Digital Camera Opinions Needed

[sp3GT]

I'm looking to pick up a digital camera but I'm having trouble telling what's good or needed in comparison to price.
I'm on Best Buy's website right now and there's just too many.

Should I go for either a Canon or Nikon, do I really need 10 megapixels?

Is a higher optical zoom better?


Thanks,

[cwp_sedan]

Question...

Do you want a point and shoot or a DSLR?

Do you want it to be small and fit in your pocket or can it be larger?


More megapixels are usually is better, but not always the case.

Optical zoom=good (the higher the better zoom)
Digital zoom=bad (best to turn it off)

[stevenma188]

Yup, the most important deciding factor is do you want a point&shoot camera or a DSLR, or something in between (Fixed lens SLR or just a more feature rich P&S).

As for Megapixels, it is not that important. Chances are unless you are going to be blowing your pictures up to poster size, you would be fine with anything over 5MP.

Higher Optical zoom is definitely good, but usually the trade off for that is either size, or image quality. It is very difficult to make a good quality zoom lens small, hence why pro photographers have those GIANT lenses. Digital zoom is useless, as all it does is crop the picture, which you can do on a computer using photoshop, but with much better quality.

DPReview (http://www.dpreview.com/) is a good source of looking at reviews of different cameras, although I found it very difficult to get decent reviews of entry level cameras.

[sp3GT]

Not DSLR just a regular pocket cam.

[W_L89]

i kno some1 selling a brand new canon digital camera if ur interested

[sp3GT]

What model? I'm thinking about this one:

http://www.bestbuy.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?sku_id=0926INGFS10130496&catid=26563&PCName=camera_canon&logon=&langid=EN

[W_L89]

think the person i kno selling has the canon powershot with 12 megapixels model

[MSMitch]

What model? I'm thinking about this one:

http://www.bestbuy.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?sku_id=0926INGFS10130496&catid=26563&PCName=camera_canon&logon=&langid=EN

I like the Canon Powershot cameras. For p&s cameras, two of the main things I personally look for are;

Short delay time from depressing the button and the camera actually taking the shot. The shorter the better!

Video with sound AND the ability to zoom in and out while taking a movie

The Canon has both of these.

One other consideration is where will the camera go? (i.e., vacation) - In that case, one of the new water-proof cameras may be a wise choice, although I find that the Fuji and Olympus tend to have a rather annoyingly long delay when trying to take a pic at times.

[Noisy Crow]

I like the Canon Powershot cameras. For p&s cameras, two of the main things I personally look for are;

Short delay time from depressing the button and the camera actually taking the shot. The shorter the better!

Also you want a short shot-shot time.

For P&S for 3x or so optical zoom is good enough- adds a bit of flexibility without too much added weight and complexity in the lense... you don't need telephoto-zoom -- just move closer to the subject.

Don't get too hung up on megapixels - with consumer level cameras an increase in MP almost always mean a noisier (~grainier) picture.

Decide whether you want the conveniece of buy-anywhere AA batteries or the reduced bulk of a proprietary rechargable LIon battery. Keep in mind that you can buy rechargable AA batteries and if you are stuck somewhere with flat rechargable AAs you can just buy batteries.

Steve Digicams has tons of good info and rewiews:
www.stevesdigicams.com

[sp3GT]

I use to have a Sony that took AA batteries, hated it. So I think I'm going to look for one that uses a rechargeable pack.

So 3x optical zoom is enough? There's also this Canon thats a Best Buy exclusive for $330 that has 12x optical zoom with 48x digital zoom. Is that not needed?

The camera is a present for my sister so not for vacay or anything just normal everyday use.

So I guess 10 or 12 MP is good enough?

[MPS]

http://estore.canon.ca/product_catalogue/cat_product_detail.asp?product_code=3632B005&category_id=4&sub_category_2_id=1080

[laksman91]

http://estore.canon.ca/product_catalogue/cat_product_detail.asp?product_code=3632B005&category_id=4&sub_category_2_id=1080

I have the G9. and i must say, it is awesome! its a point and shoot that has some features of a DSLR and is easy to use and compact.

[stevenma188]

The G11 is definitely a nice camera (my roommate has one), but I think its too bulky for a pocket cam. At that point it feels like you should go big or go home and get a DSLR or fixed-lens DSLR.

[kLuMzi]

http://estore.canon.ca/product_catalogue/cat_product_detail.asp?product_code=3632B005&category_id=4&sub_category_2_id=1080
wow! just did a quick search in flickr, this camera can take some serious pics!! :)
http://www.flickr.com/cameras/canon/powershot_g11/

[stevenma188]

Ya man, its basically got all the DSLR features, but without the zoom capability. I guess for me, since I take pictures of a lot of airplanes etc, zoom is very important.

[Skip]

from my experience, the canon P&S's have never disappointed, I love the convenience of the rechargable batteries, and the small sizes they come in. Picture quality and functionality were always great and easy to get used to. 10 MP should be fine, to be honest even 7 or 8 will be fine if you don't plan on blowing pictures up to print for big posters lol

[Scottobot]

I bought the Canon PowerShot SD780 IS Silver 12.1 MP on Cyber Monday and so far I'm really happy with it, for what it's worth. Very good pictures, it powers up very quickly, it's as small as I'd want it to be (any smaller and I think it would be hard to operate, but as it is it's quite convenient), and it shoots HD video.