all these cameras, dunno which to choose!

[RachelS.]

Alright, well... I picked 3 awesome digital cameras that I'm hoping to get for my birthday (which is next month, btw). My parents would be really cool if they bought one for me because the cams are pretty expensive :p. Here are the 3 I've chosen...
Nikon Coolpix 5700: http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikoncp5700/page2.asp
Nikon Coolpix 4500: http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikoncp4500/page2.asp
Canon PowerShot G5: http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canong5/page2.asp

I want a REALLY good digital camera, okay guys!! Help me out here :D. Thanks... any and all info is appreciated :)

[Mike177]

I would go for the first or the last one. because they boath have 5.0 megapical witch can come in handy when cropping or in digital zoom. my suggestion is to get one with a good optical zoom or buy a new leanse for it. optical zoom just zooms, Digital zoom more or less enlarges one part of the photo and the more you zoom digitly the lower reselution you will get. but eather way there are all REAL good cameras and will do what you want with flying colors. but i would go with the one you think is best,

[Zoe]

I'd go with the first one but &@#%*! those are some kickass cameras!

Zoe

[Bryce Masuk]

Why spend $1200 to $700 on a cam unless you really LOVE taking pictures and plan on photography as a hobby (in that case a Slr Will do you MUCH better) Your pics dont look bad there pretty good infact. Why not get herps instead? But hell obviously its your choice and you will do what you what but thats my honest opinion
Bryce

[Zoe]

Nah I think it'd be worth it to get a good camera. Mine is so ghetto and the only reason it takes good pics is because I've used it for so long and I've figured out the tricks to it.
I'm saving up for a camera... not 1200 U.S. but maybe 500$ CDN will get me a decent one!

[Colonel SB]

I agree with Mike, go with the first one it's a great cam, plus Nikon is the industry leader in lense technology...Best lenses ever!

[Mike177]

What's an Slr, Bryce Masuk? I love taking pictures... it's a big hobby of mine! The only reason I can take good pics with the camera I have now if just because I have experience with it and learned to use it well. I can't get herps for my birthday...my parents won't let me :(. A new camera is the next best thing! Thanks for all the info everyone!! :D

PS - I'm RachelS. at Mike177's house :p

[fanmaninacan]

Hey!...

Well If i were u I wouldnt spend more then 500CANADIAN on a cam...Unless ur 1 of those Freakes that can tell the diff..LOL..JK....BUt Its really hard to tell.......1200US for a cam...Is just not worth it.. unless ur a prof....ITS JUST A HUGE WAIST OF $$

T.P

[fanmaninacan]

waste*

[marisa]

Personally, I like taking photos, but I am not HUGE into it. I wanted nice, clean detailed shots of my herps and something I could take some nice shots with otherwise. I didn't want to spend a lot of money on something I wasn't TOTALLY into so we picked up the Canon Powershot A40 and it has suited our needs perfectly, all for under 500 bucks.

Marisa

[DragnDrop]

The Olympus C4040 or C5050 is in the same league as those cameras, and somewhat less expensive. You might want to check it out too - Olympus is a great brand.

[reverendsterlin]

check the reviews on zdnet.com, usually very good (objective) being a private company without an agenda supporting specific groups

[Lisa]

I like our Sony CD Mavica. It cost a little more because of the storage media (CDRW) but it takes awesome pics. Don't just look at megapixals, the lens quality is important too, if you have crappy lenses you're going to have crappy pics regardless of the number of megapixals you have. Personally I think Leica and Carl Zeiss make better lenses then Nikon, how ever the best way to make the choice is to go handle the cameras, it would be great if you could actually rent one of them and play with it.

[RachelS.]

Thanks everyone for all the awesome advice!! I might go with the 5700, or check out some of the other cameras ya'll listed :D. Thanks!

