I'm looking into buying a Digital Camera this week. But I have no idea what I'm looking for...The whole thing just confuses me...I'm looking to spend around $250-$300..Everybody says for that kind of money I should be able to get something very nice...These are my questions...

What's a good Brand to buy? I keep hearing Canon is good

How many megapixels should I look for?

What else would I need to know?

I want something thats easy to use...Takes great pictures and that is not so big and bulky..I've seen some that are really thin..Lots of people say you don't want something too thin because its hard to hold onto and you get to pushing all kinds of buttons because everything is so crammed together....But I don't want something thats huge either....Please help...

Thanks alot....

They are all pretty nice now a days but I like Sony. Anything over 5 mega pixels is overkill unless you want to print large pictures.

The Panasonic Lumix line with image stabilization looks really cool. Sometimes it is hard to focus cause you are slightly shaking, its worse when zoomed.

If you want to take high quality stills I recomend a tripod, that alone will make your pictures better.

link (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/484783-REG/Canon_1773B001_PowerShot_A570_IS_Digital.html)
You'll also want to get a bigger memory card. 1GB for about $30. Also a case.

link (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/484783-REG/Canon_1773B001_PowerShot_A570_IS_Digital.html)
You'll also want to get a bigger memory card. 1GB for about $30. Also a case.
Or this one (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/488012-REG/Canon__PowerShot_A570_IS_Digital.html) includes the case, BIG memory card and battery charger and extra batteries for $40 more.

I'm waiting for this:
http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/ptech/06/14/low.light.photos.ap/index.html

I'm looking into buying a Digital Camera this week. But I have no idea what I'm looking for...The whole thing just confuses me...I'm looking to spend around $250-$300..Everybody says for that kind of money I should be able to get something very nice...These are my questions...

What's a good Brand to buy? I keep hearing Canon is good

How many megapixels should I look for?

What else would I need to know?

I want something thats easy to use...Takes great pictures and that is not so big and bulky..I've seen some that are really thin..Lots of people say you don't want something too thin because its hard to hold onto and you get to pushing all kinds of buttons because everything is so crammed together....But I don't want something thats huge either....Please help...

Thanks alot....

What do you plan to photograph?

Sport? Need a camera with a fast recycle time...time between pressing button and camera "click"

Portraits?

Zoom features?

Close up?

Ability to take a video also?

Optional hot shoe for external flash unit?

Go to PCWorld and read a few reviews..

All digital cameras today are at least 5 MP.

They are right about storage cards...1-2 gig is best.

Also, what kind of batteries...Many smaller ones use standard AA batteries..others you have to recharge.

I like a camera with the larger, compact flash memory cards...

Nikon is good, Canon is good, HP makes great printers, Sony makes great audio equipment, Kodak made awesome film...
Get a camera made by a camera company...

I shoot with Nikons and also a small Canon...

Pick a camera to suit your needs, not a camera because it has a lot of neat features that are cool...you will never use them.

Go to Best Buy adn play and ask questions and compare...
you will find what youe NEED in no time..
And you can get a great cmera for $250-$300....

Good Luck!

Generally, I would go with Canon or Nikon.

I bought a Canon PowerShot Elph about a year and a half ago and it was around $280. It's small without being TOO small and takes great pictures. For your price range, a 7.1 megapixel camera is about the max you'll get. There are 10 megapixel cameras out there that you can find around for about $350~$400.

I just purchased the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ8. I absolutely LOVE this camera! It's fairly easy to use, and I think it's a great camera for someone just starting to get serious about taking pics! But yes you will need at least a 1GB card or you won't get many pics! Here is a link for a review on it and a picture of the camera. :howdy:

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0701/07013106panasonicfz8.asp

Inkpen has good points, but I guess you're just starting out. The one I recommended I got for my wife. She likes it and it takes great pix. The lag time is a liitle slow, but for that price I don't think you'll do better. It'll take almost two frames per second for sports etc. and has dial settings that emphasize fast shutter speed, landscape, portraits etc.

Nikon is good, Canon is good, HP makes great printers, Sony makes great audio equipment, Kodak made awesome film...
Get a camera made by a camera company...

