Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

Question

What's a good, high quality, no bloat, budget camera?

Jul 17, 2015 4:35AM PDT

Hey! I've had my old Nikon 9600-something and my P500 for a few years. However, at the time, I really didn't care so much about the quality of the pictures. They were budget cameras with high zooms and specs, and that's really all I knew to look for.

Now, I still don't really know what to look for; I know that a bigger sensor, not necessarily with a higher resolution, means higher definition.

So I'm looking for a new camera. Here's what I want:

* Under 500 dollars (the lower the better)
* High quality and definition (good enough to view at 1080P and still look good)
* I don't care if it's DSLR or digital, or maybe something like a Nikon1
* Good under low light would be nice, but it's not at all required
* No bloatware; I don't want a touchscreen, WiFi, or Facebook. If it has those things, I don't care, but I won't use them.


Any ideas?

Discussion is locked

- Collapse -
Answer
Small cameras
Jul 17, 2015 8:15AM PDT

Most low cost small cameras are peas in a pod.
They suffer from a small sensor, and too many pixels.
More pixels mean smaller pixels, which means less light per pixel, which means poor low light photography.

Twelve meg of pixels is the highest pixel count you want on these small cameras.

A few cameras were designed by engineers (not salesmen).
They have 12 or less meg pixels
A larger sensor and a slightly larger diameter lens.
A brighter lens (f/1.8 or brighter)
The smaller the lens f-rating the brighter the lens. (i.e. f/1.2 is brighter than f/1.Cool
They do not have big zoom because bright lens plus big zoom means big cost.

They are few and far between.
They fall into the $350 - $400 price range.

Canon G16
Nikon P340
Panasonic LX7

- Collapse -
Answer
I'll comment on 1080P
Jul 17, 2015 8:23AM PDT

1080P is accepted as 1920 pixels × 1080 lines (2.1 megapixels),

So to get good 1080P pictures we don't need many megapixels. That said, and this will be heresy, many smart phones do a good job at budget photos and more.

My DSLR is a Canon t4i. But it blew past your budget.

Here's a shot (that will be scaled down to forum size) from a 99 buck BLU Studio 6.0. I see the price is up to 135 but next week I'll get a newer model for 99 bucks.
http://i.imgur.com/XMNgFBl.jpg

- Collapse -
Answer
Nikon D3300?
Jul 17, 2015 9:49AM PDT
- Collapse -
Nice choice. But...
Jul 17, 2015 10:15AM PDT