Budget Digital Camera

[python023]

What is the best digital camera one can buy for around $50? A decent brand with the best possible picture quality. I checked pricegrabber but im not sure of any good budget brands. Thank you.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

You might want to check out the FS/FT forum to see if anybody is selling one for around that price. Craigslist might be another spot.

I think it's going to be hard to find a good new one for that much.

 

[python023]

Doesnt necessarily have to be top of the line...
here are some links from pricegrabber:

http://www.pricegrabber.com/search_getprod.php/masterid=641110
http://www.pricegrabber.com/p__Vivitar_ViviCam_3345_Digital_Camera,__12073824
http://www.pricegrabber.com/p__Argus_QuickClix_2185_Digital_Camera,__13115885
http://www.pricegrabber.com/p__VisionTek_ARGUS_3_2MP_DIGITAL_CAMERA,__15368222

Which one of these would one recommend?

 

[davet11]

I would recommend not throwing your money away and:

a) look for a used camera in the same price range like a SONY DSC-P51 , which is a solid 2mp camera and will definitely give you better picture quality than those you mentioned
b) save up a bit more, $50 really isn't going to get you anything close to the "best possible picture quality"

 

[python023]

"best possible picture quality" for the $50 range is what I meant. even the visiontek 3.2MP camera would give me poor quality?

 

[phisrow]

Used or new old is almost definitely the way to go. $50 usd still lands somewhere in the "nicer webcam with knobs on" range with respect to new construction; but can probably manage something nicer used. If you could stretch another 30 or 40 bucks, though, you'd probably be better off.

A quick perusal of Ebay shows a fair number of quite decent 2-3 megapixel point and shoot models, often with some adequate glass on the front, going for 40-80 dollars. Sure, ebay is more annoying than retail; but all you'll get for 50ish retail are models with .8 megapixel sensors and "12Megapixl Soop3r 8X Digital zoom L@@K", which just aren't worth it.

 

[tomcas1]

I got to agree with the guys telling you to save your money. The $50 digitals are usually crap. They are slow, have low powered flashes, are noisy (grainy) under dark conditions and eat batteries like crazy. You can always tell which ones they are by the sensor types. They use CMOS instead of CCD sensors. They also have fixed lenses. Your best bet is to buy a brand name refurb or used on ebay.

 

[NucEm]

Actually, if you're real lucky you may be able to find a reasonable digital on clearance. The local OfficeMax (Boulder, CO) had a Sony 4M pixel on clearance for $49.