Buying a Camera, help me deside

I need to buy a camera as my wife and daughter are getting ready to take a trip and want to take pictures. I am going to get a 5 megapixel camera with 12 opticle and have narrowed it down to these cameras. I have priced them at pricegrabber.com and they are all between 300 and 450. Does anyone have an opinion

• The Canon S2IS
• Fuji S5200
• KODAK Easy Share P850
• Sony CyberShot
• Nikon D50
• Panosonic Lumix DMC-F27K

 

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Obviously the Nikon is the higher of the 6 at 449. I have heard Sony ($299)customer service sucks. I have a Canon and have had no problems but the wife is liking the Panosonic ($ 317 or the Fuji $349). My boss has a Kodak $449 and seems pleased

 

nikon d50 is a digital SLR -- it is a camera that can grow with her needs. though it does have an automatic mode and certain picture settings (sports, landscape, portrait, etc.), don't treat it as the other point-and-shoots.

the d50 is clearly the best camera of the bunch, though. you will be able to purchase the ful range of lenses to change out.

 

I's ask your wife and daughter if they want a digital camera that big. Travelling with what is essentially a SLR means bulk - and can also mean additional lenses meaning more bulk.

The other issues to be considered is battery life and availabilty - when travelling you want to be able to pick up some AA's if you forgot to recharge. Also, what memory comes with the camera - and the price for larger memory. Again when travelling you need a memory card large enough to take days of pics without downloading.

The smaller digital cameras can fit in a pocketbook and I recommend the Sony DCS-W5 - we have two of them.

 

funny, I just bought a camera I'm returning, but I love it...

the Canon SD450 is so small, 5.0MP, 3x zoom, has video which I transfered to DVD and played on my 50"TV and looks great. We had prints made, look fantastic. Shots of my dog & kid playing, no blur... has all the features and size I want it in...Highly recommend it. I got it at Staples for $299.

The whole line of Canon SD cameras are awesome IMO. The SD550, SD600, and so on..

Which takes me to the only reason I returning the 450. It's because the SD700 is due out May 30th. It's $499, but it has the 4x zoom, which is like a 140mm, and it's a 6 MP. plus a couple of more upgrades...

All the SD cameras also have an underwater case you can buy too...

For $299 though, you will have a hard time beating the Canon SD450

But I'm so happy with the digital video that I/m selling my Sony Digital video camera...

btw - I have a Sony Camcorder & a Nikon Coolpix 990 for sale

 

Agreed. I bought a digital camcorder and will be selling it this month. The Canon SD cameras I have have been FANTASTIC. They record videos at 30fps at 640x480, take great pictures, and are TINY, which means I always have them with me to actually capture those cool moments. The SLR bodies and look-alikes are just too big.

 

The coolest thing is drag & drop video clips right off the card. No camera wires to the compuer, playing the video while it eats up hard drive, etc etc etc...

if anybody has ever played with video on a computer, you know how painful it can be...I took a few clips into iMovie, applied a couple of transitions, and export a full resolution .avi file. I made 3 of them in about 15 minutes, then when into iDVD where I dragged images in for a slide show and added the 3 movies. Burned the DVD and I was done. Took me all of about 45 minutes.

I'm second guessing which one I want now. The SD620 looks cool too, but it's a little bigger. I got to stick with the SD700, SD450, or the SD550 for it's size. The SD700 though also has the 16:9 widescreen format.

 

The camera will be used for both the trip and later on. A coworker has the Canon Rebel digital that Best Buy has for 899 and will sell it to me for 450. In line with what I was going to pay but the lens is only a 18-55mm. You can get other lenes but that adds to the final price. I am leaning towards the Canon mentioned above. How would you equate a 12x optical zoom to a SLR zoom? Would it bee a 300mm? The Fixed lens with 12x would probably be all I need (zoom wise) and being cheaper. The higher priced Canon (Rebel) is a better camera but for my needs (Marching Band photos from a distance) and her vacation it suits my needs

 

first you dont want a camera phone, and now this?? asshead. much easier to smuggle a phone into a nuk-u-lur plant. :imagestor

 

the rebel is a fine camera. you can find it fo rmuch less than 899 -- $683 at buydig.com http://www2.buydig.com/shop/product.aspx?ref=cnet&sku=CNDRXTS

you'll want to get a 70-200 zoom. 300mm is a big lens.

here's some sample pics taken with a canon 70-200 zoom: http://www.ap1.net/band.htm


like the nikon, it's one to grow into. check to see how many shutter snaps the camer has taken so far.