digital cameras

We have a Canon. I like it alot.
I am sure you will love it whatever kind it is, ; )

We have a Canon too. We've had several and we like the Canon best. Not sure which one it is, but we paid around $250 for it if that helps.

forget Kodak completely.

I love my new Canon A540...much better than my old Nikon...The Canon A620 is supposed to be fantastic, with more zoom then mine but a bit pricier..Have fun with your camera...Oh my 540 is 6 megapikels and has a 4X zoom...the price has gone down to about $200-$220...the 620 is about $300 and has a 6X zoom

Angela,

I use a Kodak Z650. The links are to a couple of reviews about it. It is a lot of camera for the money and I absolutely love it.
It has a full Manual mode where you can control the aperture, and shutter speed, in addition to the usual auto mode, and several presets for different situations. It takes decent video and the sound is quite remarkable.

There isn't anything I don't like about it, except perhaps the on and off button is sort of awkward but you get used to it. Also, It is just a bit too big to fit in your pocket or standard camera case.

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/kodakZ650/


http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/Z650/Z650A.HTM

I forgot to mention that you can also use that camera with different lenses and filters.

interesting critiques, I am in the market for a dig.cam also

I use a Canon Power Shot Pro One. I love it.
I am a Professional Photographer and have always used Nikon equip.
I then went to digital and with the help of my peers I made the switch to Canon.
They have great lenses and that is most important. The picture is only as good as the lens that can see it. Canon has the best software on the market for digi cameras.
Nikon is second
Sony is third.
If you shop at Costco you can return it if you don't like it. Even if you buy it online.

http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11171209&search=camera&ecat=BC|79&Mo=108&cm_re=1-_-Top_Left_Nav-_-Top_search&Sp=S&Nr=P_CatalogName:BC&Ns=P_Price|1||P_SignDesc1&N=4001355&whse=BC&Dx=mode+matchallpartial&Ntk=All&Dr=P_CatalogName:BC&Ne=4000000&D=camera&Ntt=camera&No=13&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&Nty=1&topnav=&s=1

That link will lead you to the Canon A640 it is a great camera in your range

angela - good luck! i have had good experiences with the canon powershot s1IS - now they are on the s3IS. the IS is for image stabilization. that is REALLY important. you should also look for a good zoom, and over 5 megapixels. check out dpreview.com for camera reviews. also, of course, amazon has great reviews. i have never heard anyone say anything bad abt the coolpix.

wow canon seams to have a lot of followers, thanks for the links everyone and all the help. Ive looked at so many cameras today that i think my brain is fried LOL and my feet hurt from running around. I Dont know why i didnt think about looking for them online first :( so im going to do that now thanks again for all the help

I agree that Canon is the way to go. Mine is a couple years old and I have never had a problem with it. It's also has the features I want and is very easy to use.

I too am thinking of getting a new digital camera and am leaning toward buying another Pentax Optio. I have had my current one for a few years and it has suited me very well.

Two things I like about it are that the zoom is optical instead of digital and I get better images when I zoom in for a close up. Another is that the camera uses 2 AA batteries so I don't need to deal with recharging. If I am out and my batteries are dead I can pop in to any convenience store and buy a few more. I hated when my older camera battery would die and I was stuck and unable to use the camera until I got home and recharged the thing.

I also try to avoid external moving parts. Cameras with sliding lens covers or pop up flash for example leave very fragile avenues for breakage.

I started with digital when 1 mega pixal was amazingand the first thing I learned was be prepared to find your camera outdated as soon as you get it home.

In the $300 price range a Fuji, Canon or Olympus is good. I have Sony, Nikon, Olympus, Canon and Fuji. All of them have good points and bad points.

I keep a Sony CyberShot 12X 5.5 mp with me wherever I go. With a 12X zoom It is great for the unexpected shots that come up.

For fine work I get out the Olympus E-500 8 mp or Nikon D2X but the absolute best all around camera I have found for the money is the Fuji FinePix S-5200. It is selling now at $270 to $300 and has features found in the $1000 and up cameras. Their new S-6000 is a higher mp version.

I owned a computer business for years and I finaly refused to sell Kodak after many problems with their quality and poor service.

Whatever you get you should go to Best Buy or Circuit City or somewhere that will let you hold it in your hands and "kick the tires" before you buy.

Don't forget that the software you use is just as important as the camera. In old fashioned terms, your software is your film developer. For features and ease of use I recommend Paint Shop Pro from Jasc software. You can find it on the internet.

