[Canada] A mate of mine wants to buy a digi-cam

[Evergreen]

He has a budget of $100 cn dollars.

He wants something he can take pics of himself with and stuff and well you know what's the best he can get for $100 cn.

I really REALLY do not know what's good cam wise so like feel welcome to throw advice at me here. If I knew what to look for I'd search for this myself but this area isn't my forte.

p.s. he says if there is an incredible difference between what he can get for $100 compared to $150 he'd spend the extra 50.

[RexDrax]

Well, $100 cdn is not a lot of money to get a decent camera. I would say your friend should increase his budget to at least $300 if not $500. Reason I state that is that most low/mid range cameras use 2/4 AA batteries and regular batteries can only get you like 30 pictures while high end rechargable batteries can get you like 300 picture. For high end rechargable batteries you want at least 1800 mA, if not 2000+ mA. Most digital cameras only come with enough memory to take like 12-20 pictures so you have to get a bigger memory card. The most commen memory card on the market is 128MB which will cost you about $50-90 depending on which camera and where you get it. So just looking at the batteries and the memory card your already over $100.

If your friend is not willing to move on the price, then they are looking at a 2 Megapixel Kodak camera (CX 6200) or the Olympus D-395. Out the 2 I would choose the Olympus because it has a much better lense on it, however the memory card for it is about $15 more expensive. They retail for about $180 cdn, and thats like one of the CHEAPEST not so decent cameras you can get.

My advice to your friend is to go for at least 3 Megapixel camera because it gives you the best of both worlds. Good quality and not to expensive. In that range I would get the Fuji A330, Pentax Optio 30, Sony P-72/73 (if very money consicious), Olympus D-560/565. They retail for about $269-329 depending on where you go. For one of the best 3 Megapixiel camera you want the Canon A-75 or the Olympus Stylus 300i which are around $379-399 retail.

By the way, before you start disagreeing with anything above, I work at the biggest electronic store in Canada and Digital Cameras, Camcorders, Phones, Cell Phones and PDA's are my department so I know what I am talking about and the prices I quoted are fairly accurate. Ask your friend what he wants to use the digi cam for, specifically is he planning on blowing up the pictures. lots of nightshot, is going to be away from a power outlet a lot, take a lot of pictures, wants some manual control or more of a point and click, some trick shot capabilities (ie build in filters), and so on. The more specific your friend is in his use, the more I can narrow down which camera would best suit his/her needs. But like I said, $100 is really not enough since the cheapest digi cam we sell is like $179 and I would not buy it myself unless I am doing very simple stuff.

-RexDrax

[Evergreen]

Cheers Rex I'll get back to you with more details.

p.s. he's also thinking about ebay'ing for one hence needing to know a bit about what to look for in a cam.

[Steve_G]

i suppose i can take it from here, i dont have that great of a budget and i just want it for simple reasons, few pics of myself, some stuff, maybe just some pics at parties or on the beach

also if it can double as a webcam even better heh, which is another thing im looking for

[NEWSBOT3]

ignore digital zooms, they are less useful than most of your (8pm's) posts, optical zooms however are good, the more x the better.

don't get obsessed with megapixels, anything 3+ is enough for a starter camera.

[RexDrax]

Yeah as NB3 said, go for a 3 MP camera and ignore digital zoom. Most cameras come standard with 3x optical zoom, which is 35-109 mm equivalanet in a 35mm camera. If your looking for a camera to double as a webcam then you want to get Fuji camera. Afaik only Fuji has the technology build into their camera to double as a webcam. Not sure why that is so, but it is. The Fuji A330 is a new camera so not sure if it has that capability. If you can find a Fuji 2600 or Fuji 2650, then get it. Its like last years model and a 2 MP camera, but it takes very good picture and its one camera I would buy, or even the Fuji A 303, which I think also doubled as a webcam. The Fuji 2600/2650 I know was a webcam as well.

From what your telling me you can get away with a 2 MP if you have to, but I would suggest getting a 3 MP camera because a 3 MP is kinda middle of the road. It gives you good quality plus at the same time you can blow up the picture 8x10 and get good quality.

Avoid HP cameras, they are cheap but prone to break down and when they do its impossible to get them fixed. Kodaks are nice and do fill a good void. Not very high end, more for consumers that are price conscious and still want decent quality pictures. Canon is top dog, your paying for brand name and good technology. Untouchable!! Olympuys makes very good camera as well, and unbelivable good lenses, better than Canon since they are a lens company of course. Only one that can beat them are certain Sony cameras that use Carl Zeiss lens. Not sure if your familiar with Carl Zeiss, they make one of the best lenese on the market, very much in competition with Olympus. Pentax also makes good camers, the only 3 MP camera they have would be the Pentax Optio 30. Kinda looks like a cheap camera, but its good in quality.

The thing about Sony cameras, the cybershot series, is that they come with rechargable batteries and a charger so you save yourself some money. The batteries that come with them are good for about 200 picutures, so not too bad and their cameras give you good quality. DO NOT buy the Sony DSCP Cybershot P-52, spend the extra money at get the P71/72 or 73. Its worth it.

And like NB3 said (cant stress this enough) DO not look at digital zoom, ignore it totally, only compare optical zoom. When your shooping as well, check how the menu is set up. Canon has one of the best menu, while Olympus is not as intuitve to 1st time users while Kodak is good for people that have eye problems.

Hope that helps you a bit more. Feel free to post questions, might take me up to 2 days to reply since I work like 40 hours a week but I will.

-RexDrax

[KoeN]

ITT sunday claims he made friends in canada.

[Evergreen]

itt Koen still tries to come out of his sidekick shadow and tries to emulate Theamion's humour.

He suceeds, he's unfunny.

The end.