Digital Camera Recommendations, please - Page 2

Under $300? That's should be a while... I'm it moves under $400 on Black Friday. Most places seem to holding firm at or around MSRP.

Really? We're recommending DSLRs for a guy who wants a pocket camera?

If your only goal with a point and shoot is to take relatively close up pics of your kids, get on eBay and find an older Canon somewhere in the range of 5MP. Seriously. More MPs would ostensibly allow you to make larger prints, but you're probably not making prints at all. 5MP would give you a quality 8.5x11 anyway, so the print aspect is irrelevant.

What is relevant, however, is that point and shoots in the 10MP range lose color sensitivity. The lenses are too small to capture enough light in each megapixel to yield a rich, vivid image. The zoom on a point and shoot is useless past about 10x too because it requires a tripod, which defeats the purpose of a point and shoot.

Here's a useful chart for those of you concerned with print size: http://www.lesjones.com/posts/005446.shtml


Also, since it was brought up, I'll also say that the Canon 50D is a monumental waste of money for someone just getting into DSLRs. DSLR bodies are obsolete after about two years because the price point for higher MP bodies is constantly on the decline (MPs matter with DSLRs because the lenses are big enough to capture enough light). DSLR lenses, on the other hand, won't be obsolete for at least a decade, probably longer. For somebody just getting started, the majority of their money should be invested in two or three quality lenses. Buy a Rebel T1i, preferably used, if you can get a good price. You won't be printing much, and unless you're using your television as a computer monitor, the lower resolution won't mean a thing. In about five years, 60+ MP DSLRs will be available at casual consumer prices, which will render bodies like the 50D about as useful as a Diana (actually less so, because Dianas at least have an interesting, unique character).

Damn, I hate doing my research before buying stuff. Now I want the s90.

I recently purchased a Ricoh GR Digital II. It's quite small and low profile compared to most digital cameras of a similar size: Image quality is, in my opinion, good, but on the noisy side. The best part of the camera, though, is its flexibility. It has a decent automatic setting but can also be controlled completely manually (aperture, shutter speed, focus, etc.) if needed. It seems to be popular among Leica enthusiasts looking for something a bit cheaper and that stands out a bit less. A couple of pictures I took with it:

After some more research, I'm interested in: 1. Canon Powershot S90 2. Fuji Finepix F200EXR 3. Sony Cybershot DSC WX1 4. Sony Cybershot DSC TX1 5. Fuji Finepix F100D All between $350-400. All quite compact.

This is cheaper than the S90, delivers the same quality, and although a bit bulkier, still able to fit into a coat pocket. Also can't forget the awesome Leica lens: Pictures:

The lack of flash may be a bit of a problem.

Agreed. Incredible picture quality, but lugging around a flash defeats the purpose of a point and shoot IMO.

Might take a while. I was playing this game with the Lumix lx3 waiting for the price to drop and the cheapest the camera has ever been from the debut to now was right when it came out and certain vendors were slashing prices/doing awesome coupons due to the economy. After that it was sold out or higher than msrp due to demand. I feel like s90 is going through the same thing, esp with good reviews and hype all around.