Buying a New Digital Camera

[molotovwars]

Right now I'm using a Canon Powershot S3 IS. I like the camera and I have always been favorable to Canon cameras. I bought the camera at the end of 2006 to take on trips when I travel thinking it would be worth it for me to have a better camera when I travel. Unfortunately due to its size (aka inability to fit into my pocket) I very rarely take it anywhere and after living in Seoul for a year have taken almost no pictures.

I'm looking for a simple point and shoot ""party camera" in the $100-$150 range. It would be nice if it used SD cards, but all memory is cheap now. If it were a Canon that would be excellent and decent optical zoom is a plus.

I'm sure just about any camera will fit the bill, but I was hoping maybe someone would have a recommendation or even simply a link to a good deal going on at the moment. I just don't know the various deal/discount sites.

Oh and I'll be shipping it to my US address and picking it up when I stop home for a few days, so any site is fine. Thanks in advance.

[Medical Dust]

Dealextreme.com currently has some digital cameras that probably fall into the "party" range.
$30 for 9 mega pixel SD card camera is a pretty great deal. My friend got a $150 camera on dealextreme a couple years ago which was surprisingly good, however, now they only seem to sell cheaper cameras.

[Jrecee]

Having an SLR camera really makes it hard to go back to a pocket sized point and shoot camera, and to get close to slr quality you spend a fortune. Anyway, I'd check out CNET first to get up to date on what's out there as opposed to buying what's on sale. Find a few cameras you like and then search around for the best deals on them.

[molotovwars]

Yeah CNET seems like a great resource. Thanks for the reminder. I'm easily able to narrow down my interests and see what cameras there are.

I'm sure I'll be able to find something suitable, however I wish I could buy a new camera that was released one or two years ago. The advancements in point and shoots seem laughable. New cameras get released yearly so that the company can continue to make sales, but in reality 12 Mega Pixels will probably be little different from 6 or 8 Mega Pixels given the size of the lens.

I know I could be paying much closer to the $100 range. I initially limited my search to Canon cameras between $100-$200, but the stuff worth buying is at $179. I don't mind the price, I just don't see how it would be superior to anything with less specs. I guess I'll check out cameras that are under $100, then expand my search to other brands.

Thanks again for the site.

[Jrecee]

I probably wouldn't bother with anything over 8 or 9 megapixels, not if you're paying more for it anyway. Even my D40 (a $450 camera) is only 6 megapixels. I have a samsung that I bought 2 or 3 years ago and it works fine for your average snapshots. I think I paid about $150 for it at the time. If you buy in a brick and mortar store you can usually return it, so if you buy something and it's too slow or something you can get something else. That's why I usually don't buy stuff like that online.

[Mod_Man_Extreme]

Not to mention that at resolutions higher than 10 megapixels your pictures become a muddled blurry mess as the CCD's image becomes riddled with little white specks.

These specks are actually the particles of light which the CCD's sensor is picking up as it takes the photo and are unremovable and unavoidable.

Just another reason why good, cheap, old fashioned resolution-free film is still king.

[Limewater]

Not to mention that at resolutions higher than 10 megapixels your pictures become a muddled blurry mess as the CCD's image becomes riddled with little white specks.

These specks are actually the particles of light which the CCD's sensor is picking up as it takes the photo and are unremovable and unavoidable.

If the specks are really that little, a median filter should be able to take care of them. I'd have to see the problem to make sure, though.

That said, I agree that buying ridiculously high resolutions on a point 'n shoot is kind of silly.

[Ivo]

The companies are just putting larger numbers because common people buy into that.

My Kodak Easyshare DX7440 served me well since 2004 or so, but stopped turning on a month ago. There was a promotion on some expensive product and I am getting a Sony Cybershot DSC-S2000 out as part of the deal (as far as I'm concerned, it counts as some 80 EUR value). I hope the camera isn't too crappy. I didn't really get a choice on the model as it was an offer, but I presume for my "needs" it will more than suffice. Still, the 10 Mpixels are sure to be ridiculous, I'd rather less MPs and have a 4x optical zoom like I used to on the Kodak.

Ivo.

[molotovwars]

Yeah the Canon I have now is 6MP and 12x optical zoom. Its excellent just not as portable as I'd like it to be, as in exception to my travels, I don't need that awesome 12x zoom.

I'd generally prefer to buy it in a brick and mortar store, which is what I've always done, but I'll only be in the USA for a short time (8 days). I'll order it ahead of time and pick it up while I'm there. I could go camera shopping in Korea, but even as my Korean improves I'm not really able to assess what I am buying well enough and there seems to be a lack of reasonably priced compact cameras. Koreans love DSLRs and brand, reputation, etc mean so much here that the stores don't even stock some basic stuff as I guess their profit margins are lower?

But yeah, I always bought in the same store and I'd pay about an extra $100 for a 4 year no questions asked warranty. On the current camera I haven't had to use it, but I put the previous one through all sorts of abuse and it more than paid for itself.

Modman, it seems you really like to find old products, cling to them and distance yourself from whatever is released afterwards. I think you often narrow in on a single point or two that you can then use to justify you not having said new item. I'm not pitching anything to you, just an observation I guess I've noticed about your buy habits and view points on technology. I'm never one to go out and buy the newest item, but for something as simple as a phone or a camera I can recognize the advancements that have been made.

That said, though I don't plan on buying a point and shoot camera with a ridiculous resolution, thank you for the heads up. However, a film based camera is not practical for my purposes.

Before I make a decision maybe I'll post up a few cameras I'm considering.

[CRTGAMER]

Couple Rants.

I hate it when I see ads touting say 32x DIGITAL Zoom. There are actually people confused thinking "digital" is better then optical. Digital Zoom should be disabled, just kills the quality of the final image. Good that you are looking at optical zoom capabilities.

Cell phone pic postings. Why bother, its too blurry a resolution. Almost as bad as going back to 110 after using 35mm. At least have 3 meg in your cell phone, or take the minute to put batteries in that lot better regular digital camera.

Cost vs Mega-Pixel size. Weigh in if you plan on going a bigger pic then 4x6 or even 8x10. A 10 meg adequate, will give a nice clear blown up pic. 5 meg more then adequate for the 4x6 or even maybe 5x7 shots. Just depends how discerning your eye is and how big a hole you want in the wallet.