Digital Camera suggestions?

[sdgilley]

I had a Fuji camera when I first got my birds three years ago. It was quick, so I got nice photos pretty much all the time. My camera died over a year ago and the camera guy told me that it's cheaper to buy new than fix. Well :( I haven't found one that 1. I can afford and 2. that I like. I've gotten 2 cameras and returned them, and borrowed one that doesn't do well on still life (let alone a bird).

What cameras do you use? What do you like about it?

Thanks for any information you can share.

[Eliza]

I bought my first digital nearly 2 years ago. It's a Pentax Optio s40. It's nothing special; it's basically what I like to call a point & shoot digi-cam ;) I got it super-cheap one night while watching QVC. I'm not quite ready to sell my Minolta SLR and upgrade to a better digicam so for now, it's a nice, small camera that easily fits into my pocket or purse.

Now, I'm not very computer savvy. I haven't yet uploaded (downloaded?) my photos to my 'rents computer (my home computer is dead) or to a workstation at the office... or have even taken the time to pull the memory card and take it to the Walgreens 2 blocks from my house. That said, when my 'rents set up the camera for me, they both thought that it was an easy camera to use.

I think that you can pick one up quite cheap on eBay. It might be too basic of a camera for you but it's an option to consider, nonetheless.

-e-

[linda040899]

Hi Suzanne,
I use a Sony Cybershot P200. Sony has always been very reliable for me, although I think the one I have is a bit of overkill for the kinds of photos I take. Mine is a 7.2 megapixel and it's great if you intend to blow up the photos to almost life size. The price was excellent when I made the purchase so I justified it that way. My other choice in camera brands would be Olympus. My very first digital was an Olympus and the only reason I got a different one is because that one was only 1.3 megapixels. The camera is about 6 yrs old and my daughter still uses it!

[bellarains]

I have an Olympus, and I do love it. My Son though has the Sony Cybershot, and it's a wonderful little camera. What his has that mine doesn't is a big screen. His is newer though, so that might be the reason.

I also recently got a sony camcorder that also takes still shots. It takes pretty good pics, and I love the option of recording or taking still shots, and you can do both at the same time. Something else to consider;)

[Z28Taxman]

I use a Nikon D70 but that's probably not gonna help your dilema any since you probably don't want to spend that much. It does take great pics though. Larger than life Ditto pics!:lol

[sdgilley]

Dave!:rofl: I've seen the pictures you've taken... they are amazing.
I am not trying to be cheap, just realistic for what I can afford. I'll price out all of your suggestions on the 'net and see what bargains I might find! Thanks for the input.

[Elle]

Before you buy a camera, you have know what you want or need. On my camera, it was important to find an overkill zoom. I wanted manual settings as I work well with them and I wanted a video recorder with sound this time.

What met my needs was a Kodak z740 easy share camera. There are a lot of auto settings in it and that makes it easy for my husband to use my camera or anyone else if they are not familiar with manual settings.

There are a lot a great cameras out there. You have to sit down and decide what's important to you and what you can compromise on ( zoom, megapixel sound, ability to change the lense size or the memory card that fits in it etc)

Good luck :D

[Janie]

Suzanne, I have an Olympus C 65 and I really do like it. It is far more capable than the person using it....me! :D I went to "camera school" (NO JOKE) when I bought my first Olympus and that helped a lot but I had zero digital exp. My purpose with a digital, 10X zoom, was to photograph my wild birds. Let me tell you that my lovebirds are a piece of cake compared to trying to capture one flying around outside! :lol I did purchase it locally but I've heard that eBay has some great deals on digital cameras.

[ottermom]

I have a Kodak EasyShare DX6490. It was a Consumer Reports Best Buy a few years ago and it wasn't too awfully expensive - I think under $300??. The pics are pretty good and it does have a motion setting for my active flockmates.

[Z28Taxman]

Dave!:rofl: I've seen the pictures you've taken... they are amazing.
I am not trying to be cheap, just realistic for what I can afford. I'll price out all of your suggestions on the 'net and see what bargains I might find! Thanks for the input.


I've seen the body for as little as $399 (way less than I paid for it). But they'll get you with the lenses. Good glass ain't cheap and cheap glass ain't any good (I learned that the hard way :whistle: ).

That being said, megapixels aren't the main concern when buying a digital camera. Realistically anything over 3 will be fine for viewing on the computer. What you want to look at is really the quality of the lens the camera uses and it's color reproduction and image saturation as well as the other features that you want the camera to have.

At 6.1 megapixels the D70 has an image size of 3008x2000. I doubt that any of us here have a monitor capable of actually showing that. :eek:

[Eliza]

Suzanne, I have an Olympus C 65 and I really do like it. It is far more capable than the person using it....me! :D I went to "camera school" (NO JOKE) when I bought my first Olympus and that helped a lot but I had zero digital exp.

I'm cracking up, Janie :D

My mother wanted a better camera YEARS ago after growing tired of cruddy Polaroids and finicky instamatics with those flash-contraptions. Dad bought her a lovely Canon SLR... which she couldn't quite figure out on her own. She took a photography class locally and ended up impressing the instructor (who was the official photographer for Miss America for many years) so much that they hired her :lol She only worked professionally on a part-time basis as baby bro and I were still in grammar school and she didn't want to give up weekends for weddings...

OK. Enough babble from me.

-e-

[Jessica]

I use a Canon Power Shot S2 IS. It has a 12x zoom which allows me to get close without being close. The one thing I wish is that it was more than 5 mega pixels but it hasn't held me back yet. They are coming out with a new model of this camera so it could be affordable.

[Susan27]

I use a Sony Cyber-Shot, the same as Linda's, but hers is a step (or few) up from mine. Mine is a 4.1 mega pixels...it zooms, but I don't know the number for that...maybe 10x smart zoom and 3x optical zoom..which means nothing to me really.

Here is a link to what I have (very close to it at least) ....I have never shopped through this website...but it may give you some pricing ideas.

http://www.amazon.com/Sony-Cybershot-Digital-Camera-Optical/dp/B0004HPV58

[Bella]

I use a Sony Cybershot too. Can't remember the model but it is good and easy to use.

[zlatushka]

I have a slightly-worse-for-the-wear Olympus Camedia C-765.(my husband carted it around to work for a couple weeks while he couldn't find his own camera and dropped it off a few roofs:mad: :lol (rooves? what's the plural for that anyway?) ) I really love it. Takes great pictures (took better ones before my husband borrowed it :whistle: ) and it does take video with sound too. Lots of great features. Not the Digital SLR I really wanted, but with enough changable options to keep me happy. Can be used completely automatically as well, for those that don't want to worry with stops and apeture and all that fun camera gunk :)