Looking for digital camera

[yochan]

Hi all,

I'm looking for a digital camera and after I did some research, I found that sony is best for me. However, my friend recommend me to buy Minolta. I got confused and I don't really know which to choose. It looks like both have great features.
Here are my specifications:
1. 4.0 MP
2. 640 x 480 movie resolution
3. the size is not too big
4. price around $450

Any recommendation?
Thanks...

[Mike360000]

I've had several digital cameras since 1998; Nikon, Canon, Sony, Olympus and Kodak. And a few promotional "cheapo" cameras. Finally I also have a Logitec Clicksmart 510 which is a webcam that doubles as 1 mp camera.

Out of all the cameras I've had, I've only been a repeat buyer of 1 brand. I bought a 2nd Kodak, this time a 6440. Kodak gave me better pics than any camera except maybe the Canon, and definitely better than Olympus and Sony, and much faster than Nikon. But the thing about Kodak is the value of the entire package, and its' shear ease of use.(It is very possible to start taking good pics with a Kodak stright from the box without ever reading the manual. I had my sister-in-law try it as a test and she managed to take several good pics without coaching or reading the manual.) You simply get more camera for your dollar compared to any other. The Kodak won't have every last thing that all the cameras has, but it will do more things than any 1 camera above will do, and at a real good price.

Sure there is always exceptions and then there is the human factor, what a person likes and thinks looks right to him. It would be wise to try out as many cameras as possible to actually see what they give you, er how well you like their pictures.

I don't know of any DC that takes 640X480, especially under 500 bux. Most DC takes movies in QuickTime format.

The Kodak 6440 uses Quicktime also. It will give you 23 minutes of movie on a 256 meg card. Also the 6440 meets every other requirement you ask, plus more such as a Docking Station.

Best price from a bonafide online store:
http://www.compuplus.com/insidepage.php3?sid=0374mfc58485393&id=1001343

399 bux plus about 20 bux shipping. That would include 6440 DC, 6000 Camera Dock and a 256 meg SD memory card.

I'm a long time customer of that store and can vouch for'em. I ordered my 6440 from there.

Cheers,
Mike

PS Now if there was some way to overclock a digital camera.......?

[Maceo]

My favorite 4MP camera right now is the Canon S400 (http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canons400/)

I would take a look at that review and decide for yourself tho :)

Newegg Price (http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproduct.asp?DEPA=1&submit=Go&description=canon%2Cs400)

[yochan]

Thank you guys, that really helps me reconsider the digital camera I am going to buy.

[mdcomp]

I don't really know much about specific cameras, but I have had a few myself and used other people's cameras. I have found that Olympus cameras have the best picture quality out there. I had a 1.3mp Olympus and the quality was much better than my grandfather's 2.?mp kodak. Just what I have found. Good luck!

Matt

[Showstoppermd]

i used to sell digital cameras and have had a lot of fun playing with almost all models available.
the kodak dc6440 is a great auto camera with very easy lcd os interace. it manual mode...well...sucks.

the canon s400 takes great pictures...especially for its size...the "digic" engine does a great job of enhancing the picture qualitly...this particular canon is rather slow so burst mode is not great on it. if u want good burst mode on this model u will have to wait for the sd version..the sd100 3mp has much faster write times.

if u like slr type cameras with all the manual features the best 4mp dc would be the canon g3...but its bigger than the previous 2 cameras mentioned.

olympus does make a great camera...i have a c3030 and love it.however they dont currently offer a decent model in the 4mp range...the sylus model really fall behind the canon elph in picture quality.

stay away from panasonic....they somehow messed up the mechanic of the camera even though they put a leica lens in it

if you are looking a specific model post the brand and model im sure ive either played with it or had feedback from coworkers and customers.

on the movie part most of these cameras only do clips...15-45 secs and not full motion i think they are around 15 fps

sony digital cameras have the best video hands down...but color recognition and image quality on stills lags behind the pack

[Mike360000]

Huum,

"olympus does make a great camera...i have a c3030 and love it.however they dont currently offer a decent model in the 4mp range...the sylus model really fall behind the canon elph in picture quality."

I also currently have a Olympus C3040. (3 mp). Olympus also has the C4000 series, which includes the C4040, all of which are 4 mp cameras. Now the C4000 series is almost exactly like their C3000 series except it is 4 mp. Question is; Why is the C4040 or C4000 series NOT decent for a 4 mp camera?

Cheers,
Mike

[Showstoppermd]

that actually was a good dc but is an old model.
It is a discontinued series in most stores or soon to be since smartmedia itself is an antiquated media type that is being "cleared out"

I was refering to curenty models.with today's technology.
the newer olympus dc will have xd for memory type instead of the 128mb limited smartmedia(biggest drawback of the older olympus dc) Smartmedia was also not very kind to battery consumption. Olympus does not yet offer a good 4.0 mp dc with xd. the write times and battery life will be better too

if i remeber that series correcty i think they had a minor flaw in the fireware that could only be fixed by sending it back to olympus...i could be wrong on that...might have been the c5050zoom.

if u do own or want to buy the olympus c4000series get the c4040 for the superbright lens and buy extra smartmedia card because ebay willl soon be the only place to get them.

