Need a Digital Camera FAST. Quick which one to buy??

[Cybordolphin]

Need to buy a digital camera.

Want to keep the price naturally as low as possible.

Looking at the:

Fuji Finepix 3800
$268.00


Is this a good camera for getting quality photo's? The camera will be used to shoot merchandise, as well as general use. Merchandise photos to be posted on the internet.
Was concerned about the XD-Picture cards..... that apparently this camera uses. Not sure if it takes other media.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[wetcat007]

I got a Olympus stylus 300, 3.2 megapixel works great overall, very solid and durable with great quality, heard very good things about Canon cameras as well though.

 

[thraxes]

I just got a Canon Powershot A60. It only has 2 megapixels but it is quality vers quantity (2 MP is enough for doing full page A4 prints). It has a whole host of shooting modes and a full manual mode in which you control focus, apperture und exposure time (been wanting to take this baby to the airport at night for some nice motion blur shots of jets taking off). It runs off inexpensive compact flash cards (122 pictures fit on a 128MB card at full resolution/minimal compression) and it takes regular AA batteries so getting juice is no problem, I bought a quick charger with high capacity Sanyo 2100mAH NiMh batteries for about 20$

The Cam costs 260 Euros so it will probably be less than 250$. If it still fits in the budget look at the Powershot A70: same camera but with 3 megapixels.

Here are two full res pics directly offloaded from the cam. One of them is a panorama shot, the camera has a guide to allow to align the pictures correctly while shooting and the software will then stitch the pics seamlessly into one! WARNING: Not dialup friendly!

Pic #1 A nice Sunflower shot
Panorama!

Edit: Linky fixed

 

[Nocturnal]

Canon or the Fuji Finepix 2600 is just as good. If your price range is $300 and below go with a Canon and or Fuji. I know Sony may look good on paper but they aren't, not unless you get up into the prosumer range which are the 717 and the V1 type cameras. Canon will do just as good if not better than the same priced Sonys.

 

[fell8]

I believe the Fujis use XD cards only, which are proprietary. XD may well the smallest card, but will be more expensive and have less compatibility and options. You may want to find one that uses a more common card like SD/MMC cards, which are slightly larger at postage-stamp sized. Kodaks use this size and produce fairly good pics, although their cameras seem lacking in features. These are a couple cheap ones. Here's a nice HP that uses CF cards, type 1 only.

Something like this, you may want to go to a store and look at the various cameras in person. There's a lot of thing you can take into account as you hold the camera and test it's function that you can't just looking at an image. Just remember to get something that you can use with a card reader so you can avoid installing the buggy camera bloatware. Good luck.

 

[Cybordolphin]

Thanks guys..

The other thing I need is a camera that actually attaches to a tripod (I was amazed that some do not).
I also need to be able to attach a remote shutter cable. (Long wire that screws into the shutter button).
And the ability to attach independant flashes. Not just use the flash that is on the camera.

Really appreciate the help.

 

[4x4expy]

I love my Canon A70. I think you can still get it right now at target for $279 with a free 128mb CF. It is 3.2mp, very compact, and uses type I CF cards. I picked up a 256mb cf(Transcend 30x) for $45, which is all of the space I really need. At highest res/quality it will store around 160 pics! I said I would never own a digital cam, and have completely changed my tune now.


Canon A70 -- Best Digital cam under $500!

 

[Lvis]

I have a Fugi 3800, it's been a fine camera. I have been quite pleased with it. It does take a tripod, not sure about the remote shutter cable.

It does take xd memory, it's being made by fugi and olympus. I can do 50 pictures at the highest resolution with a 64mb card, a heck of a lot more at the many lower resoultions available. It stores them as jpegs, so I guess thats why a 3.2mp can hold 50 pics on a such a small card.

Supposedly this type of memory uses less power, from what I can see it must. Battery life for this camera has been great.

 

[rickon66]

Some of the Olympus cameras can use a wireless remote. You might want to check into Macro capibilities also for shooting closeups of items.

