ploddinTod

Well, actually I'm searching for a couple of digital cameras for my daughters as gifts. I don't know anything about them nor do they. They just think they're cool. :cool: So where do I begin? They don't plan on getting fancy with them...just party and hanging out pics. They may at some point want to email a shot or two but the pics don't have to be of such high quality to be printed.
Any help will be appreciated. Is the Sony cybershot a waste?

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PloddinTod

JasonL

MEGA-Pixals is the key, I'm thinking - no less than 3MegPix these days? Shannon is the shudder-bugg, I'm sure she can guide ya..

Shannon

First off, if you've never visited DPReview, now is the time to do so. Loads of information, including reviews, sample images, product specifications and more. You can even sort all the reviews by rating to give you an idea of "what's hot". The ratings are usually spot-on, written by the DPReview staff.

It'd probably be difficult to find anything other than a camera phone that offers less than 2-3 megapixels these days. What's funny is what was once considered a "high end" digital camera 3-5 years ago was no more than 3 megapixels. The digital cameras Justin and I use today (Canon EOS 1D Mark II) capture 8 megapixel images, and there are newer models that capture more than 11 megapixels. After you exceed the 3 megapixel mark or so, the rest is just gravy -- excess you only need if you plan on printing the resulting photos as poster size larger prints.

Photo quality comes down to a lot of things, including:
(1) quality of the optics (lenses and the camera's innards)
(2) total data the camera can convert a scene into (megapixels)
(3) size and ease of use

#3 is probably the most important one to your daughters. If it's too big, too bulky or too hard to use it will get left at home instead of capturing memorable photos of their friends and activities. All the camera makers have firmly latched on to this market and offer good choices, but I tend to nudge people towards either Canon or Fuji. Justin and I have experience with both, so that's why the recommendations tend to go that way. We still own and use a Canon point-and-shoot -- Canon Powershot G2 (4 megapixel, solidly constructed but heavier than I might have liked for a "take everywhere" camera) for photo scouting and taking snapshots.)

I don't have specific model recommendations, except to say if you want something that offers a good value, I'd focus on the models listed in the "Recommended" category on DPReview's ratings page. A lot of the cameras listed in the "Highly Recommended" category are aimed at high end consumer or professional cameras, which almost universally are digital SLRs (single lens reflex) which means they have interchangeable lenses and will, by that fact alone, cost more. For example, the "Highly Recommended" category includes the $4,500+ cameras Justin and I use in our business!

I generally do a lot of reading on DPReview, both the reviews of particular models and the forums where new and prospective owners of that camera model can air their questions, comments, complaints or suggestions about the camera. I then usually head over to Amazon and see what the "unwashed masses" are saying about the particular camera(s) in their reviews. Somewhere in there, I find which camera is the best one for my needs.

PS: I'm partial to cameras that use CompactFlash media for storage. They're readily available, relatively cost effective (compared to Secure Digital cards) and come in all sorts of capacities, up to 4 gigabytes! Avoid any proprietary media format (like Sony's "Memory Stick").

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ploddinTod

Thanks for all of that good information, Shannon. My research starts now. :yes:

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PloddinTod

lost_but_found

I completely agree with Shannon! DPReview is one of my favorite sites. Also, DPChallenge is a good place to look as well - there are many people on there who use digital cameras professionally on a daily basis.

JasonL

I'm thinking a nice diggy camera would be nice for the trail, never know what you are goind to come across. Gosh! My boss at works has a Sony Handy Cam, he showed me some nice landscapes from Germany, I belive he was using a 3.1 megapixal camera.

kai

PloddinTod- if you haven't yet made a purchase, i'll throw in my 2 cents, 3 weeks late:

we've had a cannon digital elph as our point & shoot pocket sized camera since 2002. we beat on it pretty bad, and the technology has completely left it in the dust by now. in 2002, 2 mega pixels was kind of special for a compact camera, but now I think that same model - or the equivalent is now 3 or 4 mega pixels, and is more economical than when we got ours.

at any rate, the only problem we've had is that the battery in our digital elph no longer holds a charge- at all (and after 3 years- who can blame it?). a replacement battery will cost about $20. We have taken that camera everywhere. to the beach, to active volcanoes. snow boarding. snowshoeing. to our wedding. in the rain, in freezing new england winters and hot texas summers. everywhere. i almost hate to bury it.

but, alas, we are burying it. we just purchased the cannon digital rebel, because we can interchange our SLR cannon lense with the digital rebel camera body. I don't need anything as fancy as the 20D or 10D (and, since i'm unemployed again, because we moved again, we couldn't/shouldn't afford those bigger guys anyway). we started out looking for a new battery for our little elph, and voila, we bought a 6.3 mega pixel digital SLR. imagine that. Damn amazon, their rebates, and their incentives. oops.

but at any rate, we're excited (and i have to TEN WHOLE DAYS). but now I'm looking for opinions on compact flash cards- sizes, brands, etc... any input would be appreciated.

01ACRViper

i got my 300D this december to upgrade from my rebel ti. i was going to go with a 1gb sandisk, but a good deal came up so i grabbed a 2gb sandisk for $133 from zipzoomfly. it wasn't a newer highspeed card, as the price shows but the 300d doesn't write fast enough to get the highspeed anyways :o it jsut depends if you shoot RAW or jpg, and how long you will be shooting away from a larger storage space. in january i hiked in the guadalupe mountains for 4 days, and wished i had more space after 200 RAWs though with a 2 gb card, you can hold ~550 large superfine jpgs. hope that helps