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Recommendations for basic 8 megapixel digital camera?

anniemac

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What would you folks recommend for someone who isn't a photo bug but just wants to take a handful of photos here and there. It would be nice to record short video clips once in a blue moon. I would like something simple to use with good pic sharpness and quality. It looks like BestBuy has a pretty large range of 8 megapixel cameras for under $200 - sounds good to me. Recommendations?
 

gmarine

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There are many good cameras in that price range.

Check out reviews on www.dpreview.com
 

isisdave

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I just bought a Kodak C713 ($77, 7mp, the C813 is 8Mp and $88) at Fry's Electronics. It's amazing what you can get for that price nowadays. It's not rugged and it doesn't have a long list of bells and whistles, but I can read the legend on the (relatively) few buttons. No viewfinder at that price, just the LCD screen, which is difficult in bright light.

But for 95% of casual picture taking, it'll do fine. It can edit and crop in the camera, it does video and can snag stills out of a video sequence. Don't know yet how good the flash is. It's fast enough when booting, and between pictures in most cases. Uses SD card.

There were several others in that price range, and a lot more under $200.
 

dougp26364

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You can't go wrong with anything Cannon makes. My wife has an S3IS and I'm contemplating buying the newer S5IS. Both are a little more expensive than the typical point and shoot but they take great pictures, even when you leave them on automatic and just start snapping photo's. I also have a smaller, pocket size Cannon Powershot camera that takes very nice point and shoot photo's. Most of the more recent timeshare pics on my Webshots page have been taken with the smaller, less expensive Powershot.

Almost all digital camera's have the ability to take short digital movies. That shouldn't be a problem when making your decision.
 

pedro47

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My suggestion I would also look very closely at Canon PowerShot SD11000 IS about $220. It has a 3x optical zoom lens, display very good image quality and have excellent dynamic range.

Dougp26364, has an outstanding collection of photos from around the world taking with a Canon camera.

Good luck enjoy your t/s week.
 

Kal

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I currently own two Canon PowerShot SD series compact cameras and have been a Canon advocate for many years. However, I strongly suggest you look at the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ5. It rates considerably higher than the PowerShots largely because of the extraordinary high quality Leica 11 element lens.

The camera has a 10mp capacity. It features a 10x optical zoom and image stabilization that are not available on similar Canon products. There are many other features that are very nice.

Check out the review HERE.
 

"Roger"

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I am not trying to be argumentative, just expressing genuine puzzlement.

Why would someone doing just causal photography want/need an 8 megapixel camera? As I understand it, the extra pixels are only useful if you are printing very large prints. Most people do not do this (ever). In the meantime, you run through your memory while on vacation shooting pictures in higher resolution than your printer can handle. The solution would be to set the camera on lower resolution, but most casual picture takers that I have seen do not know how to or do not bother to do this. On top of that, they never have any need to use the higher resolution.

It seems to me that most people would be better off with a lower resolution camera which allows them to save more photos on the same sized memory chip.

What am I missing???

A puzzled TUGGER - TIA for your answers.
 

m61376

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Roger-
The other advantage to higher mp cameras is that you can crop more (which is comparable to printing larger images, but just of a portion of the image). That is really helpful when taking pictures where your optical zoom is inadequate (for example, scenery at a distance or perhaps a person/people in the water, etc.).

SD and CF memory cards are so cheap nowadays that it makes sense to shoot in large image format and have a higher mp camera.

I concur that the OP can't go wrong with one of the Canons. The digital Elph line has small (pocketable) cameras with excellent image quality. The S3 or S5IS suggested above is also a great camera; the trade-off for longer zoom is a somewhat heftier size.
 

Kal

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What your missing is "pixel density". The high capacity cameras will give you a much sharper image than the low capacity cameras. Much of that comes from the size of the sensor chip.
 

anniemac

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Thanks folks, I'll check out a Canon. For some reason I seldom take photos but every once in a while want to post something on ebay or take a couple of snaps at the pool or at a wedding or somewhere and see the great shots taken by young kids with pocket sized cameras:) I need one! Thanks for the advice.
 

Bucky

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I own the Canon SD700IS and just recently purchased the Canon SD790IS for my daughters birthday. I've had just about all of them it seems like at one time or another. The two main reasons I like Canon's are their basic point and shoot functionality and the image stabilization feature. Hands not quite as steady as they used to be. Here's a review on the SD790IS for you.
 

Brett

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I'll just second the Canon recommendation and www.dpreview.com for reviews and info. I'll also add that a family member has a Panasonic TZ5 and for being small, compact, 10X zoom it's good too. plus if you don't care about manual controls the TZ5 has a good "intelligent auto" mode.
 
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