hi,

i have decided to buy me a digital photo camera.
i have a old fashioned one, but i am ready for something new

i am looking for a camera for a price around $500

i heard that it should have a resolution of at least 3 mega pixels ?

i also heard that some digital camera's are very slow ? is this true ?

furthermore it would be very nice when i dont have to carry some large piece equipment with me

what other characteristics are important ?

now the most important questions :

- does anyone know where i can find some info and comparisons ?

- what brands are good buy, and which should i refrain from ?

thanks in advance,

Hrqls

<i>The specialty of the house ? thats me! (cheap as always)</i>

www.dpreview.com
www.stevesdigicams.com

I will recommend the Canon Powershot G2 (4 megapixel). I think that its the best value/quality for money you get today. Unfortunately its weighs about 500 grams. I bought one 2 months ago and i takes the best pictures I ever seen from a 4 megapixel digicam.

hmm

http://pcphotoreview.com/Above,3,M [...] 98crx.aspx

tells me that the canon powershot g2 costs $899 ... which about 150% of what i had in mind for maximum price (around $500)

do you have experience with other cameras as well ?

although you clearly are convinced about the price/quality for this camera .. you do make me doubt my price

<i>The specialty of the house ? thats me! (cheap as always)</i>

hmm ... i found some models ... can anyone give some comments on them please ???

- Canon PowerShot G2 ($799.99)
- Canon - Powershot S40 Digital ($599.99)
- Olympus C 3020 ($599.95)
- FujiFilm - FinePix F601 Zoom ($599.99)
- Nikon Coolpix 995 ($599.99)
- Nikon Coolpix 885 ($499.99)

i am now willing to spend about $600 already ... so maybe soon i will be ready for the canon powershot g2 .. but not yet

<i>The specialty of the house ? thats me! (cheap as always)</i>

Canon has received great reviews for many of their cameras. Especially on image quality, which was the number one concern when I purchased. The Canon S30 (3 Megapixel) and S40 (4 megapixel) are also recommendable and problably a bit cheaper. The S40 has specs very close to the G2, but has a smaller lens, no swivel LCD screen and a bit fewer features, but perhaps you can live with that. One great advantage is the weight though.

Another issue that might help in choosing is the storage media. I wanted compact flash. Although the interface is old, ugly and assynchronous, it gives the largest storage pr. $ and it is very popular. I expect to see many more cameras with the Sony memory stick in the future, since MS uses a much more modern high speed serial synchronous interface.

But I recommend to read the reviews, look at the sample images and judge for yourself (It took me about a month to choose). And make it clear to yourself which features are must-have and nice-to-have. (E.g. do you need all those manual controls for shooting those hard-to-get images and controlling depth of field)

Good luck!

Just some additional thoughts:

The Olympus C3020 is only 3 megapixel. The S40 (same price) would be a much better buy. Regarding Olympus and Nikon: Many of their cameras has strong chromatic aberrations and moire artifacts (bayer pattern artifacts). Especially on chromatic aberrations the Canon camaras perform much better.

From www.dpreview.com buying guide, top cameras, Canon holds 5 of the top ten positions. Nikon holds 2, and Olympus, Sony and Fuji each hold 1.

Regarding Speed. Some digital cameras are slow. Some are not. Its the autofocus function that usually determines the perceived speed from pressing the button until the 'shutter' clicks. Such delay are also experienced with analog autofocus cameras. Dpreview also tests the speed of the cameras.

A note about bayer patterns: All digital cameras I have seen only have 1 CCD chip. The CCD chip is monochromatic and gets its color selectivity from a bayer filter in front of it. Each block of 2*2 pixel has 1 red, 1 blue and 2 green filters in front of it (so a 4 megapixel is not 4 true megapixels). Bayer interpolation is used to figure out the colour of each of the 4 pixels from the red/blue/2*green pixels and some of the surrounding pixels. Cameras are not equally good at this. Some gives artifacts, jagged edges or blur which reduces the effective resolution.

