Good inexpensive digital cameras?

[tsurikov]

Hi all,

Let's say I wanted to buy a cheap (less than $150) digital camera (for photos, not a Webcam). What models in this price range are known to be "good"? Or, maybe a better question - are there any models that are famous for being utterly terrible and to be avoided like the plague?

Thanks!
--Michael

 

[paparazi]

With digital camera's you really do get what you pay for, camera's at this price point generally are not very good.
If you stick with the manufactures that have always made good photographic equipment and optics you won't go far wrong.
Recommended: Canon, Nikon, Minolta, Fuji, Kodak, Sony
Glass optics with at least partial manual zoom then digital (digital zoom only is not good)
Don't forget the memory card (built in is no good if you cannot add a CF or other card to increase memory size)
Some cheaper camera's may only come with a 8 or 16meg card which equates to very few pictures at high quality settings.
Recommend at least 2.1 megapixel capability, this will enable reasonable blow up quatity (upto 10x8 inch)
If you can stretch another $30-$50 this will take you into the low end off the branded quality makes.
Martin:
Licenciate of the Brittish institute of Professional Photographers or L.B.I.P.P for short.

Replying helps further our knowledge, without comment leaves us wondering.

 

[franklin97355]

Almost anything made in China I would avoid. But that is my opinion, I've found Chinese made products leave the quality control testing up to the consumer. If it's bad you can get it replaced but they don't check very well before selling it to you.

 

[tsurikov]

paparazi: Thanks for the insight! I know you get what you pay for, but if two products are priced the same (regardless of how high the cost), one is often better than the other. That's what I'd like to know.

franklin97355:
> Almost anything made in China I would avoid.

How do you go about determining what's made in China? I've never seen tags like they have on clothes on digital cameras... I imagine lots of electronic components come from China, and who knows what's inside camera ABC?.. Or do you mean China-based companies (which are...???) ?

--Michael

 

[danno74]

I got a Kodak CX4230. It is on the verge of being a really good digital camera for the price, this also according to Cnet.com (I like their reviews). We paid $130 for it refurbished. It had problems with the on/off switch which also closes and opens the shutter, but after 2 free service calls it has worked flawlessly. And I really like their software.

Overall, I'm happy.

 

[stevieblunder]

You want at least 2Mpix, some optical zoom, and as consumer reports saz, using AA batteries is a big bonus. At the moment, rechargeable NiMH AA batteries are a much better deal than the alternatives.

There are plenty of subtle issues that you will not discover easily. My daughter has a cheap 2M camera that is slow, trashes some jpeg files, has no optical zoom, suffers from uneven flash coverage. Some images seem to have been poorly digitally optimized. Bare in mind this is a cheap (~$125) camera. The abilities of the camera CPU, and flash are not something you will find out until you have used the camera for a while.

Cameras greater than 2M should have some kind of steady-cam feature, but most do not. You will have to use a tripod to make use of the high resolution, although the flash does help this problem.

Something I have never seen advertised is that some (mid range) Cannon cameras have a microphone for QuickTime movie sound, and a gravity switch that automatically rotates the image right side up.

The choice of flash cards is not so important, but if it matters, CF cards are available in larger memory and are a fair price. Notice that card formats with more electrical contacts are going to read and write faster, another advantage of the CF format. If you are taking a rapid series of photos, this could be important, but it also depends on the camera CPU (and flash).

Steve

 

[ceh4702]

For digital cameras look at how the data is transferred. The pictures are taken and stored on the camera. How they are stored and on what medium determines how many pictures you can take. Also what kind of batteries does it take to run the camera. What will it cost to buy the batteries. I would go somewhere and ask to handle and use the camera in the store and ask them how the menu on the camera works too. The usablility of the menu is important. A lot depends on the quality of camera you want to pay for. The picture quality is important, but a lot depends on the number of mega-pixels and the file size and resolution i.e
"pixel x pixel" example 800 X 600. I would first figure on what camera you want or narrow it down to a few models and then look for some reviews.

There is always the size factor. They make these things the size of a deck of cards or the same as a standard Canon or minolta SLR 35mm camera. Size isnt necessarily a true indication of quality. But if it is the size of a lighter, I would question its quality.

There are some other factors. Some cameras come with the bard minimum to take say 8-16 photos and have a standard 8 or 16 meg removable flash memory. Sony use to make one that stored on Floppy. Flash memory is probably better. Look for a camera with a small flash memory device. You can buy a larger capacity flash memory device later.

Some cameras can also do video as an option but that requires huge amounts of memory. I think we did an experiment once and we figured out that standard video is 25-30 frames per second. At poor quality 15 frames per second you can store 6 seconds of MPEG2 Video, on a floppy.

There are some nice ranges of cameras in the 2M range from makers like Sony, Canon, Kodak. I would shop around. You can try them out some place like best buy or maybe office max or walmart, but I would look at prices online line

http://www.newegg.com,

Amazon,

http://www.bestbuy.com,

http://www.zipzoomfly.com,

and maybe at some Camera Stores. Lots of places are advertising free shipping for digital cameras.

If you do not like my post feel free to point out your opinion or my errors.

 

[rflores]

tsurikov-I am using the fujiFilm 2650 2.0Mega pixel 3x optical zoom and 3x digital zoom. It came with 16meg memory card. Priced around $149.00. I have printed pictures 8x10 with no lost in picture quality. It is a great starter camera, easy to use. I think the model has been discontinued. I have seen the same model as low as $129.00 at bestbuy and compusa. I hope this helps.

 

[KimLeece]

Hi-
Olympus is probably one of the best cheaper camera's - and they have always made great lenses. They use Smart Media cards which a lot of other makes also use so it is relatively cheap to buy extra cards. They have USB interfaces to export to PC. Nikon is probably the best - but also the most expensive. Sony makes great camera's but they only use Memory sticks - which are generally more expensive than Smart Media and aren't used by anyone else as far as I know. I personally have an Olympus c-5050 which is not in this price range - but the cheaper Olypuses are - and what I would recommend. Make sure that whatever you buy has a built in USB port and you don't have to buy any kind of extra interface to download to computer.

Kim.

'Everybody is ignorant - only on different subjects.'
Will Rogers.

 

[KimLeece]

p.s. - The Fine Pix software that comes with Olympus cameras is also great!

Kim.

'Everybody is ignorant - only on different subjects.'
Will Rogers.

 

[tsurikov]

Thanks for all the great input, everyone! Now off to the hunt!

--Michael