I know this is not a gadgets blog, but...
I know this is not a gadgets blog by any stretch of the imagination (I'm way to techno-illiterate to ever consider talking about those types of thingamajigs!), but I thought I'd ask for some advice. As mentioned in the comments here my digital camera is dying and in need of replacement.
I've given up on buying refurbished models on eBay and am wanting to go with something better in the hopes it might last me two years or so this time without being prone to fits and starts like my current model. I need to buy it before the end of the year (Can anyone say "end-of-the-year-business-expense?" Oh the perks of owning your own business!), I don't want to spend much more than $400 (Is that a reasonable amount? Anything much more than that sounds really exhorbitant to me, but what do I know?), and I basically only use my camera for taking pictures to post online (blog/website).
Any suggestions from you photography-savvy people? Where should I buy it (online or in a retail store)? When should I buy it (any good sales in the next three weeks)? What should I buy? I know nothing about this type of stuff and don't want to make an unwise decision. Thanks for your help.
I've given up on buying refurbished models on eBay and am wanting to go with something better in the hopes it might last me two years or so this time without being prone to fits and starts like my current model. I need to buy it before the end of the year (Can anyone say "end-of-the-year-business-expense?" Oh the perks of owning your own business!), I don't want to spend much more than $400 (Is that a reasonable amount? Anything much more than that sounds really exhorbitant to me, but what do I know?), and I basically only use my camera for taking pictures to post online (blog/website).
Any suggestions from you photography-savvy people? Where should I buy it (online or in a retail store)? When should I buy it (any good sales in the next three weeks)? What should I buy? I know nothing about this type of stuff and don't want to make an unwise decision. Thanks for your help.
posted by Crystal Paine at 7:58 AM
32 Comments:
Crystal, I don't know much about technology either, but I've heard my husband recommend this very good review site to people wishing to purchase digital cameras:
Steve's Digicams.
Melissa
We love our Sony cybershot digital camera! We buy online b/c it saves us tax that we'd pay in the store and b/c of the price, shipping is usually free! Here's a website you might be interested in to check out the cybershot 6.0 plus other sony models, depending on your photo taking needs.
http://www.learningcenter.sony.us/assets/di/cameras/muse/index.html?DCMP=DSC_Corp_Google&HQS=sony_digital_camera
I want to say we purchased ours through Amazon.com, but I would have to ask my husband b/c he took care of all the buying......hope this helps some! Good luck camera shopping!
Heather in pa
Crystal-
I don't know how much this will help. My husband bought me a digital camera when my last baby was born. It is a Samsung Digimax A7 7 mega pixel with a 2" LCD screen. He bought it on sale at Target for $188. I love this camera. It is easy to use, has a lot of options, works after being dropped multiple times. The pictures print very clearly as well, even in 8x10 size. When the time comes for my next camera, I am definitely buying Samsung. I know you don't feel up to doing much, but I would highly recommend buying a camera from a store instead of online. Just in case you ever need to know, if pictures are accidently deleted from your memory card, it is possible to retreive them as long as you do not take any pics after the deletion. This happened to us with hospital birth photos. Anyways, visit epinions.com to read customer reviews of cameras you are considering. Good luck!
I have heard awesome things about Nikon and Canon. The Canon has the Powershot-quite a few different models-just go to their website and check them out. If you're looking for something with more options then go for Nikon. Canon is usually more reasonably priced though. You can also sometimes get a better deal if you go to an actual photography store. Hope this helps :)
I'm going to suggest posts on cameras here(camerajim is one poster that comes to mind that welcomes emails):
photos/HTML eBay Discussion Board
You can also check out the reviews and guides shared by folks "supposedly in the know" here(scroll down for the categories):
eBay Reviews and Guides
I'm going to suggest posts on cameras here(camerajim is one poster that comes to mind that welcomes emails):
photos/HTML eBay Discussion Board
You can also check out the reviews and guides shared by folks "supposedly in the know" here(scroll down for the categories):
eBay Reviews and Guides
Okay, I may as well jump in with another option. My husband and I have both been buying and using camera for many years, have had and worn out one digital and now have a digital SLR (definitely worth it for us) In all our camera, the best we have found, in both film and digital have been Canon. Our first digtial was a Powershot A40 which we used for about 3.5 years before the resolution began to die. We have had the SLR for almost two years and have never had a single problem (as it was with the first camera - the camera basically wore out, rather than had technical or mechanical problems)
The size of the LCD doesn't matter. You are better off to use the view finder anyway and keep the LCD turned off - uses less battery life and the view finder is also a better indicator of what the picture will look like.
