Camera question

[deeolasingh]

My question is could someone please tell me which camera is good inexpensive slim and sleek type.. DH has a really nice Kodak one but its too bulky to carry around all the time.... with summer approching I like taking pics of my children during the summer and was shopping around for something smaller.... any advice would be appreciated.... Thanks!!

[pierces]

Wonderful wife presented me with a Canon SD800IS for my birthday. I had done way too much research on the subject and has narrowed it down to that model.

 

The image quality is great and it is fast, easy to use (but has cool advanced features for a gadget-head like me), a true wide-angle zoom lens, an exceptionally powerful flash and has great battery life.

 

This was taken hanheld without flash:

 

More are here, mixed in with ones from the DSLR. (Sometimes hard to tell which!): http://www.pbase.com/pierce324/pacnw2007

 

It is also about the size of a small cell phone.

 

Dave

[SDN]

A good sleek pocket/purse camera that still takes excellent pictures is the Nikon Coolpix S7.

[newfarmers]

I have a Nikon S4, recently replaced by the S10. Maybe a bit big.

 

We're looking for pocket size as a second camera and have narrowed it down to Casio EX-V7, Ricoh R6 and Sony T100 (that memory stick thing kills me). Last night we added Fuji Finepix F30 and 31FD. The latter two are apparently as good as it gets if you intend to take pictures in low light - kid's birthday parties etc

[miami]

I love my Canon Digital Elph. Very small, take it everywhere and it takes great pictures.

[deeolasingh]

Thanks!!! Im going to do some research this weekend and maybe shop on monday...

[Aplmac]

There's a reason the entire Canon Powershot line is the best selling line in the world.

I had a Canon PowerShot A40 for 4 yrs.

but just bought an 8 MegaPixel Canon PowerShot A630 in Sint Maarten for just $240,

with a 4x zoom (no big deal,but perfectly adequate for what the average person needs).

 

Go Canon PowerShot.

[Leah725]

for my birthday, i'm getting the kodak easyshare v610. this is the smallest 10x optical zoom camera. its got 6.1 mp and its a compact camera.

 

look it up- kodak easyshare v610

[pierces]

for my birthday, i'm getting the kodak easyshare v610. this is the smallest 10x optical zoom camera. its got 6.1 mp and its a compact camera.

 

look it up- kodak easyshare v610

 

It was firmly on my short list while researching a pocket "dinner" camera. As I mentioned earlier, I ended up with the Canon SD800IS and love it. Admittedly, if I didn't have other options for a long zoom, it might have won out.

 

Good review here: http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/kodakv610/

 

Enjoy your camera!

 

Dave

[goingsomewhere]

It was firmly on my short list while researching a pocket "dinner" camera. As I mentioned earlier, I ended up with the Canon SD800IS and love it. Admittedly, if I didn't have other options for a long zoom, it might have won out.

 

Good review here: http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/kodakv610/

 

Enjoy your camera!

 

Dave

 

I was gifted with the Kodak Z612, in my opinion, a beautiful camera. Since I'm a newbie to photography, I wanted an inexpensive (less than $300.00 CAN) yet versitile camera for our whale watching experience. What I found out after getting the camera is it can be fitted with all the 35mm filters etc. and another 2x zoom. For the 'point and shoot' user, easy to use, and for the one who wants to play with Aperture, Shutter Speed, and all the other manual toys, it has that too. As well it has about a dozen presets specific for the moment. Oh, and the macro capability does a very nice job. Sold through Future Shop at the best price. Forgot to mention the 12x zoom...add the 2x zoom lens to that? I can hardly wait to see it.

[Leah725]

It was firmly on my short list while researching a pocket "dinner" camera. As I mentioned earlier, I ended up with the Canon SD800IS and love it. Admittedly, if I didn't have other options for a long zoom, it might have won out.

 

Good review here: http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/kodakv610/

 

Enjoy your camera!

 

Dave

 

coming from you, because you have a very large knowledge on what a good camera is, that means i'll have a great camera to take pictures of when i go on my cruise.

[dreamgerlx]

hey, i have the canon sd900. its the 10 megapixel version. i would go with one of the digital elphs for your need. they are tiny and compact. I had this one for my previous cruise and loved it.

 

however, i had the old canon elph which had only 5 megapixels. let me tell you, these cameras never miss a shot. I am not into adjusting settings, I just want to point and shoot. It gets the job done, with fantastic results. I literally take 1,000 pics on vacation (of course it was an 11 day cruise... and i do weed some out!) however, not one of those were unsatisfying due to a camera lag, shutter speed, or image blur.

 

theres my two cents. look for a canon digital elph (SD###) whichever model you find, you will NOT be disapointed.

 

we were 3 girls just taking pictures, not having to think about it. and we didn't. it worked fantastic!

