Digital Cameras?

[kermitology]

Who better to turn to thean the bickering crowds of the Calgarypuck off-topic board when you seek the answers to life's questions.

I'm looking for a digital camera, I know very little of them, so I want to get the best one for my money. I'm willing to part with around $400 of my hard earned cash, made while posting on CP usually :P..

I don't really care about video capturing, I just want an easy to use camera that's fairly small. If it can take pictures with a colour filter, black and white, or sepia, that would be roxors!

CPers AWAY!

[BlackArcher101]

I'm stuck on the Canons
I have the Canon A70. Does everything great, just lacks the telephoto zoom :)

What's going to be your primary use for the photos?
Web graphics? Print? Posters?

[Yellefan]

I'll Second the Canons-- nothing comes close to them IMO.. I have an older S30 and still love it, takes some of the nicest pictures I've seen a consumer digi cam take.

[BlackArcher101]

Also, if you don't plan on printing anything over 8.5 x 11 in, then 3.2 MP will be sufficient. My A70 is 3.2 and I made a 8 x 1 ft poster, which is shown in my sig. If you want to see the uncompressed version or any other examples, let me know.

[photon]

Hard to go wrong with a Canon for sure.

Some great sites for reviews:

http://www.dpreview.com/
http://www.steves-digicams.com/

[Pagal4321]

Good work Kermit, looking for a digital camera myself. What a smart man comming to CPers for advice.

[kermitology]

I'll probably use it mostly for prints.. I've had nothing but good experiences from my Cann Elph jr. But it's not digital! Keep the opinons coming!

[Dirty Mr. Clean]

Canon for sure!

[kermitology]

BA does the A70 have any kind of filter features.. the kind of thing I'm thinking of is everything is black and white except for one colour, like green for example. Or sepia?

[BlackArcher101]

Originally posted by kermitology@Aug 8 2004, 11:41 PM
BA does the A70 have any kind of filter features.. the kind of thing I'm thinking of is everything is black and white except for one colour, like green for example. Or sepia?
For filters, it has:

Vivid (more color contrast)
Neutral (kinda lessens the color contrast)
Low Sharpening
Sepia
B&W

[Tron_fdc]

Holy I'm ######ed. I don't have a Canon I have an Olympus C-750 ultrazoom. Just goes to show how much I know about photography!!

Yeah, I have an Olympus Ultra Zoom and it's pretty sweet. 4.0 megapixel with a 10X zoom, so it takes pretty crazy photos. I'm still learning how to set it up, though.

I went with a camera that had a powerful optical zoom over a digital zoom, which is what I would recommend. Get a massive memory card as well (256Mb) so you won't have to mess around with a bunch of smaller ones floating around in your camera case.

edited because I'm stoopid

[zarrell]

I have the a70 as well and agree that canon is the way to go. You can get the a75 for $400 and is the same as the a70 with a few more features (same megapixels - 3.2)

I've played with a few others since I bought mine last summer and no other camera fits in your hand as nicely as this canon.

[BlackArcher101]

Originally posted by zarrell@Aug 9 2004, 12:08 AM
I have the a70 as well and agree that canon is the way to go. You can get the a75 for $400 and is the same as the a70 with a few more features (same megapixels - 3.2)

I've played with a few others since I bought mine last summer and no other camera fits in your hand as nicely as this canon.
Agreed. These Canons fit your hand very well. Mine is easy to operate with just one hand. Index finger controls zoom and shutter button, while the thumb controls all the functions in the on screen menu.

Even the A80 is worth mentioning. I like the flip screen on it

[300spartans]

I have a Canon A75 and HIGHLY RECOMMEND it. It is not that different from the A70, the only major difference is a larger screen. For $400, you can get cameras with higher megapixel counts but with the A70/75 you are paying for a TON of features. Manual exposure and focal lengths, iso speeds etc...

Here is an excellent review of the camera and an overall excellent site for anything related to digital cameras.

http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/A75/A75A.HTM

[I-Hate-Hulse]

I'll also say nice things about Canons. Personally I use a Sony as that was my first digicam and when I replaced it it made sense to stick with Sony for all the accessories I had. The 05 Sony's have been shunk quite a bit making them nice and compact.