[Bencb3]

my camera is most like the first one but it isnt digital, and ive had it for like 3 years, and the first one has the most zoom. my camera itself has interchangeable lenses and such, so if u wanted to get creative with ur pictures u could get a camera that has...interchangeable lenses. i like my fisheye lense myself. so i would go with the first one

[meow_mix450]

ya i would go for the frist one...got lots of features....i think its worth getting a $500 CDN camera..in the long run it would help you a lot..better to get a good one instead of a not as good of a camera...i just got digitl camera not long ago about $500 really worth it but the part that suks is that when you go develop them there a lot of money 30 cents each but mayb its me..but go for a good one it would be worth it in the long run hope it helps

[sSNAKESs.com]

Rach...it all depends on what you want to do with it. Those are all borderline pro cameras. As to who has the best lenses, well thats always the debate. When i bought my Canon G3, the G5 was not yet out. The difference between the two is megapixels. Those are important is your going to blow something up like life size, other than that..dont always purchase based on how many pixels it has. My decision was based on amount of memory and foremost the fact that mine uses a Camcorder battery. Rechargable batteries are the way to go, and i dont mean using rechargeable double A batteries. I mean real lithium batteries. Non of these cameras are good for you however unless you really use manual modes. These are not necessarily made to be point and shoot cameras. They will do this on auto mode, but the real benefit to these cameras is what they will do when you know how to set it up. This takes experience, and you have to really understand lighting and macros and iso features etc. If your looking to take good pics of animals etc and the occasional pic of family and vaction etc, i would not spend the money personally. I take alot of pics, thus why i went with the camera i bought. But i also take serious pics of serious subjects that are not shot on auto. I have some very expensive professional lenses etc coming that will increase my zoom, macros and wide shots etc. I guess the question is, what are you looking for in a camera. Point and shoot, or are you setting up lights and back grounds etc? If you are going to spend that kind of money, im partial to Canon lenses, but again ppl can debate that. Nikon are also leaders in lens technology. I was impressed by several of the olympia cameras as well as the Sony Lisa mentioned. The Sony for what i do would not handle the amout of pics i need to take on a charge, nor would it support the memory i was looking for. I also wanted the ability of movies with sound. Mine will do 3 minutes of video at a time. The Nikons i also considered. The 5700 is a very nice camera. My largest complaints about them were ease of use. I hate having to scroll through menus to get my desireable shots. I didnt like the buttom placement, the screen, or the feel of them, but thats all personal preference. Im not into bulky cameras, which was my major decision to go with the Canon. Olympia and Nikon are for the most part in my opinion bulkier. The sony, is just crazy with the lens design, and some of the cool pics are very strange to handle when your trying to take a pic. I would test them all, one by one in a store, see what feels right, what features you will actually use, for i know that these cameras you will probably not use 90% of the features. Price shop, and then go from there.

[sSNAKESs.com]

Sorry...the above was written by Shane, guess Jeff left his logon in again :P

[RachelS.]

Wow, Shane... thanks so MUCH!! If you really want to know, this is pretty much what I am looking for in a nice digicam...
- Clear up close shots, macro... like face pics and tongue pics
- Fast snap shots... I want a camera that I can point and click at something and it will take the pic right away, in like a second. The camera I have now takes forever to snap shot an object. If the object moves, it thus becomes blurry :(.
- I don't mind interchangeable lenses... those would work wonders for me since I like to mess around and take crazy shots sometimes... we had a guy over here one day (my cousins friend who's good at computers) and he showed me what I could be looking for, but also showed me what kind of lenses could be used as well. I don't like the idea of always changing lenses, but I like the fact that they can really produce awesome pictures!
- The Nikons may be really bulky, that's the only real downside to me getting one, if I ever did. I want a digi where I can move it in the position I want to take a pic if that makes any sense... like with the Nikon 4500 I could use the lense side of the camera and tilt it at a 90 degree angle or something similar to get the shot I need.
- I do like to take my herps outside to get that desired lighting that really brings out their true colors. I can also get the grass in there, too... which I think makes it look more natural. I try to find areas that will make the background look cool and different.
- In the last point I talked a little about lighting. Lighting makes a big difference for me. I can never take very clear or good shots indoors with the camera I have now... I just can't. They come out way too dark and flash always screws things up. That's why I try to use lamps and even a flourescent bulb to bring out what the herp really looks like. It still doesn't get the shots I ask for... so that's another reason to looking for a new camera.
- Most of the pictures I will be taking will definately be of my reptiles and other unusual things like spiders and wildlife. I'm really big into taking pics outdoors of things I find. Like last year I found a black and yellow garden spider and took hundreds of photos of it, but sadly only a few came out clear. Most were blurry or dark :(. Some pics might be taken of silly things, like my friends when they're acting crazy, and I when wanna have fun with the camera.
- Last but not least, I like to take a LOT of photos, I mean TONS! The memory cards we have now only take about 135 pics each. And my mom had just bought another one while in Canada because my brother took out the other card we had... so it was back at home. A camera with a long lasting bettery is a big deal, too. The one we have now goes dead after about 3 days use. So we're always charging 4 little AA batteries up, and it causes problems when you wanna use the camera NOW!

