(no subject)

[madbaker]

Can anyone recommend some decent makes and models of digital cameras? The wife would like one to record her art show.
(And I wouldn't mind having one so I can do important things, like put up new pictures of Galen.)

Comments

Cameras

[patsmor.livejournal.com]

My sister, sister-in-law, and I are very happy with our Canon Powershots -- I have the S400 ELPH. You can see some of the pictures we've been taking at http://nit.elfhill.com/~pat/England/ (http://nit.elfhill.com/~pat/England/)

Re: Cameras

[patsmor.livejournal.com]

Make that http://nit.elfhill.com/~pat/England-2004/ (http://nit.elfhill.com/~pat/England-2004/)

[goldenstag.livejournal.com]

We're happy with the Canon Powershot A80 (4 Megapixels, decent price).

[badassslinky.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty happy with my Pentax Optio S40 =)
http://www.pentaximaging.com/products/product_details?reqID=1002&subsection=optio
or go to http://www.pentax.com for some other ones

Depends on your needs...

[blkeagl.livejournal.com]

For small, portable decent quality point and shoots I would look at either the Canon Powershots or the Nikon Coolpix lines. Perhaps also Fuji and Olympus.

For larger, more serious camera capability, well.. let me know if you're seriously interested in going that direction. Again it's mostly Canon and Nikon for the high quality stuff, but there are more options.

Note: don't be fooled by high megapixel counts. High megapixels does not guarantee a good camera. There are a lot of other issues involved as well. My 6 megapixel Nikon D100 is probably better than any of the latest Canon and Nikon 8+ megapixel stuff (except the pro lines) because it is designed as a professional camera and all megapixel sites are not equal.

Focus on issues like resulting noise (pixelation, equiv to grain in film cameras), color accuracy, and ability to focus.

Disclaimer: I've gone entire with digital Nikons for my point and shoot and and pro level cameras. But I would still consider Canon, at least at the point and shoot level.

[aimeric.livejournal.com]

I'm looking around at well. The intersection of everyone's advice to me has been the reviews and comparisons at http://www.dpreview.com/ (at least, as a resource guide). Beyond that, it depends on several factors. Are you looking to be uber-camera-geek or click-n-shoot? Does the size/weight/bulk of the camera matter? How many scudi are you willing to put down for it?

At the risk of saying, "me too", blkeagl seems to have nailed the salient points. One other piece of advice I've had given to me concerns "hidden costs": consider the storage media (price, how standard/easy to come by/memory size) and the battery (composition, life).

[albionwood.livejournal.com]

The lens is very important. Not only the optical quality, though that is crucial, but also how close it will focus, zoom capability, etc.

One of the principal purposes of my camera is museum photos, where you have to shoot by existing light (frequently dim) and close-focusing is vital, but really close (macro) isn't. My Olympus 2100UZ does a great job at that. A friend of mine is a jeweler, and uses his camera mainly for closeups of his work; my Olympus is very poor at that, whereas his Nikon excels (focuses down to 3/4" from the lens). For travel photography, the 10x zoom lens on my UZ is unbeatable.