Help me decide what digital camera to get

[Over Achiever]

[Tjash2010]

O sorry I guess I was reading the press release but it does give some info...

I have done a little research on Officemax and Stevesdigicams.com

I have found the Olympus D-565 is a great camera for 179.00 and it has 4MPs plus it has optical zoom and alot of other features you might find useful.
Review here:
http://www.steves-digicams.com/2004_reviews/d565.html

The HP camera I liked was the M307 which was 170.00 but was reviewed better then the 435 and had more features

Also the Kodak CX-7300 was only 99.00 yet had 3MP and was rated fairly good. I like officemax cause they are easy to buy from and thy have some of the best prices

http://www.officemax.com/max/solutions/product/thumbnail.jsp?BV_UseBVCookie=yes&expansionOID=-536906213

Is where you an see Officemax's cameras and prices.

[Angelic ValkyrieKitty]

is internal memory good? i mean, i think it's kinda junk because it has very little compared to if you have something like smart media or compact flash.

[Tjash2010]

Well with every camera you never get good memory included.

The Olympus I was just talking about has 16MB which will be able to get around 7 pictures at 4MP

But you can go to www.tigerdirect.com and buy extremely cheap memory and you will have it within 2 days...

www.tigerdirect.com

[Over Achiever]

Internal memory is only useful as the shot buffer. In other words, with a 16 MB internal, you can take 5 shots (if the picture size is 3-4 MB per picture) before the camera has to write the pictures onto the memory card. Some cameras don't do that, ie after you take a picture it saves the image, then once it's done saving you can take another picture, etc.

Good cameras will have a fast processor (after all the images need to be processed and written) and a decent sized internal buffer/memory, it'll be more responsive, and shot to shot times will be nice and short.

Otherwise, no, there's really nothing to compare cameras with regard to internal memory.

[Angelic ValkyrieKitty]

i guess basically what i'm looking for in a camera is that it has:

at least 3 or above MP
uses memory like compact flash (good and cheap biggrin )
its style is compact
compatible with most PC's and printers
and of course uses great quality
did i mention it must have optical zoom?

anyway, are these requirements good enough, or is there more to look for in a camera?
I'm really unsure if i should take company into consideration. Sony, cannon, and a couple of others sound good. HP and Fuji sound horrible based on what a couple of gaians said so far.

[Tjash2010]

OK the Olympus is 4MP and has all the specs you listed but it uses XD you can pick an XD up from tigerdirect.com for around 30.00 for 128MB and that will hold like 80 something pictures

The HP M307 has everything that you listed but the cards are SD, but if you look around Compact Flash and SD are the same prices.

The stuff you listed is the basic stuff to look for the things more advanced people would look for are manual controls and scene modes and stuff like that.

[Over Achiever]

The memory while I recommended Compact Flash, isn't essential, as it also has the trade off of being the largest sized memory card. I'd say keep your options open on that.

Most digital cameras are compact, well the point and shoot ones anyway.

All digital cameras will be compatable with PCs and printers, because I'm assuming you're not planning on connecting the digital camera directly to a printer. Or are you? Then you'd need a camera that supports PictBridge.

Another thing to consider is battery, whether you'd have a camera that can take 100 shots on a battery, 200, or only 50. Whether it uses regular AA batteries so you can replace them in a pinch, or use rechargable lithium-ion batteries.

[Angelic ValkyrieKitty]

Over Achiever

The memory while I recommended Compact Flash, isn't essential, as it also has the trade off of being the largest sized memory card. I'd say keep your options open on that.

Most digital cameras are compact, well the point and shoot ones anyway.

All digital cameras will be compatable with PCs and printers, because I'm assuming you're not planning on connecting the digital camera directly to a printer. Or are you? Then you'd need a camera that supports PictBridge.

Another thing to consider is battery, whether you'd have a camera that can take 100 shots on a battery, 200, or only 50. Whether it uses regular AA batteries so you can replace them in a pinch, or use rechargable lithium-ion batteries.

No, i don't want to connect my camera directly to my printer, because with compact flash, i could just insert it into my drives.
i wont use the camera that often, at most i'll take 20 pictures a day.

[Over Achiever]

Well whatever digital camera catches your eye, go here for a good unbiased review of the camera. Most cameras have been reviewed by him and his team, and it's a good way to make sure you'll like the camera you'll get! Happy shopping!

[Hypnos]

Different brands of camera use different type of memory, There is no difference in the types apart from size and shape.

Any Digital Camera with more than 2 MegaPixels should be good.

Make sure the camera has optical zoom or you will find yourself needing to get reasonably close to what your taking a picture of.

Also make sure the camera has the ability to take short video clips.

-It would be a good thing to make sure it isn't a left hand camera, Unless your left handed of course.

[Angelic ValkyrieKitty]

This is kind of an off topic but:...............
Do you think the old fashion cameras are better than the digital ones?

I mean, in the old fashion ones, all you gota do is put in the film, take pictures, and get them developed. if you run out of film, just go buy more.

Digital cameras are kind of a hassle, you have more than one componenet needed: memory, battery, and if you're on vacation, you can't go buy more film, you gota actually spend about $50 to get some memory/film.

What do you guys think? Am i wrong to think this way? Should i just go with the flow and accept that new technology is better? Or is it?

[ScareTrolfey]

Film cameras have the advantage in low-light situations, although digitals are definitely improving over time. High-end digital cameras have interchangeable lens with SLR cameras, but for the most part, consumer models have shoddy optical zoom.

I personally believe memory trumps film, because all you need is a laptop or computer access to offload images. If you have a decent sized card (256Mb usually does it per week-trip with my 3.2MP) it holds the equivalent of 6-8 rolls of film. 1Gb cards aren't uncommon these days either (several years ago, it costed $1.2k, now it costs $120)

Canon, Olympus, Minolta have the best reps from when I was deciding on getting a camera. Those generally have the best color reproduction. Kodak used to be good, but slipped in quality for ease-of-use.
Sony, as usual, is expensive for what you get.

[ShugarDaddy]

Olympus is one of the best companies out there (and it wont kill you $$$ flow) I bought one after my old one Crapped out, much like your old one seemed to have done, the thing hasent given me ONE problem and Ive had it for like 2 years. Its not complex either, so no confusion, which is good biggrin

[tony2004]

I have a Kodak Easy Share 3.1 MP works fine plus I have the printer dock that is awesome but the photo paper is expensive but the docks are not required i seen 1 MP kodak pictures and they are good for people not detailed items.