See if you can find a camera to fit my needs, now... lol. That's a lot of junk I'm asking for and I still can't think of the rest :\. I am going to take your advice and go to Best Buy or something to look at the digital cameras... I was thinking of that earlier, anyway :). Thanks again!

[Linds]

Rachel,
Check out the photos in my gallery. They were taken with a Canon Powershot A40. They start at $499 CDN (not sure what it works out to with the exchange for you). Its super easy to work and takes awesome pics. It does great macro work considering I don't have any of the additional lenses you can get :)

[Mason]

RACHELL; GET A CANON. GET A CANNON. GET A CANNON!

WHEN I GOT MINE THERE WAS A PROBLEM (THAT I MOST LIKELY CAUSED) AND THEY HAD NO ISSUES GIVING ME A NEW ONE (WHICH WORKS GREAT). CANON HAS GREAT CUSTOMER SERVICE, AND AMAZING PRODUCTS.

I USE THE CANON S45. I REALLY LOVE IT. SUPER EASY TO USE, AND IS GREAT FOR THE AVERAGE CAMERA USER. I WOULD SAY THAT IS BORDERS ON A PRO CAMERA. IF YOU WAIT AND SHOP AROUND FOR THE BEST DEAL I'M SURE YOU WILL BE ABLE TO FIND SOMETHING THAT IS GOOD FOR YOU. DON'T BE TOO CHEAP THOUGH, CAUSE THESE THINGS CAN LAST A WHILE!

JUST DON'T GET FOOLED BY BUYING A CAMERA BECAUSE OF DIGITAL ZOOM. OPTICAL ZOOM IS THE WAY TO GO, DIGITAL IS OK BUT AFTER ABOUT 10 OR 15 DIGIZOOM THE PICTURE GETS REALLY GRAINY (WITH ANY CAMERA).

CHECK MY GALLERY OF SHOTS, KEEP IN MIND THAT I CROPPED THEM AND CHANGED THEIR SIZE IN PHOTOSHOP....
http://home.cogeco.ca/~masonist/
gL

[sSNAKESs.com]

I would agree with linds....bang for the buck..i think that is the best point and shoot camera on the market...and its considerably less money now! Shane.

[Bryce Masuk]

Mike a Slr camera Is a single lense reflex camera which means you see though where the picture is shot instead of though another lense like a point and shoot If you buy a slr you also Have Full control of the apature shutter speed unless you set it on auto If you want a Good one look in pawn shops you can get one for 120 us or so but make sure the sure the meter works or else its useless There are plenty of goos site on the web that will explain how to use a slr camera as of now Flim beats digi cam unless you spend 10 grand

[RachelS.]

I think I might go with the Nikon 5700. I'm not sure if I will be getting it or not, but I'm going to go mess around with one and let my parents know that's what I desire :). Thanks for all the input!! You guys rock :D

[Lisa]

also pay attention to the media being used. that's what caused us to purchase the CD mavica (which uses cdroms) over similarly priced cameras. CDRWs cost about 20-30$ for a 10 pack and have 188mb on each disk, that's a total of 1880 megs for $30 (canadian funds) or roughly $0.01595745 a meg. you don't even get 64 megs for that much in any of the other memory formats, the closest being $0.4863281 for a 512 meg compact flash card. There is one draw back to the CDs though, they're a slow format when you overun the camera's internal memory.

another thing about the mavica we liked is that you could just finalize the cdrom and throw it into almost any computer that has a cdrom drive. other formats either require a special reader or a docking station/cable for the camera and some times special software is required.

for a media format other then cdrw i would go with compact flash, it's used widely on other devices besides cameras such as printers and PDAs/Palms.

These days if i was in the market for a new camera i'd be looking at one of the following in no particular order; Sony CD mavica 500, any of the Canon EOS digital SLRs (they range from 4 - 11 megapixals and we have some nice canon lenses), Sony DSC-F717 Cyber-Shot, Canon G5. though this is just from looking at specs and not handling them.