Digital cams

[GtoRA2]

Guys
 I want to get a good Digital still cam. I would like to spend around 300 bucks.

Any ideas?

What ones do you all own and how do you like them?

[Cobra]

Ask Borg!

But be prepared to enjoy yourself at a banquet, whilst some poor souls must take long walks on the beach to wipe away uncontrollable tears.

Cobra

[Greese]

I really like my Nikon coolpix 900 series.  Since I received mine as a gift, however, I am not sure of the price.  Excellent camera though.

[capt. apathy]

I bought an hp315 a while back.  it's good for alot of things and it's deffinatly in your price range.

but keep the 35mm too, I wish I had.

the main problem with the digital is the exposure time and delay before pic is taken.

I've missed alot of great candid shots because it takes a few seconds to get it ready to shoot.  also with the larger memory cards there is a big delay from when you trigger it to the actual shot.

taking picktures of my kid doing stunts on his skateboard was alot like hunting with a flintlock riffle.  you pull the trigger and keep tracking your target until it goes off

also fast action shots come out badly.

I'm not sure if some of the newer, high end cameras have solved these problems or not.

[beet1e]

Sell that gun you just bought, and add the proceeds to the $300.

$300 isn't going to buy much. I know an old squaddie in Holland who has a good one, and I asked him about prices, and based on what he said I decided I'd have to find about 900€ (=$900).  Still waiting for the price to come down...

[capt. apathy]

he only needs the camera to take pics of things he's shot with the gun.

[GtoRA2]

I only want to spend 300 bucks or so because that is where the 3.0 mega pixel cams are priced. I do not need a high priced cam, it is mostly going to be used to take pics of my dog.

I do not need to sell a gun to afford the cam I could go out and buy a 900 dollar one if I really wanted... but it would be a waste of money for me.

I know my limitations, and one of them is, I am not a professional photographer, nor do I want to be one. I just need one that works.


Besides if you can get it in Euroland for 900 wouldn't that be like 100 bucks US?  

[Wlfgng]

I love my canon elf.  I take pics and short avi's with it.
it's small, tough, holds a long charge.. etc etc.

check out my threads on snow pics for samples of pics and movies.

400 bucks though.. c'mon.. stretch that extra 100.. it's worth it

[SOB]

You should be able to get a halfway decent camera for that price.  I've got a CoolPix 995, used to have a 990.  Both worked great.  So, I guess that's a thumbs up for Nikon, but I think these two are out of your price range...unless you can find a 990 used?

or maybe not... http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1943191980


SOB

[beet1e]

LOL GTO!  You're probably right.

Last time I bought a camera, it was an Olympus C-920. At that time, shop price was about £400. I bought it at Dixons, Luton Airport on one of my many trips. Got it at the export price of £254.  I know you travel overseas - could you do something similar?

[Dinger]

Coolpix 995 here (3.34mp), and I love it.  The current version of the 900 series is the 4500, and it goes for about $500 if you know wher to look.
Nikon's coolpix 3500/3000/2500 will have something in your price range, but I think you're surrendering complete manual control or something.
It's not just about megapixels; optics are pretty important as is the quality of the CCD that actually takes the pictures; digital processing options are nice, but most of us can run photoshop.
You'll also be looking for a CF card which will run 50-100 bucks depending on size.

As for why you should spend the extra hundred or so bucks:
You'll get the camera for one reason, but new uses will just present themselves.  I use mine a lot. Sure, pet pictures (not that I have pets, bvut they're great models), travel pictures, weather pictures, photographs of beer trucks, photocopies (it's faster and cheaper than a photocopier ).  I picked up a 12-Euro minipod and I do all kinds of scary low-light stuff.

Plus, as borg found out, turn off the beep, use the monitor, and it's much more discrete than holding an slr to your head.

[Dinger]

oh yeah, and the pictures look really good too

[Animal]

I have a Canon Digital Elph and it is a great lil cam. Takes great pictures and its the size of a cigarette pack.

It did die on my for two days right before an Airshow  started working a day after the show was over. Karma maybe?

mietla has some nice cameras he can also give you advice.

[bounder]

I own a Nikon Coolpix 3500.

It's great - things it does well:
Macro Mode - real close up stuff
12 auto scenes like Night Landscape, Document Copy, Portrait.
Full manual mode control exposure -+2ev
Manual White Point Set
Swivelling lens great for shooting from the hip (no one know your taking a pic) and self portraits (lens will swivel backwards)
Very Good battery life
Excellent optics
Good on board interface - clear and intuitive
Good resolution - max 2048 x 1500-ish
Good image management software bundle
continuous shooting mode - 10 shots  (1024x768) in 7.5 secs
mosaic shooting mode - 16 shots in 9 seconds (4x4 grid on 2048x15xx)
short shutter lag (fires

Things it does less well

Low light autofocus
Won't store uncompressed images
Some artefacts on highlights
highlights burn out easily.
Custom battery (get a spare)
Red Eye - flash and lens are right next to one another, guaranteeing red eye in some shots.


Once you get used to shootingwithout a view finder, it gets very intuitive.

It's small, fits easily in the pocket and takes great pics.

otherwise you can do worse than check out Digital Photography Preview Site

[gofaster]

Yeah, I'm looking for a good 3.0megapixel still digital camera, too, to supplement my Pentax Zx-5n 35mm.  The digital will be used for stills - like taking pictures of my Aces High cockpit and scale models I'm working on, and maybe vacation pics and landscapes.  My high-end photography will still be handled by the Pentax.  The goofy short-term stuff will go on the digital.