Digital Cameras

[Awesome Sauce Malone]

Hey im looking to go get a new camera. Im actually kind ofmaking a rushed decision I actually need one by Saturday morning at the latest.

Anyways im looking at this one specifically

http://www.kodak.com/eknec/PageQuerier.jhtml?pq-path=12416&pq-locale=en_US

or maybe even this one.

http://www.kodak.com/eknec/PageQuerier.jhtml?pq-path=12444&pq-locale=en_US

My budget is around 200 bucks. And things I care about are good quality pics especially for things like sports and so forth.

here are pics taken from my old camera at Shocker Madness this year.

http://www.shockernet.net/sn/viewtopic.php?t=9099&highlight=shocker+madness+pictures

anyways any help would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

[Awesome Sauce Malone]

oh I would like to add that since we have a 8 month old running around the house good clear pics and videos would be awesome as well!!

[TxShox]

The first thing I tell anyone when they ask about digital cameras is to visit Steve's Digicams

He's also got a list of his Best Cameras - Look at the entry level perhaps.

[Snapshot9]

To be quite honest, you won't find a camera with more pixels (or as much) and options as that Kodak Z1285 (2nd link in first post) listed above. It has more capability than any other model for your price range.

Being an old SLR junkie, the best clarity always was Nikon or Olympus, and later on Fujui.

I think I would go with the Kodak Z1285.

A friend on mine has an old Kodak digital camera that he takes pictures of an indoor sport in, and can not use the flash, and they come out real good.

[Awesome Sauce Malone]

thanks guys.

the pics from the shocker madness link that I took were from a older Kodak camera. I personally wasnt to happy with that.

From what ive gathered from talking to many people here at work is its sounding like a choice between Canon and Kodak.

[SubGod22]

I've been considering getting one myself. The Kodak above appears to be pretty good for the price. I may have to consider that if I ever actually get around to buying one.

[rjl]

Rule 1: Don't get caught up in megapixel hype. More megapixels doesn't necessarily = a better picture. In fact, trying to cram a lot of megapixels on a small point-and-shoot sensor can make your pictures a lot more noisy, especially if they don't upgrade the noise reduction software at the same time.

Along with the sites that TxShox recommended, I'd also direct you to dpreview.com

Personally, I'm looking for a point and shoot to act as a companion to my SLR. Thinking about either a Leica D-Lux3 or a Sigma DP1 right now, the latter of which is a lot of scratch... but beautiful photos.

[SHOCKvalue]

My advice from the amateur peanut gallery:

Pay no attention to MP's. Unless you plan on making posters out of your shots, then anything on the market currently will do fine (over 5 or 6 MP's). The camera manufacturers know this is the #1 item tagged by most consumers for comparison purposes, so they keep inching the MP's up, without consideration to other build items.

If you take the MP factor out of the equation, then you can look to other, more important features such as zoom length, image stabilization, movie mode quality, image aspect ratios, screen size, etc. If you throw the current MP infatuation to the wind, then you can find a smoking deal on a one or two season old model that has awesome features like I noted above, with a price point similar to a current season, entry-level, point-and-shoot.

I took this approach last Christmas season (after reading several articles written by professionals) and ended up purchasing my Mother a Kodak Z812is for around $190. That's an 8 MP, super zoom, image stabilized camera with the ability to take shots in 3:2 (common digital camera aspect ratio, TV and computer screen proportions) or 4:3 (what most actual film is printed on, 4x6 prints, etc.). It doesn't have a uselessly high MP rating, but it does have many other features that blow it's price-equivalent, point-and-shoot competitor out of the water.

BTW I'm not writing this novel to sell you on the camera I bought my Mom, just the approach I used. As far as brands go I personally like Canon, but that's just me.

[SHOCKvalue]

...and I see rjl made a similar post while I was busy composing my novel.

Apologies for the redundancies.

[Awesome Sauce Malone]

well my girlfriend is in to scrapbooking so we will be printing out pics for that.

overall thats my biggest concern is picture quality.

Thanks everybody for all your info.

[WstateU]

You won't be disappointed with this one... :good: :good:

http://www.steves-digicams.com/pr/nikon_04102008_s52-s52c_pr.html

"The COOLPIX S52 and S52c feature Optical VR Image Stabilization technology, which compensates for camera shake as well as ISO capabilities up to 3200, which provide more opportunities to capture fast moving subjects and greater flexibility and clarity when shooting in low-light settings. These cameras also boast an AUTO ISO control, which automatically selects the optimal sensitivity across a range between ISO 100 and ISO 800, and up to ISO 2000 in High-Sensitivity mode."

[Snapshot9]

Like I said before, Nikon and Olympus focusing systems are the best for clarity's sake.

Canon's have a known reputation for being 'battery hogs'.

If you are going to be taking sporting pictures, having a speed of 1/2000th of a second is good to have, which the Kodak Z1285 has. Note too, that you can use 3 different types of batteries with it.

I agree more mega pixels does not mean the best clarity, but I would say that 7 mega pixels is the lowest you should consider, and I am really thinking 8 mega pixels.

I would say an 8 mega pixel Nikon or Olympus would yield as good or better clarity than the Kodak Z1285. I saw comments by users that rated the Z1285 at 3.5 stars, while Nikon and Olympus were typically 4.5-5.0 stars.

[SubGod22]

Thanks for the mega pixel talk. Me being as dumb as I am with these things would probably put too much stock in that. And I doubt I'm the only one.

[Awesome Sauce Malone]

me 2 sub

I just got back from Best Buy.

I must admit I looked more at the Canon's then anything. The gentleman talked me out of Kodaks.

[Awesome Sauce Malone]

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8696173&type=product&id=1198888712208

I went with this.

My friend has one very similar and so far so good.

Hopefully Ill get around to make some good picture posts. Im not pro but yeah we'll see what whats up