Some places to look online for a new camera....
Amazon.com
Buy.com
We bought our SLR at buy.com. The service was good, we never had a problem with them. We have bought a digital camcorder from Amazon and the same could be said for them. (both are Canon)
I'm going to suggest posts on cameras here(camerajim is one poster that comes to mind that welcomes emails):
photos/HTML eBay Discussion Board
You can also check out the reviews and guides shared by folks "supposedly in the know" here(scroll down for the categories):
eBay Reviews and Guides
I've found Steve's Digicams a very useful resource too!
I have a Canon PowerShot A520 and I really like it. I haven't had any problems with it in the past 18 months that I've owned it, and it takes great pictures. A friend of mine has the newer model, a Canon PowerShot A640 and it seems like a great camera that you can get that one for under $400. One thing that's cool with my camera is that even though it's a point-and-shoot, you can buy lenses and filters to fit on it. You can also buy a case to make it underwater-proof. Of course all that is a bit excessive unless you're planning a diving trip. :-)
Let us know what camera you end up with!
Hi Crystal,
My Husband is the type of person who only likes buying the absolute best. He usually does alot of research and finds out what's the best and the best price and so I reccamend our camera that we've had for about 9 months, the Canon powershot s2 15. Here is a review I found for you so you and your husband can read about it. http://www.dpreview.com
/news/0504/05042201canons2is.aspI But I highly reccamend it and so does my husband who is vastly more knowledgeable than I am. I also found it amazon.com for $279.94 , though we bought through a websit called dealnews.com, they have the best deals on everything you can imagine posted there everyday. Though they currently don't have any Canon poweshots right now, it's a good place to check out too for other great deals.
Anyways, we paid a little less than $300 for ours. It's awesome, it takes incredible videos and the picture quality is unbelievable. I believe this is the best camera that you could buy. I encourage you to check out the review.
Merry Christmas!
Hi Crystal,
My Husband is the type of person who only likes buying the absolute best. He usually does alot of research and finds out what's the best and the best price and so I reccamend our camera that we've had for about 9 months, the Canon powershot s2 15. Here is a review I found for you so you and your husband can read about it. http://www.dpreview.com
/news/0504/05042201canons2is.asp
But I highly reccamend it and so does my husband who is vastly more knowledgeable than I am. I also found it amazon.com for $279.94 , though we bought through a websit called dealnews.com, they have the best deals on everything you can imagine posted there everyday. Though they currently don't have any Canon poweshots right now, it's a good place to check out too for other great deals.
Anyways, we paid a little less than $300 for ours. It's awesome, it takes incredible videos and the picture quality is unbelievable. I believe this is the best camera that you could buy. I encourage you to check out the review.
Merry Christmas!
Putting in a word for switching from film to digital photography:
We have used digital cameras for almost five years. We bought our first when our oldest son was a month old. With family members scattered all over the world, we needed a way to keep them up to date on our children without the delay of mail. Now, almost five years and 9885 photos later, I have to admit that not only has the digital camera become a very worthwhile purchase, but it has saved us probably thousands of dollars.
The 9885 photos I mentioned are those in our photo library that we have kept. This does not include the photos that didn't turn out - closed eyes, silly faces, too bright flash and so on. We delete the ones we don't like. And what is left adds up to 9885 photos. Work out how much that would cost in developing, buying film, photo albums to put them in ...... and I think we have saved a lot of money.
A rough estimate would go something like....(going by memory here - going back five years)
$8 for four pack of film
$6 to develop 24 photos
cost of batteries
= roughly $8 per roll of film developed
Now taking 9885 photos at $8/24 you have roughly 411 rolls of film .... @ $8 per roll = $3288
Subtract the cost of a good printer and photo paper and it still saves a ton of money. And remember, those figures are roughly done, and are rough estimates because there is no real way to figure in how many of the photos developed would have been thrown away - the 9885 photos in our library have already been sorted through, several times. We weeded out the rotten ones and all that's left are the good. Our camera also came with two battery packs and a charger so that cost is negligible. And with what we have saved, we could buy another camera, bigger and better than what we have and still come out better off. And we don't have to bother trying to put them in albums.
We love, love, love our Canon Powershot SD400 Digital Elph. Its the one in the comercial with the women at the restaurant where the lead singer of Aerosmith walks in, and the women freak out and destroy a whole table. Anyway, that's not why we bought it, lol.
It's small and slim, so it fits great into a pocket or purse, and it makes excellent images. We gave just under $400 for it a year and a half ago, so it's probably less by now.
