachi.com/?r1 and all you have to do is enter in your zip code to see if any stores are in your area. . My uncle got his camera from that site and it arrived at his house a few weeks later. You can choose between three different cameras and they are all free of charge.

Answer 10

Try Frys.com they had a great deal on a 7 mega pixel and it had a 10X optical zoom. Don't pay attention to digital zoom optical is where its at.