Digital Cameras

[Ricky]

Many of you know the problem that I've been having with disposable cameras recently. With that said, I've decided to purchase a digital camera so I won't ever have to loose my pictures because of crappy quality. I was thinking about getting the Sony Cybershot--does anyone have any comments about it? Is it a good camera with nice quality?

I've heard mixed reviews about it and I'm just not sure which direction to go with this issue.

[Heather19]

I've got a sony cybershot. I'm not sure what version your looking at though, I think there are quite a few. I've got the S600, which I think I got a couple of years ago, so I'm not sure if they even make that version anymore.

The one that I have takes pretty good quality pictures. But the thing that annoys me is that it takes a bit before it'll snap the picture. It'll adjust for a couple of seconds and then snap the picture, so if it's a moving object you might miss it in the position you want it in.

[Ricky]

Thanks Heather. That hepled. The thing it, there are so many to shoose from and I know virtually nothing about digital cameras. Here's the one I have been looking at:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....=1183160353953

[EXPLORER]

I own a Sony Cybershot also. It was a good value when I bought it (model S500) and it has been a decent camera providing good results. It is at least a couple years old so I am sure there are improvements and various reasonable options and progressions since my purchase. This model has a very good size screen for viewing on back however as a result lacks a viewfinder you can put to your eye to look through. I miss that feature when in bright light outdoors where you can not see the screen.
I have seen good articles in Consumer Reports magazine about how to select the right digital camera for your purpose as well as reviews and reccomendations along with frequency of repair reports they colect from reader data.

[Erin]

Hey Ricky!

I work at Wal-Mart in the One Hour Photo section, so I've been selling digital cameras and camcorders for over 4 years now. I can answer almost any question you have.

A couple things to think about when looking at cameras...

Just ignore digital zoom. It doesn't matter at all in the long run, you want a camera with optical zoom (which is what almost all have now days). 3x optical zoom is the standard norm, but some cameras go up to 10x or 12x.

Make sure you get a camera 5 megapixels or more. Megapixels are the tiny individual dots that make up each picture. So the more you have, the better the quality. That being said, I'd get around a 7mp. Anything over that is a bit unnecessary, as it will only be beneficial if you are doing professional grade enlargments. Most photo labs in stores like Wal-Mart and Meijers will only enlarge up to a 8x10 and any camera 5 mp and over will make excellent
8x10's.

As for the Sony Cybershots....I do like the cameras themselves, but it just always annoys me that they force you to use their own type of memory card...the memory stick, instead of the more standard, cheaper SD card. You can buy a 1 GB SD card for about $12, but Sony forces you to use the memory stick pro duo, which is about $30 or so. I just think it is a bit annoying. But you get great quality with a Sony.

I personally have always owned Kodak digital cameras. I love the Kodak brand and they take amazing pictures. I suggest you stay away from HP, Sanyo and Samsung brands. You would not believe how many problems and returns we see with those brands. It's best to stick with Pentax, Kodak, Sony or Olympus.

[Daghain]

I hate to burst your bubble, but HP makes a LOT of those Kodak cameras, or at least they did (DBF used to work for HP).

I have a Canon Powershot that I like to far, it's an 8mp (replaced my 2mp Kodak) and does way more shit than I will ever need it to do. I'm still trying to play with all the features on it - I may never figure it all out.

[Unfound One]

I love my Canon Powershot - and yeah, Daggers is right. It does WAY more stuff than I'll ever need, but it's fun to play around with all the features.

I've had it for 3 years now and it's still kickin'.

[Daghain]

And just to prove that technology moves waaay too fast, I paid the same amount for the Powershot that I paid for the Kodak 7 years ago. All that one did was point & shoot.

[John Blaze]

I've had my Cannon powershot A640 for about two years now, and I love it.

And it does WAAAAYYYYY more shit than I know how to do with it. It's a 10.0mp, which is good because I've made some very nice 11x17 and 16x20 enlargements, and it looks crisp and perfect every time.

[Ricky]

Hey Ricky!

I work at Wal-Mart in the One Hour Photo section, so I've been selling digital cameras and camcorders for over 4 years now. I can answer almost any question you have.

A couple things to think about when looking at cameras...

Just ignore digital zoom. It doesn't matter at all in the long run, you want a camera with optical zoom (which is what almost all have now days). 3x optical zoom is the standard norm, but some cameras go up to 10x or 12x.

