What Camera to buy

[JynxDaddy]

I guess this goes here

You guys seem to have alot of cool cameras that can capture water,leaves and bugs really well ( something about macros? )

Well I tried to take a photo of a leaf using the macro bullshit on my parents digital camera... and well, it would never focus the right part.

So do you guys use manual focus or something?

Anyway... Im buying a camera at Christmas that I will be using for photography at school and at home

I'm looking for mid range goodness, Whats the best brand, what features are needed, what to stay away from (digital zoom), etc.. Help a brother out!

[Duff-e]

im no photography master....but i recently bought a canon S1 IS

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canons1is/

its a great camera and loads of people have it and support it on the forums. btw dpreview is one of the best sites out there for photgraphy info and reviews. The S1 is pretty much as close as you get to a digital SLR with a P&S type camera. It's easy for a beginner but if you want to learn more or take amazing pictures, all the more advanced features are there. not to mention 10x optical zoom + the ability to record DV quality video. from personal experience i can say great camera.

as far as i know the best way to take pictures of things up close is having a wide angle lens...also it heavily depends on the camera.

but like i said, browse digital photography review because they have TONS of reviews and match ups.....and the forums are amazing

i thought i would need a DSLR camera ($800+) in order to enjoy photography but i found that the S1 IS delivers what i was looking for, in the price bracket i could afford ($400-$550)

[Tequila]

I'm going for this at Christmas: http://www.panasonic.co.uk/digital-cameras/dmclc80b/index.htm

A lovely balance of quality and expense. Dunno how available outside the UK it is, though.

[Euro*Brew]

When buying a camera you need to look at what you plan on doing with it. If you are a person who makes a lot of prints from your digital camera at any size about 8x10 you will need to hop into the larger megapixel range (5+).

Look for a good optical zoom, the standard is 4x right now so if you can find anything better than that you are in good shape. In addition, look for a camera that can shoot in an uncompressed image format so that way you aren't losing image quality from the moment you snap the picture.

For 399.99 MSRP, you can get the Nikon Coolpix 4800. This is a camera with a small size, 4 megapixels, and contains an 8x zoom. This is the best zoom you can get in a camera this size. With 15 scene modes and scene assists you have many different shooting options for each different situation. Plus it has a macro feature that will allow you to be within 1/2 inch from an object and still get a clear picture. It also has the unrivaled glass that only Nikon can provide for superior clarity.

http://nikonusa.com/template.php?cat=1& ... ctNr=25520 <----link

Euro*Brew

[Duff-e]

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikoncp4800/page6.asp

[Euro*Brew]

Color seems better on the nikon, you can tell by the background that nikon can really pick up on the white in the background while the canon makes it look very yellow.

The nikon is what it is, an introductory camera with a great zoom, but it doesn't offer a lot of the more complex functions such as advanced manual controls since more digital users want point and click. I have a coolpix 4800 and a 3200 and I love my nikons.

Euro*Brew

[Duff-e]

10x zoom....TEN EX ZOOM BUDDY

[Euro*Brew]

But 10x to 8x isnt a "large" difference. Buying jsut for zoom isnt a good idea though. Minolta has the Z2 which has a 10x zoom and it very good camera as well, but I dont know much about it. My girlfriend has the z2 and the 4800 at her work ill mess around with them tonight and take some pictures, upload them and show the difference.

Euro*Brew

[st0lve]

The optical zoom on a digital camera is just a sales trick.

Its the digital zoom that "counts"...

I got Fuji Finepix S5000, thats a very good camera for a hobby photographer.

Maybe buy S5500 insted, since it got 1-3 more functions. And its not that expensive.

[Duff-e]

i didnt just buy it for the zoom...i bought it cause apparently it was the closest thing you can get to a digital slr without owning a digital slr

[TomWithTheWeather]

The optical zoom on a digital camera is just a sales trick.

Its the digital zoom that "counts"...

I think you have that backwards.

Optical zoom is real zoom which involves several lens being adjusted in some way to allow to focus farther. Digital zoom is useless and should be disabled on your camera if you have it. Basically what digital zoom does is instead of altering the lens to allow you to see farther, it fakes it buy cropping and resizing your image into a lower-res, but "zoomed in" version.

Most advertisments for cameras like this will say something like "10x zoom!" when in fact you're paying for 4x optical zoom and 6x digital zoom.

[st0lve]

Yeah sorry, I mixed them

[Duff-e]

mine is 10x optical 32x digital

[mike-0]

I have a sony cybershot DSC-9 (or somethin), its 4.1 megapixels, so it's got nice quality, but it sucks for action shots because there's mad delay from the time your press the button to the time the photo is taken. I try to do surf photography with my friends, but it's hard to get a nice picture because of the delay. If i were to get a new camera, I'd get a Canon SLR. I think it'd be worth the $$$

[Duff-e]

if the DSLR's from nikon or canon ever get sub-$600 ill prob buy....but right now 1k is too much for me (especially since i dont consider photography as my hobby)