OK gang I’m looking for some feedback. With the holidays coming up I’d like to pick up a new digital camera using some of the money we’ve set aside for Christmas. I’ve been tracking some deals lately on sites like Tech Deals.net and More Stuff 4 Less, but other than price these sites don’t tell you how good the cameras in question are. Here’s what I’m basically hoping to find:
At least 3 Megapixel resolution
Optical Zoom capability of 3X or better
Decent battery life
Decent memory capacity
Auto-focus
Fast or at least Snappy shutter speeds
Around $200 price
The Kodak DC3200 we currently have is the “instamatic” of digital cameras. At high resolution is has no zoom capability at all (other than walking closer to the subject), a fixed focus and is dog-slow at both shutter speed and time it takes to save to the CompactFlash card. These last two issues being the big ones. I literally hold my breath while taking pics for fear of blurring the image by breathing and there’s a good 5 or 7 seconds minimum between taking a shot and being able to take another shot. Considering it cost me all of $60 for the camera and another $66 for the 128MB CompactFlash card and USB reader back when I bought it I can’t complain all that much as it does a decent job for what it is, but I’m ready to step up to something a little more robust.
Alas, I’m not familiar with a good website for digital camera reviews so I’m not sure what I should be looking for. I saw a deal on a Olympus D-560 3.2MP digital camera with 3X optical zoom for only $199.98 being offered by Office Max over at Tech Deals, but haven’t a clue on whether it’s a decent camera or not. The price itself is after a $50 off $250 coupon and includes free shipping along with free 64MB AND 32MB xD flash memory cards in addition to the included 16MB card. It definitely sounds like a good buy if the camera is half-way decent.
So I want to hear from those of you who are more into digital cameras than I am on what your favorites are or where I might go to find some good reviews. Got a favorite? Let me hear it. Any that I should avoid? Fill me in.
Posted on 11/05/2003 at 04:09 PM 
Canon just came out with a digital SLR that comes with a standard lens for $999. The Canon Digital Rebel. Aside from the plastic case, it’s packed with features you would expect to see with their higher priced models and it’s a SLR which means *INSTANT* shutter releases when you press the shutter button.
With regards to batteries, choose one that either has rechargable lithium batteries, or one that accepts standard sized batteries. If it’s the latter, then go out and buy a battery recharger. It’s well worth the money as an average rechargable Ni-MH battery will do at least 100 charges before its performance starts to degrade.
Avoid those that use their own flavour of battery because they’ll probably be quite expensive to replace, although it’s always best to check first.