Sears is a great place to buy anything because they will match sales prices on the exact same item if you bring in the circular from another store. They also have the Sears guarantee. Watch the papers...this is a great time to buy!
Ruth, PA
So sorry about the multiple posts...kept getting the page with the notice to type the correct word verification or a page telling me there was a problem connecting to the site. :-(
I love my Canon Powershot. The 5 megapixel is almost as good as the 7 megapixel. and you can get either for $250 or less...
You can even take good video if you have a big enough memory card.
Mary, mom to many
I can't help with the "what" or "when" questions, but I do know that Best Buy had a very reasonably priced warranty. I think for around $40 I got a 2 year warranty and with our little one being as technologically-curious as she is, we've used it several times. They'll even get you new batteries if yours die before the 2 years is up.
Crystal, we purchased a wonderful camera from http://www.bhphotovideo.com/ last winter. You could always look up the model and compare the prices. The site is for photographers, and we had a great experience with it.
Laura
I've had a Nikon Coolpix (can't remember the model, but it'll be different in stores now anyways) for over 3 years and it still works great. The only issue I have is that it'll need a new rechargeable battery soon, but it's pretty normal for rechargeables that get used a lot to wear out. It's 3 megapixel and has worked well for us.
One of the best ways to get a good deal is to figure out what model(s) you are interested in and do a search on froogle.com or shopping.yahoo.com. You can find the best price at a reputable dealer online and often save money.
Hello Crystal! I've done some with photography, and have enjoyed getting into doing portraits, a wedding, ect... I personally have a professional camera (way over your $400 mark!) But one of my favorite web pages to check out information on the latest digital cameras is:
http://www.dpreview.com/
They seem to have all the latest stuff, as well as users comments concerning what they like/dislike about any model of camera you could possible imagine! I hope this helps!
I don't know what you are taking pictures of but...
We have two digital cameras. One is a higher end, very expensive camera that we really like and one is a cheap little Kodak EasyShare which we LOVE. It is small, easy to take with us, cheap, and has worked wonderfully for 4 years now. We love our bigger camera but the EasyShare is the one we grab first unless my husband is trying to do something artsy.
The Kodak EasyShare goes for around $100, I think, and there are quite a few models to choose from.
The only issue I had with the EasyShare is the battery life. Mine takes two AA batteries and the camera seems to suck the life out of them. We solved this problem by getting rechargeables that were made for digital cameras. Rechargeables are much more expensive but we are no longer having to purchase batteries so they pay for themselves quickly.
Anyway, goodluck with your camera hunting!
Hey Crystal,
www.dpreview.com is a wonderful site where you can find details and comparisons for any digital camera. You have to know a little bit about what you want in order to use the site effectively. I would highly recommend checking there to help narrow down your search. Then once you have narrowed down your options to maybe 3 or so, type in the camera name/model into Google and see what kind of reviews you get!
Also, if you end up wanting a Kodak, you can buy refurbished s directly from them - you get the same warranty, etc. but for a much better price. And as I understand, they have repaired them etc, to make them essentially brand new. And often 'refurbished' cameras (purchased directly from the company-not ebay) are really "open box returns".
Hope this is helpful. I'm in the market for a digital SLR myself, and have found dpreview.com to be very helpful. (any tips anyone on where to buy a DSLR for a good price?)
Hi Crystal,
Walmart has good prices on digital cameras. I know their policies may not jive morally, but they did say "Merry Christmas" on TV the other day LOL!
We just bought a Canan Powershot A540 a couple months ago & love it. I'd recommend seeing how many megapixels you want & go from there. Also, some cameras can only use their brand name memory cards (Fuji & Sony). We ended up spending $275 for a 6 mp camera, 2 cards (500 mb ea), rechargable batteries, and camera case. Our camera has so many options, I know we won't use them all! We could have ordered online for about $10-15 cheaper, but since we live in a complex & many of our packages have been mis-delivered, we didn't want to risk it.
I definitely recommend epinions.com when you've narrowed it down to a couple cameras. Also, our Best Buy store employees were incredibly helpful and not pushy due to being non-commission. If you have a similar store nearby, it wouldn't hurt to window shop.
About Nikon vs. Canon: When I got married this summer, I asked my photographer about those brands. She said that Nikons are better for film, and Canons are better for digital.
Another site I would recommend for purchasing is NewEgg.com. I bought my memory cards for my camera from them, and they were so much cheaper than others I found online. (I have also shopped them for other things and I have always had a positive experience.) Right now, they have a Canon PowerShot A630 on sale for $260 and that includes a 1 GB memory card and a camera case.
