5mp and a decent optical zoom in the $300 price range According to the 2006 Consumer Reports buying the best Compact Digital Camera is the Canon PowerShot A510. It is listed there for $180 and is listed at Very Good. It's got 3 megapixels and four times optical zoom.
I have the Kodak z740 and it's awesome!!!! I paid around 300 when it first came out...it's great....I love it. Easy to use and probably cheaper now. It is 5 Megapixe ls and 10xOpitcal Zoom. It also shoots pretty decent video.
If these don't sound good go to www.cnet.com and find some great reviews!
P.S. Optical Zoom is what to look for....digital zoom doesn't really matter.
Also if you want you can see pictures I took with my Z740 at :
http://www.flickr.com/photos/stacieldavi...
Source(s):
2006 Consumer Reports Buying Guide and Personal Experience I have a casio ex-z600. www.casio.com 6mp 3x optical zoom.
I love it!! i got it at circuit city for $270. plus you will need a memory card too. I got a sandisk 1gig hi-speed card for $70.
if you see a camera you are intrested in type in the model on google and find some reviews about it. cannon A610 is a good one and in the price range you want, but I have a cannon power shot S2 IS with 5mp an 10 optical zoom,and I LOVE IT... it is a little bit more expensive but worth It would depend on how much control you want over shutter speed, depth of field, etc.... I would recomend the Canon digital Rebel. It is $800.00 after rebate. It gives you 8.2 Mps and a full range of control to get the best picture in any situation. It also has automatic settings for quick point and shoot. I'm a little late in the game, but I would have to agree with the very first answer. The biggest difference between the Casio Exilim line and all the other cameras like it is that the Exilim has a pan focus mode, which is perfect for taking pictures of kids.
For one, all the Casio Exilims have a super fast start up time. So you can whip the camera out, turn it on and it's ready to shoot.
The second feature, the most unique part, is the ability for the camera so determine what you trying to do. If you simply depress the shutter button all the way quickly, the camera automatically defaults into a pan focus mode and take the picture immediately. The best way to explain this is to compare it to the old film cameras of old where there's no moving lens, you just point and shoot. The focus isn't going to be the greatest, but the pan focus mode will pretty much ensure that everything is pretty much in focus, just like the old point and shoot film cameras.
But if you wanted to have the camera focus then shoot, you can of course just press the shutter button half way first, let it focus then press all the way down like any other digital camera.
Let's say your kid was about to kick the game winning goal. With the typical digital camera, they have to focus first, then shoot. Even if that only takes one second to focus and shoot, that's still already too late because the ball is already out of the frame and it'll look like your kid is just kicking the air. With a smart camera being able to tell if you're in a hurry, it'll take that pic immediately, no shutter lag at all (I think it's technically like .05 second shutter lag).
I own two of these Casio Exilim cameras myself and have had other complain to me about how they bought these other cameras and they take forever to focus and they always miss their shots. Do yourself a huge favor and purchase any of the Casio Exilims and you'll do your kids some justice. That way, you won't be missing that game winning kick or the candles actually being blown out on the birthday cake. It really is that important. I'm a daddy myself and some moments are too precious to have to wait for a camera to focus.
BTW, this pan focus mode also works great for low-light of pitchblack pictures. Since there's not enough light for other cameras to focus, the pictures will come out blurry. With the pan focus mode, you simply click down all the way and you have your picture. |
