Luddite In Search Of First.....Digital Camera

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oxydolfan1

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Sep 28, 2006
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I need to invest in my very first digital camera.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

My needs are very basic.

I don't hate technology, but I've never had an iPod, mp3 player, or even a cell phone since 9/11! (I hate cell phones...)

I linked the store I'm probably going to get it at below. I just don't know which brands are better than others, or if anything they sell is so obsolete that I won't be able to make use of it...

I'd appreciate any suggestions. Thanks!

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/con...&ci=1082&ac=&Submit.x=15&Submit.y=8&Submit=Go
 
NO Cell PHONE???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

OY! Child, what are you that far behind?

I have had a cell phone since i could drive at 16 y/o...
I am almost 23 now....

This is my primary line of communication..

Even my non food proccessor, non driving, lving in podunk mother has one!

I need a paper bag and an inhaler...
 
My .02 cents...
I have a Kodak Easyshare CX7530, which i love..It takes the best pictures ...Grams and Gramos have an older version of mine and theres has been great.. Gramps also has a 1996-1997 Sony camera that is huge and bulky.. Its been good, but it required major repairs... Also sonys are very expensive for whatcha get.. I had a cannon b4 this Kodak and it too was great... I dropped it numerous times and it survived without any damge except to the outside case.. Which suprised me because gramps sony was dropped and required a $350 repair.

You will need a Memory card for sure, no matter what brand you buy... They rund around $25-30 at walley world..The other essential item i need is rechargable batterys..You may not need this if you don't take alot of pictures, but a set of regular double a's wear out quick in any camera i've ever had... Also i would get one that has 4 or 5 mega pixles in it..Although my Cannon Powershot did well with only 3 mpgs the Kodak has a little sharper pictures

Looking at the site and Kodaks own site, i would recomend the C530..However they appear to not have any instock, in which case

But...
Looking at the website you mention i would step up to the $197 Kodak C533..It offers the memory card, rechargable batterys and a few other little goodys and that seems right for a mid price camera with those options and accessorys..

A note:
I got mine at Office max...
Mine was a clearnce camera...
I walked in and they had 5 or 6 on clearence..I spoke with the manager and he was anxious to sell them, so i told him I had $175 cash in my wallet, what was the best camera he could offer me..
He gave me a choice between this Kodak Camera or an Olympus (i didn't like the way it felt and it was harder to hold)...I was quite anxious about getting the Kodak due to CU's poor ratingsm but this has been the best camera hands down...

I know others who have the Kodaks and they have good luck with em as well
 
I am thinking of buying a digital camera too. It will be my first real one, I have one in my cell phone, but it doesn't make great pictures. I am considering Sony or Panasonic. IMHO the Sony camera's with the Zeiss lenses make the greatest pictures. I noticed it here too, some people here have a Sony camera too and they always seem to have just a bit more quality. A friend of mine bought a Panasonic, it makes nice pictures too. IMHO, just not as great as the Sony ones. But you can use rechargable penlite batteries in it and a memory card like most digital camera's do unlike Sony. The jury is not out yet about the choice between Sony and Panasonic.
 
I love my Nikon D70 from B&H.

B&H is a great place. I bought my digital camera from them 2 years ago, and they were just wonderful to deal with. I bought a Nikon D70. This is a digital Single Lens Reflex camera and I can change my lenses just like any SLR film camera. It is 6.1 megapixels and it will take a VERY impressive picture that you can load onto a computer and zoom way in before the immage pixelates and becomes unreadable. I took a picture of my neighbor's christmas dinnertable and the picture is so large and clear that you can zoom in and see that the cold air return grill is held on the wall by phillips screws.
The best cameras are SLRs, but you will pay for them! I use mine every day so it is worth it. There are several professional photographers in my family and their advice to me was as follows:
Cannon makes some really great cameras. In the same range as my Nikon, Cannon's models weighed a little less, had a slightly higher megapixel count, and cost a little bit less.
Nikon tends to build sturdier cameras and Nikon hasn't changed their lens mounts, wheras Cannon has, regularly. This means that most of the Nikon lenses out there, both new and used for film and digital, will fit my Nikon camera so when my D70 body becomes obsolete, I can buy a new body and keep my lenses, You cannot count on doing this with Cannons.

