Buying a Digital Camera

Post by **enderzero** » Thu Jul 31, 2003 2:54 am

I'm gonna buy a damn digital camera! I am pulling my hair out at the decision though. Originally I was waiting and waiting for the Nikon SQ to come out...but now it is out and I am unimpressed. It is much larger than I thought it would be, and for the price ($385 - newegg) I can get something better.

So the main challenger is the Canon S400. This baby is awesome! Perfect 10 from Maximum PC. 4 megapixel, 3X zoom, tons of features, ultra small, compact flash (cheapest), great reviews everywhere.

But at $445 it is a little much, and when you add in the extra battery, memory, etc we are looking at nearly $600.

The Minolta DiMage XT is the front runner for the low cost option. At $349, it's 3.2 megapixel CCD would probably be fine. It isn't quite as loaded with features, but it does have a really slim body and an innovative design to house the 3X zoom. It doesn't have the cool long shot features (Canon can open up to 15 secs!) but this thing is tiny, and would probably be good enough for my main web usage. It takes the lamer, more expensive SD memory.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaargh.

The decisions! Any input?

Goemon · Post by **Goemon** » Thu Jul 31, 2003 5:01 pm

I'm in the market too, but I haven't started looking yet. I think you've seen the tiny, slim Casio I bought over a year ago (which is good for parties and carrying everywhere). But the picture quality is shit. Good for emails, but that's about it. They have a new model (the Z3) out which goes up to 3.2 megapixels and has 3X zoom while maintaining the same tiny size; I was thinking about showing a little brand loyalty and get that one:

That Minolta one you posted looks like it might be a contender though. Tiny!

Ocean11 · Post by **Ocean11** » Thu Jul 31, 2003 6:58 pm

That Canon looks to be the successor to the IXY / IXUS range. I have one of the original IXY cameras, and it's excellent - good pictures, small, rugged, easy to use.

Pentax are heavily advertising a new small camera on Japanese TV with a really crap ad. The camera looks good though.

Post by **enderzero** » Thu Jul 31, 2003 7:20 pm

Yeah it is the new IXUS. IXUS is the european/asian market name. Here we get the ELPH

Golly gee this is a tough decision. I am leaning towards just getting the Canon and not looking back. But for some reason I am hesitating.

Ocean11 · Post by **Ocean11** » Thu Jul 31, 2003 7:52 pm

http://www.pentax.co.jp/japan/index.html

If you click on the Optio S ad in the top right, you can check out the little wonder from Pentax (in Japanese - you're alright with that eh 3?). You can even watch the crappy TV ads with the sweaty old molishers enjoying their cameras.

I wonder what the overseas name for the camera is... After all, Optio S is so Japanese sounding, they would need something different.

spidermonkey · Post by **spidermonkey** » Thu Jul 31, 2003 8:00 pm

this doesn't really help ender to decide on a camera but...
Does anyone remember the japanese commercial a few years ago where there's a couple walking along and they see this cat wearing a suit. While the guy's fumbling for his oversized, old camera, the girl pulls out her pocket-sized, cool new camera. Then the commercial ends with the girl and cat rolling down a grassy hill. There were 2 or 3 versions of this...
That was a really good commercial.

Post by **enderzero** » Thu Jul 31, 2003 9:37 pm

Damnit! Damn it all! Now I have 2 new cameras to add to my stress of choosing.

The Pentax in America is called the Optio S. Here is the site: http://pentax.com/products/cameras/came ... ctid=18263

And the Casio Exilim EX-Z3 looks good (and remarkably similar) too:
http://exilim.casio.com/z3model.htm

BTW http://dpreview.com has gotta be the best digicam resource on the net.

Arrrgh! the 3 small cameras are all less than $400. I think I should just buy the Canon so I can avoid choosing between the other 3.

Goemon · Post by **Goemon** » Tue Aug 26, 2003 5:47 pm

Soooo, I ended up getting the Casio Exilim Z-3 last weekend

; so far I am very pleased with the performance and features. Still playing around with it though; I'll try to post some sample shots from the Samba parade this weekend (assuming the weather is OK).

Post by **enderzero** » Tue Aug 26, 2003 7:41 pm

DAMN IT DAMN IT DAMN IT!!! I need to order the the damn camera tonight.

The prices are down...

Canon S400 $438
Minolta DiMage $304
Casio EX-Z3 $375

Aw shit!!! I guess i will just get the Canon...but damn $300 for the Minolta is a pretty damn good deal.

What'd you pay for the Casio Goe-Man?