With your talent and feel for your subject you should consider a few extra bucks and go with a digital SLR. You can expand your lenses and accesories with your growing level of skill.

Good Luck!

i have been wondering i know most cameras come with some sort of photo editing software what i would like to know is does anyone know if any brands are bundled with photo shop?

I never could take a good picture. They always came out blurry, too far away, too close, off center. Now I take beautiful shots thanks to the PowerShot A75. I usually leave it on Auto because I don't make good choices when choosing the other focus features. I have used a few with great results though. I like the close up focus feature. I use this for flowers, insects, and small things that I don't want a lot of background for.

The PowerShot A75 is 3.2 mega pixel which is perfect if you don't get 8 X 10 prints. Not that you can't get 8 X 10 prints, but the store clerk explained that the 3.2 mega pixel is the best for every day 4 X 6 photos which is what I get.

I also like the fact that I just plug the USB cord into my computer and into the camera, turn in on in view mode, and my pictures are so easily uploaded to my photo software on my computer.

I went from not being able to take a decent picture to feeling like picture taking is no problem at all because of my Cannon PowerShot A75.

Check it out here, I'm sure you'll find it interesting, well equipped and reasonably priced. Cannon also has a great reputation for standing behind it's products.

thanks jimmy U for the great info great idea on the checking it out before i buy. Im going to have to make a trip out of town to find a Best Buy or Circuit City we live in the sticks lol were lucky to have a walmart :) I was very impressed with a cyber shot i was looking at the other day but i had a sony camcorder that stoped working with in a year of purchase and was not impressed with their service

I have an Olympus. The only thing is Olympus parts have to be bought by them. I liked my kodak

I would suggest giving thought to what you want most in a good Digital Camera. You can get some very good cameras for $300 BUT, at that price range you might be limited in certain ways. Do you want a faster camera or a great zoom? I purchased a Camedia C-720 a while back, spent many months trying to decide what I wanted most and shopping for the best price. I decided then that a zoom lens on a small camera was most important. I am incredibly happy with the zoom on this camera (both digital and optical) BUT I am very unhappy with how slow this camera is, leaving me in the learch whenever I shoot motion. Plus, even though this camera is considered to be on the small side, I find it to be too large to have on hand all the time. I would much rather have a Nikon Coolpix, which has a huge line to choose from and prices begin at $150. There are some very good shopping comparison websites that can point you to best prices and best cameras. Bizrate.com is where I would recommend starting. They rate most appliance stores, which can save you a lot of footwork when you do get out there to pick up whatever you choose. Good luck, just watch the addiction potential (I have over 2,800 shots on my little iBook and need to keep buying memory)

If you are not confused by now you never will be.

Patrick T. got me thinking about way, WAY back when I was a professional. I also used Cannon and Nikon 35 MM equipment and for the same reasons he mentioned, the lense. I think Patrick will agree that the best lenses have always been Nikon, Cannon, and Pentax. (Thank you Patrick for reminding me)

If your goal is that perfect picture your lense is the heart and soul of your camera. I still stand by the Fuji for the money but if quality was the deciding factor it would have to be Nikon or Cannon. My Sony is the one always by my side but I think they are over priced. A 12X optical zoom with macro and the ability to take MPEG movies is the reason it always goes where I go.

P.S.: I envey you for living in the sticks but sorry to hear about the wall mart.

Hi Angela - will add my two bits here. I have owned three Olympus digital cameras and one Fuji. The Fuji was awful, all three of the Olympus cameras were great. My newest one, however, is about four years old and if I were to buy a camera now it would probably be a Canon.

Check http://www.dpreview.com/ for the latest and greatest info on all brands. The important thing is that you get the features you want. I love the 10x optical zoom on the Olympus I use the most, but it was purchased at the time as a discontinued model and has low megapixels.

The size of your preview window is very important - some are tiny, others give you plenty of viewing room. More megapixels means you can successfully print larger images - but with graphics software (PhotoShop (pricey), PhotoShop Elements ($79-89), Photo Impact ($89-99), etc.) you can still create large images from your lower-pixel photos that will print great poster-size prints. If you get a camera that uses Secure Digital memory cards, they can be found CHEAP online (check www.slickdeals.com every day for great bargains on memory cards, cameras and just about anything else you could want), and definitely watch for the high-speed kind of SD card because you'll have much less of the digital delay.

