digital cams... please recommend one

[skim milk]

I have a digital camera right now.. it's a canon s100 powershot or something like that.. one of those small ones.. but i dont' like it. It's only 2.1 mp and the battery life sucks



I need a better digital camera that has good battery life, takes great pics (great movement pics since I want to take pictures at a sporting event).. something that isn't too bulky/looks sexy but all at the same time, something relatively cheap.

I really don't want to spend any money on a digital camera but it looks like I have to put the charge on my credit card.


Can someone recommend me one? or any good deals?

 

[Dufman]

get the cannon a70

 

[minendo]

Canon SD 100

 

[andylawcc]

Originally posted by: minendo
Canon SD 100

a better idea: Canon SD10

oops... SD10 has no Optical Zoom while the SD100 does....

 

[BCYL]

Canon s400 if you want a small, great camera to carry around...

Canon s50 if you want a full featured camera in a decent size...

The Canon a80/a70 also has tons of features, but the 4xAA batteries mean it will be a bigger and heavier camera...

 

[andylawcc]

BCYL: why not the SD series (SD 10/100)? did those two cameras scarificed too much feature to save weight?

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

IMO it would not be worth buying another Elph. They all have mediocre battery life, and lack many manual feautres. I would say an A80 would be a better complement - it is a bit bulkier, but much more full-featured, and it is still a fairly sleek camera with a partially metal body and fold-out LCD. For that matter, G5s are really cheap now, but they are considerably bulkier, and I am not crazy about their layout. If you can't deal with the bulk of an A80, look at the S series. I have become frustrated by the limitations of my S300 (even though I really like it in many respects), and bought an Olympus C-5060 to supplement it - it's an awesome camera, but probably too bulky and complex for what you are looking for.

 

[Adrian Tung]

Originally posted by: fritolays
I need a better digital camera that has good battery life, takes great pics (great movement pics since I want to take pictures at a sporting event).. something that isn't too bulky/looks sexy but all at the same time, something relatively cheap.

Hmm... I'll probably get hammered for suggesting this... but if you're looking to take shots at sporting events, you'll need something long and fast (in both optics and autofocus department). So may I suggest a Fujifilm Finepix S7000 instead of the usual Canon P&S suggestions?

Me and my friends went to the Asian X-Games finals at Bukit Jalil (Malaysia) yesterday... he (peaz) was using the S7000, my other friend Chai used an F717 and I was with my EOS-10D (prolly out of your budget though). Here's the thread (from another forum) with our "catch of the day":

Link


atwl

EDIT: I'll add one more thing here - often in indoor sporting events you may find that you need to boost the ISO sensitivity up high just to be able to get good shutter speeds necessary to stop action. For the shots in the link I posted, my friends often had to bump up to ISO800 in order to get decent speeds for their shots.

And before people start coming in and talking about noise and all... my philosophy is better a "sharp but noisy" picture than a "clean but blurry" one.

 

[ScoobMaster]

I'll echo what Adrian said about sporting events needs. Sheer megapixels are NOT the biggest concern for you - powerful optical zoom and quick autofocus are key. While the S7000 is an excellent choice, also consider the

Minolta DiMage Z1

It has a better zoom (10X versus 6X) and faster autofocus. You sacrifice some resolution, but unless you are routinely going to make prints larger than 8x10 this should not be an issue. (PLUS - it is around $200 cheaper than the S7000 )

 

[Adrian Tung]

Originally posted by: ScoobMaster
I'll echo what Adrian said about sporting events needs. Sheer megapixels are NOT the biggest concern for you - powerful optical zoom and quick autofocus are key. While the S7000 is an excellent choice, also consider the

Minolta DiMage Z1

It has a better zoom (10X versus 6X) and faster autofocus. You sacrifice some resolution, but unless you are routinely going to make prints larger than 8x10 this should not be an issue. (PLUS - it is around $200 cheaper than the S7000 )

Yup, that's also a good camera to consider. Only two things that I didn't like about the unit when I handled it -

i) handled more like a toy than a camera (like some weird gizmo out of a 70's sci-fi movie)
ii) proprietary Minolta flash hot shoe

However it does score where it counts - AF speed and reach.


atwl

 

[BCYL]

Originally posted by: andylawcc
BCYL: why not the SD series (SD 10/100)? did those two cameras scarificed too much feature to save weight?

To tell the truth, becuz I have not had personally experience with the SD series... I have used the 3 series I suggested in my post, thus I can make accurate suggestions... But I have not used the SD series, so I dont think it would be fair for me to comment on it...

 

[Salvador]

I'd tell you, but you probably don't care to hear about it.

Sal

 

[andylawcc]

Originally posted by: BCYL

Originally posted by: andylawcc
BCYL: why not the SD series (SD 10/100)? did those two cameras scarificed too much feature to save weight?

To tell the truth, becuz I have not had personally experience with the SD series... I have used the 3 series I suggested in my post, thus I can make accurate suggestions... But I have not used the SD series, so I dont think it would be fair for me to comment on it...

whao, feedback from an actual user, how rare :salute

 

[ucdbiendog]

canon EOS10D

 

[Adrian Tung]

Originally posted by: ucdbiendog
canon EOS10D

Why not go a step further... Canon EOS 1D Mark II


atwl