Which Digital Camera to Buy?

[lufiron]

If i want to spend at most $500, which camera would you all say is best? Im thinking about the canon s45/s50 or s400. I currently have a canon a40 which is decent but the pictures come out somewhat soft and it has trouble focusing in low light. Does any one have any of the 3 other canons i mentioned?

 

[machintos]

I would get the s50.
Maybe getting it in about a week...

 

[TommyVercetti]

I have a Canon A40 too, and thinking about getting a S50. Seems like a post I was gonna make

S45 and S50 are almost identical except for an extra megapixel. I have been comparing their prices, and seems like S50 is the way to go. Pay a little more and get a 5 MP camera.

 

[NutBucket]

S45/50 are great cameras. You won't be disappointed

BTW: Paging ROSSMAN. ROSSMAN, please report to this thread!

 

[amdskip]

Definately a canon, what about a G3 or G4?

 

[TommyVercetti]

Originally posted by: amdskip
Definately a canon, what about a G3 or G4?

They are too big to carry around, and an S50 is almost identical to a G3, except for those infinite focus zones the G3 provides, and the external flash.

 

[lufiron]

How is the focus on all of these? I know someone that has a sony dcs p72, and it can focus in almost no light (the autofocus lamp is very effective) altho the picture quality isn't so great. How well do these focus in really low light?

 

[Ornery]

S50 VS V1

Hologram AF Illuminator: Projects a laser pattern on the subject to create contrast for precise focus, even in low or no light.

 

[Scarpozzi]

Go Canon and you can't go wrong. They have the best lense in the industry. Just remember that MP ratings are overrated. You can get a 3.2MP camera and it'll do just fine for anything that you'll need it for. I'm even happy with my 2MP for now and print out my shots up to 8X10s.

 

[Ornery]

Better than Zeiss?

Doesn't address the low light focus issue, either.

 

[RossMAN]

Canon S400 or maybe Sony P72

 

[sillymofo]

I know this is a Canon fan club, but have you looked at some Minolta cameras?

 

[RossMAN]

Originally posted by: cr4zymofo
I know this is a Canon fan club, but have you looked at some Minolta cameras?

Yes it is a Canon fanclub only because they make kick ass digicams!

The Minolta S414 is a great digicam, Viper GTS is an owner.

 

[jagr10]

I'm not sure how much the Sony F717 is right now, but that's what I bought and I love it!

 

[sillymofo]

Originally posted by: RossMAN

Originally posted by: cr4zymofo I know this is a Canon fan club, but have you looked at some Minolta cameras?

Yes it is a Canon fanclub only because they make kick ass digicams! The Minolta S414 is a great digicam, Viper GTS is an owner.

I have an F-100 and love it. I was suggesting if he could get the Dimage 7 (?) from Minolta, that is an awesome camera and it's probably in the $500 range by now.

 

[Mr N8]

Originally posted by: cr4zymofo

Originally posted by: RossMAN

Originally posted by: cr4zymofo I know this is a Canon fan club, but have you looked at some Minolta cameras?

Yes it is a Canon fanclub only because they make kick ass digicams! The Minolta S414 is a great digicam, Viper GTS is an owner.

I have an F-100 and love it. I was suggesting if he could get the Dimage 7 (?) from Minolta, that is an awesome camera and it's probably in the $500 range by now.

ITs actually still in the $800 range.

I think the best bet is going to be a Canon S400 or Sony DSC-V1. It could be really hard to find the V1 for <$500, though. Give it a couple months, and it won't be so hard.

 

[RossMAN]

Originally posted by: MogulMonster

Originally posted by: cr4zymofo

Originally posted by: RossMAN

Originally posted by: cr4zymofo I know this is a Canon fan club, but have you looked at some Minolta cameras?

Yes it is a Canon fanclub only because they make kick ass digicams! The Minolta S414 is a great digicam, Viper GTS is an owner.

I have an F-100 and love it. I was suggesting if he could get the Dimage 7 (?) from Minolta, that is an awesome camera and it's probably in the $500 range by now.

ITs actually still in the $800 range.

