Looking for a good point and shoot camera

[boost]

I really want to spend as little as possible.. I'm not really trying to get into photography or anything, I just need a camera. That being said I don't want to just go buy some $100 one that ends up sucking balls. My budget is 100-$200

oh and I absolutely will not buy sony.. their insistence on using proprietary cables which don't even interchange between their own models is pure aids.

p.s. I would like to be able to control the shutter speed if at all possible.

[flomo]

I'm not up to date on cameras now, but would recommend something with a good lens- 8x +.

[swiggidy]

I've always had Canon, Nikon's coolpix line is good too. Most I saw (with manual controls) were in the $250 range.

I'd go to target or best buy and look at the cameras they have in the $150 range, and play with them. Some companies interfaces are horrible and would make the camera no fun to use.

Megapixels are overrated so don't worry about that. The only benefit is cropping. You could print a 10x8 with a 6 megapixel camera.

[CoccoBill]

Recommended Cameras

[Hawk]

I've got this and I'm happy with it. I don't really know enough about camera's to do any nitpicking, but the pictures look great to me.
Canon U.S.A. : Consumer & Home Office : PowerShot SD1400 IS

I got mine with from ftp, but it looks like you can find them just under $200.

[eugmac]

Recommended Cameras

quite happy that the p+s suggestions are entirely from canon, being another canon-fan...

i've always had canon powershot series, and have always been satisfied. the one i have now has a tiny screen by today's standards, and prices have come down so much that one of these $100-$150 cameras look pretty tempting...

i also take pride in taking better photos than most, by using a cheaper camera.

[KoRnholio]

My 10megapixel cannon powershot is all I need, and more.

I take a lot of macro/close up pics, and I find the max resolution is way too high to make it easy to edit pics on my comp. Really for most people 6 megapixel would be more than adequate.

Hell, if you're just going to upload your pics to facebook/the web anyway, 3-4 megapixel is probably fine.

[eugmac]

Hell, if you're just going to upload your pics to facebook/the web anyway, 3-4 megapixel is probably fine.

QFT - mine has "only" 4mp

[swiggidy]

I find the max resolution is way too high to make it easy to edit pics on my comp.

This is a really good point. My old computer struggled with 8meg, but my current has no problem with 18meg so I didn't think about it.

Windows XP has a powertoy that lets you right click images to resize them (to a copied file). Here's a thread with info, and some Win 7 options
Image Resizer for Windows 7 - Microsoft Answers

You could always take pics in a lower resolution, or make re-sizing the first step in your work flow.

[KoRnholio]

This is a really good point. My old computer struggled with 8meg, but my current has no problem with 18meg so I didn't think about it.

Windows XP has a powertoy that lets you right click images to resize them (to a copied file). Here's a thread with info, and some Win 7 options
Image Resizer for Windows 7 - Microsoft Answers

You could always take pics in a lower resolution, or make re-sizing the first step in your work flow.

Damn that sounds amazing, I am installing it now.

I sell a lot of coins on ebay which requires sometimes having giant pictures so I've always just manually resized them while keeping the originals. At least ebay has some of its own crop/resize/options while uploading on the fly now, but they are pretty crappy.

[boost]

I decided to go with a Nikon Coolpix S600. In this food photography class I took, some of the class cameras were some model of Nikon Coolpix, they were capable of producing pretty good pics for a basic photography class. I found it on Amazon, refurbished, for $79!

[lolzzz_321]

Hey sorry i got to this thread late but I gave bikes a toaster, watch, and VHS cassette rewinder and he built a nokia d3 for me. He had to use a part from his sister's dildo but he only charged me $50. Again, sorry for not replying sooner.

[boost]

Hey sorry i got to this thread late but I gave bikes a toaster, watch, and VHS cassette rewinder and he built a nokia d3 for me. He had to use a part from his sister's dildo but he only charged me $50. Again, sorry for not replying sooner.

So the phone is black?

[swiggidy]

So the phone is black?

Congrats on the camera, we (I? (someone)) should start a photography picture thread

[Jack Sawyer]

This is the one camera I absolutely love. I love it so much I want it to have my babies.

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the Leica M9 Neiman Marcus Edition; only 50 of these beauties roam the planet today:



Totally understated, and wrapped in ostrich leather. I heard it has Unicorn Retina's for lenses.

If Awesome was a camera, this would be it. And it definitely shoots no better than a Canon 5D Mk II or a Nikon D3x and its three times as expensive as both of them, and I couldn't care less.



*edit:


Top: 2011 FujiFilm X100 DSLR
Bottom: 1955 (!) Leica M3 with Leica M-Mount, generally considered the best 35mm camera OF ALL TIME, that can still sell for serious money today. 1955!

[Jack Sawyer]

Recommended Cameras

Is this good info CoccoBill? All I can find about this Ken Rockwell character is hate threads everywhere. Or is it like that in the photography world? You know, everyone of apparent note trolls everyone because they *obviously* take better pictures, etc.

[kingnat]

I am looking for a new point and shoot. I don't want Sony for Boost's proprietary cable reasons.

I want something that takes pictures fast, 1080p video, wide angle lens, the more compact the better, high zoom is fine. I'm also curious about the "tough shell/underwater" cameras, as I'd love to be more comfortable handing it over to my kids to take pictures. Also prefer closer to $100... so it looks like all the cheaper hard shell things are pretty shitty.

possibility?