Goemon · Post by **Goemon** » Tue Aug 26, 2003 8:48 pm

I forked over about $400

and added another 5% on top o' dat for a 5 year warranty. Kills me how electronics in Japan are more expensive than in the US. Luckily the Coin Jar picked up the bill; I finally cashed in the change in my lovely Coin Jar last week and walked out of the bank a much wealthier man.

Post by **enderzero** » Wed Aug 27, 2003 3:24 am

FINALLY!!! I did it - I bought the Canon.

Man I thought about that one a long time.

SpeedCricket · Post by **SpeedCricket** » Wed Aug 27, 2003 3:45 pm

Post by **enderzero** » Tue Jul 13, 2004 11:41 am

Pulled this one out of the vault for McNevin since he mentioned wanting a camera. Boy I was high strung back then.

The Canon S400 has been replaced with the S410 although I don't know what the difference is. The S410 can be bought at newegg for $350.

The S500 is also available now. It is a 5 Megapixel version of the same camera. It sells for $435 at Newegg.

At $350 the 4MP Nikon CoolPix 4300 isn't a bad little camera either. The 5.1MP 5200 sells for $405.

Of course if you are cool with Sony Memory Sticks there is the hot little bad boy 5MP Sony T1.

You might be able to find that for as low as $450. But watch the warranty.

Has anyone seen this yet?

Samsung Duo Cam

Samsung has made a Digital Video camera with a digicam built in. They have seperate lenses and CCDs. Cool.

McNevin · Post by **McNevin** » Tue Jul 13, 2004 11:50 am

Wow you wanted that camera! Hey thanks for the info.

R3C · Post by **R3C** » Tue Jul 13, 2004 12:31 pm

That sounds like an excellent commercial. I'd like to have a copy of it.

McNevin · Post by **McNevin** » Tue Feb 01, 2005 12:46 pm

Okay they have the SONY, DSCP73 on sale at frys. $199 for 4.1 Megapix.

Now what is this Sony memory you speak of? If I were to buy a Cam now instead of 6 months ago, would you still recomend the S410?

McNevin · Post by **McNevin** » Tue Feb 01, 2005 1:02 pm

Fuq Memory Stick...

I think im sold on this one:

Canon Power Shot A85 4.0 MegaPixel Digital Camera. 1.6-in. LCD, 3x optical & 3.6x digital zoom.

Post by **enderzero** » Tue Feb 01, 2005 5:49 pm

Link to dpreview (by far teh best dp site)

Canon PowerShot A520
Tuesday, 1 February 2005 11:05 GMT
Hot on the heels of the A75's replacement, the A510 is the A85's replacement announced today, the new A520. The changes are essentially identical; its size and weight (it's 13% smaller and 20% ligher), the inclusion of a new four times optical zoom lens (the A75 had a three times), zoom linked flash, a shift from Compact Flash to SD card for storage and a drop two two AA batteries from four.

Wow, 4X optical zoom is awesome. The A85 is definitely a great camera though and the release of the A520 will mean the price of the A85 should definitely come down. You might want to watch the sales for the next couple weeks and see what happens. How cheap have you seen the A85?

You asked if I would still recommend the S410 6 months later. It is still a great camera but my favorite pocket camera on the market right now is the SD300 which is a smaller more advanced version of the S410. Think of it to the S410 as the A520 is to the A85 (but without the very handsome 4X optical).

Need more specifics?

Bill Drayton Jr. · Post by **Bill Drayton Jr.** » Tue Feb 01, 2005 9:07 pm

I've really only looked at Sony and Canon.

Sony advertises that they have the Carl Ziess lenses in them but when I went and compared the photos taken by both cameras the Sony's actually looked a tad blurry in comparison to Canon despite the great reputation that Zeiss optics I've heard are supposed to have.

I also didn't like the memory stick option...but the blurriness was the main reason I didn't go with any of the Sony DSCs.

So going with Canon I considered the A85, A95, S500, which all seemed like really cool cameras but the S70 was just too cool considering it has an effective 7.1 mega pixels of storage. The could have actually advertised it was a 7.4 mega pixel cam though but the effective pixels is what matters. Also it was on sale at Best Buy for $404 so that did it for me.

I didn't realize how cool it was to have that high of a resolution until I started screwing around in Photoshop and got to really see how much detail was actually captured. I used to think you didn't need more than 1600x1200 but now I totally think 3072x2304 is way worth it - because there is just so much more detail. Especially when you do close ups - the detail really really comes through it's like looking through a magnifying glass.

