Jeyradan
04-05-2006, 03:05 PM
Perfectly happy with my own ultrazoom and SLR cameras, but my mother is going on vacation and I'm not sure about the good, bad and ugly in the compact camera ranges. She's new to digital photography, and isn't really a photographer at all. Any advice? Thanks!
---------------------------------------------
Budget
* What budget have you allocated for buying this camera? Please be as specific as possible.
Up to $300 Canadian (about $260 USD).
Size
* What size camera are you looking for? Or does size not matter at all to you?
She'd like a compact point-and-shoot for vacationing.
Features
How many megapixels will suffice for you?
3 to 5 megapixels should be enough.
* What optical zoom will you need? (None, Standard = 3x-4x, Ultrazoom = 10x-12x, Other - Specify)
Standard would do, but if there's a camera out there with as much as 6x, she'd like to know about it.
* How important is “image quality” to you? (Rate using a scale of 1-10)
Just good enough to make nice 4"x6" prints; she may make a few 8"x10"s, but not a lot.
I guess that would be about a 6 or 7.
Do you care for manual controls?
She's used to a high-end non-SLR film camera and has never used a digital before, so the fewer confusing buttons and menus the better. Just a few basic controls like zoom, focus, flash control... she won't be using white balance or adjusting aperture or anything.
General Usage
* What will you generally use the camera for?
This is a camera for her to take pictures on vacation.
* Will you be making big prints of your photos or not?
Mostly 4"x6", but a few 8"x10" will probably be made.
Will you be shooting a lot of indoor photos or low light photos?
Mostly outdoor photos, but there will be some attempts at indoor photographs as well.
Will you be shooting sports and/or action photos?
Again, mostly still shots of landmarks, but there will be quite a few photographs of people doing various things, and of wildlife and so on.
Miscellaneous
(If applicable) Do you need any of the following special features? (Wide Angle, Image Stabilization, Weatherproof, Hotshoe, Rotating LCD)
She would very much like one that can be hooked up to (or comes with) a portable photo printer, without the need for a computer interface.
It would be nice if she could have something with image stabilization, though I doubt it exists to any degree in the sort of camera she wants. Also, she doesn't have any accessories (memory cards, batteries) so a camera with the cheapest possible accessories and memory cards would be appreciated. Thanks!
-----------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------
Budget
* What budget have you allocated for buying this camera? Please be as specific as possible.
Up to $300 Canadian (about $260 USD).
Size
* What size camera are you looking for? Or does size not matter at all to you?
She'd like a compact point-and-shoot for vacationing.
Features
How many megapixels will suffice for you?
3 to 5 megapixels should be enough.
* What optical zoom will you need? (None, Standard = 3x-4x, Ultrazoom = 10x-12x, Other - Specify)
Standard would do, but if there's a camera out there with as much as 6x, she'd like to know about it.
* How important is “image quality” to you? (Rate using a scale of 1-10)
Just good enough to make nice 4"x6" prints; she may make a few 8"x10"s, but not a lot.
I guess that would be about a 6 or 7.
Do you care for manual controls?
She's used to a high-end non-SLR film camera and has never used a digital before, so the fewer confusing buttons and menus the better. Just a few basic controls like zoom, focus, flash control... she won't be using white balance or adjusting aperture or anything.
General Usage
* What will you generally use the camera for?
This is a camera for her to take pictures on vacation.
* Will you be making big prints of your photos or not?
Mostly 4"x6", but a few 8"x10" will probably be made.
Will you be shooting a lot of indoor photos or low light photos?
Mostly outdoor photos, but there will be some attempts at indoor photographs as well.
Will you be shooting sports and/or action photos?
Again, mostly still shots of landmarks, but there will be quite a few photographs of people doing various things, and of wildlife and so on.
Miscellaneous
(If applicable) Do you need any of the following special features? (Wide Angle, Image Stabilization, Weatherproof, Hotshoe, Rotating LCD)
She would very much like one that can be hooked up to (or comes with) a portable photo printer, without the need for a computer interface.
It would be nice if she could have something with image stabilization, though I doubt it exists to any degree in the sort of camera she wants. Also, she doesn't have any accessories (memory cards, batteries) so a camera with the cheapest possible accessories and memory cards would be appreciated. Thanks!
-----------------------------------------