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General discussion

Sony, Canon, Olympus, Nikon?????????

Aug 28, 2004 12:50AM PDT

I have been laboring over which camera to get for 3 months now.... this will be my first digital camera..... Just when I thought I had it narrowed down to the Sony-W1.... I started hearing very good things about Canon cameras..... I hear the a80 is great but is it comparable to the Sony-W1?...... If not, which one is?....... I've heard good things about Nikon too!....... I also have a friend with the Oly c-4000 and c-5050... he loves them... I thought the Oly c-5060 would be a good choice because of the wide angle..... Some sites rate it a best buy while others say that it has a slow lens and I'd be using the flash indoors a lot.... I thought of waiting for an upgrade to the c-5060 but enough's enough.... I need to make a decision..... I would love to hear from some of you folks here.... I've read your comments in these forums and it seems that you know what you're talking about!...... so, what do you think?...... Which camera, The Sony w1, a Canon comparable, Nikon or a Oly?..... Help me make up my mind so I can break down and buy a camera.... Thanks!.....

Discussion is locked

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Re: Sony, Canon, Olympus, Nikon?????????
Aug 28, 2004 1:37AM PDT

Number One - There is no perfect camera!

Category: Point&Shoot, Manual Overrides, Advanced, Plush

Size: Ultra Thin, Small, Medium, Large

Price: Under: $400, $600, $800, $1000

Zoom: None, 3X, 4X, 5X, 6X, 8X, 10X 12X

Megapixels: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10

Those are some of the things you have to decide.

Then go to:

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/compare.asp

Plug in your desires, then click "Compare" and see what you get.

You can narrow it down from there.

....

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yea umm slight problem...
Mar 9, 2005 4:22PM PST

yea well i tried using that criteria search and i specified only 9 outta eh 27 or so areas and the site said that i was being too specific.... and when i was a LIL less specific i didn't exactly get the cameras i wanted... or expecting...

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Slight problem
Mar 10, 2005 6:39AM PST

When you got the message:

"You are being too specific"

that indicates that there was no camera in their database that had all of the features you wanted.

When you were less specific and didn't get the exact camera you wanted, could indicate that the camera you wanted may not be in their database.

Their database contains most of the Big Name camera products. It may not contain lesser known brands. It does not contain any cameras that are only available on eBay or from one particular source.

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..
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Re: Sony, Canon, Olympus, Nikon?????????
Aug 28, 2004 3:12AM PDT

Overall you can't go wrong when buying a digital camera made by either Sony, Canon, Olympus, or Nikon. They all make great digital camera products. Personally, I own two pro-sumer digital cameras made by Canon, and one Minolta pro-sumer digital camera. Plus numerious medium and high end regular film cameras.

That said, when it comes to consumer and pro-sumer digital cameras today, I believe Canon is setting the pace that everyone is chasing. For the past 3-4 years Canon appears for be the real innovator that is continually introducing new digital cameras first, and new features first, plus higher megapixel cameras before everyone else. The Canon Powershot line of digital cameras is by far the best lineup offered by one company right now for regular comsumer level digital cameras. Every Canon digital camera has great image quality, which in fact is the most important feature. The Canon EOS digital cameras are superior to their competitors for features and price points.

When I go look at digital cameras I always see what Canon has first, then I look at the other brands. Every time the Canon brand appears to be the better overall product to me... I always keep up with new technology and the latest digital cameras offered by Sony, Canon, Olympus, Nikon.

ALSO, the Canon brand digital cameras offer great software for both Windows PC, and Apple Macintosh computer users. Canon is always updating their software to be current with Windows and Mac OS X.

I hope I helped.

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canon
Jan 28, 2005 9:18AM PST

canon is my choice because they have metal cases unlike most of the others.i spend $250 up i want metal.

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Someone once told me that the really good cameras
Aug 28, 2004 3:52AM PDT

will come from the companies who are not newcomers to the camera business. Those who have been in the business, and know how to make them. For my money today, that's Canon and Nikon.

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Re: Someone once told me that the really good cameras
Aug 29, 2004 3:38PM PDT

I totally agree with you, but the best camera I ever had was an Olympus OM-1, a SLR. I think that Olympus should be on the list.

