digital camera recommendations?

[marchmommy]

Ladies--the last digital camera post was fairly long ago, so I thought I'd ask for advice on buying a new digital camera. Anyone have any advice/recommendations? I'm deciding b/w getting an SLR, or something smaller?? Right now I have a few years old Canon Powershot s50 and while the pictures are good, I don't like the delay, which makes me miss many good pictures and the camera is actually falling apart (from a couple of bad falls, and yes this makes me wary of spending too much on a new camera--but I do takes lots of photos and really value them! Also--any recommendations as to where to get the camera? Happy Mother's Day everyone!!! (My DH is being very nice and getting me a new camera for mother's day...)

[ajrivers]

Love my Canon Powershot SD550!! Someone just commented yesterday that there is much less of a delay with this one than their's. I would recommend making a list of what you don't like about your old camera and what you would like in a new camera and going into Ritz Camera or Wolf Camera as there is usually a lot of expertise there.

I did some research online first and had narrowed it down to 3 models and the one he recommended was one of those three!

Happy shopping.

[Tondi G]

well the SLR's are NICE but big! We got a canon powershot SD550 digital Elph and LOVE it! it is small, has a lot of features and can take pictures QUICK! I highly recommend it!

Good Luck and have fun with your new camera!

[ajrivers]

How funny...we posted within 2 minutes of each other and had the exact same recommendation. Guess that's kudo's for Canon!

[Tondi G]

LOL... yup love this little camera!

~Tondi

[boys2enough]

Hi,

I tend to get overwhelmed after all the research, etc. So my solution is not to get one! LOL. Check out this website: great reviews on almost every make.

http://www.dpreview.com/

It does induce "analysis paralysis" though. Good luck shopping!

ETA: 2 articles from WSJ. If can't open the page, please let me know. HTH

http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB114540069128129274-lMyQjAxMDE2NDA1OTQwMDkwWj.html

http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB114056665402779551-lMyQjAxMDE2NDAwOTUwNjk2Wj.html


Cheers, Lin
Mom to 2 wild boys
D 3/98
G 11/02

http://smilies.vidahost.com/kao/otn/pcomputer.gif

[bensmom243]

I have a Canon SD400 which we bought last year and we love it! I used to have the s45 (kind of like yours but with fewer MP) and there is much less of a delay with the new one. You won't be disappointed. The small size is great, I have mine with me all of the time!

[calv]

no idea. i'm in the exact same boat. Been reading up on what digitals to get. I'd LOVE an slr but they're not quite up to speed on what I want and the price I'm willing to pay. I'd really love an SLR that does video.

i've heard great things about panasonic. I currenly have a powershot 4 mp (cannon).


ETA: camera experts, can someone please tell me what this all means?
Higher than average Noise at ISO 80
Strong color noise at ISO 200+
Mild Chromatic aberration and corner softness in macro mode
Mild vignetting at widest zoom setting / widest aperture
New LCD is bright, but resolution is lower
Occasional focus hunting at long end of zoom in low light
Macro mode pointless - why not a macro button?
High sensitivity mode results next to useless

[racerl1]

DH gave me the Nikon D50 for my birthday. It's an SLR with no delay. We were missing too many smiles with our camcorder's still photo option. The D70 is what many professionals use, so the D50 was recommended to us. We're very happy with it.

[casey118]

I have a Canon A520, which I can't recommend. The pictures are good but the shot to shot speed is way too slow- I miss everything, especially with kids. I hate it! So I am also in the market for a new camera.

How is the shot to shot speed on the other Canons? (Scuh as the SD550). Any problems with the LCD screen breaking? What else would you recommend, outside of the SLR? I like the idea of the Nikon D50, but don't think I would like to carry it around.

Thanks for the other resource sites. I'll check them out, but real like experiences would be appreciated!

[stefani]

We just got Cannon SD500, and I love it. There is still a shutter delay, but much better than the Olympus D40Z. I also love the fact that we can take long movies (as much as the memory card can accomodate).

I got it online, don't quite remember which retailer.
Happy Belated Mother's Day and what a nice Mother's Day present :-)

The two sites I have used to look at reviews:
www.dpreview.com
www.epinions.com

Good luck!

[mominjune]

We have a Canon SD410 and was really happy with it, pretty quick, good photos, and small.
However, not fast enough so I still missed lots of things, and I spent too much time with photoshop trying to correct lighting, color, etc.

So... last month I just got a Canon Rebel XT SLR (Christmas/birthday/ mother's day present) and I love it!!
It's more than I ever thought I would spend on a camera, but the photos are priceless. It's so fast I hardly ever miss anything.
Definitely too big and heavy to carry with me all the time. However, not a problem to bring to parties, or events.

I got the Canon rather than the Nikon b/c I really liked our current P&S (point and shoot) Canon cameras.

