New Digital Camera Suggestions??!!!

The Panasonic DMC-FZ30. It is not an DSLR but if your hiking, I'm sure you don't want too much weight. You can get close to nature with the zoom lens and IS. It will shoot long without a tri or mono pod. It was voted Europes camera of the year.

Dear Pat,

The camera you need is the Kodak LS743, I've been in the photographic industry for fifteen years and this, also the predecessor which I had (LS420), is fantastic.

German lens, metal body, tiny, 35-105 lens, SD card, dock compatible, 4 MegaPixel and I think they sell for USD$249.95.

They do have a higher res model too.

Highly recommended.

Ross Bellette,
Christchurch, NZL.

Kodak makes a large line of digital cameras. There IS one thing you will want to check on, whatever camera you get. We had an HP, and it took about 3 seconds from when you pressed the button until it actually took the picture. Now is you are standing around or the subject is still, it's not a problem. The Kodak takes less than 3/10 of a second! And I believe they have a 4 MP for around $200. You also might want to check out the Canon Sure Shots. Another nicety is if you can see the preview screen outdoors or not! If you take a picture outside in bright light, you can't see it in some cameras. Go to a store that has them and look at them. THEN go to the web and find your best price.

I bought this from Abe's of Maine after doing a fair bit opf research. In my case, it was the excellent zoom and the fact that I can get a SCUBA case for it.

Since using this camera I have ZERO reservations about it. The 4.8MP is enough. The zoom is excellent. The battery life outstanding (I used it on vacation in the UK for a week without recharging).

It has a built in Panorama feature which, with the included software to stitch the images, produces terrific results.

It turns out that the Macro feature is also excellent. I have taken shots of serial number labels I could not read due to their position and then used the LCD to blow up the image. They are in focus and very readable.

The Olympus C-770 is worth a close look. You can get it on the web now for under $300. With a 10x optical zoom, 4 megapixels, a decent MPG4 video mode (with sound), this camera is (believe it or not) VERY compact for what it is offering. There are lots of manual controls available, but the auto mode works very well for the novice user. One of the more outstanding and little discussed features is a POWERFUL built-in flash. This camera has actually 2 built-in flashes in one, and the camera automatically chooses the best for wide angle or telephoto shooting. This yields amazing outdoor flash photos at night.

Biggest drawbacks: No built-in infra-red focus assist for low light focus, and no digital image stablizer. If these are a priority, take a close look at the Canon S1. You don't get the good flash, and drop to 3 megapixels, and the camera is more bulky. One additional drawback for the Olympus is it uses propriotory batteries instead of AA cells. Olympus batteries are about $50, so I bought additional (new) batteries from e-bay. Two good batteries (I would avoid the cheap, under $1 offerings - I read the negative feedback!) including shipping were about $25. Another drawback is you will definitely want to pick up more camera memory. It only comes with a tiny 16meg xd card.

For a well-done review of the Olympus C-770, go to http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/olympus/c765uz_770uz-review/

Happy shopping!

In my opinion, Olympus makes the best digital camera because they produce excellent quality images as reported by numerous ratings listed in PC World magazine. Very few of the other cameras get this rating for image quality. This reportedly because the company that is now Olympus used to produce lenses for Air Force and sattelite surveillance cameras and hence have the best technology.

Never mind about the megapixels unless you want to make 16 x 20 inch prints. Three to four megapixels is sufficient because if the lens can't produce a good crisp image, no amount of megapixels is going to improve your photos. Besides you're not going to make prints larger than 8 x 10 anyway.

The rating for Olympus camera images is usually Outstanding rather than Excellent.

I had a c
Canon PowerShot A50 for years and years, so I wanted to replace it with a Canon, of course. Problem is Canon is too expensive. I found, after much surfing and brain picking, the Kodak EasyShare P850. It has 12X optical zoom, 5.1 mega pixels and IS. It has all the bells and whistles and it's small. Lowest price on web $390.00. It's $90.00 above what you said, but believe me, it's well worth the extra bucks. Good Luck

hey Pat,

How about a 5.2 megapixel with 7 shooting modes , a lithium rechargeable battery , incamera red eye removal, adaptive lighting, two inch lcd screen 3x optical X 8x digital zoom. It comes with included software for storing and editing you photos..FREE..This camera is great for outdoors...and it comes with a portable photo printer attached. The printer prints 4x6 photos for about 24cents/ photo and 4x12 for about 60 cents/photo....all for under $300.
If this sounds good then try out the HP PHOTOSMART 425, or the PHOTOSMART 428. they are both brand new products.

OR

You could try the HP R817 camera that gives you over 12 shooting modes a 40X zoom all the other great features as the camera above ( without the printer) and the ability to take great panaromic shots which the camera actually shows you how to line up for the next shot so that you would not miss any of the scenery and the included software automatically joins together for you....for only $299. it is also light and designed for outdoors...one more thing there is the optional underwater case that makes the camera waterproof for over 50 feet....WOW underwater pictures.
I think you should consider these two products.

After reading a lot of reviews on the web and in the magazines, I've realized that Fujifilm Finepix E550 is one of the best point and shoot cameras. My uncle just got one, and he likes it better than his TOSHIBA 5300.

He found the best deal on this website...
http://www.mpsuperstore.com/digital/discr168112.htm

I have recently been down this track. In addition, I am fortunate enough to know 2 professional photographers. I looked @ a) Canon XT Rebel b) Nikon D70s & c) Canon 20D.

I am an amateur. However, who is looking for terrible shots?

I held a) & b) - b) won by the proverbial mile! c) is a very good quality camera BUT I do not need it.

I have owned my Nikon D70s for about 1 month - GREAT CHOICE!

Allow $$$ for lenses but in the interim the D70s comes with quite a good lens ie 18-70mm. It has a magnification factor of 1.5 (Canon 1.6). Therefore, for digital photography, a 18-70mm lens is equivalent to a 27-105mm lens.

BEAUTIFUL!!!

Thanks for all of the input everybody, but I am afraid that you have made my decision only harder. I want something that is compact and around $300. I have looked at the others but some are too big or way to expensive! ($800)!! Im not taking pictures for the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue (however, I would spend alot of money if I could)

What do you mean by ''quality pictures'' ? How large an enlargement do you want ? Do you want your pictures printed and hung up in photo frames ? If you limit your budget at $300.00, your choices are limited. Any of the $300.00 and below models mentioned or suggested will be appopiate for you. What come out of the camera depends on the person behind the lens. It take some time to get used to a camera, and shortcomings can usually be overcome by different adjustments and photo editing progams ( even with XP's MS Photo editor )

in getting a camera. After all the post there would have been something that you liked. Your just baiting!

I read your message concerning buying a new digital camera and I know that you said that you were wanting suggestions on what TO buy but I just thought that I would say one thing. I bought a Kodak CX 6330 with the Easy Share printer dock and I really like the idea of being able to print my own pictures right at home and I've actually been pretty satisfied with the camera. The one complaint that I do have is that when I bought the camera, probabaly about a year and a half ago, I paid about $450 for the dock and the camera and the camera is only a 3.2 megapixels which I thought would be plenty for what I was taking pictures of. However, now days you can spend $300 and get close to 5.0 megapixels which is what I really recommend doing!! As I said I am still happy with the 6330 but I just wish that I would have gotten more megapixels and more digital zoom. If you are taking close ups only (within about 100 yards) its a great investment I just feel that you can get more bang for you buck now days. Camera prices have dropped ALOT since I bought mine.
Hope that will help you out a little bit!!

Jay