I know there are a lot of online journalers who read this forum, and I know some of you out there have digital cameras.

Can anyone recommend a particular camera, or tell me one to stay away from? I've read web FAQs extensively, and borrowed a couple cameras from friends, but it hasn't gotten me too far. I'm looking to spend about $500 or so, but other than that, i'm pretty clueless.

Any help would be much appreciated.

-- Anonymous, July 09, 2000

Answers

What kind of pictures do you take?

My best suggestion for $500, would probably be the Nikon Coolpix 700 - it is the only 2.1mpixel camera that you'll be able to get for that price, it has decent features in terms of focus, settings, etc, and its from a good manufacturer. I own a 990, and many fellow digiphotographers comment on how the 700 is a great bang for the buck camera.

Check out www.dpreview.com, they have some great info and review on cameras, and you can sort your listings by features or price.

E-mail me if you want more specific answers..

Mike

-- Anonymous, July 10, 2000

I just bought a Sony Cybershot DSC-S30, for $499 at Best Buy. It's 1.3 megapixel, has 3x optical zoom and 6x digital zoom, and stores images on a Sony Memory Stick.

The big plus for me on this one is that it will dump directly to PC via an included USB cable. Most of the others available in the store the day I bought mine used a serial connection of some sort. The process turned out to be extremely easy, and I'm really glad I have that feature. There is also an adapter that you can buy that you stick the Memory Stick into and put in a floppy drive, which I plan to get at a later date since only my desktop (not my laptop) has USB.

I am thrilled with the image quality. The 4M memory stick that came with (which they don't even sell anymore, they start at 16M for around $90) holds at least 50 640x480 images (holds quite a few less higher-resolution images, though), and 640x480 looks really good, far better than I expected. The battery, at full charge, is good for about 220 minutes, and charges quickly.

It has several flash options, including red-eye-reduction, flash-when-necessary, and no flash (my film camera cannot have the flash turned off, so this was a big deal to me). The flash is a little strong, which is probably good for most things, but does make everyone a little vampirish at close range in dim light.

It all kind of depends on what your priorities are. Resolution wasn't my biggest issue, I think storage, battery, dump, and zoom were my major requirements. It is also fairly easy to hold, which was a problem for me with the little Fuji and the big Mavica.

You can see some of my first-day pictures (all 640x480 res) from my entry at http://noise.never.to/2000/jul00/070500.phtml. I believe all of those were taken without flash.

-- Anonymous, July 10, 2000

I bought a Canon Powershot A50 a few months ago for about $400 at Best Buy, and it's really good. It has real zoom (the lens zooms in instead of the picture just getting grainy) which is what sold me. That, and it looks like a real camera.

-- Anonymous, July 10, 2000

I've owned and used several digital cameras, both for work and home. An old Ricoh, a Canon PowerShot A50, a Sony Mavica FD-80 (or some low number), a Kodak DC-280, and presently a Casio QV-2000UX. I don't think I've disliked any of them... although to me the "plus" of using a standard floppy with the Sony didn't outweigh the fact that picture resolution was terrible.

I love my Casio and highly recommend it, insofar as it has all the features of the "big guys" (Kodak, Nikon) and then some but for a lower price (because at present people usually go, "Casio makes digital cameras?"). I take tons of pictures, and now thanks to various web services (Ofoto, etc.) can still get nice prints. My only complaint is that the construction is a little frail. I broke the "sliding lens cover" (bad on any camera!) the first week I had it, but they fixed it free.

I think my favorite out of the bunch would be the Canon PowerShot, though. Middle-of-the-road features and fairly good picture quality, but to be honest the reason I loved it so was because it was so small and sturdy. Not quite as tiny as the Elph, but the closest thing to in the digicam world. I could sneak that thing into anything, and carry it easily.

If you're taking pictures for the web, honestly you could get something decent for a song these days. My mother has a digicam that came with her computer, and while you probably couldn't give it away (it retails for like $79!), for a website the pictures are fine. Of course if you're going to want to order prints, or get funky with PhotoShop, you'll want no fewer than two megapixels, and these days three. That means prices in the $600-900 range.