The Memorystick also gives you a nice reason to get a Grand Wega LCD rear projection as it has a MS reader conviently located on it.... ;-)

[firebug]

Seeing that this is my line of work currently, i will give a few suggestions.

Canon A75- what all the popular kids drive. Certainly a very good camera, but make sure to take an honest look at some of the other contenders out there. Pro's-Good picture quality, loads of features, cheap memory (CF), and a big screen. Con's- Large size, no rechargables included,

Fuji S3000- the best performance of the class, fastest lens (aperture wise), longest zoom (6x), best picture quality. Fewer features than the A75, a clunkier design, most expensive memory (XD).

Nikon 3200- as good a picture quality in the real world as the Canon, smaller size, less money, simplified design, includes rechargables, and has a two year warranty. Con's- slightly more expensive memory (SD), shorter battery life (only uses 2AA), no manual controls.

Olympus Stylus 300- (my fav.) Best all-around brand (Canon #2). Small, simple, stylish and weatherproof. Good picture quality. Li-Ion rechargable (best battery life), remote control. Con's- no sound with video, expensive memory (XD), no manual controls.

All of these cameras are less than 400, and all of them take a better picture than what you need.

You need to budget about $150 in accessories to make your purchase really usable. Memory Card, rechargable batteries, and a carrying case.

Brands to avoid:
-HP
-Kodak
-Sony (under $600)

I have sold over 500 digicams in the past year working part-time while going to school, and my suggestions reflect the responses of many of my customers.

Shop at a place like Vistek, the Camera Store, or London Drugs (I work at the store on MacLeod & Heritage). The people who work at these places know photography and are usually very experienced with cameras. Other places will tend to push products that are spiffed the best (Kodak and HP).

PS- Whatever you buy, don't shoot in the B&W or sepia modes. Shoot full colour and use your computer software to tweak it. B&W is much more difficult to shoot well than most people think. Doing it in post-production gives you much more flexibility to try different things eg yellow, green, orange or red filters. Plus, if you shoot B&W you can never get a colour version, while if you shoot in colour you can get any effect you want afterwards.

PPS- If you are really serious about photography, buy an old manual SLR like an Nikon FE, Pentax ME Super, or Canon AE-1. Your results will be far superior to digital, your composition will improve, and you'll have several hundred dollars more in you pocket to buy film and developing.

[notoepik]

My daughter had a Canon. The door to the battery compartment kept breaking. She loved the camera except that little problem. It was difficult to have fixed and broke within days of finally getting it back from repair.

I bought her a new camera for her at Christmas last year, a Kodak something or other with a 10x zoom. She really likes it, and it takes great picutres. She has taken 9000 of them since Christmas. :blink:

It looks like this one, althought I am not sure her exact model #. I will ask her tonight if you are interested in it more.

Kodak Camera (http://www.kodak.com/eknec/PageQuerier.jhtml?pq-path=2797&pq-locale=en_US)

I have a Kodak too, a 6340. I like it, but it doesn't have the zoom hers does., And mine is older and larger in size.

Enough rambling B)

[InSutterWeTrust]

Just like everybody else has said, probably the Canon A-75 is your best bet. I sell Cameras my Self, I work at Saneal Cameras in Sunridge. But one thing to keep in mind when looking at a camera is the extra stuff you ususally have the buy. Im talking about An extra memory card for more pictures, Rechargable batteries (This is a must for digital cameras), and possibly a case for your camera. So its easy to spend an extra $100-150 on accesories on these cameras.

[I-Hate-Hulse]

At the end of the day, try before you buy as much as you can - buy the camera take it home and make sure you're satisfied with the camera and it's picture quality. Return the sucker if it's not to your satisfaction Costco and FutureShop are great in this regard - and stay away from the places with more sticky return policies (all of the smaller stores named above). Nothing beats forming your opinion on the matter.

Great example - based on a 35mm Olympus I had I wanted to try something out from their Camedia line... PQ was OK, nothing really beyond the others but the most annoying thing was the long boot delay and time the camera need to extend the zoom to operating length upon power up. That drives me nuts as I often need a camera FAST to capture a moment. Not stuff that's always captured in people's reviews and opinions.