I shoot with Nikons and also a small Canon...


I might agree with this statement if they were looking for an SLR but the "insides" of most digital cameras are actually made by Sony or Kodak.

This is the camera for you....
http://b2b.sony.com/Solutions/product/DSC-W80

It is pretty compact but takes wonderful crisp pictures. It has a nice big screen and user friendly controls. I just bought one after doing a lot of research. Can't go wrong with Sony anything.

Just bought a Cannon Powershot A560 and its perfect. Not too small and not too big. Takes excellent pics and gives you options of automatically setting up for any pic or manual set up fo whatever condition exists. Got it at navy exchange for just under $200 and went to staples and got a 2G memory card. I can take pics forever now.

Just bought a Cannon Powershot A560 and its perfect. Not too small and not too big. Takes excellent pics and gives you options of automatically setting up for any pic or manual set up fo whatever condition exists. Got it at navy exchange for just under $200 and went to staples and got a 2G memory card. I can take pics forever now.
$163 at B&H plus $10 shipping.

My 2Cents for a first time digital:

MUST HAVES:
- Standard memory card format: SD or similar. Sony uses some proprietary system that is 5x as expensive. Get a 2 GB add on card, any brand, $50
- A rechargeable battery system, NOT AA or anything similar. You will regret this more than almost anything else.
- Optical zoom levels are important, "Digital Zoom" is pretty much BS. You can do digital zoom at home using any photo software.

The megapixels really aren't important after 5MP for a first time user. It doesn't hurt to go higher, but don't pay to upgrade from 5 to 7 or anything unless you're getting much better optics or something.

$163 at B&H plus $10 shipping.

Yeah a buddy of mine turned me on to B&H after the fact. Only paid $189 for me so only lost a few bucks out of the deal.

I have discovered that having rechargeable batteries that are the same as AA's are nice. You can get regular AA's anywhere if you lose your charge on rechargeables. If you have a special type of rechargeable or lithium type battery, you can't just get them anywhere most of the time. Didn't think of that when I bought camera but found it was a nice feature when batteries go dead to get an easier.

I've actually just started looking into getting a really good digital camera, since the only thing i had was my cell phone.

The best ones I found were the Lumix, the Canon S series (S3 for $345 is an awesome camera with tons of onboard features, such as onboard panoramic stitching, time lapse photography, etc.), the Sanyo Xacti series is interesting... does high quality photo and HD video for about $300 (more of a toy than a serious quality camera, though I've heard the pics are crisp), and the Sony DSCH series.

I finally gave in today and chose the Sony H7 for $400. So far I've only taken a handfull of pictures.... but, so far, I honestly haven't been too excited about the resulting quality. ESPECIALLY since I've been shooting everything at 8M just to see how it looks. The pics look amazingly sharp and high quality on the camera's review LCD screen, but when I transfer the pics to my computer and blow them up to full screen, you can definitely see blur and grain. Which is disappointing, seeing as how my dad's old camera that my little sister uses seems to achieve better quality than this.

So, I'd say go with Canon S3.

I've actually just started looking into getting a really good digital camera, since the only thing i had was my cell phone.

The best ones I found were the Lumix, the Canon S series (S3 for $345 is an awesome camera with tons of onboard features, such as onboard panoramic stitching, time lapse photography, etc.), the Sanyo Xacti series is interesting... does high quality photo and HD video for about $300 (more of a toy than a serious quality camera, though I've heard the pics are crisp), and the Sony DSCH series.

I finally gave in today and chose the Sony H7 for $400. So far I've only taken a handfull of pictures.... but, so far, I honestly haven't been too excited about the resulting quality. ESPECIALLY since I've been shooting everything at 8M just to see how it looks. The pics look amazingly sharp and high quality on the camera's review LCD screen, but when I transfer the pics to my computer and blow them up to full screen, you can definitely see blur and grain. Which is disappointing, seeing as how my dad's old camera that my little sister uses seems to achieve better quality than this.

So, I'd say go with Canon S3.


