[Reset]

hey guys i was wondering if anyone has or can recommend a digital camera for me? I really want to get one. I want it to be as small as possible, and take good quality pictures. It would be GREAT if it could take action photos (like without delay and without blurring).

I wanna get it for as cheap as possible, and I don't wanna spend more than 200 or 300 dollars.. so what do you guys have?

[JASonic]

FinePix S5200 by Fuji. Its easy to use and I like the picture quality. Im not sure on the price though....

[Youngin]

600$ Powershot lol

the exilims are pretty cheap

[B0B]

my olympus is pretty sweet. waterproof and small. 300 out the door with a 2GB card and a leather case

[Youngin]

i gave away my cameras .. i dont see a point of a camera and a camera phone lol

[Reset]

Originally Posted by Youngin i gave away my cameras .. i dont see a point of a camera and a camera phone lol

quality on phones is shit are u serious (i dont care if it says 1280 resolution.. have u seen the final picture.. flash is shit and quality is terrible)?

Also, i want the camera to have video capabilities and be as small as possible (i wanna fit it in my pocket)

[TheUNZippee!]

I have just bought a new Canon 8.0 mp S5 IS with 12x optical zoom, and up to 48x combined zoom.

Has a cool flip around 2.5" lcd display.

It has excellent video quality, and even records sound in stereo.

All the pictures I've taken here recently have been with that camera, and I absolutely love it. Highly recommended.


The camera. (shot with my old fuji)






The first shot I took with the S5:

[Reset]

okay i found a sick site (www.dpreview.com) and it has reviews and stuff of a ton of digital cameras.

I searched for one that fit some criteria and found this-
The nikon S510
Nikon Coolpix S510 digital camera specifications: Digital Photography Review


Anyone have this camera or a similar one? Any comments on it?

[TheUNZippee!]

For another hundred bucks, you could have the S5 IS, which is 10 times the camera that one is.

[Reset]

ok forget that one haha.

i am lookin at 2 different ones now.. both cannons

Here's a side-by-side comparison
Digital Cameras Side-by-Side, 2 cameras: Digital Photography Review

it seems like SD1000 is about 370 dollars (compared to the 180 dollars for a SD950 IS) for almost the exact same thing. The only advantages it has better image quality (4000x3000 versus 3072x2304), a little farther zoom, image stabilization (shit i just realized this.. i think is this important.. am i right?), a little faster shutter, and higher video quality.
Disadvantages- Bigger (3.8" H x 2.4"W x 1.1"D vs 3.4"H x 2.1"W x 0.8"D), almost twice the price.

How important is image stabilization?

[Reset]

Originally Posted by TheUNZippee! For another hundred bucks, you could have the S5 IS, which is 10 times the camera that one is.

i want something that will fit in my pocket, because i'm not a girl with a purse and i dont wanna carry a camera everywhere, i want it to fit in a pocket.

[TheUNZippee!]

*goes to read comparison*

Image stabilization is very important. Think about this. If you've looked at my picture thread at all, then know that 90% of the pictures put up in there were shot with me holding the big camera in one hand, while steering a bouncing Mack truck down the road at 65 mph. And look how clear the pictures are. What my camera can do when you hold it nice and still can be seen in that shot of the Red Bull can I put up there^.

[TheUNZippee!]

Okay that sd950 seems like a decent unit. 12 mp will make nice beautiful pictures. Just remember one ting about the zoom, if zoom is important to you:

Optical zoom is the important number to look at. That's the number that indicates how much zoom is created by actual lens movement.

Digital zoom zooms in through computer manipulation of the image, and when used starts to make a grainy picture, more so the more digital zoom you use.

So if you're going to take a lot of pictures of scenery or things you will find zoom important for, you want a higher optical zoom number.

[Reset]

Originally Posted by TheUNZippee! *goes to read comparison* Image stabilization is very important. Think about this. If you've looked at my picture thread at all, then know that 90% of the pictures put up in there were shot with me holding the big camera in one hand, while steering a bouncing Mack truck down the road at 65 mph. And look how clear the pictures are. What my camera can do when you hold it nice and still can be seen in that shot of the Red Bull can I put up there^.

yeah, thats the one thing that could make me spend an extra 190 dollars for that one.

[TheUNZippee!]

It is completely worth it. I would never buy a camera without it again.

Our daughter has a little Panasonic 6mp Lumix, and it has the first gen optical image stabilization (Panasonic pioneered the technology), and as soon as I saw what it could do I knew I had to have that in my next camera.

[Reset]

so optical zoom is the T and W on those charts right? the 2 before digital zoom..

And so digital zoom is unimportant?

here's my new comparison.. its between all the ultra compact powershots with IS.
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/compare_post.asp?method=sidebyside&cameras=canon_s d800is%2Ccanon_sd850is%2Ccanon_sd870is%2Ccanon_sd9 50is&show=all

[Reset]

i think i'm going to get the Canon PowerShot SD850 IS.. its got 8 million pixels, the best zoom of the 4, and time lapse (which i think is really cool).. its only like $260 as well.

The 1/1600 max shutter will be good for gettin action shots of sports and stuff right?

[TheUNZippee!]

No W & T are the zoom level, the number in mm telling you the 35mm equivalent of zoom.
W is the number with no zoom, and the T is the number with it fully zoomed.

Digital zoom can come in handy, and on better cameras used correctly will still produce a decent image. But the images produced by using a lot of digital zoom will be noisy, or grainy.

Basic zoom numbers work like this:

Optical zoom is the amount of zoom achieved by actual lens movement.

Digital zoom is the amount of zoom achieved through digital manipulation of the image. (don't ask me how lol)

Total zoom is optical zoom x digital zoom.

So if you have a camera with 12x optical & 4x digital, you have 48x total zoom.

But as I said, optical zoom is what you want. The difference between 3x and say, 6x optical zoom is huge. The 12x on mine is incredible. If you want to see it in action, just go down to your local store wherever you will be buying, and have them show you different cameras with different zoom. Looking through the viewfinder or at the display will tell you the story as soon as you see it.

[Reset]

ok yeah the 850 SI has 4.0x optical zoom... and thats the best of the 4.

[TheUNZippee!]

Originally Posted by Reset i think i'm going to get the Canon PowerShot SD850 IS.. its got 8 million pixels, the best zoom of the 4, and time lapse (which i think is really cool).. its only like $260 as well. The 1/1600 max shutter will be good for gettin action shots of sports and stuff right?

ISO is the measurement of how sensitive a digital camera's sensor is to light. The speed or light-sensitivity of a digital camera's sensor is rated in ISO numbers - the lower the number, the slower the response to light.
Higher ISO numbers indicate a higher sensitivity to light, so less time is needed to expose a picture. Most digital cameras let you control the ISO setting to allow the use of higher shutter speeds and/or smaller apertures, according to circumstances.

Many digital cameras offer high ISO settings (e.g. 1600, 2000, 3200, even up to 6400!) While this allows photos to be taken in low light, you will generally find that the higher the ISO setting, the noisier your image will –- depending on how much noise there is, it might look like your photo is covered in a layer of sand (that would mean a lot of noise).

Unless you really need to use an ISO of 1600 or more to capture your subject, I’d stick to the lower end of the spectrum -- hesitant to go higher than ISO 800.

I quoted that from a website as it explains it better than I can.