Looking to buy first digital camera

On 20 Mar 2005 12:58:03 -0800, "bmw" wrote:

I’m looking to buy my very first digital camera. I know absolutely nothing about them. I basically want to take family photos & maybe scenery that I could enlarge and put on my walls. I’m looking for something under $300.00. Any recommendations for a beginner?
Thanks!!!

BMW

Everyone will give you an opinion based on what they like. I find a Sony to give me the best bang for the buck, but even HP makes a good camera. Stay above the 4 mega pixel and 5 is about your price range. Also, try to include and extra battery in your price and a good memory card. The best thing to do is not buy unless it is on sale. Wait and be patient.

Donald Link wrote:

On 20 Mar 2005 12:58:03 -0800, "bmw" wrote:

I’m looking to buy my very first digital camera. I know absolutely nothing about them. I basically want to take family photos & maybe scenery that I could enlarge and put on my walls. I’m looking for something under $300.00. Any recommendations for a beginner?
Thanks!!!

BMW

Everyone will give you an opinion based on what they like. I find a Sony to give me the best bang for the buck, but even HP makes a good camera. Stay above the 4 mega pixel and 5 is about your price range. Also, try to include and extra battery in your price and a good

memory

card. The best thing to do is not buy unless it is on sale. Wait

and

be patient.

Donald Link wrote:

On 20 Mar 2005 12:58:03 -0800, "bmw" wrote:

I’m looking to buy my very first digital camera. I know absolutely nothing about them. I basically want to take family photos & maybe scenery that I could enlarge and put on my walls. I’m looking for something under $300.00. Any recommendations for a beginner?
Thanks!!!

BMW

Everyone will give you an opinion based on what they like. I find a Sony to give me the best bang for the buck, but even HP makes a good camera. Stay above the 4 mega pixel and 5 is about your price range. Also, try to include and extra battery in your price and a good

memory

card. The best thing to do is not buy unless it is on sale. Wait

and

be patient.

wrote:

Donald Link wrote:

On 20 Mar 2005 12:58:03 -0800, "bmw" wrote:

I’m looking to buy my very first digital camera. I know absolutely nothing about them. I basically want to take family photos & maybe scenery that I could enlarge and put on my walls. I’m looking for something under $300.00. Any recommendations for a beginner?
Thanks!!!

BMW

Everyone will give you an opinion based on what they like. I find a Sony to give me the best bang for the buck, but even HP makes a good camera. Stay above the 4 mega pixel and 5 is about your price range. Also, try to include and extra battery in your price and a good

memory

card. The best thing to do is not buy unless it is on sale. Wait

and

be patient.

Hi bmw,

There is one thing that you really need to keep in mind. When you buy a digital camera, it will most likely become addictive. Being able to see your photos instantly, as soon as you have taken them, is a really great thing. Then going home and seeing them full screen, or on paper is even better. So you may progress a lot quicker than you expect and grow out of the camera quickly, if you get one too low in specification. Have a good think about the images you are likely to want to take – and what features will be needed on the camera to take those images at the quality you expect.
As an example, you may want some manual control so that YOU are in control of blurring backgrounds (to emphasise your subject) or making sure everything is clear front to back in the pic (such as in soem landscape photographs, for example, where there are important elements close to you and in the distance). Don’t make the mistake I have often made in the past, buying something cheap to only later replace it with something better, and then something even better after that! I may as well have bought the best one to begin with and bought one item instead of 3!

Brian.

"Brian" wrote >>

[…]
As an example, you may want some manual control so that YOU are in control of blurring backgrounds (to emphasise your subject)

Let’s be grownups and call that controlled depth-of-field.

[…] Don’t make the mistake I have often made in the past, buying something cheap to only later replace it with something better, and then something even better after that! I may as well have bought the best one to begin with and bought one item instead of 3!

At this point in the technology, all digital cameras will be obsolete soon enough to be less than cost-effective.

jjs wrote:

"Brian" wrote >>

[…]
As an example, you may want some manual control so that YOU are in control of blurring backgrounds (to emphasise your subject)

Let’s be grownups and call that controlled depth-of-field.

