Which digital camera for $400

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[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Which digital camera for $400

Posted: 6/24/2002 4:33:31 PM EDT

Just sold my Harley. Going to build a long range gun, have my house sided, buy a Kowa 821 scope, a used P/U, gas powered generator and I'd like to get a digital camera. Would like to spend no more than $400. Suggestions?
Gerry

Posted: 6/24/2002 4:41:29 PM EDT

[#1]

Go with a Nikon 775, it has 2.1 MP, 3x opt zoom and fits in your pocket. I've taken it on 3 vacations with tons of great pics. You can Ebay it for $340 or so and spend another $100 on a 256mb card, which will take 276 pics in the largest/finest setting.

You can also check out this site for other choices. I've done a lot of photography and I swear to you that this little camera is a titan in quality!

[url]http://www.dpreview.com/[/url]

The main reason I like this over the competition is that it is truly a one hand camera. You'll never need the other hand to adjust your hold or to zoom or anything.

Posted: 6/24/2002 4:43:53 PM EDT

[#2]

I recently picked up an HP 315 for well under $200. It,s 2.1 megapixels with a zoom. It's not at a pro photog level but it does everything I need it for.

Stepped-init

Posted: 6/24/2002 4:50:29 PM EDT

[#3]

I love my Olympus C-2100UZ (Ultra Zoom) camera. It's only 2 MegaPixels, but it has a 10x optical zoom (+ 2.7x digital) and offers a lot of manual control in addition to several automatic shooting modes. It's hard to beat that 10x zoom; you wouldn't believe some of the pictures I've gotten. The C-2100 is a little above the price range you mentioned, but if you really hunt, you can find one for $400-$450 (especially on Ebay). Plus, it comes with lots of extras like a wireless remote control (great for group shots!) and rechargable high capacity NiMH batteries with a charger. ($30 value just for the batteries & charger.)

I would tack on a $20 Kodak 49mm UV filter & tethered lens cap package from Wal-Mart to complete the package.

Be advised, however, that this is not a small camera. The 10x zoom lens is image-stabilized (IS, meaning the motion of the lens is mostly isolated from the motion of your hands), and that makes for a larger camera than the C-700, which has the 10x zoom [i]without[/i] IS, making it next to useless for low light zoomed shots.

Have fun!

Posted: 6/24/2002 4:55:32 PM EDT

[#4]

Ger, get a Sony. I have a DSC-505V and love the thing, it's a 3.3MP and takes great pics! I would spend a couple hundred more and get one that will last for the next few years. Nikons are also good.

Posted: 6/24/2002 5:56:12 PM EDT

[#5]

I guess I'll be the Canon person on this. Bought a PowerShot 330 last month and I'm very satisfied with it. I had your same budget in mind. I wanted something small, but with decent features: 2Mp, 3x zoom (7.5x digital), tv connection, video mode, rechargeable battery (charger included). It's easy to use and takes great pictures.

Posted: 6/24/2002 6:12:28 PM EDT

[#6]

Canon and Nikon are probably the best optically, but Sony is right behind. The Olympus' take their own brand of storage card, which is more expensive. Stick with a camera which can take cheap Compact Flash Type I cards. (Type II are the microdrives and aren't worth the extra battery power.)

The Nikon 885 is a step up from my little 775 with a 3.0 MegaPix unit with some other upgraded features. Its also under $400, but you'll still need the cards.

Both Nikons come equiped with rechargable batteries and charger. Canons are heavier, more solid units, but don't fit the hand as well.

Posted: 6/24/2002 6:16:19 PM EDT

[#7]

Quoted:
I love my Olympus C-2100UZ (Ultra Zoom) camera. It's only 2 MegaPixels, but it has a 10x optical zoom (+ 2.7x digital) and offers a lot of manual control in addition to several automatic shooting modes. It's hard to beat that 10x zoom; you wouldn't believe some of the pictures I've gotten. The C-2100 is a little above the price range you mentioned, but if you really hunt, you can find one for $400-$450 (especially on Ebay). Plus, it comes with lots of extras like a wireless remote control (great for group shots!) and rechargable high capacity NiMH batteries with a charger. ($30 value just for the batteries & charger.)