Be sure to check Steve's Digicams (http://www.steves-digicams.com/) and DCRP (http://www.dcresource.com). Easily the 2 best review sites for digicams on the interweb.

[photon]

Oh, and here's a site where you can sometimes get good prices:

http://www.cameracanada.com/

I went there to find a good price and then got the store to price match it. Future Shop should price match it after taking shipping into account, but sometimes you can save some good $$ that way. I managed to get the Sony Store to price match them!! (I have a Sony DSC-V1).

http://www.henrys.com is another good store, and http://www.ecost.com is a good store in the US to get from; they have a Canadian checkout that gives you your final price CDN. Careful with warranties buying from the US though, I know for sure that Canon is ok, but not all warranties are transferrable.

Good luck and post pics when you get it!

[Red]

Get a Panasonic camera. They are Leica cameras sold under more affordable name of Panasonic.

Cameras (http://www2.panasonic.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/vModelList?storeId=11251&catalogId=11005&langId=-1&catGroupId=17168)

And you can see pictures taken by all cameras here (http://www.pbase.com/cameras)
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[BlackArcher101]

firebug, you mention that a con of the canon is no rechargeable batteries. One of the key reasons I bought my A70 was because it took regular AA size batteries. This means I can buy some good Ni-MH rechargable batteries and use them over and over again. It also means that if I'm in a desperate need for some power and my battery is dead, I can throw in some AA's and away I go. Also, with the A70, the amount of photos I can take is higher since I have 4 AA's.

With the batteries that are made for a specific camera, they cost lot's to replace once they stop accepting a charge. And that wouldn't take me very long with the amount of pictures I take. So for me, having a camera that takes normal batteries was a major thing.

[BlackArcher101]

Originally posted by I-Hate-Hulse@Aug 9 2004, 11:22 AM
Return the sucker if it's not to your satisfaction# Costco and FutureShop are great in this regard - and stay away from the places with more sticky return policies (all of the smaller stores named above).
Another note, avoid Saneal if you have any doubt and might be returning something. I bought the telephoto lens for my A70 from one of their stores, only to not like it, and try returning it. haha, not a chance. The guy pointed me towards a small sign high up on the wall in the corner near the ceiling which said No Returns/Refunds. I was stuck with a gift certificate for a long time because of that. What really gets me though is that I asked the guy who I bought it from that if I didn't like it, can I return it. He said yes. I was p*ssed.

Also the employees didn't seem to give a hoot about anything. Like they were being forced to work there or something. I found the Future Shop guy actually knew more about the digital cameras and I ended up buying there when getting my A70.

Sorry InSutterWeTrust, but that's my experience.

[Yellefan]

Originally posted by BlackArcher101+Aug 9 2004, 01:54 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (BlackArcher101 @ Aug 9 2004, 01:54 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-I-Hate-Hulse@Aug 9 2004, 11:22 AM
Return the sucker if it's not to your satisfaction Costco and FutureShop are great in this regard - and stay away from the places with more sticky return policies (all of the smaller stores named above).
Another note, avoid Saneal if you have any doubt and might be returning something. I bought the telephoto lens for my A70 from one of their stores, only to not like it, and try returning it. haha, not a chance. The guy pointed me towards a small sign high up on the wall in the corner near the ceiling which said No Returns/Refunds. I was stuck with a gift certificate for a long time because of that. What really gets me though is that I asked the guy who I bought it from that if I didn't like it, can I return it. He said yes. I was p*ssed.

Also the employees didn't seem to give a hoot about anything. Like they were being forced to work there or something. I found the Future Shop guy actually knew more about the digital cameras and I ended up buying there when getting my A70.

Sorry InSutterWeTrust, but that's my experience. [/b][/quote]
I refuse to buy from places that do not accept refunds. I always ask and if they say store credit or exchange only I will say no thanks and walk away. Sometimes they say they will make an exception when I do this, in that case I make them write it on the receipt. With all the competition for my business these days I don't understand why some stores refuse to give refunds. :blink:

[BlackArcher101]

Originally posted by Yellefan@Aug 9 2004, 05:02 PM
With all the competition for my business these days I don't understand why some stores refuse to give refunds. :blink:
Apperently they think some people buy equipment, use it to shoot an event, make money off of it, then return the equipment for a refund, thus not needing to rent anything.