[Mike360000]

Interesting, I didn't know Smart Media was being phased out....
I have at least 1/2 dozen 128 meg SM cards, so I guess I'm ok there. As for the Kodaks I've had, and the Olympus C3040 I now have, as well as other Olympus DCs I've used. Both the Kodal 265 I used to have and the Kodak 6440 I now have takes better, or sharper pics than has been my experience with the Olympus. You stated the Kodak 6440 wasn't much in manual mode, but great in auto. That's a point that makes the Kodak a good camera. The auto mode in the Kodaks are far far superior to the Olympus, Sonys, even Nikons that I have seen. As for the "sux" aspect, I'd say the Olympus C series absolutely sux in auto mode. That was a main reason I wouldn't get another Olympus. The redeye in the Olympus, for example, it is horrible. I've noticed this on every C series Oly DC. The best way in avoiding this is to go manual mode with the Olys. But this whole process slows you down somewhat in taking fast shots. As for the redeye in Kodaks, I've found it practically non-existent.

You made several interesting points though.

Cheers,
Mike

[Showstoppermd]

ya redeye isnt the greatest on an olympus'. its interesting to see that every single one has some short coming that another camera is better at. It a very competitive market. Right now i would say my favorites on the market is the canon s50 for a compact and the nikon 5400 for a full manual. both 5mp but it will be awile before i buy another.

have fun shopping all of them make fun toys :D

[Mike360000]

Really at this point I don't see any bad short comings with the new Kodaks. Manual mode isn't really terrible on it, it's just differnt than previous Kodak cameras. Kodak specifically targets their cameras as autos first and manuals second, although you can get specifically manual DC from Kodak for about 4000 bux.
Anyhow on Kodaks new DC cameras they use preset modes for manual usage. They have preconfigured settings for sports events, close ups, low light and others. Way I see it and from my own experiences, most average people will rarely ever use manual settings.

Always Christmas with all these computer gizmos! I guess for my second brand pick I would go with Canon.

Cheers,
Mike

[yochan]

Amazing, Kodak sounds perfect to me. Since I am not really know exactly how to use digital camera, I think kodak 6440 is perfect because as you guys said that it's automatic mode is really nice instead of the manual mode.

What type of memory card does kodak 6440 use? Is it XD or CF?

All the best
Jo

[Mike360000]

"What type of memory card does kodak 6440 use? Is it XD or CF?

All the best
Jo"

Get the SD(Secure Digital) memory card.
I posted above a link to CompuPlus for the 6440 Kodak.
They had a combo that included a 256 meg SD card.
The 6440 also has 16 megs of built in memory.
Anyhow the combo can be had for just a shade over 400 bux from there, including shipping. You most likely won't need any other SD cards if you get the 256 meg card. You can take about 275 pics in highest quality mode. Be sure if you get this or any Kodak DC, to go to Kodaks website and download thier latest upgrade for Easyshare software.(They just recently released a update for it.) BTW there are several lens accessories available for this line of Kodak DC.

One thing I did find worthwhile as DIY project. I made a plexiglass LCD cover for my 6440. Actually I do this for all my DC with LCDs. Reason being is the LCDs can be easily scratched or broken on all DC. I cut the plexiglass to fit over/around the LCD and I attach it with a very small amount of clear silicone. I use an amount about (no larger)the diameter of a toothpick around the edge of the plexiglass. It will not harm the plastic on the DC or the plexiglass. It can be removed fairly easily if you start in a corner and prize up slightly. (Do not get silicone on the LCD so as not to be prizing up on it if you remove the plexiglass cover.) There used to be a place on the net where one could buy these things, and that was where I got my idea. However they sold for like 10 bux and you can make 1 for less than a dollar.

Cheers,
Mike

[STAT]

I'm looking at the Minolta Dimage Z1.

3.3 MP
10x Optical zoom,
15 & 30 fps video @ 640 x 480

The only drawback is that at 30 fps, the sound is out of synch with the video. I actually tried one out today at a camera store. It's a little plasticy, but at $399 US, you could do much worse!

A great site I found is http://www.steves-digicams.com

[Showstoppermd]

that dimage looks like a newer version of the fuji 3800 which the has horrible battery life. If u can go to a camera store and try taking photos at near maximum zoom and see how well the focus performs do a still and an action shot and inquire about the battery life. Most digitals for normal consumers do not perform well beyond 4x optical.

[STAT]

A review said the Z1 had a 250 shot battery life, using the flash half of the time.

I did zoom in all the way with the camera, and actually it did look a tad blurry at max zoom, but I just had to back it off a tap, and it was okay. I also am not sure if it was using the digital zoom or if it just stopped at optical max. There is a way to disable digital zoom, so I would probably want to leave it disabled.

[Mike360000]

In the Kodak 6000 series you can disable the digital zoom in your menue. (Can't remember if the optical can also be disabled or not.) 6000 series Kodaks uses only 2 AA size batteries, although they say not to use the regular alkaline batteries. I don't know about battery life yet, but after charging the camera up I used it all day, taking pics and fiddling with it connected to my computer, trying to straighten out my software and configure it. As I said the Kodaks are so user friendly you can actually start taking pics straight from the box with it if you study the controls of the camera. Real straight forward.

Put in your batteries.
Just turn the jag dial to auto.
Press enter button to start your display.
Start taking pics.
Be sure on your fisrt pic to NOT snap the pic button too fast so as to give the camera time to sense light and distance.
After 1st shot you can take app. 1 pic sec or faster unless you are using the flash. (The camera is ALWAYS ready to take a pic as long as it is on regardless of pic mode. You will only have to reset the light and distance whenever you go to a different distance or the light changes.

Is that simple enough fer'ya?

Cheers,
Mike