Need help with picking a camerca

[Indigo]

HI TF'ers

Well... I'm quite newb at this "technology" stuff I'm thinking to get a camera for my CP or maybe other purpose. so anyway, can anyone tell me what should I look for when buying camera? like brand, mega pixel, and other stuff and suggestion The budget should be around 300 XD


thanks in advance

Indigo

 

[Ngantnier]

Buy one of the canon powershot cameras with image stabilization. They're awesome! I have the powershot sd570 is which is like three years old, and I still love it.

 

[Indigo]

Buy one of the canon powershot cameras with image stabilization. They're awesome! I have the powershot sd570 is which is like three years old, and I still love it.

I loooked it up its nice I Will keep this in mind.

Anyone got more suggestion? I wanna compare

 

[cmm889]

I also recommend the canon powershop series. Very good for point and shoot.

although I shoot a canon 50d

 

[swords]

Last summer I bought a Fuji Finepix J20 (10 Megapixels) which is very easy to use, has image stabilization and a one touch macro (close up/detail) feature. It's got a large LCD and a minimal button layout for quick "turn on and shoot" use but you can delve into the onscreen menus and manually adjust things if you want to. I previously had a Nikon Coolpix 5700 for about 10 years or so which was a chore to setup and then maybe I'd get a good shot if I was using a tripod. Forget about hand held and usually even tripod shots with it were still blurry... I hated that thing after I got it and it was crazy expensive. My new Fuji was 10% of the price of the Nikon and I love it 100% more. The new Fuji can also shoot up to two 45 minute movies on one 8 GB memory card.

Your best bet is to go to a store and just play around and find a camera that is intuitive for YOU to use. Glowing reviews from others doesn't matter as much as usability to you specifically cos you're the one who'll be using it. Get out there and play with a bunch of different ones, taking note of the brand name and model number. Then come home and look up the models you liked online and see what the reviews say about them. I bought my Nikon Coolpix 5700 going on only the glowing reviews I read, had I gone and played with it at the store I probably would have said "screw this thing"! lol

 

[Ngantnier]

What swords says is very true. Though I still recomend you at least try out the cannons

 

[theyellowdart]

The most important thing I learned through my camera research was that megapixels really don't mean jack if you aren't going to be making large prints or viewing your images in large sizes. If you're only going to be viewing/sending your pictures on the computer or making normal, small size prints don't spend extra money on more megapixels, which are often used as the selling point for digital cameras. For the average person, the difference between a 5 and 15 mp camera will be unnoticeable.

Instead, base your choice off of brand/lens quality. In my opinion, the best point and shoot lenses come from Nikon and Canon; but they are also usually the most expensive.

I recommend reading reviews. This should help.

Good luck!

 

[Tropics]

The first decision is the size of the camera you want. If it's big, you can't carry it in your pocket unless the pocket is unusually large, so you can take photos only when you intentionally decide that you want to take photos. Then if you want to do something else, the camera gets in the way. If the camera is small, you can carry it in your pocket anytime -- even when you don't intend to take photos, and if you happen to see a nice shot, you can take the photo. A lot of small cameras are now packed with features.

 

[swords]

I'll second the camera size issue. My old Nikon was big and clunky weighed at least 1lb my new Fuji is the size of a credit card and maybe 4 oz. Seems to make a big difference in being able to hold and hand shoot clear images.

 

[raccoon city]

I tend to read reviews in Consumer Reports before I buy anything. They most recently covered digital cameras in their July, September, and December 2009 issues. You may have to check with your local library for access.

Online, there's a website called consumersearch.com. They take into consideration many different sources, including some of my favorites: cnet.com, Consumer Reports, and amazon.com. Here's a link to their digital camera page:
http://www.consumersearch.com/cameras

Once you have an idea of which camera you want, I also suggest reading the user reviews available on amazon and cnet. While the user reviews are mostly by amateurs, I have learned a lot from these amateur reviews.

 

[Zero]

I vote for Canon.
Both my point and shoot and slr are Canons.
I don't have the image stabilization on either so I have to use a tripod a lot.
Def check out amazon for reviews and pics
also this is a good website with very in depth reviews
http://www.dpreview.com/

 

[uphwiz]

i have the cannon sx10 is and it does very well for me (is it ok to name model#s here)
This is at the long focus 20Xoptical,and hand held it has a few more zoom but at digital,

.
and this is about what i can do with it at macro focus and about 9 inches out from plant, also hand held, it does have super macro but i am still learning.
.........

 

[Indigo]

After like a month and half of searching.... and saving ... I finally picked Nikon S8000 Can't wait to bring it home this weekend

edit:

I can't make up my mind... I need help

Which one is better Help me pick

$299.95 Nikon coolpix S8000

$349.99 Canon powershot SX210

I really don't know which one to buy... The canon SX210 have more feature to it. But my friends keep telling me to buy Nikon S8000

Their comment: "Nikon is a better brand" " The memory stick for Nikon is cheaper and Canon memory stick cost double as much"

And I personally really like the design of Nikon S8000. The Canon design doesn't look too hot..

And Nikon one seems to have better focus on Macro shots, They pretty much the same. except for canon 50$ expensiver and 50 more shots. and with Miniature effect and fisheyes effect that really attracted me so much

If I can;t make up my mind until this weekend. Imma pick the Nikon one just for fun as a beginner photographer

Indigo

 

[Nep Lover]

not sure if you got ours yet, but i went with the Nikon coolpix P90, it works great for me and the macro setting is actually very nice for a point and shoot. I think i got mike off amazon for almost 300 more or less, I know a bit on the pricey side but it does what i want and it does it well. There are mostly good reviews on amazon, just thought i would say i had great success with mine so far

Good luck

 

[Zero]

canon has more manual settings.
they both look great.

 

[Neps_N_Things]

Not to confuse you even more but you might look at the Panasonic ZS3. It's supposed to be an excellent, versitile camera. It should serve you well for everything from macro to long distance shots and it's been reviewed many many times with all the reviews saying positive things. Anyway the best thing about this one is that the ZS7 is about to come out so the ZS3 is under $250 right now which really can't be beat for the quality of the camera. The ZS7 that's coming out might be good too but will be $400 so it's probably out of your price range. Plus the production models haven't been tested yet and the pre production model images aren't looking as good as the ZS3's so far.