Digital cameras?

[Rachels]

We have an Olympus D-510 that's being awfully tempermental, and we're probably going to replace it. What should we get? I want something easy to use that takes bright, clear pictures with excellent resolution. Suggestions?

-Rachel
Mom to Abigail Rose
5/18/02
New baby coming in October!
(Holy smokes, it's a boy!!!)


"When you know better, you do better."
Maya Angelou
http://www.gynosaur.com/assets/ribbons/ribbon_amethyst_36m.gif
Nursed for three years!

[amazz]

DH just bought an EOS Rebel XT and we really like it. It is so much better than the dinky one we had before. If you want a sample of some photos we took over the weekend, email me and I'll send you a link to an online album. I was a little skeptical about spending that much money on a camera (fortunately it was an early anniversary gift from ILs, but still), but I think it was totally worth it. We can get very close up shots of DDs face now without any of the fuzz factor we had on our old camera. And I think in the long run, this camera will actually save us some money b/c I don't think we are going to take DD in to have 9 mos pics made as we can get excellent shots with this one.

Anyway, that was a very long-winded way of saying that I love our Rebel XT. :)

HTH,
Angela
mama to my raisin and furry mama to Chloe
~ A baby is God's opinion that the world should go on. ~Carl Sandburg

[BillK]

If you don't want to spend the $$$ on a Rebel XT (a great camera btw! I really want one myself) consider the Canon Powershot S60
( http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=331593&is=REG&addedTroughType=categoryNavigation )
or S70
( http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=347909&is=REG&addedTroughType=categoryNavigation )
- both are really nice and quite a bit more affordable and more portable than a prosumer digital SLR like the Rebel XT.

I have a Canon Powershot S50 (older model) and it's been fantastic - if you would like to see some photos online I've taken with it - pm me and I'll provide you with a few links.

Another nice thing about Canon is the software you get with their cameras and printers - it really makes pulling the photos off the camera and printing them incredibly easy and intuitive.

Also as an added Canon plug - we've used a Canon i950 photo printer for the last few years and just recently added a Canon iP6000D photo printer - you'd be hard pressed to tell the difference between my 4 x 6 photos vs. those from a professional lab - in fact I think ours turn out better in most cases.

[sunny2003]

DH likes the Canon brand of digital cameras - we have an A60 from 2 years ago that we are about to replace and are looking at the A95. The only thing about Canons is that they sometimes are tempermental and we get an error, but of course DH did drop the old one. What happens is that you can take a few photos and then the shutter freezes up and an error message like A118 or something like that flashes.

I also hear that the Kodak Easy Shares are good models - you can check out camera brands at cnet.com

Viv

[AngelaS]

I have a Canon A60 and I dno't have the tempermental woes the PP does. I LOVE mine! Super easy to use and it takes great shots! :D

[Lynnie]

Are the printed pictures good too ?? I am also looking for a new camera, because my digital camera takes great pics for the computer, but then when I get them printed, they can't even come close to my dad's 35 mm pics.

[BillK]

The pics from my Canon s50 - printed on a Canon i950 printer using Canon Photo Paper Plus Glossy 4 x 6 - are so good most folks can't believe they're not 35mm professionally developed pictures.

The quality settings on the camera have a lot to do with how well the photos will print as does the quality of the printer and paper you're using. I keep my camera on "superfine" quality at 1600 x 1200 resolution (I have a 512mb memory card since the resulting photos do take up quite a bit of room) and always use Canon paper - tried Kodak paper once and the results weren't nearly as nice.

I even took my memory card to WalMart to try their printing services and their printed photos looked like crap compared to the ones we print on our own.

[alkagift]

Rachel,
If you have time, this is a fabulous review site: The site is in the UK which has a 6-month lag on the newest models available here, but the reviews are very detailed!

www.dpreview.com


Allison
Mommy to Matthew, who is TWO!

[BillK]

http://www.steves-digicams.com/ is also a good site for reviews.

[Lynnie]

thanks !!

is there a delay on the shutter with your canon ? I have an old canon something or other and it takes for friggin ever to take a picture. i press the button, and then five seconds later (ok maybe 2-3) after my kids have stopped doing whatever it is i wanted a picture of, it takes a picture of the side of their head or something. it is powershot maybe, or s-something or other, or digital elph maybe ?? but it has scared me off canons a little.

[BillK]

Most likely it's the "red eye reduction" feature - it tosses out a lil flash for a second before actually taking the picture to dilate the subjects pupils so they don't have big giant red eyes. Lots of folks don't like how there's that delay - but you should be able to turn that feature off on the Canon - or any other camera for that matter.

