(noob)Yet Another: "What camera should I Get?" Thread

[jcw122]

HAS BEEN EDITED FROM LEARNING

Alright hey everyone, I know the super basics about digital photography (cheap 3mpxel family camera), but I want a good alternative to a 35mm (film) camera, but I'm a beginner to photography itself, so yeah, just looking for a good camera to start I suppose, but I'll be learning about aspects of digital before I make a buy. Thx!




Budget

* What budget have you allocated for buying this camera? Please be as specific as possible.-----300-400 (not too sure though, cheaper is always nice, haha)

Size

* What size camera are you looking for? Or does size not matter at all to you? ---------compact

Features

How many megapixels will suffice for you?-------5 (I'm a beginner)

* What optical zoom will you need? (None, Standard = 3x-4x, Ultrazoom = 10x-12x, Other - Specify) --------Standard!

* How important is “image quality” to you? (Rate using a scale of 1-10)--------9, very important, but then again like I said, I'm a beginner

Do you care for manual controls? --------doesn't matter[COLOR]

General Usage

* What will you generally use the camera for? -------[COLOR=Red]Still photo, nature (day and night!), people shots, some indoor photographyCOLOR]

* Will you be making big prints of your photos or not? -------[COLOR=Red]no

Will you be shooting a lot of indoor photos or low light photos? -----Not alot, but some.

Will you be shooting sports and/or action photos? ------No.

Miscellaneous

Are there particular brands you like or hate? --------Nope, I just prefer a quality maker.

Are there particular models you already have in mind? ----------No knoweledge of any, so no.

(If applicable) Do you need any of the following special features? (Wide Angle, Image Stabilization, Weatherproof, Hotshoe, Rotating LCD) ------------------[COLOR=Red]none

ANYWAY: please feel free to give any comments

[PhilR.]

The only cameras with IS and manual exposure modes are the super-zooms from Panasonic, Canon, Minolta, Sony, and Nikon. Many, and the Nikon for sure, will be priced higher than your budget, but you can get a Panasonic FZ5 or Minolta Z3 within your budget if you are willing to mail-order.

PhilR.

[jessie25]

Seems like most people look at IS and say 'hey, that's cool' and add it to their list of features these days... but still, very few cameras have it right now, and by limiting yourself to cameras with IS, you may be eliminating the cameras that would best suit your needs.

[jcw122]

OK well thanks for the replies so far, but now another question:

Is IS really worth it?

I mean it seems like a great feature for handholding your camera, because I think most of the time I will be using the camera just handheld, w/ no tripod.

But then again, if you guys can also suggest some more cameras w/ out IS I would be very appreciatve. I say this cause it wouldn't be any problem w/ me using a tripod

And also, how would those last 2 cameras(the mail order ones) posted by the first repliyer hold up to the non-IS ones?

[jcw122]

bump! changed my input

[jcw122]

:rolleyes: last bump. still dunno what I should get/look at

[Balrog]

Off the top of my head .. check out these:

Canon SD300 / SD500 [good point and shoot quality, compact, fast]
Fuji F-10 [goes up to ISO 1600 - great for low-light]
Canon A95 [has manual controls, flip-out LCD]

[speaklightly]

JCW-

If you want to keep your investment to a minimum, why not look at something like the Kodak DX-7440 for a starter. It has 4mp and 4X optical zoom, a very simple menu system, and produces virtually no "red-eye" during flash photos. It is selling for around $(US) 160. Another camera to check out would be the Canon A-400.

Here is a sample photo from the Kodak DX-7440.

Sarah Joyce

[jcw122]

thanks guys, I'll start researching those, I appreciate it!