I think the best bet is going to be a Canon S400 or Sony DSC-V1. It could be really hard to find the V1 for <$500, though. Give it a couple months, and it won't be so hard.

Nocturnal was selling a V1.

 

[sillymofo]

Originally posted by: MogulMonster

Originally posted by: cr4zymofo

Originally posted by: RossMAN

Originally posted by: cr4zymofo I know this is a Canon fan club, but have you looked at some Minolta cameras?

Yes it is a Canon fanclub only because they make kick ass digicams! The Minolta S414 is a great digicam, Viper GTS is an owner.

I have an F-100 and love it. I was suggesting if he could get the Dimage 7 (?) from Minolta, that is an awesome camera and it's probably in the $500 range by now.

ITs actually still in the $800 range. I think the best bet is going to be a Canon S400 or Sony DSC-V1. It could be really hard to find the V1 for <$500, though. Give it a couple months, and it won't be so hard.

Not the 7i, but the previous model.

 

[Mr N8]

Originally posted by: cr4zymofo

Originally posted by: MogulMonster

Originally posted by: cr4zymofo

Originally posted by: RossMAN

Originally posted by: cr4zymofo I know this is a Canon fan club, but have you looked at some Minolta cameras?

Yes it is a Canon fanclub only because they make kick ass digicams! The Minolta S414 is a great digicam, Viper GTS is an owner.

I have an F-100 and love it. I was suggesting if he could get the Dimage 7 (?) from Minolta, that is an awesome camera and it's probably in the $500 range by now.

ITs actually still in the $800 range. I think the best bet is going to be a Canon S400 or Sony DSC-V1. It could be really hard to find the V1 for <$500, though. Give it a couple months, and it won't be so hard.

Not the 7i, but the previous model.

Oh, the 7 is hard to even find, anymore. I think you can grab that anywhere from $400 - $550 used or refurbed.

 

[Nocturnal]

Is $500.00 your max range? You say you want the best. I'd look into Canon's Digital Rebel 300D digital SLR camera.

 

[LS20]

i heard the g50's cmos sensor is too small for its MP size, producing too many artifacts and stuff... supposedly it works at its optimum in the s30/s40/s45... id get the s45 just because the extra MP does not result in that many more pixels per plane..either way they're more than a normal person will need.

id look at the nikon 4300, olympus c50, and minolta f100/f300... obviously i much prefer the canon. not a bandwagon, but i've purchased 3 previous canons that were clearly at the top of their class

 

[NerdMan]

Have you checked into the Pentax Optio 550? It's a very good camera with a very high zoom.

He tried the Canon S400, and even I played with it. The pictures (when you zoom in under photoshop) always come out blurry, same under all modes (manual focus, AIAF, etc). This doesn't occur with the Pentax.

 

[Kyteland]

I've had the Canon s50 for 6 months now and I love it. It takes great pictures and the movies come out fairly well too. I have a lot of pictures/videos of waterskiing that came out very well.

The only thing I don't like about it is that it is a bit too big to carry all the time.

 

[GoSharks]

well since you already have a CF-based camera, i suppose you want to stay with CF? the v1 is a decent camera, except it uses MS.

i have a s50, roommate has a v1.

both are good cameras, the v1 will probably be a little harder to carry in your pocket vs the s50 becuase of its particular dimensions. ergonomics on the v1 could be better, its a little awkard to hold and operate it. lcd is smaller, manual controls are slightly harder to change. i do like its focus abilities though - and it is a very quiet camera compared to my s50.

s50 has excellent battery life, cant say anything for the v1. they both use identical 5mp sensors, only difference in the output images are results from different lenses and post-processing.

canon has raw output, which is a plus for me.

shutter button could be better on the v1, but the set button on the s50 is pretty bad.

v1 has 640x480 movies, s50 320x240. review is better on the s50, v1 has live histogram though.

s50 has more versitile focus options, TommyVercetti says otherwise, but the s45/50 has "infinite focus" positions which you can manually select ala the g3/g5 - also the s50 has 9 focus points in auto mode, the v1 only has 3 i believe.