Anyway, the S70 has some cool features like manual focus, time lapse settings, 3.6 optical zoom, infrared remote(extra$), 28-100mm lens...and the usual Canon stuff. Movies can be up to 3 minutes with audio at 320x240. It does 640x480 for 30 seconds too but I think any of the newer powershots all do this.

I've also compared the pictures between the S70 and the Canon 300D (digital SLR camera) and the only difference I could really see was that the 300D really let a lot more light in which made the pictures brighter but then again that makes sense considering its an SLR and is $1000 so...

The things I don't like about the S70 are that the battery life is not that great though and the optical view finder would have been cool if you could use that for manual focusing instead of a zoomed in section of the LCD that is hard to really tell when you are in focus but you can still do a pretty decent job.

I actually think it would be cooler to be able to use regular AA or AAA batteries instead of $20 Li-ion in case you didn't have access to a AC outlet or cigarette lighter.

So those are my thoughts...The A85 is probably the best value although the A95 would be cool too because its 5.0 mp over the 4.0 in the 85.

But if I were to get another camera what I would REALLY like to buy is an updated version of the Canon S1 is - that thing would be totally cool...The only problem I have with it is that it is 3.2 megapixel so if they doubled that to 6.4 I'd totally get that one because the IS stands for Image Stabilization so you don't have to hold the camera perfectly still when you take a picture since it will compensate for you. That would totally kick ass I think because pictures would be much less blurry...OH yeah and it has a 10x optical zoom...which means the lens is 38mm-380mm...Yeah! Oh and the LCD folds out so you could point the camera towards you and flip the LCD around so you could see what it was looking at - cool for taking portraits you know... It also uses regular batteries...You can actually get an S1is for about $350...So if 3.2mp is good enough for you I would get totally go with this one. Oh one more thing - the image quality could be a bit better. I don't think it is as clear as any of the other Canons I mentioned...SO yeah...Canon should fix that problem with the next S1 is - maybe they could call it the S2 is or something...

McNevin · Post by **McNevin** » Tue Feb 01, 2005 10:45 pm

Wow Rick... thats awesome. Thank you so much.

So I spent all day camera shopping, and I have decided to wait. As of right now, I have changed my mind, and want the A95 instead.

The A520 is nice, I would actually prefer that one, unfortunatly it doesnt come out until march 20th. Thats a little to long to wait!

Argh... I want the A520 now! Well the A95 is everything I wanted in a digicam, except the Wideangle, its 38mm...

So basically, I'm waiting for the A95 to drop below 300$

Post by **enderzero** » Wed Feb 09, 2005 9:32 am

So where are you on this McNev? You still waiting on the A95?

McNevin · Post by **McNevin** » Wed Feb 09, 2005 12:59 pm

I'm a little dissapointed in the A95, call me crazy but I think I will wait for the a520. Best buy had the A510, almost a month before it was supposed to come out, so hopefully the a520 will be out soon.

I'd like an a530, but being that its not even announced yet, it might take a while.

R3C · Post by **R3C** » Wed Feb 09, 2005 1:12 pm

You should get the one that Ivan just got. Don't know what the model number is. Perhaps Rixler could fill in the details...

McNevin · Post by **McNevin** » Wed Feb 09, 2005 1:14 pm

I dont think I could afford that one

Bill Drayton Jr. · Post by **Bill Drayton Jr.** » Wed Feb 09, 2005 7:09 pm

Ivan actually has two...he is going to sell is 300D...probably for $800 i'd bet though...

McNevin · Post by **McNevin** » Wed Feb 09, 2005 7:10 pm

What is his other camera?

Bill Drayton Jr. · Post by **Bill Drayton Jr.** » Wed Feb 09, 2005 7:12 pm

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/specs/C ... os300d.asp

Post by **enderzero** » Thu Feb 10, 2005 9:15 am

If you are going to buy a Digi-SLR today then it is all about the Canon 20D (review).

But I am waiting and hoping that Nikon releases a follow up to their D100 in the $1000-$1200 before the end of Summer. Here is a great site by a real Nikon Expert.

Bill Drayton Jr. · Post by **Bill Drayton Jr.** » Sat Feb 12, 2005 3:36 pm

The 20D is what Ivan upgraded to.

McNevin · Post by **McNevin** » Tue Mar 15, 2005 2:06 am

So i bought a Canon A520 4 mega pixel camera.

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/specs/C ... n_a520.asp

300 shipped from new egg... its on its way. It is in Los Angeles as of midnight.

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Buying a Digital Camera

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