[pl71]

I just bought a new camera. I went with the Canon Powershot SD500 ELPH. It's 7.1 megapixel, the newest ELPH. I wanted a high resolution camera with low shutter delay. I considered the Rebel, which is a great camera, but that camera has a lot of settings I have no desire to figure out, so I figured why pay for things I won't use. I wanted something simple, a point and shoot that gives good photos. Since I didn't want the ability to do manual settings or use external lenses, a very compact camera seemed like a good choice. This one is easy to slip in a purse, pocket or diaper bag. It allows you to record short videos, has scene selections where it provides you with the optimal settings for fireworks, beaches, kids that move around a lot, etc. It also allows for continuous shooting of 2 pictures per second, so you can use that setting if you know you don't have time to wait. I've been having lots of fun with my new toy, and it takes what I think are good photos.

Our previous camera was a Canon Powershot A20 2.1 megapixel. We liked it, but the resolution was limiting for large prints and I hated the delay. The new camera still has a delay when it's not in continuous shoot mode, but the delay when I compared them side by side is about half as long as my old camera. Plus the camera size decreased from 5x3 to 4x2, but the viewing screen increased from 1.5x1 to 2.5x1.5. Since we liked and understood the operation of Canon cameras, we wanted to stick to the Canon line.

While I'm happy with the Canon SD500, it depends on what types of features you want and the price range you're in (so like strollers!)

Patty
DS Owen 4-10-03
Ryan 5-25-05

[Rachels]

Ugh. I like what I'm hearing and reading about the Canon PowerShot, but so far I've counted 17 models of the A-series and 25 models of the s-series. This is worse than trying to select a SnugRide! Somebody needs to design a camera-chooser website where you answer questions about what you want and come out with something less than thirty recommendations. Oy.

-Rachel
Mom to Abigail Rose
5/18/02
New baby coming in October!
(Holy smokes, it's a boy!!!)


"When you know better, you do better."
Maya Angelou
http://www.gynosaur.com/assets/ribbons/ribbon_amethyst_36m.gif
Nursed for three years!

[BillK]

Tell me what you want Rachel - I'm great at spending other people's money - just ask my friends! :-)

[Rachels]

Lol. Okay. Off the top of my head, I want something easy to use where I can customize settings. Chances are that once I get it set up, I'll just leave it that way for the most part, but I want to be able to do stuff like reduce the delay time. I also want to be able to read the manual and feel like I have some idea how to use the camera-- I don't want anything you need an advanced engineering degree to figure out. I want something with either AA batteries or long-lasting lithiums so that I can count on it holding out for more than an hour. I frequently crop and enlarge photos, so I want something with really good resolution that will allow me to do that and still get good pics. My DH takes a lot of architectural photos, so we definitely need telephoto options and maybe even wide screen options. It also needs to take good indoor pics. I'm used to having a heavy camera, but I'd love it if it's reasonably portable so that it's not a pain to lug around when we go places. Hmm. Those are my main things, I think. I tend to take and store lots of pictures when we're on vacations, but that's more of a photo card thing. And we'd like to not break the bank entirely. :)

-Rachel
Mom to Abigail Rose
5/18/02
New baby coming in October!
(Holy smokes, it's a boy!!!)


"When you know better, you do better."
Maya Angelou
http://www.gynosaur.com/assets/ribbons/ribbon_amethyst_36m.gif
Nursed for three years!

[BillK]

http://www.steves-digicams.com/2004_reviews/s60.html for a good review.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=331593&is=REG&addedTroughType=categoryNavigation for a good price.

Really if you want a somewhat small camera that still has a decent "heft" to it so you can hold it steady, with decent battery life (I have 2 batteries so I'm never stuck - and I highly recommend buying a second battery regardless of what camera you get) that enables you to make lots of setup changes if you're so inclined (but still has a bunch of built in automatic modes) - the better Canon's are the ticket. Seriously check out the S60 (or S70 if don't mind spending a little more for a 7mp camera) - I think you'd be pretty happy with either one.

Personally I'd love to get a Rebel XT but convincing the wife we need a Digitial SLR hot on the heels of our new hdtv is gonna be kind of tough. :)

[ellies mom]

Canon just came out with the Powershot S2IS. It has a 12x optical zoom with image stablization and 5 megapixels. It is $500. Although Dell seems to be offering an instant rebate. It is my next camera (although not until spring time :( ).

Here is a very through review of it. The website itself was suggested by a PP.

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canons2is/

[ellies mom]

<<<Personally I'd love to get a Rebel XT but convincing the wife we need a Digitial SLR hot on the heels of our new hdtv is gonna be kind of tough.>>>

Why? That seems pretty reasonable to me. ;)

[BillK]

><<<Personally I'd love to get a Rebel XT but convincing the
>wife we need a Digitial SLR hot on the heels of our new hdtv
>is gonna be kind of tough.>>>
>
>Why? That seems pretty reasonable to me. ;)
>
>
I can think of about 3500 reasons. ;)

[heatherlynn]

I was going to get this one, but decided on the Canon A95, since it was $200 cheaper and the A95 was good enough for what I take pictures of. So far, I'm loving the A95. The pics are turning out great! Also, the dpreview.com site is fantastic, as others have mentioned.

H-
Heather
dd 3/98
ds 8/04
and #3 edd 11/05 (it's a girl!)