first digital camera

[immski]

My buddy is trying to get into photography. He wants a decent camera in the 300-400 dollar range. These are the features he wants: - Good macro shots - rechargeable battery - color effects such as B&W, selective coloring - adjustable mega pixel - general good quality shots He will most likely have to give in one or more of these areas but what are some good cameras you would recommend. Thanks! :mrgreen:

 

[Peanuts]

Just recently I was doing research for a family member who wanted a camera with similar functions, and my choice was the Canon A620/A610 (difference is 7mp or 5mp). I was searching for a camera which was below $325 US so you may be able to find better with the extra $75.
The only 'requirement' which I can see which would not be precisely met would be rechargable batteries, as it runs on four AA, though one can purchase recharable AA.
Of course the best place to look is www.dpreview.com . Good luck with your search!

 

[loopy]

Just recently I was doing research for a family member who wanted a camera with similar functions, and my choice was the Canon A620/A610 (difference is 7mp or 5mp).

I own a A620 and love it. It gives off good quality images, and lets you have all your manual settings, not to mention getting as close as 1cm.

I would highly recommend it

 

[immski]

thanks for your input any other suggestions

 

[Iron Flatline]

I would put B+W low on the list. Even if a camera can do it "in camera" you don't want to limit your choices. Rather he or she should learn to "convert" an image into B+W in Photoshop or some other software. The image will end up looking better, and you're going to have a wider selection of cameras to choose from.

 

[Rob]

The baby Canons are all fairly reasonable. "Effects" are generally naff, B&W is easily produced using software (from original colour image) so I would as IronFlatline says, not consider them too much.

Rob

 

[JTHphoto]

i agree with iron & rob's assessment of the b&w...

and i also agree with peanuts on the battery issue... rechargeable AA are definitely the way to go... you have so much more flexibility that way... you can recharge if you want or if you are in a crunch you can just throw regular AAs in there.

Unfortunately i can't contribute much to the camera suggestion... other than i had a nikon coolpix 4300 a few years ago and was highly disappointed. I will probably try an olympus for my next p&s, as I have heard good things about them, otherwise this canon 620/610 sounds pretty nice too... hmmmm...