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View Full Version : cheap, ultracompact, secondary, party camera


senorm
05-10-2009, 11:58 AM
Budget
below $100

Size

ultra-compact, the smaller the better.

Features

How many megapixels will suffice for you?
6 MP should be enough

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

None

* How important is “image quality” to you? (Rate using a scale of 1-10)
5

Do you care for manual controls?

No

General Usage

* What will you generally use the camera for?

mainly party pics

* Will you be making big prints of your photos or not?

not bigger than letter size

Will you be shooting a lot of indoor photos or low light photos?

indoor, low light, almost always using the flash I'd say....

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

Miscellaneous

Are there particular brands you like or hate?

I loved all the canons I've used so far, but I don't care so much about the brand.

Are there particular models you already have in mind?
No

(If applicable) Do you need any of the following special features? (Wide Angle, Image Stabilization, Weatherproof, Hotshoe, Rotating LCD)

No


Additional Comments:

A robust model would be nice but not absolutely necessary.
I don't want to use any case, so it should not be functionally damaged by accidentally having it in the same pocket as my keys. I won't care about scratches (except lens and screen of course)

As I said it is mainly going to be used for party pictures, so it should give decent results when focusing in low light.

IMPORTANT:
small release delay (not sure if this is the right English word, maybe "shutter lag"?)

NO 2 flashes when taking an image. I've seen a camera doing two flashes, I think to avoid red eyes. But it's the worst thing ever for taking party pictures.

Thank you for your help!

AndyfromVA
05-10-2009, 01:29 PM
At your budget (below $100) you'll get a basic camera that can take decent pictures in good light. You probably won't be able to meet most of your other criteria. Your best chance at a good camera is to find something on sale from Canon or Panasonic (Sony has the two-flash system).

senorm
05-10-2009, 03:00 PM
Thanks for your answer. Which features are the ones that are making it expensive? Should I look for older mid-class cameras or newer low-end cameras?

senorm
05-11-2009, 12:21 AM
I just found a polaroid i733 at today's http://www.1saleaday.com/
Most reviews I found were pretty good for such a cheap camera. Might that be a camera fitting for my purpose?

AndyfromVA
05-11-2009, 05:13 AM
The Polaroid is a very basic camera. If your purpose is to take snapshots and you're not all that concerned about picture quality it should do OK.

senorm
05-11-2009, 11:20 AM
my problem is not that I can't afford a more expensive one right now, the point is, i don't want to worry about it to much when I take it to a party and give it to other people or leaving it on an shelf for a while....

Thanks for your opinion on the polaroid product.... what do you think about this one:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8740348&st=8740348+&lp=1&type=product&cp=1&id=1202429848939

including tax and shipping it exceed my 100$ limit by 10%, but it might be worth it?!

does this camera have this stupid 2 flash system? I couldn't figure it out.

jekostas
05-11-2009, 12:11 PM
my problem is not that I can't afford a more expensive one right now, the point is, i don't want to worry about it to much when I take it to a party and give it to other people or leaving it on an shelf for a while....

Thanks for your opinion on the polaroid product.... what do you think about this one:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8740348&st=8740348+&lp=1&type=product&cp=1&id=1202429848939

including tax and shipping it exceed my 100$ limit by 10%, but it might be worth it?!

does this camera have this stupid 2 flash system? I couldn't figure it out.

For that price, the Nikon is a pretty decent camera, probably better than the Polaroid, anyways.

In terms of two-flash red-eye reduction systems, you can turn that off if you mess with the flash settings (just about all compacts will use some version of that for red-eye reduction).

AndyfromVA
05-11-2009, 12:45 PM
The Nikon S550 is much better than the Polaroid. Here are some sample pictures:
http://www.flickr.com/cameras/nikon/coolpix_s550/
http://www.pbase.com/cameras/nikon/coolpix_s550