Digital Camera recommendations?

[curse10]

I'm in the market for a digital camera. Anyone have one they absolutely love? absolutely hate?

[rogerashton]

1. Panasonic w/ 12x optical zoom

I forget the model number -- I had to buy my wife one to keep mine in my hands.

It's a Leica lens -- not everybody needs 12x zoom, but I love it, and optical zoom is worthless.

[Caution]

5. he means digital zoom is worthless

Optical zoom is where it is at. Digital Zoom is the same effect you get when youzoom in on a picture on a computer and it becomes overly pixelated. Optical Zoom is how a telescope works.

[RogueTrooper]

2. This might not be the type of camera you are looking for

but it is very, very cool

http://www.firebox.com/index.html?dir=firebox&action=product&pid=649&PHPSESSID=2d7fe41550b44010fee9d8863013ed40

[Caution]

3. If you want to go beyond click and shoot...

Canon Digital Rebel EOS 300D with Kit Lense.

About $1000, 6.3 mega-pixels, simply an incredible bargain for the quality you get. This is more for the "prosumer" (i hate that term), which means it is for someone who is between a consumer and a professional photographer. The camera can still be used in automatic mode but it really shines when you try to take artistic photos.

To quote a review:

<quote>
Without expanding further on the intrinsic qualities of this camera, it must be admitted that the Canon EOS 300D marks the beginning of an era. Through its revolutionary price position, the camera has marked a change in the landscape in the digital world. From now on, there'll be a "before" and an "after" the Canon EOS 300D.</end quote>

...

<quote>
All that remains to be said is that the EOS 300D, as has been shown, is for the moment the digital camera that is the best value on the market.
</end quote>

http://www.tomshardware.com/consumer/20031126/index.html">Toms Hardware Review

Another Review:
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canoneos300d/">Digital Photography Review

From the Digital Photography Review article:
<quote>
Canon made a shrewd move with the EOS 300D, who knows if they're making a profit on it but it hardly seems to matter, it will guarantee their continued dominance of the digital SLR market, and their take-over of much of the high end prosumer market.
</end quote>

As an afterthought, this is an SLR camera, and it can take any canon compatiblie lense, of which there are hundreds.

[liberalnurse]

4. Gateway DC-T50.

It's 5 mega-pixils and on sale with rebates. $299.00

I love mine!

[Norbert]

6. This depends on the use of the camera.

If you are shooting family gatherings and vacation pictures and such there are many 3-4 megapixel cameras out there for less than $400. Pay more attention to optical Zoom. Get the best optical zoom ratio that you can find (nothing less than 4/1 and hopefully up to 8/1). Digital zoom I don't pay a whole lot of attention to because you are sacraficing some of the picture quality with digital Zooming up wheras your picture quality remains close to constant with optical zoom.

This is my personal preference; I stick more to the traditional camera manufacturers (Nikon, Minolta, Canon, Olympus) rather than HP, Sony, Panasonic. But that might just be a phobia of mine.

If you are a more serious I would seriously consider the Canon Digital Rebel EOS 300D SLR that was mentioned. That looks like a very nice package. I may have one of those by spring.

[Mika]

7. The Nikon 5700

5mp. 8x optical zoom (Nicor glass). SLR. USB.

Simply beautiful photos, fully manual (if desired), and programs.

Great deals to be found online. Nikon has a $100 rebate on the 5700 too.

[gristy]

8. Olympus Stylus 300

Very easy to use. I rarely used a previous digital camera I owned because I could never remember how to use it. Had to dig up the manual every time. The Olympus is very intuitive. Be sure to buy the memory card reader for much faster downloads.

3.2 Mpixels, 3x optical zoom

[Nomad559]

9. Canon Powershot A70 3.2MP

I have this camera,It's a great camera for under 300 dollars.

http://www.steves-digicams.com/2003_reviews/a70.html

[velocity]

10. Fuji FinePix S5000

A friend just brought one from here and loves it.

http://www.centraldigital.com/cen.cfm?fuseaction=cen.CartAdd&product_id=2514&back_id=2514

[GOPisEvil]

13. I have a Fuji, but it's not quite that nice.

I have the FinePix F401. Anyone can use it. It is SIMPLE! Takes good pictures, too. :-)

[LatteLib]

11. I love my Olympus 700

I have had it for about 3 years and I use it so much. Every family function, parties, church functions, etc.
This past summer, I even managed to get the coolest picture of a lightening strike during a storm that rolled through my neighborhood. I realize that was a bit of a fluke but I was trying against the odds to get a photo of lightening.
The pictures I have taken with it have printed out on photo paper nicely.
I just bought an entry level camera for my sister as a Christmas gift. They had them on sale at Radio Shack for $149.99. It's a Fuji and I don't yet know how it will perform for her but if it isn't what she wants, she can take it back. It had a 3X optical zoom, only uses 2 AA batteries, and has the LCD screen on the back. It's only 2 megapixel but so is mine and when I have printed out 8 x 10 pictures on my computer, they have looked fine to me. My printer doesn't handle anything larger than that and I don't have a use for pictures larger than that for the most part. I prefer the 5 x 7's for most of my photos and 2 megapixels are fine for that.
It really boils down to what your plans are for your camera in order to decide how much to spend and whether you need particular options.
I have a good friend that has had 2 Kodak cameras and had problems with both so that experience kept me from going with Kodak when I chose my own camera as well as the one for my sister.
Happy camera hunting and I hope you find the perfect camera for your needs.

[elfin]

12. Got my canon S40 a year ago

Very happy with it - on any of them you need to pop for a really good flash card with loads of memory and fast action between shots. My 128 is OK, but now want more and a better quality for timing.

[Tripper11]

14. I asked this question abvout a week ago curse10...

and after a lot of advice here at what was in my pocket $$ wise I went with Sony DSC-P52 it's very easy to use and I am very happy with the quality of pictures and the options it has on it. I only paid $224 with rebates and stuff. What I had leftover and with a 20% off coupon from Sony I will be buying another memory stick.
I asked one person at a camera shop about the "docking stations" that all these camera's seem to be coming out with, and he said it's just a gimmick...as long as you have a USB into your computer that's all you need.

[curse10]

15. Thanks for everyone's advice :-)

I didn't know about the optical zoom thing!

[DS1]

16. After reading this thread, I have one question

Will Amish people still be afraid of digital cameras stealing their souls?