Help! Need Digital Camera advice

[Underthebluemoon]

 

[Smiling JOe]

I use an Olypus Stylus 400. It is about 2 years old and is only 4 megapixels. The optical zoom is a 3x with digital zoom of 5x (i think). It serves me very well, and is able to produce great 8x10s. It is small enough to put in my pants' pocket and carry everywhere. You should be able to find a newer and better version for less than the $300+ which I paid two years ago. I am very pleased with my camera. I believe it also came with a software package for tweaking photos. See photo attached.

Somewhere on this board, someone asked a similar question, and there are numerous replies with recommendations.

 

[Ocean Lover]

You should be able to get a good camera for that price. I recommend shopping online for the best deal. Canon, Nikon and Minolta are making 10x zoom+ now and I would get one of those for nice close ups. Also with image stabilization if you need it. I tend to shake so it was a must for me.
I have a Minolta Dimage. This is a neat site where you go through step by step and click on your specifications and at the end it will list the cameras available. http://www.myproductadvisor.com/mpa/camera/inputSummary.do

Go to www.cnet.com to find your best deal after you decide on a model.

Another thing you have to decide on is size. Anything with a larger zoom is not going to fit in your pocket.

Good luck and happy shopping!

 

[Bob]

Look at the Panasonic DMC-FZ5K.... has a great 12X Leica lens, optical stabilization feature, uses cheap SD memory cards, runs on cheap aa rechargeable batteries...350.00 it's a bargain

 

[Miss Kitty]

Good luck on the camera shopping!

OL...I nominate you as the official SoWal Shopping Expert!!! You have single-handedly helped so many locate items and SAVE $$$$ doing so!!!! Congrats!

 

[Beach Runner]

We recently got a Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT - 8 megapixels. It is awesome. We can take photos in such rapid succession that it's almost like a flip-book movie, as opposed to our old Sony 4 megapixel Cybershot that took photos so slowly that by the time you got everyone (or especially our puppy) posed, someone had moved and we'd have to re-do the photo. The camera is very lighweight for its size.

The best thing is that we have a case full of really nice Canon lenses for our old non-digital Canons, and all of these lenses work with the Digital Rebel.

Actually the best thing is that we got it as a free gift from American Express because my husband puts all of his airline tickets on that card. Since he is almost a 3-million-miler, he's got a lot of American Express points.

 

[Kimmifunn]

Good luck on the camera shopping!

OL...I nominate you as the official SoWal Shopping Expert!!! You have single-handedly helped so many locate items and SAVE $$$$ doing so!!!! Congrats!

I think Santa is bringing me a digital camera for Christmas! To catch all the action digitally. Look out Mermaid...BLACKMAIL! :funn:

 

[dbuck]

Look at the Panasonic DMC-FZ5K.... has a great 12X Leica lens, optical stabilization feature, uses cheap SD memory cards, runs on cheap aa rechargeable batteries...350.00 it's a bargain

This is the camera I have also. I really like it and it takes great pics. At the time it had the best optical zoom (needed this for taking photos of son playing golf) with stabilization. But it is not a pocket camera, so now I wish I had bought something smaller, especially after seeing SJ's pictures.

 

[KISH7374]

I just bought my wife the Minolta Dimage Z6 for Christmas. It has 6 m.p. and has anti-shake and is capable of taking pictures,movies and recording music. I also bought a 512 memory stick for it. The camera was $359.00 and memory stick was $55.00. We currently have a Minolta 35mm and she loves the picture quality but wanted to also have a digital camera so I went with the make we have had very good luck with.

 

[Ocean Lover]

Look at the Panasonic DMC-FZ5K.... has a great 12X Leica lens, optical stabilization feature, uses cheap SD memory cards, runs on cheap aa rechargeable batteries...350.00 it's a bargain

I almost went with this model. The guys at the camera store raved about it. Last March when I bought mine I don't think they offered the IS and that's why I went with the Minolta. But if you are looking for something to put in your pocket, this would not be it.