John

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cameras
Jan 22, 2005 5:13AM PST

I own an Olympus C5050.I've had it now for approx. 3 years.I love the camera and it's features.I don't know if they still make this model to tell you the truth.One of the features I like the most besides the fact that the pictures are great is that this model holds two diffrent cards in it.I don't think I've seen another camera with this feature.I can either put in a flash card and a sandisc card in it at the same time and switch from one to the other.I have a 128MB sandisc in one slot and a 256MB flash cars in the other slot.This way I don't need to use many cards to get a lots of pictures.You can also replace the flashcard with an XD card if you like.This camera also has the illuminator in it for dark shots,and also a remote control you can use instead of the built in timer.There are lots of features in the camera.Nikon and Canon have been on the top of the list for years,but Olympus is a durable product and they back up there stuff really good too. teleman

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My take....
Jan 22, 2005 1:04PM PST

This is my take- you'll soon be able to tell (by the length of my post) that I recently went through this myself. If you ask the people who work at a high-end camera store, they will most likely recommend a Nikon. Why? Simply-they have the best lens which often translates into the "best" pictures. But the deal-killer for me (and lots of other people) is that their shutter speed is one of the slowest . I speak from experience- I recently purchased the Nikon 4200 at the recommendation of two salesman from Wolf Camera. The shutter delay between shots was maddening - I literally counted 6-7 seconds between shots (and that was with the high speed Sandisk Ultra card!). Yes, the photos were gorgeous but I have 2 little kids to chase after- I ended up returning it the next day. If you don't take a lot of action shots and have patience, a Nikon camera will consistently produce beautiful pictures. And many still use compact flash cards which are the most affordable.

Now onto Sony - I owned one of the earlier cybershots and the colors were "off". It's strength actually was in video capacity (it's still best in class). I vowed never to buy another Sony digital camera but these days, they are producimg some of the best ones-check out reviews of the P150 and the W3. One thing about Sony is that you need to buy their proprietory memory sticks or the even more expensive "Pro" sticks to take full advantage of their cameras. At my suggestion (I'm a forgiving gal), my friend bought the P93 to replace her Nikon 3100 (she was missing too many shots of her kids). She was skeptical and made me take a bunch of side-by-side pictures under various lighting conditions. Much to our surprise, the Sony had "truer" color esp. with flesh tones. And she loved how fast the shutter speed was. And even though they are more expensive, you can find good deals nowadays on the memory sticks.

As far as Olympus cameras go, that is one of the few brands I have no personal experience with. But when I was making my (latest) camera decision, they were serious contenders. They have received rave reviews (esp. the Camedia line) and I love their zoom capabilities. The main deterrent for me was price. Their cameras require xd memory cards which are 2-4x more expensive than sd and compact flash cards respectively. I honestly think that if they utulized sd cards, the would sell 10x as many cameras.

Now, for Canon. It's no surprise that they sell the most digital cameras Look at the top sellers on amazon -it's the Canon S419, A95, A74, etc. Honestly, I think their pictures are excellent but not "the best". However, they make the best "all-around' cameras esp. for compactcameras! I have owned the S50, S410, and now the Sd200. I have been very happy with them all!

I hope I was able to help you in your decision a little bit...sorry if I ranted too long! Good Luck!

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Re: Sony, Canon, Olympus, Nikon?????????

I understand your confusion. I was doing the same thing a couple of weeks ago, then I went to www.imaging-resource.com and went thru the whole process on buying a new camera. Then I tried their Comparometer which shows the different photos compared to another camera. I used my current camera the Olympus D-510 to compare to the newer cameras. My old Olympus won! So I would have to say from my experience, try an Olympus. The pictures are great!

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Sony, Canon, Olympus, Nikon?????????
Jan 22, 2005 5:32AM PST

When I got into digital photography I wanted it all! Then reality hit... I ended up with a Canon EOS SLR digital because I already had the Canon AF lenses, including the best all-around lens on the market, the Tamron 28-300mm zoom. But that camera isn't something you can carry around in your pocket. So I also purchased a Canon S-410 Elph that uses the same CF card (saving money always helps). I keep the smaller camera tucked in my pocket for snapshots and reference photos (I'm an artist) and the larger one for the more serious work and commissioned shots. I guess it boils down to what you plan on using a camera for, and how much weight are you willing to carry.