Maybe you need to be a grownup before you comment, jjs. If you read bmw’s original post, it would tend to lead one to believe bmw does not know a lot about photography. Most people have never heard of depth-of-field unless they have been involved with photography, filmography, etc.
I was trying to keep it simple and be understood. Why someone always has to make a smart-arsed comment I will never know? I try to help, you try to be a know all. Doesn’t work with me!

Brian.

"Brian" wrote in message

jjs wrote:

Let’s be grownups and call that controlled depth-of-field.

Maybe you need to be a grownup before you comment, jjs. If you read bmw’s original post, it would tend to lead one to believe bmw does not know a lot about photography.

Use the correct terms and people will be encouraged to learn.

I know this isn’t under $300 but I have to recommend it anyways. I just bought a Panasonic Lumix FZ20 which is 5MP, 12X optical Lecica Lens with image stabilization. It takes wonderful pictures and has a great feature set including very low noise. I paid $499 for it from Circuit City. I highly recommend you take a look at it. The zoom and image stabilization is simply incredible. Very nice camera for the money. It is also a good size and easy to carry around with you.

Check www.dealnews.com – they cover most of the top retail sites. You can even set up an email alert for any digital camera deals, or any keywords you like.

—
Michael Evangelista
Southern Utah Web Design
www.suwebs.com
Affordable Small Business Website Solutions

"bmw" wrote in message

I’m looking to buy my very first digital camera. I know absolutely nothing about them. I basically want to take family photos & maybe scenery that I could enlarge and put on my walls. I’m looking for something under $300.00. Any recommendations for a beginner?
Thanks!!!

BMW

Look for Highest Mega px’s AND Hightest Optical Zoom (not Digital Zoom) in your prices range.

DXL

"bmw" wrote in message

I’m looking to buy my very first digital camera. I know absolutely nothing about them. I basically want to take family photos & maybe scenery that I could enlarge and put on my walls. I’m looking for something under $300.00. Any recommendations for a beginner?
Thanks!!!

BMW

bmw wrote:

I’m looking to buy my very first digital camera. I know absolutely nothing about them. I basically want to take family photos & maybe scenery that I could enlarge and put on my walls. I’m looking for something under $300.00. Any recommendations for a beginner?
Thanks!!!

BMW

Hi BMW,

not sure if you have purchased your camera yet. One of the best things you could probably do is look on the net for a site that not only reviews various digital cameras, but also posts images from each of those cameras for you to look at. You can then look at them on your screen and compare the actual image quality.

Brian.

In message <qEU0e.24$>, Don Ledarney
writes

Look for Highest Mega px’s AND Hightest Optical Zoom (not Digital Zoom) in your prices range.

DXL

"bmw" wrote in message

I’m looking to buy my very first digital camera. I know absolutely nothing about them. I basically want to take family photos & maybe scenery that I could enlarge and put on my walls. I’m looking for something under $300.00. Any recommendations for a beginner?
Thanks!!!

The best web site for reviews/comparisons of digital cameras is DP Review (http://www.dpreview.com); once you’ve identified a few you’re interested in, check the archives of rec.photo.digital to see what others have said about them, or to ask advice. It also might be worth checking Amazon for reviews, as they offer several cameras in that price range.

-Lucrezia

—
http://www.dont-blink.net/lining_up.htm

At this point in the technology, all digital cameras will be obsolete soon enough to be less than cost-effective.

I’m not sure that is true now, with the 6Mp camera becoming common place I don’t think more pixels will be such a big selling point.

"Don Ledarney" wrote in message

Look for Highest Mega px’s AND Hightest Optical Zoom (not Digital Zoom) in your prices range.

DXL

That’s probably not the best advice!
for example the Kodak Digital SLR can’t remember the number but it was quite a high number of pixels something like 13Mp was total crap, the image was very noisy, compared with the Nikon and Canon 6Mp cameras. Size is not everything!
And why have a high optical zoom if you don’t need it,and most people don’t! all lens design is a compromise. so a lens with a large focal length range will probably not perform well compared with one with a shorter range, it will also have a smalled aperture. so may well not work in low light conditions. but you are quite correct digital zoom is marketing bullshit!