 

[thraxes]

The AXX series has a mounting hole for tripods.
All Canons can be vontrolled remotely via the usb cable. A computer at the other end can then control all the functions, including ISO mode, focus etc...
I haven't seen a digicam in that pricerange with a connector for an external flash. That starts a few 100$ higher up.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Canon makes some of the finest digital cameras. I would recommend them over any other. Nikon is very good also.

Try: B&H Photo for excellent prices and the best selection/customer service. I've bought literally thousands of dollars worth of camera equipment from them.

 

[Yoshi]

Canon A series rules. Love my A40, the 2MP predecessor to the A60/70.

 

[EXman]

I also love my A60! Had a fuji 4900 and a 2800 and both had some image quality issues. Used to own a Oly 4040Z but I didn't need that much horsepower/features/bulk so I joined the Axx Canon lovers family

 

[Intelman07]

Cannon Powershot A60/A70

 

[Cybordolphin]

I am looking hard at the Sony DSC 717. Even if it does use proprietary cards, and proprietary battery pack, the images are pretty damn amazing. It has remote, hot shoe, and tripod capable (all of which I need). Not as many manual features as the Nikon, etc., .... but I end up not using all the features on my camera's anyway.

The battery pack is supposed to last a long time, and I don't think I will mind popping $50 for a backup battery pack. I also always have AC/DC power with me wherever I go (inverter in car)..... so I think I'd be ok with the battery BS.

Sure wish Sony would get with the program and use CF/SM cards, and allow the use of generic AA's.... likely they will come out with these just after I plunk down my $$. Can't understand the "silver" that is all around these days either... I thought that went out in the 80's. The DSC 717 would look SO much better in black.

But I can't hold off.... I need to be able to shoot come monday morning.

Wish the damn Canon EOS 300D was here. I may try the Sony from say Best Buy, and then return it once the EOS 300D hits the street. I already have the lens's for it (have an ELAN II - bad a$$).

Thanks for all the ideas..... I appreciate it.

 

[4x4expy]

The optics on the dsc717 are really nice. But for the price of it you can get a Canon G5 which is probably the finest Digi cam on the market without moving to an SLR. And if the superior performance isn't enough. It's.....BLACK!!

 

[Cybordolphin]

Well... I went and bought the Sony DSC 717.

This thing takes amazing shots. Far better than any camera I have owned to date without making a lot of adjustments.
It captures the colors perfectly. I am very impressed. I wanted to stay with a substantial size camera. I just don't feel right shooting with those tiny cameras that are out. I think they would be great for vacation shooting..... but I like a bigger camera.

The lens on this is very nice (Carl Zeiss). The lens is very fast too (I like that). Great zoom, and 5 mp to boot.

This also has an underwater housing that is reasonable too! ($800 range). That will make it nice to use while diving.

All in all... I think I made the right choice. I will however, be selling this one as soon as the price on the new Canon EOS 300D drops just a tad.

Now.... if I can just figure out a way to reduce the size of the photos from several MB's to 50kb each to put them on the net, WITHOUT making them look like $hit, I will be happy. Still trying to figure out if I want to shoot at the highest resolution and compress a lot, or shoot at a lower resolution and compress a little. I am going to try shooting with a lot of area to crop as well, to reduce the final size of the shots later.... and see if the will yield good results. One thing I have noticed is that the software that you use to resize the photo's makes a BIG difference in the final image.

Thanks again for all the help, and ideas.

When I saw these photo's.... I was kinda sold.... and if you take a look I think you will agree. I think any digital camera that can take pictures like these, is a winner. I am very happy.

Sony DSC 717 photos.

 

[4x4expy]

Congrats on your purchase. What is really important is that when spending that kind of cash you feel like you've made the right choice. Any image capturing behind Zeiss optics is going to please even the very picky.

 

[Nocturnal]

The Sony 828 will actually use Compact Flash and Sony's Memory Stick.