school me on digital cameras

RenegadeT

RenegadeT

no shirt,no shoes,no dice
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Mar 24, 2005
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Stokesdale-Greensboro
It figures my camera dies on Dec 26, just as the Christmas sales are winding down. I guess if I hurry I can still get a good deal. So anyone got any thing I should look for or stay away from?
The dead camera is a Kodak 4.0 megapixel with dock. The lens won't retract when powered off, and won't 'boot up' when powered on. I get an error code on the display. If I believe their website, customer service should email me back by end of day today and tell me what's up. It sounds like a gear is stripped inside. Camera is 4 yrs old, I don't know what the life expectancy of a digital camera should be.
I'm not looking for anything special, just need to snap pics of kids and wheeling. Video was a bonus. The one thing I didnt like was the delay between when you pushed the button and when the picture was taken was like 5 seconds. I guess new camera also have a feature were you push the button once, and it takes a series of pics, that sounds cool.
Sorry for rambling in one paragraph, any feedback is appreciated :driver:
 
Circut city has the Kodac C875 on sale for a little less than $200...it is 8 megapixels and has all the bells and whistles. got the wife one..seems to be a nice camera.
 
Well, for the money its getting real hard to beat the Nikon D class DSLR's. The D40 and D50 are great buys for really good cameras. Wolf Camera has the D50 for under 600 with a pretty good lens (18X55 I think). What makes the dslr's so appealing is the durability, repairability and expansion capabilitys they have. If you want you can get lenses that shoot out to a mile and still take great shots of your familys indoor activities. Lenses, flashes and a lot of accesories can be had in pawn shops dirt cheap and still have value after the camera is retired. The f-lock lens setup on the nikons dates back to the old AE1 days. Lots of stuff out there.


http://www.wolfcamera.com/product/541536652.htm

Here is a good buy on a d40. Add a flash and a 1 gig sd card and enjoy. :flipoff2: BTW, lecia and nikkor are great lenses too. If you willing to spend a little more cash, grab a D70s.


http://www.wolfcamera.com/product/541535217.htm

Dont let someone bullshit you into buying a 10 megapixel camera just because. 35mm is 3.5, 2X4 format portiat cameras are 4.5 effective. Do you NEED to take 18X24 low grain pictures? :lol: Buy the best lens you can get that has at least a 4mp body attached to it. A camera is nothing but a lens with a light box on it. Panasonic uses Lecia stock on 90% of their camers, my fz1 panasonic takes as good of a picture todays as the 1600 dollar canons and nikons. Its a 3 years old camera and has been flawless through wheeling trips, fishing trips, sailing trips and so on. The only reason I'm moving into a dslr is for the ability to change lenses. That and I can pull out some of those old Zueiss and Nikkors I bought for my old Pentax 35mm back in the 80's. :beer:


BTW, dont be scared, these are also point and shoot cameras. Autofocus and auto f-stop (exposure) Wolf also has that digital extra package with classes to teach you how to use it really well, not just take pictures.
 
We've had both Canon and Kodak digital cameras. I've been happy with both. I'd love a Digital SLR, but can't justify the cost just yet, close, but not yet.

As far as the point and shoot models go, there are 3 things I usually look for:

1. I like a camera that will take standard batteries. Our cameras have always taken AAs. With that we can use rechargeables, but can always pick up some regualar batteries as a backup in a pinch.

2. I really, really like the sport setting on our latest Kodak. It's excellent if you're going to take any action shots. I won't buy another point and shoot without that feature.

3. If you have a collection of capture cards (CF, SD or whatever), it might make sense to shop for a camera that will take your existing cards. Memory is cheap these days, so this is less of a factor, but still something to consider.

Jeff
 
I also have a Panasonic FZ1 and LOVE it. It has 12x optical zoom, image stabilization that actually works, and is simple/easy to use. My only complaint is that it is 2 megapixels, so you are limited on how big of a picture you can take. When I bought mine 3 years ago, it was $200 and the higher model with like 5MP was $500. Now the higher model is about $300, and I would buy it in a heartbeat if I were in the market for a camera (but my FZ1 is still working great).
 
if you're into point-'n shoot, here's something I never gave a second thought....
I have a Canon PowerShot 5pm, got it 2 years ago. The little LCD screen on it is on a swivel arm, so it can either be in the back of the camera, or flipped out to teh side ot viewed from almost any angle from the camera.
Initially I thought that was just gimick/cheesy and didn't care. However, I've actually found it very useful. For example imagine those moments when you can't see the screen b/c of glare. You can just angle it and your body away. Also VERY useful when taking pics up under the truck, hood, etc where you can't normally see what you're snapping.
And for that extra cheese moment, you can hold it at arms length and snap one of yourself, and actually see what it will look like, heehee.

BTW i definitely second getting a AA-battery style. My PowerDhot uses 4 AAs. Yes, thsi makes it heavy - but w/ some 2800mA NIMHs, it lasts damn near forever. And when it does die, it's really nice to be able to steal the batteries form my son's toys, lol.

EDIT - looks like I'm too slow typing, heehee.
 
i had a nice sony that was smaller than my wallet and was very impressed with it.... until i broke it.

then i got a nice 7mp panasonic that was also very small. i was extremely happy with it as well. very little delay between pictures.

now i got a cheap-o kodak C703 and although it works just fine it sucks to be honest with you. I'll never buy another kodak like this. It's big, bulky, heavy, slow taking pictures, the flash sucks, and the controls are invoncentiently positioned ont he camera's body. the only thing i DO like about it is the dock but thats still not a biggie on my list of needs.

i'll never buy a camera that doesn't have a lithion ion battery. digitals chew up AA's. you'll spend more money on batteries int he first year than you spent on the camera.... and if you buy rechargeables then you will be charging them ALL the time. If i can't get 100-200 pics from a battery it's gotta go....

good luck.
 
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