Other factors to consider: Battery lifetime, assesories, Hot-shoe for external flash (a must if you really wish to get rid of those red-eyes, since the double-flashing red-eye reduction action of the built in flash is not always succesful)

But if you are willing to spend $600, I dont think you can find better camera than the Canon S40

thanks!

thats a lot of very useful info

i wont miss the swivel lcd .. it just has a greater chance of breaking i think.

for the storage media .. i looked in a advertisement leaflet at home .. and the prices didnt scare me that much .. so i will just go for the most convenient media .. will have to find out which media is used most and in which devices

i wondered why the olympus had only 2 camera's on the sites i visited .. and both on only 1 different site.
skipped it from the list

thanks for your info ... the search continues ... but the areas has been decimated

<i>The specialty of the house ? thats me! (cheap as always)</i>

You asked for ideas. Mine is outdated but may give you some ideas to consider.

Olympus C-700 Ultra Zoom - outdated but available on Ebay in your price range. This is what I have. I bought it Spring 2002 and have enjoyed it for photo copying ledger size census copies as well as uses more normally thought of. See my results on two projects. The second shot at the first website is a digital zoom shot over 100 yards away and hand held at that. All these shots were hand held.

http://steveandmarta.com/graveyard [...] y_main.htm

http://steveandmarta.com/graveyard [...] ield_1.htm

CAMEDIATMTM Model Stock Number UPC Code Packaging
C-700 Ultra Zoom 225285 050332 133938 White and Blue Box
Camera case recommended at extra cost.

With it's 2.1 megapixel CCD, 1.8 inch LCD screen, Fast photo processing, and user friendly design Olympus C700 packs a powerful enough punch for me ... a former film photographer in high school and on the road. All my pics now are digital.
Pics are JPG format. My former digital camera had it's own format that needed to be converted to JPG or GIF one frame/pic at a time. What a pain!!!
It uses the Smart Media card up to 128 Meg.
It has a wide variety of shutter speeds up to 1/1000th. 4 "film" speeds (not a film camera-just a comparible feature)
Light sensitive adjustments darker and lighter.
Good for fairly close work and distance.
Manual exposure possible. F 1.8 low light to F 8 - I wish the Fstop went higher sometimes. Electronic flash on board.
Either shutter speed or Fstop are adjustable and still have some autoexposuse function.
standard digital viewfinder as well as picture on back of camera (uses battery faster)
USB cable to computer.
A/C Power adaptger is extra cost.
Came with only 8 meg SmartMedis Chip.
I use a 64 Meg Smart Media chip. I get choice of three densities 640 is the smallest. Higher resolutons need be cropped or reduced to be seen on computer set at 800
I use NiMH rechargable batteries. About $11-$14/four pack of AAs plus the charger-read the labels carefully.

Do you need more megapixels? Maybe but WHY? The largest shot on this camera gets too big to send at 56K modem speeds. The medium and smaller ones are okay.


Every working computer must be improved .... or replaced ...

ah thanks,

going into town today .. will have a look at what the stores have for me

will be back when i have some more questions .. or when i bought me a camera

i dont need the highest possible number of megapixels, but i dont want to be outdated .. i might need some higher resolution when i have a picture, in which i want to enlarge 1 specific detail. for now i dont know what i will do exactly with the camera ... but i dont want to limit myself when it doesnt cost toomuch extra.

<i>The specialty of the house ? thats me! (cheap as always)</i>

ok, i hoped that the prices here (in euro's) would be the same as the prices in the usa (in dollars), but its a bit more expensive here

i went to some shops and most of them advised me the SONY DSCP5

does anyone have any experiences with it ?
(the specifications in the folders and on the internet look ok to me ... but some user info might tell me some more)

<i>The specialty of the house ? thats me! (cheap as always)</i>

One more thing - if you get your hands on one before you buy.

My camera has my nose print on the pic viewer window because of the position of the picture taking viewfinder. It's hard not to get a print on the viewer

Every working computer must be improved .... or replaced ...