Now, here I was a student with an A70 buying a telephoto lens. Am I going to go shoot a wedding or something with it? No, there's no way.

[ChipOne]

if you're looking to shoot primarily prints, 3.2 megapixel will be fine. that said, get the best lens+ccd combo you can. here's why:

better lens: you only capture what the lens can see. with a smaller lens you get more edge distortion and have a higher chance of getting noise in low light as well as getting moire effect (fine line distortion).

bigger CCD: the ccd is the equivalant of the film from a 35mm camera. the bigger the CCD, the truer it is to the resolution of film.

contrary to what's listed above, i have a sony dsc-p71. it doesn't have have the biggest lens, but it's got a great ccd and i am thrilled with the color and clarity. it also has a great 'scene' mode that makes it a great little unit when you plop it on a tripod.

basic rule of thumb when i give advice: go for 3.2 with 3x optical zoom. anything less and you'll be dissapointed. find the models that you're interested in, then check out www.dpreview.com for details and ratings.

i don't agree with the sentiment above that you should abondon digital and go for SLR. a good SLR might run you $150-$200 less, but that's only 10 rolls of film. and there is nothing, NOTHING, like learning photography when you can see the results of your work immediately.

for digital SLR i would highly recommend the Nikon D70. i have the D100 and it is a great unit, top to bottom. the D70 is the next gen and it much more agressively priced, but still up there at $1800 for the body+lens kit. my photographic abilities went through the roof when i got my hands on this unit...not fearing missing shots and being able to see what you've captured on the spot is an incredible confidence booster. i have a 1Gb card and a 512Mb card which allows me to store about 160 pics at full res and print up to 12"x16"

cheers

[Maritime Q-Scout]

I have a Fuji 2600. 3x Optial 2x Digital zoom, it's only 2 MP, I'd get something higher, well you'd be hard pressed to find a 2.0 MP nowadays.

I have nothing but good things to say about Fuji (then again I sell them along with Kodak, HP, and the occasional Minolta, and Cannon).

Cannon is getting good reviews here, and I'd agree.

One thing I will suggest and it might not be popular on this board is

GET THE EXTENDED WARRANTY!

if you're taking it to sporting events (ie: flames games) I'd definately suggest the extended warranty. I have it on mine, and by bringing it to hockey games, and jumping, clapping (having it dangling by the wrist strap) etc, I josseled the lens out of place. Took it into Radio Shack, said "this isn't working... here's my postal code" 2 weeks later back and good as new. It would have been 2 years old when it broke.

Find what you like, but I would reccomend the extended warranty, everything else was already touched upon.

[InSutterWeTrust]

Originally posted by BlackArcher101+Aug 9 2004, 07:54 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (BlackArcher101 @ Aug 9 2004, 07:54 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-I-Hate-Hulse@Aug 9 2004, 11:22 AM
Return the sucker if it's not to your satisfaction# Costco and FutureShop are great in this regard - and stay away from the places with more sticky return policies (all of the smaller stores named above).
Another note, avoid Saneal if you have any doubt and might be returning something. I bought the telephoto lens for my A70 from one of their stores, only to not like it, and try returning it. haha, not a chance. The guy pointed me towards a small sign high up on the wall in the corner near the ceiling which said No Returns/Refunds. I was stuck with a gift certificate for a long time because of that. What really gets me though is that I asked the guy who I bought it from that if I didn't like it, can I return it. He said yes. I was p*ssed.

Also the employees didn't seem to give a hoot about anything. Like they were being forced to work there or something. I found the Future Shop guy actually knew more about the digital cameras and I ended up buying there when getting my A70.