I would tack on a $20 Kodak 49mm UV filter & tethered lens cap package from Wal-Mart to complete the package.

Be advised, however, that this is not a small camera. The 10x zoom lens is image-stabilized (IS, meaning the motion of the lens is mostly isolated from the motion of your hands), and that makes for a larger camera than the C-700, which has the 10x zoom [i]without[/i] IS, making it next to useless for low light zoomed shots.

Have fun!

View Quote

I've got the same machine. It's great. The only negative is the size. You won't be carrying it around everywhere you go as it's almost as big as a full featured 35mm. It's a government conspiracy to keep me from having the camera with me when I get the opertunity to photograph black helicopters.

Posted: 6/24/2002 6:42:15 PM EDT

[#8]

Quoted:
Go with a Nikon [red]COOLPIX[/red] 775, it has 2.1 MP, 3x opt zoom and fits in your pocket.

View Quote

i have the same camera, and i am no expert, but this thing is awesome! ive got it and a 256 meg card, takes over 500 pics on the 'basic' mode, which is good for web posting...

added in above- in [red]red[/red]- the line name is the CoolPix series, dont know if they even make another line or not, but there it is...

Posted: 6/24/2002 7:34:50 PM EDT

[#9]

I have a Sony Mavica FD-75 ($350 at Wally World). I like it because it takes a good picture, has a 10X zoom, and saves to a 3.5 inch floppy disk. I just don't like anything that has to be plugged into the computer to d/load the pictures. A friend of mine has one that plugs in, and d/loading eats batteries like crazy (his does, anyway). The Sony FD-95 will also take MPEGs, and along with floppys, will save onto a memory stick, if that's the way youu prefer. I think it goes for right at $400.

Posted: 6/24/2002 7:39:55 PM EDT

[#10]

Quoted:

I recently picked up an HP 315 for well under $200. It,s 2.1 megapixels with a zoom. It's not at a pro photog level but it does everything I need it for.

Stepped-init

View Quote

I have this same camera, no problems, great pics, I would recommend.

Posted: 6/25/2002 9:11:06 AM EDT

[#11]

Sony DSC-P5. Great size, works good, small enough to take anywhere, +250 pictures on a 128MB stick.

Sony also has an internal CD-RW which interfaces directly with their memory sticks so you can directly store you pictures on CD's.

Merlin

Posted: 6/25/2002 9:14:24 AM EDT

[#12]

I know this is busting your budget but my wife just bought a Canon S30 for $450+tax

Impressive little camera. Amazing all the features it has.

I kind of like the Fuji's myself but this was her toy so ....

Posted: 6/25/2002 9:22:53 AM EDT

[#13]

Sony has one big advantage - it has a useful battery meter that tells you how much juice you have left!
I just got a Canon A40, a nice $300 camera. But the battery meter only pops up when the battery is about to die. With flash, that's maybe 2-3 shots. After finding the batteries dying on me twice at the most inopportune moments, I wish I'd gotten a Sony.
Just something to think about.

Posted: 6/25/2002 9:23:09 AM EDT

[#14]

I just got a Canon Powershot S200. 2x optical at 2megapixels. CF memory. LITTLE camera, but it packs a lot of power. Something like $350 at Best Buy.

Posted: 6/25/2002 9:39:11 AM EDT

[#15]

Kodak has a rugged model waterproof/shockproof for around 250 well shit they discontinued it.. bastards!

Posted: 6/25/2002 9:43:42 AM EDT

[#16]

I have an Olympus 3040 and love it but i think it's out of your budget range.

Minman72,
"The Olympus' take their own brand of storage card, which is more expensive. Stick with a camera which can take cheap Compact Flash Type I cards."

This statement is not true. Olympus will take any Smart Media cards but only Olympus cards have the panramic featured enabled. BUT, you can enable any card to have the panaramic feature to be used in any Olympus camera. I have done it to my 128meg Mr. Flash Smart Media card and have had no problems.

Here is the web site telling how to do it. Use at your own risk.
http://www.geocities.com/roberthaus/pan/
My 128meg Mr. Flash card was $41.00 VS an Olympus 128meg card at $120.00 so don't let them rip you off.

