I am considering buying a new digital camera within the next month. I would like to purchase a camera for under $800. What camera is the better camera; Olympus 2020 or Nixon 950? I have heard good things about the Nixon 990, but it will most likely be out of my budget. I previously owned an Olympus D600-L. I was very happy with the camera except for one feature flaw, poor low light imaging (focusing). Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

-- Theo Demetropoulos (theo@yucca.net), March 26, 2000

Answers

I faced the same dilemma last year, and decided to go with the cheaper Nikon 800, which has almost the same features as the 950. This was because I (and also everyone else buying a digital camera)had to spend an extra $500 on accessories, i.e. 48Mb or 96Mb memory card, a dedicated card reader to transfer images to you computer, rechargable unit and batteries, AC-connector etc. Also later on you might want to add extra lenses and filters, along with a slave flash. In the end I spent something like $1050 for the whole thing and I expect the spend some $200 more on extra lenses and filters.

-- Gretar Ivarsson (gretar.ivarsson@or.is), March 27, 2000.