Digital Camera: Recommendations Welcome!

[Ilander]

Sadly, the ole Olympus D-390 "Camedia" is just beginning to show it's age. Not that I really think it's a bad camera...it's great, reproduces color wonderfully, and, so long as the flash is being used, or I'm taking pictures outside, I never have any blur to speak of.

I'm thinking of replacing it, though, because 2 megapixels gross (1.94 net) is just on the low side for me...plus, I'd like to have a camera with optical zoom. I was thinking about another Olympus, but that was really only so I could use my xD memory card...and since it's a 128 MB one, and I want a 5 MP camera or higher, I'll need to get another one any way.

So, anyone have a camera that's less than $250 they want to brag about? Or one they've been lusting over in online stores? I just need some input here, and IW is great for that sort of thing.

Incidentally, this is my summer project, so take your time, and I may resurrect this thread periodically to suggest cameras, which you all can feel free to shoot down (pun unintentional).

Currently, I've been eyeing the Olympus SP-320

...My profile as a photographer...when I have my camera with me, and a lot is going on, I've been known to take hundreds of pictures. I like to photograph people, landscapes, and occaisionally fiddle with arranging random objects for artistic effect. I doubt I'll ever try to make any money off of it, but I consider myself a decent photographer.

[Captain Obvious]

We have a Fuji film fx5600 (i think thats what it is) it is 5 mega pixel, and 10x optical zoom.

We paid $700 NZ, so about $350 US converted, but they might be cheaper where you are.

WE have found it great, awesome pictures, heaps of features (still working them all out) and great fun.

I was standing up on a hill/lookout over a beach that was about 300metres below us, and i could take pictures of people and read what their t-shirts said.

[Arvon]

I like the Kodak Z740 with printer dock. Makes good pics and nice prints.

[johnny]

You wanna be rich ? Take nekkid pics of moi. [img]graemlins/hehe.gif[/img]

[Felix The Assassin]

Money is a material object. Digital camers are material items. Material products makes the world go round. American society has become so materialistic that houses can be mortgaged for 50 years, or leased for 3-5 year contracts.

So...
http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/co...&modelid=12929

This kit from Newegg offers a 1GB SD card, a nice lens and some other items. Just shake your piggy bank a little harder.

[ 05-31-2006, 10:57 PM: Message edited by: Felix The Assassin ]

[Hivetyrant]

How good do you want to go?
Are you after features or Quality?

I would never buy an Olympus or Fugifilm Digital camera, no matter what the price was. I have people at work try and get me to fix theirs quite often, and they just simply suck IMHO.
Olympus make some damn fine Optical camera's, but they really need to improve in the digital department (though I don't have muh experiance with their high end digital camera's-$1000AUS+ range)
But Fugifilm are just crappy.

Anyways, I would recommend the Kodak easyshare range if you are looking for a well priced mid range camera (4-7 megapixels) but Kodak have some nice upper class camera's also.

Canon have some REALLY good digital camera's but are not so kind with the price, but are in no way overpriced.

I have played around with the Sony Cybershot series and they are pretty good, but the price is a bit dodgy for what they are IMHO.

So is $250 your final price?

[Ilander]

Ummm...for my price (yes, $250 is the max) I expect quality and features. I mean, my camera was nice for its time for half that price, retail, so I expect quite a bit...

Hive, I hate to say it, bud, but the industry is so standardized I don't really see how brand allegiances are going to get me the best deal. I mean, looking at the SP 320 mentioned above, and a Fujifilm SLR-like camera of about the same price, they seemed virtually identical as far as every stat was concerned...and so did the Canon and Kodak models I looked at. That's why I'm having a bit of a hard time.

Felix, your recommendation gets a flat veto out of me...that's an entire summer (and thus, and entire year)'s income for me...costs more than the computer I have with which to store the pictures, and I can't work all the manual adjustments I paid $1,000 extra for .I'd have to whore myself out to 30 ugly chicks for $50 each, or 3 REALLY ugly chicks for $500 each...

I don't guess I'm really ready for an upper tier camera...I just want a midrange one, and I know I want optical zoom, and more megapixels, plus scene modes, and, preferrably, the ability to add on lenses, if, say, I wanted to buy a telephoto lens or a wide angle, etc. I don't think I need, or even want more than 8 megapixels...and don't care a lick about digital zoom, because I know what it actually does.

[ 06-01-2006, 07:48 AM: Message edited by: Ilander ]

[Hivetyrant]

Sorry Ilander, when I said I didn't like Olympus and Fugifilm camera's, I didn't mean beacuse of the brand/price/features, I meant because they break, or have alot of problems (My mother has had 3 cameras in the last year and a half.... First it was Olympus-Broke in about 2 months, as did the replacement. Then te Fugifilm-took crappy pictures, uses dodgy software and XD cards, plus it also broke (had to be plugged into the wall to be used and Fugifilm would not replace it)

[Ilander]

Thanks, Hive, I appreciate the details. It is odd, though...the only difficulty I've had is that I ruined my 16 MB memory card by removing it at the wrong time (can't remember why I did something like that, but it taught me to always shut the thing down properly when unhooking from the computer...).

xD cards...well, they're more expensive to be sure, but they are tiny...and tiny seems like a nice feature. Plus I already have a 128 MB one, which I know won't satisfy my picture taking at all...

I haven't known anything else, though...

What makes a digital photograph "crappy?"

God, I'm a n00b!

[Hivetyrant]

Heheh, don't take my advice as proven information, we may have just been unlucky, but I have encountered alot of people with problems with those camera's.

Anyways, the crappy photos come from the camera's shutter speeds/blurryness/nasty compression/zoo rendering style and so on.

I don't mind Olympus, but I really don't like Fugifilm, and the reason I prefer SD and CF cards over XD is:
A)can have larger capacity
B)MUCH faster, and when you are taking many large images, despite what some people think, the speed of the memory does count
C)Compatability, SD and CF are used in most devices these days so that can help if you want to share it among your devices, it can also be handy when you want to display them on other people's camera's/phones/pda's and what not (you get the point)

Basically, i'm sure Fugifilm and Olympus make some nice camera's, I have just had a really bad experiance with them