P.S.
the budget is +\- 400$ www.bhphotovideo.com
I have been doing business with them for more then 25 years. B&H Photo's site contains reviews on most items and they also sell used goods to. I just got a Casio Exilim EX-S770. It's a really nice easy to use camera. Very light. Comes in 3 colors, a red/orange, silver, or midnight/dark blue.
Extremely user friendly. A 7-year old I nanny figured out how to use it
It has a quick record button and has a very quick startup time if you're in a hurry to take a picture. The SD cards are fairly inexpensive. I found a 2GB at Circuit City on sale for $20. They're always on sale if you look in your Sunday paper.
If you have questions about it, feel free to email me I would recommend the PENTAX Optio WPi 6.0 Megapixel camera.
It will cost a little more than some, but it is a great camera.
Waterproof to 2 meters, so it will not be ruined if it gets rained on or dropped into a pool at a party.
Has 3x optical and 4x digital zoom for great close-ups, and the lens is all internal. It dose not "stick it's nose out" at you when you zoom in.
VERY SMALL - 3/4" x 2 1/4 " x 3 1/2" smaller than a pack of cigarettes.
Has a long life rechargeable Li-Ion battery and uses a mini SD card for storage. So no limit to the picture storage with extra SD cards and the battery is only about an 1 1/4' square and 1/4 " thick, so you can carry a spare battery as well.
Will take HD pictures and also will record video - up to 45 minutes of video on a 1Gb SD card.
If you want to see a picture that can give you an idea of how good a picture this camera will take, you can email me on yahoo at s1mcgoo1. I took a pic out the window of my hotel room in Daytona Beach, that all I have shown it to have sworn was a professional photo. It all depends on how "compact" you mean. The class of ultra-compact cameras is what many people are calling compact. Here are 4 cameras that will be within your $400 budget and allow for you to buy a 1 or 2 GB memory card as well as condsider buying a 5-year aftermarket warranty.
If you want one in the true compact class, I like the Canon Powershot A640. For ultra-compacts, I like the Canon Powershot SD850-IS and SD900 and I'm recently impressed with the Fujifilm Finepix F31fd and expect the F40fd to be at least as good if not better. It adds a spotmeter, which would be an attraction to me.
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/compare_...
Blow-by-blow...
For maximum user control and excellent image quality - get the A640, although it is the largest camera on my list. If I didn't own a digital SLR, this is the one I would buy for myself.
For the "up-to-date cool factor" image stabilization and more zoom power, as well as great quality over all get the SD850-IS, although it is the only camera on my list with the smaller sensor size.
For a sleek package with great image quality and excellent overall feel of the camera, get the SD900, although it does not have image stabilization. This is the one I chose for my personal pocket camera. See http://www.flickr.com/photos/samfeinstei...
For great image quality and superb low-light performance, get the F31 fd, although it lacks an optical viewfinder.
If only we could put all of the virtues into one camera, we'd have an unbeatable choice, but you have to decide what is the most important to you and choose.
Canon A640: http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canona64...
See also: http://www.steves-digicams.com/2006_revi...
Canon SD850-IS: http://www.steves-digicams.com/2007_revi...
See also: http://www.digitalcamerareview.com/defau...
Canon SD900: http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canonsd9...
See also: http://www.steves-digicams.com/2006_revi...
Fuji F31 fd: http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/fujifilm...
See also: http://www.digitalcamerainfo.com/content...
Here's an article from Popular Photography where they compared 5 of the top 10 MP compact/ultra-compact cameras: http://www.popphoto.com/cameras/3471/hig... Click on the name of each camera to read a detailed review. Even though I personally own this ultra compact camera, I would still like to highly recommend the purchase of a Nikon Coolpix L10 for the following reasons:
1. Besides taking well-exposed hi-quality 5 megapixel pictures, it uses a standard set of rechargeable double AA batteries which last a very long time - 300 shots per set of rechargeables;
2. Has a 3x optical zoom;
3. The flash setting for "red-eye" correction is on the navigator wheel and not within a submenu;
4. It's very small and light;
5. Uses inexpensive SD memory cards;
6. The digital video feature takes wonderful "sound" videos which are noise free. It records the piano very well with it's built-in microphone;
7. It comes with a USB 2.0 transfer cable which you connect to your USB computer port;
8. Has tripod mount on bottom of camera;
9. And the price is a mere $119 [sold at Samy's Camera - www.samys.com, and Staples.com; $99 at amazon.com]
Review(s) can be found at www.amazon.com [Query: "Nikon Coolpix L10" along with pictures provided by satisfied purchasers.]
Good luck! |
