Digital Cameras

[YB in IN]

I think that I'm going to splurge on a digital camera before I head out for Colorado. It'd be nice for doing some ride reports. Ladies and Gents, I don't know jack about them. I'm looking for something that won't break the bank (sub 300 bucks) but that isn't a piece of crap. Suggestions?

[kbasa]

I've got a Canon Elph S400. It's small, which means you'll keep it handy and take lots of pictures. I think I paid $450 last year for it and a 256MB flash card. The Compact Flash card will hold about 225 shots at fairly high resolution and size. Since it's not a proprietary format, you can get them cheap.

They also have the S300, which is a 3Megapixel camera (if I recall correctly) and you may be able to find one of those for fairly short money.

The cool thing about digital cameras is that once you buy the camera (and maybe an extra battery), you're pretty much done. No film, no developing. The only added charge for me has been the $20 or $30 a year I spend for a smugmug account. It lets me share my pictures with "the folks back home" and I can have unlimited albums.

Quite nice.

But, yeah, take a look at the Canon Elph line.

[dbrick]

A word about Elph PowerShot.

My adult son is a computer guy; he bought an Elph this spring, in anticipation of a trip to Brazil, and ended up returning it as defective. He found a well-documented difficulty with the lens gearing, which results in the electronics freezing. His did. A Google search will turn it up.

A lot of folks like the Elph; it's very small, and takes good pictures. KBasa's pictures are always swell. But...depending on your problem tolerance, you might consider another choice.

[ian408]

I've got an S50. Except for it's 5MP, it's very much like the S400.

I'm very happy with the Canon.

Aside from cost, what other features are you looking for?

Ian

[gambrinus]

Nikon CoolPix 4300 for me. Nice optical zoom as well as digital.. Batteries seem to last a long time. It's plug and play with a Mac, if that's a concern. Nikon just came out with a faster chip and a new line of cameras so the "old" 4300 can be had CHEAP at shops that still have them around.

RW

[CustomSarge]

Having been in the tech arena for 25+; for any given object, there're pertanent(?) characteristics. On DCams: 1> resolution, 2> media format, 3> functional features (point & shoot / manual set all), 4> power source (rechargable / disposable), 5> physical form factor, 6> options / accessories (lensing options linked to 5>), 7> manufacturer rep / warranty / history / etc, 8> PRICE
I make a prioritized list & see what best fits; ~ 3 yr ago I got a Fuji finepix 4900 zoom, works great BUT: much better res (etc)now available, SmartMedia flash cards obsolete.
At any given time, demand causes you to put your pin in the map.
Good hunting, it's hard to make a big mistake these days...

[R75_7]

I used a Canon Elph S110 2.0 megapixels(I think?) for work for two years. It was the first digital Elph w/ the metal casing. I paid $400 for it. It worked great, it's small(size of cigarette box), no problems. But in those two years Sony really stepped up the game. So I sold my Elph for $200. Then I bought the Sony Cybershot U. It's half the size and half the weight but still has 2.0 megapixels. Sony has a better memory card, more choices of printers to use. Comes with a cool neck cord. Just slide open the lens cover w/ one hand point and press the button. Then slide closed the lens cover. Done. I love it soo much. I bought the 5.0 megapixel which is about the same size as my old Elph.
Thanks,
Michael

[snoone]

I can't say enough good things about elph 400.. That model has since been discontinued and replaced with s410, however I bet you can find 400's at greatly reduced prices.. I do a lot of fly fishing so I also have the waterproof housing.. A little pricey but well worth it.. I put the whole deal in my tank bag and I'm ready for just about anything. Get a couple 256 meg cards and a card reader to download so you don't tax your cameras batterys and you are set to take hundreds of pictures.

[jdiaz]

First thing you need to do is check out dpreview.com. There is an amazing amount of information over there.

We just paid $360 for an S410 from Amazon. Its a nice camera. The CF card cover will break the first time you drop the camera, and it doesn't allow any zooming during movie filming, but the small size is amazing and picture quality is very good.

We will check out the new Nikons too, since we've had great luck with our Coolpix 775. Nikon has decontented some of their cheaper cameras by going away from rechargeable batteries, so make sure you are getting that before buying anything.

Dunno about the lens gearing issue with the S410, but I did read about a CCD issue after 10,000 shots or so. Maybe that's the same thing.

[lorazepam]

I bought a Nikon Coolpix 2100 to carry on the bike. It is 2 megapixel, fully automatic. 3x optical zoom, takes NIMH AA batteries. A 256 meg compact flash holds a lot of pictures for the net. It is easy to use, and it only costs 149.00 new.

[lorazepam]

Here is a picture from that camera.

[YB in IN]

Thanks guys for all the advice. I think that I'm probably going to go the ebay route and get an S400 Elph, or something else in the Elph line. There are some decent deals on there to be had at the moment. Don't be snipeing me now! :D

[dlearl476]

Second, dpreview. Second, (third or fourth) Elph's. Thought I saved money on mine on ebay, then found out if I'd bought the S400 I would have got the 256 meg card for the same price.
No problems here, I love my elph.