I totally agree with anonymous...Sony cybershots are wonderful! The delay between pressing the button and the picture being taken is negligible (a problem with a lot of other digital cameras), quality is great, price is great, and it is easy to use w/your computer. (It also does not load your computer with a lot of unecessary software-like Kodak.) Best wishes! Diana
We have a Kodak Easyshare and I would highly recommend it for value for your money. I have had mine for two years now and had only one small problem (the clip that holds the battery in place broke) and I sent it to Kodak who fixed it and quickly sent it back. My mom has a nicer model of Easyshare and when she had a minor problem they replaced her camera with an even more expensive one.
These cameras cost between $100-250, have great picture quality, and are very user friendly. Mel mentioned hers needing batteries but mine has a rechargable battery and came with the recharger. I think for someone who is looking to take nice pictures without a lot of effort, the Easyshare is a perfect option. All the photos on my blog are taken with this camera.
I also completely agree with Heather and Diana about the Sony CyberShot! My sister got one about two years ago, and we were so impressed with it that both my parents and myself ended up purchasing the same camera! The camera is user-friendly and intuitive. We loved how easy it was to take pictures, to change the setting (beach, snow, nighttime, landscape, etc.), to review pictures while they’re still on the camera, and to upload pictures onto the computer. The LCD screen is nice and big (which we find really makes a difference in the ease of use) and the quality of the pictures is great, both uploaded onto the computer and printed out.
They no longer manufacture the model that I have (DSC-W5) but the DSC-W30 and DSC-W50 seem to be the current comparable models (6.0 megapixels). The DSC-W30 costs about $200; the DSC-W50 (which has a bigger LCD screen) is about $230.
One of the expensive parts about buying a digital camera is the memory card. So depending on how many pictures you want to take at a time without having to upload them onto your computer, you could get a bigger or smaller memory card. Personally I have a 512 MB card, which will hold about 200 pictures at the highest quality setting (5 megapixels). If you already have a memory card you could possibly re-use it in your new camera, which would save a lot of the “extra” cost. If not, the camera comes with built-in 32 MB of memory, which would give you about 10 pictures. Then you could save up for a bigger card if that’s what you want.
Happy camera shopping :)
Ashley
I'm sure you've already thought of this, but just in case, be sure that if you have any money invested in memory cards, your new camera uses the same kind. And a 3.2 megapixel camera is supposed to have good enough resolution for an 8x10, so you may not need to worry about that too much.
Hey Crystal-
We love our kodak easy share... it is really easy to use and there are many models of them. My personal opinion is that unless you are really into photography a simple camera will do. I also think Kodak- on their website is offering a free memory card with a purchase.
I love my Sony Cybershot 5.1. It is under $400 (I know it's gone down since I purchased it a couple of years ago.) I've heard that the Sony is more user friendly than the Nikkon CoolPix cameras although they are also great. In addition, I purchased mine through Best Buy and did get their warrenty. Although that adds to the cost, I think it's often worth it- it includes things like battery replacements which can be pricey in and of themselves. Also- I love that I can simply charge my camera. It doesn't take AAs like some... although some people like the AAs because they can replace the batteries wherever they are. My charge lasts plenty long for me though. Anyone doing extensive travel might find disposable batteries easier.
Taking pics at 5.1 usually allows for a clear blow up (up to about an 11x14), so the photo quality is great. I also love the slim design which makes it easy to keep the camera in my purse, car, etc. Happy shopping!
We found this to be a good site for reviews
http://www.pcmag.com/category2/0,1874,5,00.asp
That should take you to the digital camera area. We bought a Canon PowerShot A430 in May ($150). We picked this model b/c it had video with sound. The Wal-Mart guy I talked to admitted that Canon video had better sound than other digital camera brands. I ordered ours from Circuit City website (special offer) then picked up at our local store. I felt much more comfortable knowing that if I had a problem I could return it to the store rather than having to ship it back somewhere. Also, b/c I picked it up at the store I knew they would have some in stock if I needed an exchange.
The PCMag website seemed to have a lot of information and a lot of ads/links to sellers so we were able to compare prices quickly (could be annoying at first when I thought it was a link from them but turned out to be an ad).
Your price range allows you to take a "step up" in most digital cameras so you might want to decide what type of camera and features you want before deciding which one to buy.
Memory cards are pretty cheap and can definitely be purchased later so I wouldn't concentrate on that area unless the camera requires a certain brand/type.
Jennifer
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