Sorry InSutterWeTrust, but that's my experience. [/b][/quote]
Hey BlackArcher, I take no offence to what you said, its ok. But yeah totally the return policy at Saneal sucks! I see it happen all the time. I personally dont agree with it, but the owners are so money hungry, they don't care about Your money! I worked at London Drugs before and where we would take almost anything back! ALMOST! and this is a big change, Im just really into photography so this is a decent company to get started with it! Ive been selling digital camera's for close to 4 years so Ive seen it all!
Kermitology Do what I-hate-hulse said, Make sure you test out the camera to make sure its the one you want. If you want come over to my store if you want I'll let you try any camera you want, I personally dont care if you by it there or not, the owners have enough money as it is, but Any Camera, photography related questions send me a message and I'll be more than happy to help you out.
Thats what were all here for to help our Fellow Flames fans out, but if your an Oiler fan, You can have the Camera I dropped from the patio of my apartment last month! :P

[Jagger]

My wife and I currently have two digital cameras amongst many many standard cameras:

We have a Canon 10D which is a 6.3 MP camera. Great camera. Trouble is it retails for $1800 or so without a lens! Not really what you're looking for then. (We operate a photography business hence the need for a camera like this.)

We also bought a Pentax S4 (4MP) which is tiny and great for taking hiking, camping etc. given its very small size. This will run you about $450 and has been very impressive so far. My wife is incredibly picky when it comes to photography (It is her business after all) and she likes it so......

Good luck.

[kipper34]

I have a Kodak that I spent about $300 on and I love it. It's easy to use and the software is super easy as well. Kodaks don't seem to be too popular on this thread, but I've never had a problem with mine and I'd buy another one any day.

[browna]

I have a Canon Digital Elph. Just 2.1 MP, as I bought it a couple years ago.

Love it for its size....I have it in a Moto Star Tac case, which protects it, and means I can put it in my pocket, and it being no much bigger than a phone.

Since I take snap shots mostly, it's great for picture quality and features. I do wish it had a larger optical zooom and a bit better video mode...but a small price to pay for being able to take the camera anywhere without having to lug a purse-style case along with me. Plus, a full metal case, so very durable.

I kinda like the rechargeable battery supplieed....was thinking of getting a spare, but usually able and view over a hundred pics before battery gets near low....likely by the time the battery can't take a charge in a few years, there will be the same size Canon cameras for what I paid for this one, and probably 5+mp and able to take 3 min videos etc.

[kermitology]

Well, thanks to everyone for their input, I finally decided on the Canon PowerShot A75. I've been playin with it over the weekend, and I'm having quite some fun with it.

[300spartans]

Originally posted by kermitology@Aug 15 2004, 11:18 PM
Well, thanks to everyone for their input, I finally decided on the Canon PowerShot A75. I've been playin with it over the weekend, and I'm having quite some fun with it.
A75 USERS UNITE!!

Just a little note on the A75. I find that some pictures tend to be a little soft, especially in daylight. Try using the sharpness feature on your photo software to compensate according to your taste. I use Adobe Photoshop to do this.

Another thing is that my A75 was set at a default of ISO 50 which is GREAT for daylight shots. However, since I was a beginner, I thought ISO50 was also suitable for night shots as well. So just make sure to put the camera on AUTO ISO or manually change to ISO 400 or even ISO 200 when you are outside at night.

I also encourage you to switch to the Manual user mode and experiment with the exposure and focal lenghts. Setup some models (I used my McFarlane Iginla and Kovalchuk figs) with some sharp lighting and see what effects you can make.

Another thing to remember is manually selecting what kind of light source you have as this can really change the look of your picture. I was using a Ferrari model to see if I could make it look like it was the real thing and changing the setting for the type of light source made a big impact. See this pic for the result.
http://members.shaw.ca/pend2k/ferrari.jpg

If you are already doing this, I apologize for wasting your time!
Have fun!
300S

[jimmy11]

I just bought a Cannon A75 (this yrs model of the A70). Its awesome, I can;t beleive how much i like the thing. Staples has it on for $379

Edit... sorry for being too late..nice choice!

[BlackArcher101]

300Spartans... at first glance I thought that was the actual car. Now you tell me it's a model taken with the A75? Wow... amazing camera.

Good choice kermit. One thing you have to try is the panoramic feature of the camera and then use Canon's Photostich software. It's an amazing peice of software that creates seamless pano's with no work!