Amazon.com: Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS8 14.1 MP Digital Camera with 16x Wide Angle Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 3.0-Inch LCD (Black): Electronics

[Jack Sawyer]

I got one, but it's way over your budget, yet I'll throw it in anyway
Amazon.com: Pentax Optio WG-2 GPS Kit: Camera & Photo

[mbiz]

I bought a $100 point and shoot canon. Its perfect and I dont need to treat it like its worth more than $100. Just go to where ever sells cheap electronics, and get a canon or a nikon, dont be swayed to another brand but I doubt they'd even try. I doubt I'd notice much diff between a 200 and a 100 for recreational use. My canon cheapie takes great pics.

[boost]

I got one, but it's way over your budget, yet I'll throw it in anyway
Amazon.com: Pentax Optio WG-2 GPS Kit: Camera & Photo

Wow, I really want one of these. The camera I bought as a result of this thread was great, except that I started getting lens errors a couple months after buying it. I had it repaired while I was out in Thailand, but it never really focused correctly after the repair, and within another month it went back to giving me lens errors. I guess this is fairly common, in that any bit of grit that gets in the camera can cause the lens mechanism to jam.

So I think that I either want to put the money out for a good camera with a manual lens, so I don't have to worry about so many moving parts-- or get something like this Pentax.

[MadMojoMonkey]

I've gotten out of photography since these fancy dij-it-al cameras came out.

However, I remember that one great trick that saved me a ton on replacement lenses. I put a clear, polarized filter on each lens and just left them on even when the lenses weren't on the camera. I occasionally replaced a filter, but never a scratched lens.

[eugmac]

A friend of mine has a Canon EOS Rebel XS with what I believe is the 18-55mm lens and wants to possibly sell it. I was thinking of a fair price to offer, is 250 euros (310 USD) reasonable, and would this be a good entry-level DSLR to get started with?

[swiggidy]

If you're worried about a $100 camera just go to a nearby store and play with the display models and find one that feels nice.

As for tough or underwater I would forget these. Underwater goes 2x-3x the price for still mediocre pictures (note: most people do not discern between mediocre and good quality anyway, much more relevant to printing that posting on facebook). Your actual underwater usage will likely be very low, but I guess if you were in a pool or something it might be handy.

[boost]

Swig, maybe I have just been unlucky and/or clumsy, but I think that the "tough" aspect of the Pentax would be very useful for anyone who is using the camera for more than a trip to Disneyland. Things fall, bags get tossed around; I don't want to spend my whole trip worrying about babying my camera. As for photo quality, it might not be so great, but who prints photos anymore anyways?

[Jack Sawyer]

I myself am enamoured with this one
Sony RX100 Review: This Camera Singlehandedly Makes Point-and-Shoots Relevant Again

At some point down the lane I'm getting a full frame dslr for when photoing gets serious, like a d700 or a 5dMK3. Got other priorities first though.

[swiggidy]

Swig, maybe I have just been unlucky and/or clumsy, but I think that the "tough" aspect of the Pentax would be very useful for anyone who is using the camera for more than a trip to Disneyland. Things fall, bags get tossed around; I don't want to spend my whole trip worrying about babying my camera. As for photo quality, it might not be so great, but who prints photos anymore anyways?

Well you have to pick some criterion. For $100 you are getting a disneyland camera that is basically "disposable" in the sense that you buy a new one if it breaks. Are you going to spend $200-300 for the exact same quality? For me that would be ---eV.

If you want more from a camera, what is your purpose? Fast action, low light, quality? As you said nobody prints, which is true for 99% of the population, so quality is out. But how much are you willing to pay? The camera Jack linked to is $650. The canon s100 is $350. People think this is an outrageous price for a camera, but you couldn't get a digital for $400 10 years ago and now that's top of the line for a point N shoot.

I sort of get the desire for a waterproof, and if you're only posting to facebook it's fine, but you're still looking at $250 (last I checked).

[swiggidy]

P.S. After all that. My recommendation, buy a Canon s95 on Ebay for ~$250.

[kiwiMark]

Doesn't the iPad have a camera?

[CoccoBill]

P.S. After all that. My recommendation, buy a Canon s95 on Ebay for ~$250.

+1

Also @MadMojoMonkey yz, although probably makes more sense to use a UV filter rather than a polarizing filter.

[Jack Sawyer]

Wow, I really want one of these. The camera I bought as a result of this thread was great, except that I started getting lens errors a couple months after buying it. I had it repaired while I was out in Thailand, but it never really focused correctly after the repair, and within another month it went back to giving me lens errors. I guess this is fairly common, in that any bit of grit that gets in the camera can cause the lens mechanism to jam.

So I think that I either want to put the money out for a good camera with a manual lens, so I don't have to worry about so many moving parts-- or get something like this Pentax.

And another one. I think I like this new one better.

http://www.amazon.com/Olympus-TG-1iH...5853434&sr=1-7

[boost]

ya, this Tough line by Olympus looks pretty cool, with the ability to add lenses and whatnot.

[givememyleg]

wanted something decent for super cheap, like $100 or less. ended up getting nikon coolpix l26 Amazon.com: Nikon COOLPIX L26 16.1 MP Digital Camera with 5x Zoom NIKKOR Glass Lens and 3-inch LCD (Silver): Camera & Photo for $87. basically just need to point and shoot. will report back in later.