Digital Cameras

I'm looking into digital cameras... Not for anything too serious, just some simple fun and games photography, so to speak.

I don't want to spend more than $300 or around there, so be sure to keep this in mind.

Important: Quality, of course. I want something that takes, well, good pictures. Consistently. Give me a lowdown on the differences between 1, 2, and 3 megapixel cameras. Are the differences that noticeable between the three?

Also, what are the differences between Smartmedia and CompactFlash media types?

Can I simply transfer pictures from a camera to my laptop with a USB cable? If not, how else can I do it?

What else... Ease of use is nice, as well as size. I don't really want a bulky toaster-sized camera to lug around.

I can't think of anything else at the moment.

Here are a few I've been looking at:

http://electronics.cnet.com/electron...?tag=pdtl-list

http://electronics.cnet.com/electron...?tag=pdtl-list

http://electronics.cnet.com/electron...?tag=pdtl-list

http://electronics.cnet.com/electron...?tag=pdtl-list

Thank you for all and any help.

Compactflash memory is in a little cartridge shape, and seems (through the packaging) to be less brittle than Smartmedia, which is what my camera uses. Smartmedia is really thin, maybe 1/16th inch compared to maybe 1/4 inch thick for CF.

I have a Canon Powershot A40. I spent much of the summer doing exhaustive research on digital cameras. Here's the lowdown:

01. The difference between 1/2/3 megapixel cameras is how big you can take pictures. I believe my Powershot, which is 2.0 megapixels, can take pictures as large as 1600x1200.

The thing with megapixels is that a lot of people sweat 3 megapixels, but its really only important if you are printing out pictures (2 megapixel pictures start to look poor at 8x10, but 3 megapixel handle that just fine). If you're just gonna be posting pictures on the web and shit, you really do not need 3 megapixels.

All cameras use USB nowadays.

The Canon Powershot A40 is a little bit bulky but I got it because it does take excellent pictures and has a ton of different options and modes. Really powerful camera for the price.

But I recommend you take al ook at them in the store to see which ones has a good design for you. The Sonys are pretty slick.

I have a Kodak DX3600 camera that I got a fantastic price on. It's 2 megapixels and the pictures I have taken so far with it look really good. The camera is very easy to use, which is nice, and can also record little movies with sound. Though I haven't tried that yet. My only advice is to get a camera with a real zoom, i.e. an optical one. Because a digital zoom by itself is just gonna make the picture look worse when you use it.

ive gota Kodak DX2315 and i wish i never would of gotten it. sure, the pictures are fine and all, but its just.... AAGGHHHH!@!! it pisses me off! the battery life is horrible and most of the time i cant delete pictures from the camera. i have to turn it off and on or oepn the battery/memory card backing just to get it to work right sometimes.

i wanted the Sony, which was cheaper, but alas, i recieve the Kodak, which costs more, yet preforms like crap.

morale of the story- ask for money for christmas. er, dont buy a Kodak. go with Cannon or Nikon or Sony. maybe even Fuji.

Here's another I've been looking into...

http://www.zdnet.com/supercenter/sto...479179,00.html


Thank you all for your help.

That A40 is sounding good, diffx. Thanks for the details.

I own an A40 as well. Bought it cause it had a somewhat adjustable f-stop (its very limited)and a very good adjustable shutter and some other good advanced features. Its very hard to find a digital camera with an adjustable f-stop under 400 dollars.

If you aren't to hardcore in photography and usually just point and click (meaning manual focus, f-stops, shutter speeds, and film speeds mean very little to you), then pick up just about any digital camera with at least 2 megapixels. Just about every 2 megapixel camera has good to excellent quality and is easy to use for the casual photographer.

EDIT:
Oh yeah, forgot to mention... Get extra rechargeable batteries! All digital camera suck the life out of batteries very fast! A friend of mine has the Canon S330 that comes with its own rechargable battery pack, he also bought an extra battery pack for it cause it still dies pretty fast. The A40 works on 4 AA batteries. I use rechargables and I keep extras handly. You get about 3 hours of life out of them. Just make sure you turn off your camera when your done taking your pictures and turn it on again when your ready to take more pictures.

I was in your position since last December, and reading reviews on ZDnet, Amazon.com and balancing the pros and cons really helps. I ended up getting the Canon Powershot A20 and it does its job fine. My major concerns were 1) price, I bought mine for around $260-300, 2) comfort/feel of design, 3) battery usage, and 4) durability.

I think Canon makes some damn fine cameras so you can't go wrong with them. When I chose the A20, I also wanted it to use regular AA batteries instead of a custom battery pack which would run me about $50-60 extra. It makes the camera a little heavier but I don't mind it. 2 megapixels should be more than enough, and using the lcd screen really drains the batteries so be wary of that.

Olympus also makes some good cameras although I haven't tried them. And best advice of all, before you buy a camera, go to your local BestBuy and hold it in your hands to see if you like it.

Good luck!

EDIT: Forgot to address the issue of memory cards. You usually let the camera decide that for you, from what my friend told me, CompactFlash is more common than SmartMedia. It shouldn't be a big deal though. Also most new cameras have USB connection, and if you want to upload your images to your computer without turning your camera on, you can get a memory card reader from Viking. They have ones that connect to PCMCIA slots in laptops and probably external drives for PC's too. You stick the card in and it reads it like a floppy disk.

Get 128 mb cards! You can go for more, but 128 mb are probably the best you can get. Viking's a good brand.

Thanks for the helpful tips, Search.

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Originally posted by Click_Stick
Thanks for the helpful tips, Search.

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No problem! In case you need to get smartmedia/compactflash cards, there are some great deals w/ rebates right now...

Compactflash:

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Viking 256MB CompactFlash for $75 shipped after rebate (updated) Sep 16, 2002
Amazon.com offers the Viking CF256M 256MB CompactFlash card for $99.95 before a $25 mail-in rebate, $74.95 after. With free shipping, it's the least expensive card of its size we've seen. Rebate ends September 30, 2002. Update: Amazon.com also offers the Viking 128MB CompactFlash card for $54.99. A $15 mail-in rebate yields a net price of $39.99, the lowest we know to be available.

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Smartmedia:

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Viking 128MB SmartMedia for $40 shipped after rebate 5:00 am
Amazon.com offers the Viking 128MB SmartMedia card for $54.99, as a reader found. A $15 mail-in rebate yields a net price of $39.99, the lowest we know to be available by $7. Shipping is free.

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Both are from dealnews.com.