Digital Camera Advice

[Best Buckeye]

For future camera noob's like myself I found this little ad peice that I found interesting;
High-End, Advanced Digital Cameras Canon's high-end PowerShot digital cameras incorporate the creative performance of a professional digital SLR camera and the compact convenience of a point-and-shoot.so these cameras have voth the SLR feature and point and shoot.
Link

I also found these pictures which display the difference of the magnification on the Fuji S8000fd


I am blown away by these.

Now I don't know if I should get the Canon or the fuji. Circuit city here I come..

[Dryden]

As I mentioned in my earlier post from the beginning of the year, the Fuji S8000fd is an incredible package for the money. I've used it for a lot of sports photography between my niece's basketball games and my son's little league games -- have taken ~600 action photos, and the picture quality is superb. The 18x zoom is a very nice feature to have for landscape photos as well. Also, the Fuji includes a camcorder mode for shooting mpeg full motion video, and with an empty 2Gb SD card you can record well over a half-hour of video. I'm very happy.

My only suggestion is to set aside another $20-$30 and buy a media reader for your computer (if you don't already have one) to pull the photos off the card with drag-and-drop, because the native software over USB is very, very slow once you're closer to filling up the SD card.

The battery life is the best feature of the camera though, hands down. We've now owned the camera for six months and have only charged the 2500mAh Energizers twice, and we've taken well over 1500 photos plus shot video at the hospital when our new baby was born.

[Muck]

Have you looked at Panasonic's Lumix DMC-FZ18?




If you are looking for excellent, comprehensive reviews try Digital Photography Reviews, Digital Camera Review or Digital Camera Resource.


They all provide a good bit more useful info than CNET.

[jwinslow]

Also, don't buy SD cards from Best Buy or most overpriced sellers. They can be found for dirt cheap prices online. Again, see slickdeals' forum for SD card deals.

[Best Buckeye]

I went to Meijers and looked at cameras just to get an idea of the actual size. They didn't have the exact models but at least they had something close. I like the fuji's size for my hands and the Canon will fit inside a shirt pocket easily.
I guess I will go for the best deal I can get.
How many SD cards should I have?

[Muck]

Originally Posted by Best Buckeye

How many SD cards should I have?

They're both 8MP cameras right?

You'll be able to fit around a thousand pics on a 4GB card.

[jwinslow]

One 4 gb card should be more than adequate... I might consider a second card just in case something happens to the first.

Here's a sick deal that has popped up a couple of times now... fwiw, my rebate has been approved and is being processed for mailing. And the last deal (3 months earlier) like this had plenty of positive rebate feedback as well.

I believe it's dead now, but it should pop up again:

4GB Sandisk Extreme III SDHC Memory Cards $10, 2 For $5 ea, 3 For $3.33, After $30 to $110 MIR

Anyway, you can find quality 4gb cards for $20 with regularity, that might be more worth it for you.

[OSUsushichic]

The Bargainist often has good deals on cameras as well.

Electronics Coupons, Electronics Coupon Codes and Electronics Deals

[Best Buckeye]

Just so that all of you helped me know, I bought the Fuji S8000fd. What decided me was the size. When I picked up the canon into my hand it more or less disappeared, so I knew I probably would have trouble with the buttons.
On the other hand the Fuji is a good fit for me and most of the features are easy to use once you read the manual.
I like the zoom feature and the fact that I can take motion pictures with sound.
I haven't really used it yet, just practice ones so far.
So far I am pleased. I did buy 2 4gb cards too.

Thanks again to all of you who offered advice.

[OSUsushichic]

J.D. Power results were just released:

Point and Shoot
Fujifilm Finepix S series tops the list, performing particularly well in picture quality, performance and ease of operation. It is followed by the Kodak V series and M Series.

Premium Point and Shoot
Canon PowerShot G series and Panasonic?s Lumix DMC-TZ series tie for top ranking, followed closely by the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ.

Ultra Slim
Sony Cyber-Shot T leads, performing particularly well across all factors driving customer satisfaction. The Casio Exilim Zoom series ranks second and the Fujifilm FinePix Z series closely follows to rank third.

DSLR
Canon EOS Digital SLR and Nikon D series tie, each capturing the highest satisfaction ranking among all camera segments. The Canon EOS Digital SLR receives notably high ratings from customers in picture quality, while the Nikon D series performs particularly well in ease of operation, performance, and appearance and styling.

2008 Digital Camera Usage and Satisfaction Study | J.D. Power

[Dryden]

Originally Posted by Best Buckeye

Just so that all of you helped me know, I bought the Fuji S8000fd.

Good choice.

Wonder if I can collect a Finder's Fee from Fuji?

[FCollinsBuckeye]

Originally Posted by Best Buckeye

For future camera noob's like myself I found this little ad peice that I found interesting;
High-End, Advanced Digital Cameras Canon's high-end PowerShot digital cameras incorporate the creative performance of a professional digital SLR camera and the compact convenience of a point-and-shoot.so these cameras have voth the SLR feature and point and shoot.
Link

I also found these pictures which display the difference of the magnification on the Fuji S8000fd


I am blown away by these.

Now I don't know if I should get the Canon or the fuji. Circuit city here I come..

What did you end up getting, BestBuckeye? We're in the market for a new digital camera (we're eventually going to get a DSLR, but want a new point and shoot type in the mean time)...

edit: NM - I didn't scroll down far enough.

I'll be looking at Canon vs Fuji based on this thread...

[BuckeyeFlorida]

I went through this process about 4 months ago to pick up a new camera to take to Chile/Antarctica. I quickly settled on a Canon, but had quite a hard time deciding between models.

I finally picked up this one at BB and absolutely love it. It's a tad more expensive than the others being discussed, but it's got a 10 x zoom which allowed me to read fine print on monitor boxes located across the store and 9 MP which gives plenty of room to enhance quality if you're interested in that sort of thing. Additionally, it's the lowest "high end" Canon meaning you've got the ability to manual set some of the controls like Fstop, shutter speed, etc...

PowerShot SX110 IS Digital Camera

[OSUsushichic]

Originally Posted by BuckeyeFlorida

I went through this process about 4 months ago to pick up a new camera to take to Chile/Antarctica. I quickly settled on a Canon, but had quite a hard time deciding between models.

I finally picked up this one at BB and absolutely love it. It's a tad more expensive than the others being discussed, but it's got a 10 x zoom which allowed me to read fine print on monitor boxes located across the store and 9 MP which gives plenty of room to enhance quality if you're interested in that sort of thing. Additionally, it's the lowest "high end" Canon meaning you've got the ability to manual set some of the controls like Fstop, shutter speed, etc...

PowerShot SX110 IS Digital Camera

I just purchased that same camera for my mother. It's quite good, and I love the zoom, but the shutter speed seems a bit slow. Maybe I'm just used to my quick DSLR!

I might have posted this before, but Flickr's Camera Finder is fun to peruse:

Flickr: Camera Finder

[NFBuck]

Okay shutterbugs, looking to move on up from the cheap point and shoot model. I'm looking to get into some photography as a hobby. Obviously, living in Colorado, there's a lot of stuff out there. Outdoor stuff, wildlife, etc...

Looking to spend around $500. I've spent a good amount of time online reading up, but a lot of it is jargon that just goes over my head. I'd imagine there's some newer stuff out there than the earlier posts in this thread as well. Anybody have any good advice or recommendations out there?