I paid $450 or so for my Casio, BTW, with 2.1 megapixels, .AVI movie recording, and IBM MicroDrive (340MB!) compatibility. Pictures from it are all over my websites, like the one for my daughter:

http://www.ozawa.org/katie/pictures

I've also written detailed reviews on nearly all of the cameras I mention for Epinions (the latest addiction).

Good luck!

-- Anonymous, July 10, 2000

Go to www.cnet.com for any hardware/software questions. It's a great resource!

I ran a search for dig. cameras for you....see results at: http://techsearch.cnet.com/search?curl=1,0,0-0- 0&partner=techsearch&cat=103&timeout=3&tag=&qt=Digital+Cameras&cn=&ca= 0

-- Anonymous, July 10, 2000

I guess I should have been more specific in what I wanted to use it for...

I would want to use it mostly for my online journal, with Photoshop, and possibly for some graphic design courses I'm probably going to take next semester. Which is why I'm oscillating between getting a cheapie now and then getting a really nice one if i do decide to major in graphic design.

Oh, and that Nikon 990 is a beauty. I was in NYC last weekend, and got a look at some of them at J&R computer. *drool*

Thanks for all the help, everyone.

-- Anonymous, July 10, 2000

Check out CNET's "Digital Photography Center at http://photo.cnet.com for great reviews, prices, and online ordering if you pick one to buy. Editors pick the top five cameras, and you can look at them by features, price, manufacturer, etc. The top of the top five in bargain cameras is the Olympus D-360-L and the top semi-pro camera is the Kodak DC280 zoom. The Nikon Coolpix 990 is ranked third in this category. Good luck!

-- Anonymous, July 10, 2000

My roommate has a Sony Mavica, which stores photos on a diskette. Maybe we're weird, but we see that as a major bonus. I'd recommend two batteries, though. She always forgets to charge hers up and the extra battery ready and waiting is a godsend some days.

-- Anonymous, July 10, 2000

I have the Kodak DC280 and I love it love it love it. But the cameras others have mentioned are just great too. I used to own an Epson PhotoPC and although it was a great little cheap digicam, I can't stress enough how much you'll appreciate having a flash and an LCD screen at the very least. Try to get as many worthwhile features as you can without going over your budget because it'll probably be less expensive for you in the long run.

-- Anonymous, July 10, 2000

I was going to suggest the CoolPix 800. I just ordered one off of cameraworld.com for $480 with a $75 rebate. Pretty good price.

Happy Hunting!

-- Anonymous, July 11, 2000

As big a fan as I am of Sony products, avoid anything that uses Memory Sticks (waaaay overpriced). The Mavica's are nice in that you can use floppies, but you'll need to carry a lot. My advice is to stick with Compact Flash or Smartmedia (both types of memory for the camera).

Also think about the way you'll transfer your pictures from the camera to the computer- USB is fastest, with serial a distant second. Other options include buying an extra "reader" for the Compact Flash or Smartmedia cards (~$50-125).

All that said, I'm very happy with my Olympus DL450Z- real zoom (essential) and a good set of features. It's only 1.3 megapix (generally, the higher the figure the better the possible resolution), but I've never had a problem with resolution. Memory is cheap (I bought a 64mb smartmedia card for $100- holds almost 500 pics in standard res, almost 300 at very good res, etc.). If you can find them, they go for ~$400 these days. Spend the rest on a good case and nice set of rechargeable batteries.

My advice is not to skimp- if you've got $500, you're in a good range, with lots of options- and you'll be very happy.

-- Anonymous, July 11, 2000

I just wanted to put in another plug for the Kodak DC-280. It takes really good quality pictures that I don't have to futz with much except for resizing. My only complaint is that the LCD screen is placed in such a way that if you use the viewfinder, your nose rubs on the LCD screen and leaves a little smudge. But that's just a small thing really. I like that it's not much bigger than a regular camera. All the reviews I read were good, but say it eats batteries. I got rechargable ones and a recharger, so it hasn't really been an issue for me. Also, make sure you comparison shop (I used cnet.com) because it retails for like $700, but I got mine for under $500.

-- Anonymous, July 13, 2000