Digital Cameras - What's a good one?

Lou[NE] · Post by **Lou[NE]** » 21 Oct 2005 3:10 pm

Can some one recommend a good, reasonably priced digital camera? I have two Sony Mavicas. One writes to floppies, the other to mini-CDs. They have both become PITAs. I am leery of memory sticks (what happens if the stick looses its memory while you're on vacation?, but Sony seems to be the only maker of removable-media cameras. I've gone off Sony. All suggestions welcome. Thanks.

Lou

Russ Little · Post by **Russ Little** » 21 Oct 2005 6:11 pm

I have a nikon coolpix 800 ive used
for last couple of years.
It uses removable memory cards.
spare cards to fit it are cheap
on ebay.Now so are the cameras.
I have used a sony mavica , but
prefer the nikon. check them out
Hope you find one you like
Russ

Tony Prior · Post by **Tony Prior** » 22 Oct 2005 1:54 am

almost all of the manufacturers have a very reliable high quality Camera. Canon, Sony whatever.
Don't fret about the memory stick stuff..

this stuff works..

I have a Canon A70, with a 512 flash card.

it's quite fine.
Several friends and my daughter have a newer Sony..also quite fine...

not sure what you mean by removeable media...they ALL have removeable memory cards so that you can plug them directly into printers, Media PC's. USB hubs etc...

I carry a 512 Memory stick in my pocket to transfer data from one pc to another..no issues.[This message was edited by Tony Prior on 22 October 2005 at 02:58 AM.]

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 22 Oct 2005 2:52 am

I bought a Kodak about 6 months ago. It's a 5MP camera with a 10X optical zoom. It works great and will even do "movies with sound" (up to the limit of the memory card).

It also has a "Schneider Kreuznach" lens.

The last discounted price I saw for this camera was about $350 (several months ago - may be less now).

George Kimery · Post by **George Kimery** » 22 Oct 2005 4:39 am

I have had a Nikon Cool Pix 950 for several years and have been very happy with it. It uses a compact flash card. The cards are available at Best Buy pretty cheap now. I just bought a 512 MB card for $29.00, after a $20.00 mail in rebate. My camera is a 3 mega pixel and the card will hold a little over 1100 photos. I have printed off 8x10 photos with great results, so I wouldn't worry about the mega pixels being more than 3 unless you are going to print posters or something. The higher the mega pixels, the less photos the card is going to hold and the longer it is going to take to load it onto the computer.

Bill Ford · Post by **Bill Ford** » 22 Oct 2005 5:57 am

Nikon 4500, 4mp, I have had it 3 or 4 years and have used it to do tech articles for Mustang Monthly magazine with good results. It also does video with sound,and as with most cameras on the market today has settings to do a wide variety of pics, i took some shots of fireworks that were pretty good(still learning on that setting), it also has a panorama setting that works real good. If possible, talk to friends that have different brands, and go from there.

Bill[This message was edited by Bill Ford on 22 October 2005 at 06:59 AM.]

Tony Palmer · Post by **Tony Palmer** » 22 Oct 2005 6:33 am

One important thing about digital cameras is size. I use mine on vacation the most and if I didn't have a small one that fits in my pocket, I wouldn't have brought it with me on a lot of trips.
I've taken pictures while riding a horse! and simply took it out of my shirt pocket.
If it was bigger, a lot of pictures would never get taken.

Jim Cohen · Post by **Jim Cohen** » 22 Oct 2005 7:33 am

I had a Kodak "EasyShare" that I didn't like so I lost it. But really, it got to where most of the time it wouldn't open up the lens to take any pictures at all, as if the batteries were dead, but this happened even with fresh batteries. Maybe this is because the manual said to only use non-alkaline batteries in it, but y'know, ya can't hardly find non-alk. batteries anymore, so we used alkies and they seemed to work fine for a long time and then the problems started. So truth is I don't know if it's the fault of the camera or me that it stopped working, but I do know this: I will never buy another camera that insists that I use non-alkaline batteries! YMMV.

John McClung · Post by **John McClung** » 22 Oct 2005 8:56 am

Lou, I'd recommend almost any Nikon, Sony, or Olympus digital camera. Sony's image quality is worse, and I've seen 2 friends' cameras become inoperable.

For great, almost too-thorough, camera reviews, I trust this site: http://steves-digicams.com/

I own and love an older Nikon Coolpix 995. The upgrade to George Kimery's CP 950. He's right, for 8x10 prints, 3 mpx is fine. I love the swivel lens on this series, they sadly don't make them this way anymore. The lens and image quality is superb, and it does macro, so you can get wonderful closeup shots of psg parts, that's pretty handy when you need to order parts and don't know what to call the doo-hickey!

At work we just bought the Canon Rebel XT-II, and it's a great digital SLR. Costs more than small non-SLR's, but is more flexible for our pro needs. Operates much faster than the Nikon Coolpix, but image quality is surprisingly similar.

Hope this helps!

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E9 lessons
Mullen D-12/Carter SD-10/Webb amp/Profex II/Lexicon MPX-110

Bill Ford · Post by **Bill Ford** » 23 Oct 2005 4:55 pm

One more added note...DO NOT GET ONE THAT USES AAA, OR AA BATTS..Didn't mean to yell, but that was one of my first mistakes, get one with the flat Li-ion battery,and invest in a spare batt(for long shooting days).

Bill

Larry Clark · Post by **Larry Clark** » 24 Oct 2005 4:24 am

My daughter took a tour of Europe this summer so I got her a Canon A85 4mp. Some say the Canons are a little fragile but if it survived my kid's trip it can't be too flimsy. Oh, and the important part, it took excellent photos. I was stunned by the quality of that little auto point and shoot.

Bill Rowlett · Post by **Bill Rowlett** » 27 Oct 2005 12:25 pm

Actually, I like the AA battery models. I've shot digital for 10 years with over 10,000 pictures. I just get the rechargable Ni Metal Hydride AA cells (From Walmart no less)and keep several sets charged up. I agree that you cannot expect good performance from alkalyne AA cells, they just don't have the current capacity to perform long, but the rechargeables do. AA rechargeables are much cheaper than the OEM Li packs and in a pinch, I can use AA photo cells from any retail store.

I like the old Nikon 990 flip lens cameras too. It's great for awkward shots over a crowd.

Gary Shepherd · Post by **Gary Shepherd** » 27 Oct 2005 12:59 pm

Canon PowerShot s20 on eBay for under $200. USB connection to computer. Uses Compact Flash drive for storing pics. Can remove flash drive and replace with bigger one. I get about 100 pictures at a time on mine at the BEST setting. More pictures if you take smaller pics.

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Gary Shepherd

Carter D-10

www.16tracks.com

Lou[NE] · Post by **Lou[NE]** » 27 Oct 2005 3:08 pm

Thanks to everyone for the tips and leads, especially the digicam review site. Got a lot to go on here. Thanks again and best wishes to all.

Lou