ISO 3-4 MP Digital Camera under $200....Recommendations?

[RKelly]

Hello,
I currently have a Gateway DC-T50 5.25 MP digital camera, but I am dissapointed in the quality of the pictures. Many times they come out fuzzy or blurry, etc even when I hold the camera perfectly still. I realize I really don't need a 5mp camera unless I'm planning to blow the photo's up to a crazy large size and I think 3-4 mp will do just fine. Looking for a quality camera, any suggestions?

[lordsmurf]

Worry more about the quality of the glass and the quality of the CMOS or CCD. And less about the "megapixels".

What do you consider "crazy large" size anyway?
In inches or feet.

[RKelly]

well the explanation I have received about MP is it won't make a difference if you are using a 3 MP camera vs a 5 MP if you are printing/viewing normal size pics. 5 MP only comes into play if you are printing a large photo, what size specifically I don't know. Thanks for the head's up about glass and CMOS. I think I am going with a Canon A400, seems like a pretty good camera for the price.

[Grimey]

I just bought a Panasonic DMC-FZ5, which is 5 megapixels and has a 12x Leica zoom lens, which is a great camera, but apparently too much camera for you.
But the point of this post was that I used this site: http://www.dpreview.com/ to research all the different cameras I had in mind. Have a look around, it's a great site.

[mrtristan]

I have a Canon S1 IS. It's rated at 3.2 megapixels, but takes great photos. They have a new one out, with 5 megapixels, I believe. Either way, it's a good camera and easy to use. It has an image stabilizer, similar to steady shot, but for still photography. This comes in handy when using the 10x optical zoom and for regular shots. Having the image stabilizer greatly increases the sharpness of most shots.

You can go full auto, or various assisted modes, so you've got control over ISO, shutter speed, and exposure, if you want.

The last feature that I like about it, is that you can take unlimited video at 640X480 resolution, for as long as you have memory. This comes in handy when you don't want to bust out the camcorder and just need to take a couple minutes worth of video.

One thing I would reccomend is buying high speed compact flash. CF cards are cheap now, so get a 1 gigabyte, if you can. It'll come in handy if you decide to shoot some video with the camera.

[lordsmurf]

FujiFilm "FinePix" and Canon make some nice consumer digital systems. The Canon ELPH series is nice.

Although nothing can compete with a good digital SLR from Nikon. Maybe Canon if you get the highest one (not that Rebel crap).

[Conquest10]

If the picture is fuzzy even when tripod mounted, the lens is absolute crap. Like smurf said, the lens is the most importatn thing to look at. I mean, why get a cam that's 14 megapixels if its just all going to be a blur? You can never go wrong with Nikon or Canon (or Leica but their digital cameras are ridiculously priced).

EDIT: Got my Canon s10 for like $30 on eBay (I hate it but I sometimes get good stuff very cheap) and its great.

[Dr. DOS]

Cannon... my Cannon 2.1 MP (A20 I think) reproduces fine 8x10's. The optics on the Cannon is flawless... I've been using this now for about 3 years and have had no complaints.

It uses 4 AA batteries ... I bought some NMh rechargables that last a few days of shots before I have to recharge 'em

[lordsmurf]

Isn't the A20 an SLR that has that horrible shutter lag?

[Conquest10]

Isn't the A20 an SLR that has that horrible shutter lag?

I think you're thinking of the Olympus E-20.

[hech54]

We all might be overlooking one thing about the original post. I feel I need to ask the original poster this:

Are you using the zoom?

[mill48]

To add to hech54's line of questioning ... are you using the digital zoom?

[Grimey]

digital zoom is useless.