Looking for a Digital Camera around 500$

[slicksterproductions]

Hey im looking for a digital Camera for around 500$.

4-5 megapixels

Good Optical Zoom

Any suggestions?

[jbcandkc]

I've got a Canon S-40, takes great pictures. I think they are up to the S-45 & S-50 already. S-40 is 4 Megapixels and it is plenty for what I need it for. I'm saving up for an underwater housing ($150ish) so I can take it Scubadiving

jbcandkc

[gmatov]

Slickster,
Look into a Sony.
I have always been partial to Olympus, my youngest bought one for her future hubby, Mod 450, 1.3 meg, beautiful pics. I bought the 550, 3 plus meg, does not take near as good a pic as the 450. One of my othere daughters has a Sony 700 something, 3 meg, tilting body, that takes a fantastic pic, 10X optical zoom, I forget the digital, but lock it out, anyhow, ignore it. 1000 bucks then, the new 5 meg goes about a 1000 also, but you may get it for much less at barnabeez.com, where I bought mine. (On an aside, I generally do not like Sony products, overpriced, over rated, but the camera, well....)
I DO like the tiny size of some of the Canons. I don't know what kind of pic they produce. And I would take the reviewers reccomendations with a grain of salt or two. YOU have to see the output, not some hack.

[The village idiot]

Toshiba has some in your price range that are decent. Going to need to buy there new type of memory card though. Also there are a few Nikon models that look good. The Sony's with a big zoom are pretty good too. Those lenses are much better than most other cameras. And if the lense is crap, all the pixels in the world will not make for a good picture. As a general rule for these types of cameras, the larger the diameter of the lense elements, the better the lense. Also look for one that has a large aperture, like around f2 or f1.7 or better. Also remember that thes cameras use a CCD imager, and well Sony seems to have the CCD video camera down pretty good. It only makes sense that their still imagers look pretty good too. Most of the pictures I have seen from Sony cameras look like video to me. In that they have a bit of detail (sharpening) added to the image, where many of the others do not add artificial sharpening to the picture unless you tell it too. Many of the others assume that you will add the sharpening after any other processing you might do in software. This sharpening is espcially bad when you try to enlarge the image. It becomes very noticeable at 600 times or so.

[i_am_dave]

Nikon has some good 'CoolPics' camera's in that range. Take a look at the 5000 or 5700 model.

[slicksterproductions]

I thought i found one that i liked ( HP 850 Photo smart.) It had everything i was looking for, 4 megapixels, 8x optical zoom and was 500 dollars.

Then i found out its downfall, its slow. It has a slow rate of continuous pictures and i need something that can take pictures quick. For action photography. I dont want something slow.

Also i checked out the canons and other ones you recommended but none of them have a decent zoom.

I would love to get the sony but its to much.

Any suggestions?

[Doggiedaddy]

I use a Sony cyber-shot and love it. It also has a mpg2 feature with a 256mb removable memory sticks for 10,15,20 second mpeg2 movies great for small personal DVD intros on your DVs.

Dd

[shoozleboy]

i think with all the wonderful suggestions that everyone has given Slickster, you may have just confused the poor guy/gal even more than they were before asking!

[The village idiot]

i think with all the wonderful suggestions that everyone has given Slickster, you may have just confused the poor guy/gal even more than they were before asking!

I think you might be right

[mrtristan]

We have a Canon Powershot S30 at work. It's rated at 3.2 megapixels and takes good pictures. You can manually set the aperture, ISO, shutter speed, and white balance, although it will take good pictures 90% of the time in auto mode.

You can probably find it online for around $400 which leaves you some money left over for accesories, like an extra battery and carry bag.

[gmatov]

This post is kinda tiresome. I have stated that I have a 3.3 meg Olympus, with 2.8X3.3 Optical/digital zoom., of which the digital should be locked out, and my son-in-law has a 1.3 meg Olympus which takes a better picture than mine does, with 3 times the res. Mine, I think, sucks, even tho' all the reviews say it takes a fantastic pic. I don't know if they are on the payroll, but, were I to buy a new camera today, I would insist on seeing the output before I considered it.
On top of which, my "old" camera requires Smart Media, which, I think is an outdated format, as the new Olympus cameras take the new Secure Digital, or the other tiny card.
As a f'rinstance, my kid's 1.3 saves at 170-180 KB per pic, mine saves at 1. 8 or more MB per pic, and if I "click" to enlarge in any photo prog with their output, it is a better pic than mine.
I will admit that my other daughter's Sony 505, or whatever the 3+ meg tiltbody cam is, also takes a better pic, and it has 10X zoom as well.
I kinda wish I wasn't so pigheaded, I might have bought a Sony in the small format, pocket cam size .

[Greg12]

I have a 4.0 megapixel Koadk 4900.

I love it, however it's night time photomode sucks really powerfully. It takes great night pix's if u disable the flash and use a tripod.

Its CCD is really good, I used it at prom and asie from Red Eye, the pictures were the best and clearest.


hehe i almost blinded someone by using it at 4am in the dark