PSP XI is a fairly good program for beginners, you can use it to get rid of that grainy look by using the auto noise reduction tool. It works wonders! It also sports a very good Auto photo fix tool. That one works well too for the most part, but sometimes it can lighten the picture too much. This program is also Vista compatible so if you have Vista you shouldn't have any problems. Hope this helps! :howdy:

PSP XI is a fairly good program for beginners, you can use it to get rid of that grainy look by using the auto noise reduction tool. It works wonders! It also sports a very good Auto photo fix tool. That one works well too for the most part, but sometimes it can lighten the picture too much. This program is also Vista compatible so if you have Vista you shouldn't have any problems. Hope this helps! :howdy:

thanks for the suggestions. i figured it must just be my newbieness to all things digital camera that's causing the harsh pictures, and not the camera. It's highly rated (by the few places that have put a rating up for it at this time), and I will openly admit I know nothing about the different settings. I just use auto.

But, having played around a bit with the aperture and shutter speed, the pictures are starting to look a bit better.

after spending the past 3 hours straight playing around with this camera, i have come to the realization that, if you want the high quality type of pictures you always see advertised from these cameras, you have to say goodbye to the auto settings.

Using my own personal mix of manual shutter, aperture, and ISO settings, I think I've pretty much found the best combination I can get for high quality pictures.

I just wanted to post one and see what people think of the quality.

Take into consideration: the original painting is about 1' x 1', I was standing about 15 yards away from the wall it was hanging on, and the picture was taken at 2:30 in the morning with very low light conditions.

I like the Nikon products. I have a digital D70S SLR that works for me. And an slim Coolpix S6.

Like someone said over 5 MP is overkill. I think the larger the OPTICAL ZOOM is the better. THis allows you to zoom in. ALl cameras will have a digital zoom as well that is combined with the optical. THe optical does it by sight (if you will and brings the image closer) the digital will then take the optical image and digitally enhance it to appear to be zoomed in further. You lose a bit of clarity there.

One feature I love on the Nikon Coolpix is that you can take a picture and then from within the camera re-zoom and re-take. So if you take a photo from a distance on the beach, and you notice in the background that there is a cool sailboat crossing a setting sun, you can (in the camera) zoom and crop to JUST the sailboat and then re-take the picture so all you have then is the sailboat--and the orignal photo of course. The image deteriorates a bit there as well, but it is not bad at all.

Beware of buying online. I did buy a Nikon Coolpix S3 prior to the S6 from 42nd Street Photo and after 9 months it totally crapped out. Turns out it was grey market and Nikon would not honor the warranty nor would they even allow me to pay to fix it!

One other cool thing on the Coolpix S6 is that is has a wireless function. I can take a shot and wirelessly send it to my laptop directly via Bluetooth or I can have the camera recognized as a computer on my home network.

Looks good! I was told to keep playing and trying different settings in different conditions, and get a tripod! Walmart has one for about 20.00, it is worth the money to get one. I take MUCH better pictures with that tripod! Also, I have been shown a few forum sites for photography. They are:

http://www.photo.net/community/

and

http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/

These can be very helpful if you read through the threads, not to mention you can ask all kinds questions!

Got Sharon this one. http://www.fujifilmusa.com/JSP/fuji/epartners/digitalF30Overview.jsp
She loves it. Fast cycle time (focus, capture); almost as fast as a non auto focus. Simple to use but powerful features. You do need to buy a memory card, but they are relatively inexpensive and we got a 2 Gig one at BJ's.

Looks good! I was told to keep playing and trying different settings in different conditions, and get a tripod! Walmart has one for about 20.00, it is worth the money to get one. I take MUCH better pictures with that tripod! Also, I have been shown a few forum sites for photography. They are:

http://www.photo.net/community/

and

http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/

These can be very helpful if you read through the threads, not to mention you can ask all kinds questions!

yeah, we have a little portable, foldout tripod at work for about 20. I'll probably pick one up eventually.

yeah, I've seen a few different forums on the net.... the thing is, noone has anything on my camera yet, so its all guess work at the momet.

by the way, this is the one I have in case anyone was wondering:
http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&productId=20005009