how do I select a digital camera (camera or camcorder)only for hobby not professional. Can U suggest a model?

Question

The purpose is family outing and capturing important moments both video (max about 15 to 20 minutes) and photos about 5 MP quality is ok with me. I am a budget buyer kindly suggest the model

Answer 1

The Nikon Coolpix S9 is a nice very compact camera, If you want it I saw it at Ritz Camera, they also got some promos at http://www.prioritycodes.com/Electronics/RitzCamera.com-Priority-Codes/index.html for a discount

Answer 2

Hi.
I would personally recommend to get a digital camera with video and sound recording capabilities. These digital cameras take outstanding pictures, and pretty decent video at VGA quality (640x480 pixels, @ 30 fps).
If you decide to buy a camcorder, you will get outstanding video, but really poor stills.

Here are two camera models I recommend:

1) Kodak EasyShare V603 -- about $230.
2) Canon PowerShot SD600 -- about $210.

One thing regarding what the guy above me said before: you CAN record audio together with video in these two models that I recommended. And the only limit to video/audio recording is the amount of free space you have on your SD memory card. You can also zoom in and out while recording your video/audio in the Kodak model, not sure whether you can do this or not in the Canon model.

Kodak and Canon are both VERY good point-and-shoot camera manufacturers. I suggest you avoid Sony and Casio point-and-shoot cameras, due to the fact that they take blurry pictures. I have not tried the new Nikon models. Olympus is a decent brand too, but they tend to be more expensive.

I hope those two cameras fit inside your budget.

PS. Get a large SD (Secure Digital) memory card so to be able to record long videoclips and take lots of pictures.
PS2. Cheaper Kodak models ($100-200) usually don't shoot video in good quality, and use AA batteries. I recommend you invest a little more and get a good camera such as the one i recommended. This way you'll get good video quality and a good Lithium-Ion battery that will last WAY longer than the regular AA batteries.
PS3. Take a look at the Canon PowerShot TX-1, a 7.1 MP digital camera AND HD (high-definition) camcorder. It hasn't been released yet, but it looks like a very promising digital camera/camcorder.

Hope this helps!

Answer 3

The moment you said 5 MP you blew the whole thing!

You only need 333,333 pixels (1/3 an MP) for video, so you are asking for an overkill chip.

Price tage $1,500 to $2,000 if you want 3 - 5 MP still pictures.

HD camcorders only need 2 MP to capture an HD quality signal!

So you are asking for overkill.

My suggestion is get a Sony HC28 for $279 and a Sony W-50 for $200 to take your still pictures. Or a Kodak 875 (8mp) or a Kodak 653 ($129 6 MP) to take stills.

IT's a lot cheaper than $1,500 for a 3MP Sony camcorder.

Answer 4

decide what you want, either camcorder or digital camera, pro for d/camera; 1)can select the picture quality (resolutions from 1mg pixel -5 mg pixel) 2) chioce of shots bursts, panoramic, night, action, portriat, etc etc 3)zoom
con: movies no sound, limited recording on some older modles
pro for camcorder; 1)contious motion with sound, zoom etc, not of broadcast quality on most lower end camcorder
con; still pictures is of very low quality, less than 1 mg pixel, prints from camcorder very pixelated(can see the tiny squares on a 4r print)

Answer 5

I don't think the make or model matters too much they are all very similar, buy a well known make and spend as much as you can afford.

I would suggest one that writes directly to DVD, as this saves transferring to disc.