Topic: Quality Cheap Digital Camera

[spearheadtaper]

looking to spend 200 bucks....maybe a little less....can I get a quality camera for this ??.

I just need something small to have in my bag to take random pictures of at festvials.....not really of bands playing... but.the overal scene...stuff like that for menus on dvds and what not...

[Ed.]

www.dealnews.com has daily updates of online sales.  They usually have a few sales on cameras that get posted daily.  Usually around the $200 range you can get a pretty decent digital camera nowadays.  I'd try there, you can find some great deals if you're patient.

[adubphoto]

my old olympus point and shoot is the BOMB! It's a C-5500 but you cant buy it new anymore. check the offical olympus store on Ebay and you can get a factory refurb for 200. here is what i have shot with it...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/adub/sets/72057594096996452/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/adub/sets/72057594083044956/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/adub/sets/1321283/

[thierryhenry]

I just got a Canon SD500 almost brand new off Ebay, with a 1 GB Ultra II SD card for $195. Great deal, and a fuckin great camera, small, 7.1 MP, takes unbelievably good pictures.

[macroint]

I have a Canon A25 or something like that...it's a nice camera, I think 4-5 pixel, about $200. The only problem is that I'd like to be able to get reproductions at 8x10, or thereabouts. How many pixels should I be looking for to do that?

[King Ghidora]

Radio Shack has been closing out Canon Powershot A520's for under $150 recently.  I've seen them in several stores.  They are a great 4 mp cameras for point and shoot applications.  They have some decent manual controls too if you wish to delve into that.  They are highly rated by Steve's Digicams which is the number one source for camera info for lots of people.  Steve compares every camera made and posts sample images all of the same subjects so you can see for yourself just what you're getting compared to everything else.  Steve is always right on the money with his ratings and he rates these cameras very high. 

No they aren't 8 mp but realistically only pros need resolution that high.  Printers can't match that level so most of those pixels are overkill.  It will produce killer 8 x 10 photos which is what most people want out of a point and shoot.  It fits easily into your shirt pocket and it takes hundreds of shots on a single set of rechargable batteries.  They are VERY hard to beat in this area.

I have a video production company so I think about such things a lot.  I bought two of these cameras in the last 6 months one for my wife and one for my daughter.  Both love this camera.  I almost bought another one just to carry in my shirt pocket but I guess I don't need to buy 4 cameras a year.  I would buy another one of these in a second if I had a good reason to get another camera.

[Ed.]

I have a Canon A25 or something like that...it's a nice camera, I think 4-5 pixel, about $200. The only problem is that I'd like to be able to get reproductions at 8x10, or thereabouts. How many pixels should I be looking for to do that?

You should be able to get an 8x10 out of a 4-5mp camera.  It kind of depends on the shooting conditions, if its a lowlight picture, it still might not look the best.  Honestly, I wouldn't really worry about megapixels all that much.  They've kind of become the easy way to sell cameras to people who don't know things about cameras..."oh, this camera is 10mp's, it must be good" - to be honest, anything over 6mp (8mp on some) on a point and shoot is overkill if you ask me.  Their optics just aren't good enough to need that many mp's.  Its kind of like recording an internet audio stream at 24/192...sure you can do it, but you're really just wasting space.