first digital camera purchase... (1 Viewer)

[PeterK]

Ok, i'm looking for an entry level digital camera, nothing fancy. as low as 3 MP will do, but i've also seen some as much as 6 which are still pretty cheap. I don't really know what to look for in a digi, but I do know that having the biggest lcd possible is a major plus, I definately want atleast a 2" preferable 2.5 if that's possible, i know there are a few of them out there.
from what i know/ have heard, canon, nikon and kodak seem to be getting good things said about them. Right now my favourite seems to be the nikon coolpix P2 but I'm open to any suggestions.
my budget is $350 canadian (300 usd ?)

edit: shutter lag is also an issue, I get annoyed as hell when i miss a pic cause it waits half a second(or more :@) to take.

edit2: ok the more i look the more I really want a 2.5" i don't wanna settle for a 2

 

[Paul McElligott]

Great place to start looking is Steve's Digigams. Very detailed reviews of just about every camera out there.

 

[Sam Posten]

www.dpreview.com
www.photography-on-the.net

If you hate shutter lag, you will hate most point and shoots. I personally recommend Canons, but Sony, Nikon and even Panasonic have some nice little boxes.

Some great bargains can be found these days as lots of new cams were announced last week, keep an eye out at places like
http://ilikecheapstuff.com and

http://www.techbargains.com/
Sam

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Yeah, for this class of cameras, I'd tend to recommend Canon first for image quality though they don't generally have the fastest cams -- usually, Sony, Panny and maybe Minolta are faster though not necessarily very accurate at times.

Also, if you're considering 6MP, then you might want to move up to 7MP instead. IIRC, seems that the crop of cameras that use the 1/1.8" 7MP Sony sensor yield significantly better IQ (w/ lower noise) than the 5-6MP crop. This is significant since the higher ISO settings will be more useable as a result.

Also, don't overlook the 6MP Fuji F11 (w/ their own SuperCCD sensor) in this class of cameras due to its useable ISO800 setting, large LCD and relatively fast AF. Sounds very nice from what I hear.

I would generally recommend avoiding Kodak amongst the ones mentioned so far.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Even though it's only got a 2" LCD screen, another suggestion is the Canon A610 for a starter digital camera. Good battery life (since it handles 4 AA batteries), 5 megapixel, 4x optical zoom, uses SD memory cards, and runs anywhere from $250-$300 US.

For your first digital camera, don't get locked into proprietary memory cards (i.e. Sony), if you can help it.

 

[PeterK]

hmm, ok, i ended up getting the pentax S6. I am unimpressed with it, except for the size. you don't really make use of the 6 mp cause it gets blurry due to poor lens and/or focusing before it gets pixelated. I'll be trading it in for the nixon P2 shortly.

 

[SethH]

I would second the recommendation of the Canon 610. Its bigger brother (the 620) is probably the best p&s digital camera I've used.

 

[Patrick Sun]

I got in on the Dell deal for the Canon A610 a couple of days ago. It was originally $250, but got a hold of a 25% off coupon (there was a smaller built-in discount, but the coupon yielded the better value), and selected the free shipping option, and the final tally was just under $200 delivered (even after getting hit with $11 tax on the purchase, though). It will replace my older Canon A70.

The Dell coupon code below expires tonight 3/17/06 if it hasn't reach the limit for its use of 1500 users.

Here's the 25% off coupon code (thanks to Fatwallet):

98BK1?W0460?9W

 

[Harold Wazzu]

Sony DSC-H1

It's a great 5.1mp cam with 12x optical zoom and a 2.5" lcd screen.

 

[Alf S]

We got our Canon A620 last month and love it so far..very flexible and takes great pics.

Goes for around $350 or less online...