Make sure you get a camera 5 megapixels or more. Megapixels are the tiny individual dots that make up each picture. So the more you have, the better the quality. That being said, I'd get around a 7mp. Anything over that is a bit unnecessary, as it will only be beneficial if you are doing professional grade enlargments. Most photo labs in stores like Wal-Mart and Meijers will only enlarge up to a 8x10 and any camera 5 mp and over will make excellent
8x10's.

As for the Sony Cybershots....I do like the cameras themselves, but it just always annoys me that they force you to use their own type of memory card...the memory stick, instead of the more standard, cheaper SD card. You can buy a 1 GB SD card for about $12, but Sony forces you to use the memory stick pro duo, which is about $30 or so. I just think it is a bit annoying. But you get great quality with a Sony.

I personally have always owned Kodak digital cameras. I love the Kodak brand and they take amazing pictures. I suggest you stay away from HP, Sanyo and Samsung brands. You would not believe how many problems and returns we see with those brands. It's best to stick with Pentax, Kodak, Sony or Olympus.

Thank you so much Erin! You have no idea how much that helps me with my decision(s). Thank God you work with this kind of stuff.

I owe you one!

[Matt]

For sure!

My digital got broken in DC so I'm in the market too.

[Ricky]

See you at Best Buy Matt! I think they have a sale going on for 12% off digital cameras less than $300.

[Heather19]

If you decide to go with something other than sony I would recommend checking out a Cannon. I know a couple of people that have one and the picture quality is excellent. I actually want to upgrand the one I have to Cannon. And I would definately say to stay away from Olympus. My mom has had 2 of those and has had quite a few problems with them, and the picture quality is pretty bad compared to the other brands.

Why don't you check out this site http://www.dpreview.com/ I used it when looking for my camera. It gives reviews of most brands, and even has sample galleries so you can see the quality of the pictures.

[Ricky]

Ok, after thinking long and hard and counting my loose change, I've pretty much narrowed it down to two possibilites now. What do you guys link?

Option 1:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....=1202649423552

Option 2:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....=1183160353953

[Erin]

Nice choices Ricky!

The first one is nice in that it's cheaper and has the 5x optical zoom. The second has the awesome 3 inch widescreen and a touch screen to boot.

I think they both are great finds and it's just up to you now which you'd prefer.

[Heather19]

I agree with Erin. Both look really good, I don't think you could really go wrong with either.

[Daghain]

Touch screen = fingerprints.

Just sayin'.

Both look good, though.

[CRinVA]

I'd recommend the higher Optical Zoom camera. I have a Sony with a 10X optical Zoom and its great for capturing my kid at Shortstop on the ball field when I am way back in the bleachers! It's also pretty cool at a major league baseball field stting in the stands in the outfield and still getting decent shots of favorite players in the infield! :-) I don't think you can go wrong with a Sony.

[Nerak]

It all depends upon what you actually want to do with it.

If you just want to be able to take pics of the kids at the beach and in front of the tree, then you don't need a lot of options or zoom..on the other hand, if you want the pictures of the infield...LOL

Base your decision upon what you are going to do with it.

[Ricky]

Gee, no one prefers one over the other? I was relying on you guys to make the choice for me.

I think I may go with #1 because I like the appearance of it and plus, I think it would be alot of work using a touch screen--much easier to press a button.

[Matt]

I like the first one better too Ricky.

[Ricky]

If I ever get to Best Buy, I think I'll go with the first one. We are going on vacation on June 16th, so I'd have to get it by then.

It just kills me to spend money though.

[Jon]

I have a Kodak Easyshare CX7330 and a Canon power shot A560. I am equally happy with both but the Canon has A LOT more bells and whistles and 7.1 pixels and 4X optical zoom. I have two problems with them though. The Canon, at extreme zoom for distant objects must be held VERY, VERY still, or it blurs.

Neither camera is worth a damn at night despite the Canon having two night settings and the Kodak one. They are useless at night! The extreme zoom problem can be resolved with a tripod. Both cameras can use a 1 Gig card which is one hell of a lot of pics and the card is about $15 American dollars.

[Hutch]

I've had several digital cameras over the last 10 years and my favorite brand is Canon.

Whenever I've decided to upgrade I go to cnet reviews as a source for solid research and good low priced shopping links.
http://reviews.cnet.com/digital-cameras/?tag=glnav

Within cnet my camera area has been the budget cameras. There are some really nice cameras listed there that offer more features than I'll ever use.
http://reviews.cnet.com/best-budget-cameras/?tag=lnav

[LadyHitchhiker]

I havea camera phone and I love it!!!!!!!!!