HI,
I'm thinking about buying a digital camera, My budget is rather low, only about 200-320$. My question is, how should I divide that? Should I spend it all on the camera?
How many mega-pixels should It have?
How much should I allocate to a memory card? 20%?
Would a 512mb card be a good start? I'm looking to take medium to high resolution photos, how much storage would I need to keep a decent amount before having to upload them to my laptop. How much space does an average picture take up?
Finally, should I invest in a camera with a rechargeable battery, or one w/ disposable (AA/AAA) batteries. Which will be better in the long run? Unless you need to regularly print photos larger than 8x10 I imagine any amount of megapixels over 5 will be just fine. Even 5 or less would be just fine for just 4x6 prints, but most cameras come with at least that many.
I would focus one what features are important to you (really slim, small camera, high zoom, etc) and ESPECIALLY the ease of getting great, sharp, high quality photos. Check online and magazine articles, and first hand user's experiences if possible. The camera I have seems to take too many blurry photos - the focus and image stabalization don't work as well I think they should.
Keep your eyes open for great deals on memory cards. Check buy.com - thats where I've got all of mine. Sometimes free after rebate. But often you can get them for less then $15, especially if it's a popular memory card type like SecureDigital.
512MB should be good for a couple hundred photos (depending on the camera megapixels - more megapixels = larger image size) but 1GB sure isn't much more expensive. My 5 megapixel camera's photos are usually just under 2MB each, so calcualte accordingly.
One of the best money saving things you can do in the digtial camera arena is use rechargeable batteries. Unless of course you plan on using it VERY rarely then the cost of rechargeables might not be worth it. But, in countless articles I have come across reccomendations for buying rechargable batteries to go with your digital camera. I second this based on personal experience. Don't forget to have a charged (or regular) backup pair. I own a few Nikon DSLR's and I'd buy the Canon Powershot A630 or A640 for myself. These cameras have the larger 1/1.8" (5.2 mm x 7.2 mm) sensor that is nearly double the sensor size you find in many point and shoot cameras and this translates into better image quality. They allow fully automatic use or total user control and offer several stages in between. The only significant difference between these cameras is that the A630 is 8 MP and the A640 is 10 MP.
If you're going to spend up to $250, look at a Canon Powershot A630. My brother has had his A630 for about a year and it's a very nice camera. You can get it at B&H Photo (available through Yahoo! Shopping) for $192.
If you can go to $350, look at the 10 MP Canon Powershot A640. This is an excellent camera. It sells for $260 and you can add a very nice memory card for under $50.
For either camera, buy a 1 or 2 GB Sandisk Ultra II or Extreme III card. You will NEED the increased capacity and write speed to fully realize the benefits of your camera. The Ultra II would be excellent, but if you are really into video, you might prefer the faster Extreme III. These cards cost from about $25-45 at B&H and several other outlets.
A630: http://www.steves-digicams.com/2006_revi...
Also: http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/specs/Ca... (Read owner opinions)
A640: http://www.steves-digicams.com/2006_revi...
Also: http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canona64... my suggestion
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digital camera GUIDE
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