Posted: 6/25/2002 9:48:36 AM EDT

[#17]

I also have the Olympus 2100UZ. Awesome camera and the zoom is amazing. The size does not bother me at all. I took it to the Daytona 500 this year and got some awesome shots. I believe CompUSA has it for $399 now, and it originally sold for over $800.

You can see my Daytona shots here:
[URL]http://www.pbase.com/jboze[/URL]
You can really see how good the 10x Optical zoom is on some of these shots. Some of them look like I was standing on pit road, but all were taken from the stands. I also have some posted which were taken with the digital zoom, but you can really see how the quality drops going from Optical to digital zoom. That 10x image stabilized optical zoom cannot be beat!

Posted: 6/25/2002 10:26:06 AM EDT

[#18]

Very, very happy with my [url=http://www.powershot.com/powershot2/s40-30/index.html]Canon S30[/url]

[img]http://www.powershot.com/powershot2/s40-30/images/s40-30.jpg[/img]

Posted: 6/25/2002 10:47:42 AM EDT

[#19]

What's 'ya going to do with it?

I've had six digital cameras over the last 8 years. Currently I have two favorites - the Cannon S110 Elph and the Olympus C-2100.

The Elph is a tiny little thing and just sits fine in a pocket. Great snap shots.

I just bought the Olympus last week ($378) for a more creative camera. It's 10x lens is wonderful, it has program, aperture and shutter priority modes, and recycles faster than the Cannon. It is a larger camera than the Cannon but it's not nearly as big as even a small 35mm TTL camera.

Both cameras are 2.1 Mb cameras as I use film cameras for prints and digital cameras for the web. Nobody is going to sit still on a web page to download a 2.1 Mb picture so after cropping, image resizing and compression I'll typically post 700 x 450 pixel pictures than average about 75-100 Kb.

Olympus review[url]http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/olympusc2100uz/default.asp[/url]

Digital Photograhy Review is an excellent un-biased web site that does in depth reviews.

Posted: 6/25/2002 10:55:57 AM EDT

[#20]

Paul, I got the newer Elph, the S200. Sweet little camera. Excellent for informal snapshots, but gets excellent resolution. Also has the macro/infinite mode. I've used that for close up pictures on inanimate objects (my guns), and it works great. Good ambient lighting is required for that, tho, but I think that's a general rule.

Great little pocket sized camera. I highly recommend for it's size.

Posted: 6/25/2002 11:19:30 AM EDT

[#21]

I like my Kodak Easy Share DX 4900

Regularly $399.00 I got it for $350.00 as an open box special at Circuit City. 4 megapixel with 2 power optical zoom and 3 power digital zoom. It uses standard flash memory. Additional lenses are available. The user can adjust the iso, shutter speed and flash or just point and shoot.

The only thing I don't like is the addtional $60 - 70 for the docking station.

Posted: 6/25/2002 11:41:37 AM EDT

[#22]

Quoted:
Just sold my Harley. Suggestions?
Gerry

View Quote

How about an ASS KICKING. WTF were you thinking.

[stick]

Hope you have a replacement. [:)]

Posted: 6/25/2002 12:35:54 PM EDT

[#23]

[url]www.steves-digicams.com/hardware_reviews.html[/url]

you might also try [url]www.cnet.com[/url] or
[url]www.zdnet.com[/url] for more camera reviews

Posted: 6/25/2002 5:59:54 PM EDT

[#24]

Gun-Fan
1,000 miles in the last two years. Sat and Sun at the range or work Sat and Sun at the range.
Ins $500 per year that's $1 per mile plus gas and depreciation. Plus I'm getting too old. Chicks don't give me a look and wife says if they did and I looked back to just remember I would not have to ask "how do you reload this thing?"
Gerry

Posted: 6/25/2002 6:33:05 PM EDT

[#25]

Ya, the Nikon 775 is great for the money so is the new Cannon A40 (the S30 is better 3.0MP but I do not think you can get it for under $400. If you want to save more money you can check out the Kodak dc280, it is discontinued but you can check ebay it is a 2.0MP with a good lens and is better built then the "new" Kodak it even came with rechargeable batteries.

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Which digital camera for $400

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