I'm really interested in digital photography but know nothing about the subject. My main needs would be taking pictures of my car, of scenery by my house and friends in social situations.

I figure the knowledgable CL members would be the perfect people to ask and a camera would be a great christmas present to myself. I don't need all the special features but something maybe with shutter speed adjustment and other basic functions would be great. Please help me out!

James

hey jet, that's a lot of posts and i don't recall running into you anywhere. hello...


those canon A-series are good inexpensive starters with manual controls. very popular and can be had pretty cheap. i have an S50 and would get the same one, used off of ebay if I had to start over. its well under $300. or spring for the newer S60 if you want something really spiffy without going overboard for your needs.

whatever you do, don't play the megapixel game. the numbers currently are more than necessary for most people.

hey jet, that's a lot of posts and i don't recall running into you anywhere. hello...


those canon A-series are good inexpensive starters with manual controls. very popular and can be had pretty cheap. i have an S50 and would get the same one, used off of ebay if I had to start over. its well under $300. or spring for the newer S60 if you want something really spiffy without going overboard for your needs.

whatever you do, don't play the megapixel game. the numbers currently are more than necessary for most people.

Thanks for the quick reply and nice to meet you too. So the Canon S50 eh? I know the daughter of the owner of a pretty large camera company and she can get me a decent discount so once I get all the options I'll see what kinda deal i can get.

James

Maybe a Canon G5? or if you're willing to spend more maybe a G6? Both are relatvely compact, so you can bring them with u all the time, and have various modes and offer many manual settings. As bravo said, the A series is also good, but i'm just biased since i'm a G5 fan... :)

Good luck with it, keep us posted on your pics! :bigthumbu

James, do you have a budget you're targeting?

I'd get the Olympus C-740 or so for a starter camera...

they are pretty much point and shoot, you get a nice 8x optical zoom (which is class leading) and they are relatively non-complicated..

They can be had for $300 or so

James, do you have a budget you're targeting?

Under $300 would be perfect, but if it's just above that it still may work. :)

James

i wouldn't do the G5 or G6 if your a starter plus they are big and pretty heavy and bulky..for a starter i would say look for a camera with at least 3.2 Mega Pixels. mayb a nikon cool shot 4.0 its around 299.99 from most places.

I would highly recommend the Nikon cool pix, and the most expensive model you can afford. It's a great "auto" camera so it will take a good picture in most situations all by itself. And you can overide most functions once you are comfortable with it.

Canon S70 hands down. But if you don't really care to have the absolute NEWEST, then you'd be good to own the older model like the S60 (pretty much the same exact thing but a lil less pixels) or even the older S50 (no amateur would ever need anything more than this).

Canon S70 hands down. But if you don't really care to have the absolute NEWEST, then you'd be good to own the older model like the S60 (pretty much the same exact thing but a lil less pixels) or even the older S50 (no amateur would ever need anything more than this).


Definately second this. The S50 would be perfect as a starter camera. I had one, and I loved it. I wish I kept it for toting around as well.

Canon S70 hands down. But if you don't really care to have the absolute NEWEST, then you'd be good to own the older model like the S60 (pretty much the same exact thing but a lil less pixels) or even the older S50 (no amateur would ever need anything more than this).
I third this. This is my first real digital camera. I had 2 previous ones that were absolute crap. They can be had now for about $450. They were $700 when they first came out in August. A S60 is almost as good. Less megapixels, 5 vs the 7.1 in the S70.

I have a Best Buy card and digital cameras get 24 months no interest. Easy purchase at this point.

i like the sony dsp-w1 5.1 mega pixl and carl zeiss lens iam a starter and i want something easy to use but nobody has any expierence with them i have a sony 2.o megapixl iam happy with it but its time to upgrade so if anybody has any info please help thanks shawn

Guys, thanks for all the help, I learned some of the basics. However, today i was completely surprised when I opened a present and found a digicam of my own! I hadn't asked for one so I really had no say but I like it. It's a Pentax Optio S40, 4 megapixels 3x zoom, should work just fine for me. Maybe when I'm ready to upgrade I can spring for the bad boy S70. Until then, I;ll be just fine.

James

Guys, thanks for all the help, I learned some of the basics. However, today i was completely surprised when I opened a present and found a digicam of my own! I hadn't asked for one so I really had no say but I like it. It's a Pentax Optio S40, 4 megapixels 3x zoom, should work just fine for me. Maybe when I'm ready to upgrade I can spring for the bad boy S70. Until then, I;ll be just fine.

James


congrats man. i bought my wife the Pentax optio S5i for christmas and its just an awesome little camera. very small and compact but takes some incredible pictures. i read some great reviews about Pentax through the internet and even at circut city where they don't sell it the guy told me if i wanted a great small thin camera that takes great automatic pics that to order the Pentax. i picked it up at BJ's for a great price. you should really enjoy it..

Before you can make a decision, you have to decide what you need now and what you want to do with the camera.

1) If you plan to LEARN anything, you absolutely need a camera with manual controls.
2) Don't be fooled by mexapixels. 3.2 is plenty for most people, really. The quality of the sensor itself and the LENS are the most important considerations.
3) I'm partial to Canon cameras, so the A or S series would be my recommendation.