Jen
DD 6-04

[calv]

I just got a rebel. Good gawd do I have a lot to learn. Anyone care to creat a photo forum where we can share tips and such? I'm so overwhelmed yet giddy because I'm loving the canon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[boys2enough]

>I just got a rebel. Good gawd do I have a lot to learn.
>Anyone care to creat a photo forum where we can share tips and
>such? I'm so overwhelmed yet giddy because I'm loving the
>canon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That's actually not a bad idea. It can be a combined board for camera reviews, and photograph tips and photoshop fans site. You know who you should get? Rashimi! :)


Cheers, Lin
Mom to 2 wild boys
D 3/98
G 11/02

http://smilies.vidahost.com/kao/otn/pcomputer.gif

[calv]

where and how can we do it?

[mominjune]

Great idea! I have yet to read the manual for the Rebel, (and yet the photos are already pretty good, so who can find time?)

It's appropriate as I'm sure most of your photos are like my photos, of our children. :)

Jen
DD 6-04

[Thatchermom]

No expert, but I'll try! I'm working in serious laymen's terms, which is what I'm guessing you want.


Higher than average Noise at ISO 80
Noise is speckly stuff that shows up in your pictures. Kind of snowish, but can be colors involved, not just white. Read:it's not a good thing! ISO 80 is a pretty low setting, but...

Strong color noise at ISO 200+
ISO 200, on the other hand, is an average setting. (think film speed)

Mild Chromatic aberration and corner softness in macro mode
Corner softness is a focusing thing - focused mainly in the center, chromatic aberration is the colors being off/tweaked

Mild vignetting at widest zoom setting / widest aperture
Vignetting is when the corners of a picture are darkened/cut off. Literally, the framework of the lens/camera (round)gets in the way of the picture (squared) and some is cut off.

New LCD is bright, but resolution is lower
The actual nuber of dots that make up the picture on the screen is less, which means less detail.

Occasional focus hunting at long end of zoom in low light
Means it can't find a focus automatically and will just keep trying, driving you crazy.

Macro mode pointless - why not a macro button?
High sensitivity mode results next to useless
Um, they don't like them? Just opinions here!

Hope that helps!

[calv]

It's a HUGE help! Thank you so much. Because of the snow/and other slight features, I got the Canon rebel. :) I CAN.NOT stop smiling. :D

[proggoddess]

Chiming in late here, but if you are going to use your camera as a double-duty movie cam, you'll want to know the length of time the camera can record without stopping. My old Kodak camera (very happy with it as a point-n-shoot!) will record movies with sound as long as the memory card is not filled up.

I was thinking of buying a separate Sony Handycam or something similar, but really our digital camera does what we want. (2-3 min. movies of DD, then she notices the camera and wants to get up close and personal!)

[boys2enough]

Hi, several of the PPs said that they are very happy with their Canon Powershot SD550. I am tempted b/c of the short lapse time.

The other main feature that I would like in a digi camera is the ability to shoot pictures indoors without having to use a flashlight. How does your Canon Powershot SD550 do in terms of low-lighting? Thank you much!


Cheers, Lin
Mom to 2 wild boys
D 3/98
G 11/02

http://smilies.vidahost.com/kao/otn/pcomputer.gif

[pampamz]

FYI there is a recent dig. camera post under the Lounge.

[o_mom]

When I dropped off film for developing today I checked out the digital cameras. I really liked the Canons. I have a Nikon N80 for our main camera, which takes amazing pictures. It is way too bulky for the diaper bag, though, so I'm looking at small digitals. I looked at the Canon A540 and A530, but I'm open to others. The SD550 seems to be a bit of overkill for us, but did look and feel nice.

So, a few questions for those with digitals...

Does your camera use regular (AA) batteries or a special one? (I believe the SDXXX use Canon batteries and the AXXX use AAs.) I like that the non-AA ones are smaller, but at the same time I don't want to run out the battery and not be able to just pop new ones in. I have this fear that even with two batteries I might find myself on vacation with no batteries charged or something.

How big of a memory card do you need? The store I was at said that they only come with a small one and I would need a bigger one (around $40).

What resolution is really needed? I'm probably looking at around 5 MP. I don't see really blowing up more than 5x7, and they said that 2 MP is all that is needed for that. With a 4-5 MP, I could crop and enlarge to 5x7 without any problem. Again, this is not going to be our primary camera, more of a diaper bag deal.

How does your camera do in "hard to shoot" pictures? My last PhD camera was a Canon, which I liked for the size, ease of use, etc., but it absolutely sucked for some of the harder shots. That's why I dumped it for a good SLR. A couple of examples: Red Eye - the point & shoot had horrible red-eye indoors, which I was told was mainly a function of the lens being too close to the flash. Focusing - one of the biggies was taking a picture of two people, where it would focus on the background between them. Now, my N80 does this sometimes, but it also has the ability to "lock" the focus, so you can focus on the subject, hold that focus, and then move the camera so that the subject is not necessarily in the center of the picture. Are these type of situations a problem with the compact digitals?

TIA! I am slowing working through the review site that was listed earlier, but way info overload. :-)