[pierces]

coming from you, because you have a very large knowledge on what a good camera is, that means i'll have a great camera to take pictures of when i go on my cruise.

 

I just read too much and take too many pictures! ;)

 

There are higher-performance 10x zooms out there that take technically better pictures, but none nearly as small. I noticed that you mentioned "smallest" in your original post and to me that means you were looking for a constant-carry camera. I carry mine all the time and have gotten some great photos that I never would have otherwise.

 

You may find that after a while you may want to get a camera that expands the range of pictures you can capture such as a DSLR with a long zoom for wildlife or a really wide angle for scenery, etc.. If you do, keep the little one with you anyway. It's just not practical to carry a large camera all the time.

 

Here are a few things I've learned after spending 80% of my life with a camera:

 

Always carry a camera! The picture you take will always be better than the one you didn't take, no matter what you take it with!

 

Forget about feature envy and rapid obsolescense. Your camera today is technically obsolete when you buy it, but is only truly obsolete when it will no longer do what you need it to do.

 

The very best all-around camera for every situation is often two or three cameras...*sigh*

 

Take a look at the pics from our recent Radiance repositioner.

http://www.pbase.com/pierce324/pacnw2007

When you view the full-size picture, it says right under it what camera was used. Try guessing before you look...it will give you a lot more respect for a pocket camera!

 

Again, enjoy your camera!

 

Happy shooting!

 

Dave

[beauxdammit]

All good advice above: I will add a couple of other thoughts, though.

 

Unless you are a real photo junkie, stay away from those supped up little cameras with huge memory, 6-8 meg is more than enough for good croppable photos.

 

Carry lots of memory chips, flash cards, or whatever.

 

Watch out for cheap, plastic chassis'. Some folks are holding down the price by lessening quality of the case.

[pierces]

Unless you are a real photo junkie, stay away from those supped up little cameras with huge memory, 6-8 meg is more than enough for good croppable photos.

 

An excellent point. 6-8 MP in a compact camera is sufficient, "photo junkie" or not. In fact, as a confirmed "photo junkie", I would not recommend any thing over 7 MP at this point in time. Any higher and you are pushing the limits of current technology to overcome physics. A 7 MP compact with a good lens and processor will produce better overall results than a 10 MP compact in all but the best lighting conditions and unless you shoot all of your vacation photos in a studio, you will seldom, if ever, see thiose conditions.

 

Carry lots of memory chips, flash cards, or whatever.

 

Amen!

 

And don't forget the extra battery(ies)!

 

Happy shooting!

 

Dave

[Donnaluv2cruise]

Before travelling to Mexico last year I purchased an Olympus Stylis 720. It is very small, and the rechargable battery lasts a long time. You can either do photos or it will also shoot video, (although I have to admit I have not used that feature very much.) This camera can also go under water up to ten feet so it works to go snorkeling as well. I saw it for sale in BJ's yesterday for $279. They also just came out with a newer model that can go deeper in the water. I've been really pleased with the photos, and it's nice to have a tiny camera that you don't mind carrying everywhere. :)

 

[beauxdammit]

If you think you will shoot a humongous number of pictures, (like I do), or will have more than one camera in use, (like we do), take a look at an off line storage unit like the FOCI Media Buddy. Not only does it work as a convenient way to store your photos, it will serve as a neat off line storage device at home. (About 25000 photos at high resolution).

 

If you don't want to carry a lot of batteries, use rechargeables and carry a charger with you.

[pierces]

Media backup is a good idea!

 

I use an Epson P-2000 40GB viewer for offline storage. It not only stores the data, but provides a 3.8" high-res color screen to review your photos with up to 1500% zoom to check focus and such. I copy my cards to it and leave the images on both the cards and the Epson for backup. It has slots for SD and CF cards built in and will handle other formats with adapters. You can select images and create albums and do other organizational stuff. An optional cable (same as video iPod) will connect it to your room tv for slideshows.

 

Wonderful Wife gave it to me a couple of years ago and I've not carried a laptop since!

 

Dave

[Leah725]

I just recently received a panasonic lumix (7 mp and 10x optical zoom and image stabilization) and it's great!

 

Does anyone else have this camera? do you like it also?

[miami]

I just recently received a panasonic lumix (7 mp and 10x optical zoom and image stabilization) and it's great!

 

Does anyone else have this camera? do you like it also?

 

My sister just got this camera right before our Alaskan cruise. She loves it. The 3" screen and the 10X zoom are great. She took some awesome pictures of eagles in the treetops. For the cruise, I bought a Kodak Z710 for the 10X zoom but I think the Panasonic is a better choice (it does cost more). My daughter is looking to replace her camera and wants one with a bigger zoom. I told her that she should get the Panasonic.

 

I still love my Canon Elph... takes great pictures and is very small, goes everywhere with me.