Digital Camera Opinions Needed

[nelg]

Hi Everyone. I am in the market for a digital camera. So far I have I have narrowed my list done to two choices, the Canon S45 and the Kodak DX6440. If anyone has any experience with either of these or could suggest another good =>4MP camera I would be grateful.

 

[ByteMe]

Are you going to try and cure peoples' addiction to browsing chat profiles?



COME ON I had to ask.

 

[pascal]

I have the Canon S45. I and my wife use it mainly as point-and-click DC. It is a great camera but sometimes I think about change it for the smaller/lighter Canon S400 to carry in my pocket.

I have lots of pictures of my daughter The 4MP cameras are good enough for 8x6" with almost 300 dpi pics.

Also buy at least an 256MB compact flash (140 pics at highest/best jpeg resolution), an aditional batery and leather cover.

 

[Zaphod]

Hard to give good advice if you don't specify what kind of use you plan to put the camera to, and what your priorities are when buying.

Price? Size? Looks? Features? Accessories?

Of the two you mention I haven't tried the Kodak, but I hear that it gives very vivid 'print frendly' images and is a good allround package. The Canon I have used, and it it is a very good camera. However it's getting old, so unless you are getting a good deal on it there should be other choices out there with a better price/performance ratio.

Here are a couple of favorites:
Aspiring amateur photographer
Good allrounder
Size does matter
Gotta' have more ZOOM

And some good links to check out:
http://www.dpreview.com/
http://www.steves-digicams.com/
http://www.imaging-resource.com/
http://www.dcresource.com/

 

[nelg]

Hard to give good advice if you don't specify what kind of use you plan to put the camera to, and what your priorities are when buying.

Price? Size? Looks? Features? Accessories?

Of the two you mention I haven't tried the Kodak, but I hear that it gives very vivid 'print frendly' images and is a good allround package. The Canon I have used, and it it is a very good camera. However it's getting old, so unless you are getting a good deal on it there should be other choices out there with a better price/performance ratio.

As far as price goes I can find the Kodak for $509(CAN) which is ~$90 cheaper. Features and performance are most important to me. Especially A/E functions. I used to do a lot of medium format photography and when I sold my darkroom setup and Hasselblad I picked up a Minolta 7xi. This really made me appreciate what a good metering system can do in when subject and background are unevenly lit.

 

[Zaphod]

As far as price goes I can find the Kodak for $509(CAN) which is ~$90 cheaper.

Reason I asked is it seems to discontinued in Europe. Few places are selling it anymore, and the S50 is cheaper.

Features and performance are most important to me. Especially A/E functions. I used to do a lot of medium format photography and when I sold my darkroom setup and Hasselblad I picked up a Minolta 7xi. This really made me appreciate what a good metering system can do in when subject and background are unevenly lit.

With that in mind, set aside a little more cash (900+ in Canada?) and go buy yourself a Canon G3 (on its way out, but IMO the G5 doesn't bring anything worthwile to the table). A more budget friendly alternative is the Olympus C-4000Z (On it's way to be replaced too, and thus cheap, at least around here. It's kind of the predecessor to the C-5000Z linked above but on the 'old' body-design). It's a great camera for the price, allthough not as 'sleek' as some of the newer models. The only showstopper might be that it uses Smart Media, so memory cards over 128MB is out. You might have to search around for these two though, but there should be bargains if you can find them.

My both 'sleek and full-featured' vote would go to the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-V1, but I don't really know much about it, and it's also the most expensive of the cameras I have mentioned.

Good luck finding the right camera for you.

Edit: Found a price at $600CAD for the C-4000, and $800CAD for the G3.

 

[nelg]

Thanks Pascal and Zaphod. My original budget for a camera was $300 but as with most things the concept of pay a little more get alot more has raised the amount I am willing to spend. I do not plan on mothballing my 35mm camera so when the issue of needing high quality arises I can address it with that ( I also have access to a drum scanner). I may go back to thinking about a 3MP camera though. I have to Christmas to decide. Again thanks for the help.

BTW I found I store with pretty good prices.
http://www.softmagic.ca/gdept.asp?dept_id=33

 

[Zaphod]

You won't find any digicams with manual exposure conrol for $300CAD. However, if you are willing to drop down to 3Mpix[*], the Canon A70 should not be much more than $400. It's reasonably small, exellent value, well built, and have a wide range of manual controls.

[*]Wich really is fine for prints up to A4 if you don't look at them with a magnifyer. And quite frankly the quality in most cases would depend way more on the optical 'resolution' of the lens in conjuction with the image sensor as well as the quality of the printing service - than it would the number of 'megapixels' a camera have. Oh, and on the 'quality' of the photograper of course... 8)

 

[Legion]

what amazes me is that i can write a thread concerning sound receivers only to have it deleted but a thread such as this won't be.

 

[nelg]

what amazes me is that i can write a thread concerning sound receivers only to have it deleted but a thread such as this won't be.

Do you mean this thread?
http://www.beyond3d.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9196

 

[covermye]

Why was your thread deleted? I was looking forward to a discussion on that topic after you clarified exactly what you were wanting...

 

[pascal]

Legion´s thread was moved to the hardware forum probably because is more apropriated there.

nelq
Before the S45 I had a Nikon 2100 2MP and the pictures were good but not exciting. My wife was a little dissapointed and I sold it and bought the S45 (twice the nikon´s price) because it has 4MP, some manuals controls like the G3 but with smaller form factor. The difference is visible, my wife has no subjective complains anymore

Then we just started to point-and-click with minimal adjustments and what I want is an smaller DC like the S400.

The S400, S45 and G3 all have the same 4MP CCD and the same image processor (Digic). It is all about your personal style.

 

[tuna]

If you are not a pro and want a really small camera for a good price I really like my Pentax Optio S. I think the usual retail price is around 40000 yen.

 

[McElvis]

Another vote for the S400/IXUS 400.

I have the IXUS 400 (same as the S400, just a different name for Europe) and its a great little camera. Looks good and has a very durable shell.

Easily fits into your pocked and has the most powerful flash I've seen on such a small camera.

The only issue I have with it is that it can take a second or two after you press the button to take a picture when in auto mode. So it's not the best camera for action shots.

 

[Heathen]

i've got th kodak DX6340 and it's stunning, so I'd imagine the 6440 would be even better.

 

[Tahir2]

What about the Canon A70? It is a 3.2MP camera has excellent manual controls. The A80 is similar in spec but 4MP IIRC.
My friend has an A70 and I have seen some of the pics he has taken and they are amazing.
Here is a link:
http://www.steves-digicams.com/2003_reviews/a70.html