Need help deciding on a new digital camera....

Well, my camera has been broken since before the last ice race. I think its about time to shop for a new digicam. I'd prefer something small in size.... maybe around 6 or 7 megapixels and something with good build quality so I don't have to warranty the thing. Any recommendations on what I should get?

 

Seriously You need to talk to discopope (aaron), I believe he is the resident camera god.

 

Well, its not all that small

but I love my FUJI S5200.. takes great pictures, and the 10X optical zoom really comes in handy, not to mention the 640x480 video at 30 fps

 

I took a look at the casio @ Circuit city for $349 10MP :eek3:about a month ago. It is slim and compact...rated high I think on Cnet.com

 

for ultra compact i like my sd450....has some cool modes.

 

Most camera out there are the same, but my best recommandation to you is the bigger the pixal the better it is.. Picture wise and quality wise..

 

That 10mp Casio blows... I work at Circuit City in Woodbury, in my humble opinion I would reccomend the same camera that I own. (And i have had 3 in the last 6 months) I would go for the Canon SD630 (Not the IS). Good value, highly rated, lots of features, big lcd, smaller then your wallet, even if your broke! The camera is awesome, pm me if you want more advice about cameras, I could even try to hook you up.

 

Wow...I thought the Casio was good...Hook me up JeWrX! Do you know Paul in Northtown and Scott in Southdale? Those are the guys I usually buy my stuff from...

 

Nope, i work in woodbury, Its not that the casio sucks, its just that there is a significant amount of lag between when you move the camera and when the screen catches up, and it pisses me off because I almost bought it. But lts not hijack this thread...Dride if you have some camera questions PM me sometime.

 

Thanks guys, yea I don't need a crapload of megapixels, 5mp cameras I think take great pictures. I am going to use it for a digital photography class I have next semester and obviously for everyday type stuff as well. So yes, more optical zoom would be better. It doesn't have to be as small as a wallet but I can't afford one of those digital slr dealys either. So I don't know...

 

the new 6mp in the canon cameras is the tits.

if you want it small i'd do one of the sd's

my current favorite is the sd630.

a dealer will charge ya $399
i'll do cost (plus 2% for credit cards)
i dont recall what i pay for them but i'll check tomarrow.
(i think it's $345 or something)

if you want the same horsepower camera for less i'd do the nikon coolpix L2
i think i pay under $200 for them if not it's not much more.
you get a smaller screen, more plastic feeling body and one full stop less IOS range (i think)
6MP 3x optical zoom it takes aa batteries.

 

so why is the 7.1MP SD 550 cheaper than the 6.0MP SD 630? My previous camera was a 2.1 MP s100 digital elph which ended up not reading batteries properly later on.... a fully charged battery would say low battery, but I could put the same battery into my sisters 5mp digital elph and it worked flawlessly. (they used the same size batteries)

 

fyi, i have a used 10d slr body only here for about $400
it would come with a card, 2 batteries, a charger, a bag and a card reader.
you would need a lens or two.
a prime 50mm would be cheap (under $100) and sharp as hell.
i could also maybe find something in a used, inexpensive (~$200)/decent zoom.

 

550's are dead.
anyone with 550's in stock bought waaaaay too many.

and honestly, no salesman bull****, this years new 6mp is better than the current 7mp.
cleaner/higher beter iso's/better battery life/higher clarity.

 

and the battery thing, that was kind of common on the early cameras.
a pain in the ass but definity par for that model.

kind of like how EVERYONE of your friends that had a vw bug would park on a hill so they could bump start it without pushing.

 

what are the specs on that used SLR?

 

it's a 6.3mp

but it's larger than the chip in the point and shoots.
same count + larger size = larger individual pixles.
larger pixles send a larger voltage to the a/d converter.
better signal to noise ratio/dynamic range/clarity and cleaner shadow detail.

 

FWIW, the SD630 has a smaller CCD than previous Canon's. 1/1.8" VS. the new 1/2.5". Which does relate to picture flexibilty. Will you notice it? Maybe, maybe not. But being in a photo class you may appreciate it.

Not sure if the SD550's are around yet. But I would definately look into those. Or even the A610. Little bigger, but better camera's imo.

I almost bought a SD630 a few months ago but passed.

Find 2 or 3 you like and research them on www.dpreview.com and www.steves-digicams.com lots of good info and feed back.