Bells and whistles are nice on a camera, but only if you use them so base your decision on the top 3-4 things that are most important to you. Movie length, PICTBridge (plug camera or card directly into photo printer, no computer needed), optical zoom (forget about digital zoom, it's the optical zoom that matters), picture formats (does it take .tiff or RAW files, and does it matter to you?), also type of memory card (SD, XD, memory stick, etc), batteries (definitely use rechargeables!), size of the camera itself (do you want to have it handy at all times, carrying it in pocket/purse?) - all are important to consider.

All things considered, I think a first time buyer of a digital camera can get amazing equipment for around $300. And of course, if you go the digital SLR route, you can spend thousands!

im thinking about this one one Canon PowerShot A630 8MP Digital Camera with 4x Optical Zoom im not looking to go pro lol so i really not read for the SLR camera I really like the canons because they have the 4X optical zoom i get great pics wiht a 3X zoom so the 4 should be great now if i could just find the camera around here so i dont have to order it online i would like to hold it before i purchase it

I want an SLR because that is what I'm used to. I got a 35mm Olympus OM1 for my highschool graduation back in 1979 that I still use. I want to be able to use the lenses from that camera on a digital one! I wish the price would drop though, 800-1000 bucks is pretty steep.

I own a Sony Cybershot. I love it. It is a 7.2 Mega Pixel with a 3x optical zoom. There are probably many better cameras out there but for me, my Cybershot works for what I need it to do. I do want to look into a more professional camera for future purposes, but affording one is not an option at the moment. So I am content for now :)

I have a Minolta SLR 8.1 mega pixel but that is because I into larger prints. It cost over $1,000 but you can get them for less then $700.00. It all depends what you are going use it for. Are you going to take pictures for personal use or commercial? If you are going take pictures for personal use then go for a Nikon with about a 3 to 4 mega pixel. If your going to take pictures for commercial use then go for a Nikon above 4 mega pixel. The reason I am pushing you towards Nikon is because I am a Graphic Design and use one at work that is 5 mega pixel and takes beautiful pictures. I am pushing you away from Minolta, Although a very nice camera, but Minolta is not making cameras anymore. Sears is going to continue making lens for the Minolta body but there will be no more Minolta. Good Luck!

Also, as far as I know there are no digital camera that comes with photoshop program. Some come with a photo editing program but not with photoshop unless someone knows something that I don't.

I have a Canon 30D and I love it. I find it very difficult to take a bad picture with this camera and if you shop carefully you can get a good deal onlline.

Great info, thanks to all and to angela for getting it all started. I am thinking of going digital SLR and can get an OLympus E500 with two lenses and free mem card for 699 at office max. I will look tomorrow. Peace to all! Ken

Angela, I am currently using a Canon S1 IS, which they have updated and improved to a S2 I belive, with more megapixels. I love my camera, except for indoor photography. you can never tell if it is taking a good picture because the screen shows it too dark or overblown, which is a true hassle. Outside photos look beautiful right away. It's just that indoor lighting that makes it go wacko. However, when I upload the indoor pics they never look as bad as they do on the screen, but to me that's the sort of info you need right away. So, do a review on the newer Canon S2 and see if the reviews mentioned this. I will be shopping for a new camera in a few years.... but first got to update this old computer.

Gee, I should have come here before I bought my camera. Oh well I bought a Canon Powershot A430 so it should do me okay. It will take getting used to though, because there are so many more buttons and combinations of buttons than my HP 435 photo smart has . Think I will keep that with me when I don't have time to mess arround with a lot of buttons .

I use a Canon Digital Rebel. It's the 6mp version. I went with canon because my lenses from my 35mm film Canon camera, the Elan II worked with the digital rebel and that meant I didn't have to buy new lenses. I use my 300mm lens for most of my equine photography and that way I didn't need to buy a new one. Although I want the new Digital REbel XTi, I can wait. I also have a Canon powershot G2 that I take with me on family trips, use for taking pics of stuff I'm selling on ebay, etc.

I personally feel that the camera does not make a great photographer. It's the photographer themselves that make great pictures. The only thing I recommend for someone new to photography (not sure if you are, just joined this group) is a digital camera with at least 4mp. At least with digital you don't have to worry about the expense of film. You can practice till your shutter button finger wants to fall off and not waste a dime on film ;) And you can crop a not so great image and turn it into a better one and still keep the clarity because of the higher megapixels.