So. I realized today that I need a CAMERA that is worth a damn. I am looking for something digital, with the ability to focus on smallish junk. Picture clarity is important, too. Let's say I have 300 bucks to spend. (give or take.) What is a decent Unit? It would help if it could withstand being shot out of a cannon into the sun, or accidentally dropped into the grand canyon. ( yeah...me and fragile technology...not so much.) Thanks! Lux
I pick up one of the Sony Cybershot's from Staple's, Best Buy, or the like every year or two. Less than $200 and pretty durable. I'm kind of hard on them as well... Got a DSC-W55 at this point. I think it was $160 or so....
http://www.broadwayphoto.com/viewproduct.aspx?id=9790580 here is a point and shoot that has a lot of features and at 10 mega pixels it should have a lot of detail. Not sure how durable it is though. Are you looking for an SLR with removeable lens and stuff? Here is the one ive been trying to figure out how to fit into the budget http://www.broadwayphoto.com/viewproduct.aspx?id=9956261 Ive never bought anything from these people I was just looking on line for prices and found this site.
i agree, i have a 10 mega pixel sony cyber shot SONY DSC-N2 and i'm more than happy with it!! pretty versatile, and easy to use. i use it regularly and its already payed for itself, i bought it for $400 new but they have come down in price. here's a few examples of the quality you get...
Just go to your neighborhood camera/electonics store and shop. Some things to watch out for are... -rechargeable battery or AA style batteries - aa's get expensive, rechargeable lasts a good while but might be hard to recharge if your out. -of course megapixel size but you'll probably not need 2M size pics. -sometimes the too small cameras are hard to hold without putting finger in front of lens -some newer cameras don't have an old style viewfinder, so if it breaks its hard to focus right. -Just like anything, holding a camera you'll feel the quality of the buttons/on-off switch etc. -the size of the screen-big ones suck more juice but are easier to see. -there'll be a focus ratio both digital and actual lens... -price out the larger memory chips, they get expensive but are worth it. Unless you're taking mag pics anything under $300 will be very competitive. TP
Read Digital Photography review online......has reviews and recommendations that are authoritative and presumably unbiased........not just someone's preference........go here: http://www.dpreview.com CB
I have a Canon Elph I like very much. It's a point and shoot so it's not going to take as good a picture as a high end SLR, but it does a good job for the price. It's small (almost exactly the size of a pack of cigarettes) so it's easy to carry around in my pocket, and it's pretty durable. I keep it in the glove box of my car so it's always handy. It uses a specific rechargable battery that's about the size of a book of matches, but it holds a charge for a long time and it's easy to keep a spare battery in my pocket if I know I'm going to be taking hundreds of photos. If you're just going to use it for viewing snapshots on your computer screen, sending photos of the kids to Grandma, or posting pictures here on the board you really don't need one with super high resolution - one with 3 or 4 megapixels is probably more than enough for that. Also, optical zoom is good but digital zoom isn't very useful - it just makes your pictures grainier.
+1 for AA bateries . Use rechargeable ones and if you are out and run out of charge you can get AA damm near anywhere to save the day. Have had a Fuji 2 meg for 6 years now and not 1 problem. Has a macro for close ups and both optical and digital zooms. On high res I have printed good 8X10s with a good printer.
See here: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=281597&page=3 Here's the camera he used: http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/panasonictz3/ Hopefully helpfull
Hey fellas! Thanks for helping a meathead out. I think the Tz3 fits all the criteria pretty well...I always have something around here to share, but between my crappy computer and equally crappy camera, it gets tough to make it happen.
Lot's of good ideas, I have one with a rechargeable battery and have learned to charge it every night before I go to a show (or whatever), also have one with AA batteries. I forget the extra batteries. Biggest thing I've found is too many megapixels makes it hard to upload pictures, takes a lot of time. Mine are both 5 megapixels, some places I can't post. One does have a way to shot with less than the 5 megapixels but I never learned how to do that.
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