Try looking at the Nikon D50, same picture as my D70, but fewer bells and whistles. I love my Nikon. It is easy to use, and I can easily connect it to a TV and run a slide show. It takes a VERY good picture. I can treat my camera like a classic film SLR and achieve similar photo quality. If you want great pictures and enjoy photography as a hobby, get a digital SLR. If all you want do is point and shoot, while a digital SLR will do that beautifully, it will likely be beyond your needs.

One advantage of Nikon digital SLRs is that it has no boot time. You turn it on and it is ready to go with no boot sequence, also when you press the shutter, the camera takes the picture instantly, no delay like is common on other cameras.

Good luck, and just my 2 cents,
Dave

p.s. Check epinions.com sometimes there is good info there on digital cameras.

http://www.epinions.com
 
The first thing to look for when looking for a digital camera is "Is it easy to hold". Hold one and move around like you are taking photos. Is it easy to handle?
Next, look for optical zoom in a camera. This is much better as it is a true magnification. The electronic zoom just crops the photo to make it look like it as been zoomed. This is not desirable.
Check the batttery type. If it uses a battery pack rather than regular batteries, you will want to get an extra battery pack and charger for it so you don't get "stuck" having to charge in the middle of a photo shoot.
For simple snap & shoots, I like the Fuji Finepix series. If you want to go all out, the Cannon Rebel SLR is one of the best.
Last hint. Wait till a day or two after Christmas. You will find some good sales on Digital Cameras. Also check prices at various stores, prices DO vary between them for the same camera model.
And make sure the camera you buy comes with a U.S. warranty.
 
We have a Kodak that we bought a good 7 years ago now iirc and it's been great. Was expensive at the time but prices have dropped considerably since. I agree with what Whirlcool says above,, get one with true optical zoon (the lens that moves in/out) which ours has. If you're just the type of person that always took "snapshots" with a fairly basic film camera then you don't need to go and spend big money on a digital, there's plenty of HP's etc out there in the hundred dollar mark. It's doubtful that one is much better than the other picture quality wise, some just have more features either worth it or not. Oh..get one that uses regular batteries because then you're not stuck if the camera runs down, you can jsut buy batteries at any corner store for it anywhere or use rechargable AA batteries. Quite a few times I've been out and about and heard people moaning that their camera battery has died but it doesn't use regular batteries so they're screwed for taking pictures.
 
Well, everyone has their opinion on this, but I'd go with a camera from a camera company before I'd get one from a computer company . . . camera companies are more likely to have good optics because that is their business, and ultimately even the best software and electronics can't make up for mediocre optics.

The above advice on optical zooms and easily available batteries is wise . . . special rechargeable batteries can be expensive to replace when they finally loose their ability to take a full charge.

Try to use a demo model before buying to ensure you can easily operate all the controls (this can be an issue if you have big fingers and the camera has tiny tiny buttons) and to see if it operates quickly enough. I have an old Canon which has been totally reliable and still takes pretty good photos, but it is slow, slow, slow when first turned on, and takes awhile to zoom as well. For my use I can deal with it but it wouldn't work well for sports shots. I'm sure the new models are much better than mine but some may be better than others.
 
Polaroid

paraphrasing the story I used and had 4 cameras at one time or another

All aspects varied widely

Advise if friends and family have a camera borrow it and try it out to see if u like it and it is easy to use cause this is a device that should be researched thoroughly because u will have the camera for years and good cameras are not cheap
 
I'd definitely go with Kodak. I have an Easy Share C330 and it couldn't be easier to operate.

Got it at Office Depot this past summer--99 bucks for the camera and the printer dock. Couldn't beat that with a stick.

veg
 
There must be a run on these cameras. Every store I've been to in the past couple of days, the place is jammed....

Would try B & H but they are closed on Saturday...
 

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