what camera should i get?

[dknight3]

hey guys i'm to this forum and photography.
I am thinking of buying a digital camera but i dont have a lot of money, it will have to be around $150 (no more than $200). I will mainly want it to take pictures of my car but i want it to be good quality.

any suggestions?

thank you all in advance for the help.

 

[Don Simon]

Hello there and welcome to the forum!

I can't really say any one camera is particularly good. Fact is there are plenty of good compact digital cameras for under $200. Too many to list. Canon, Nikon, Sony, Olympus, Kodak, Fuji, Pentax, Panasonic, Samsung... you can't go too far wrong with most of the recognised names in cameras and electronics.


I will offer two bits of advice:

1) Don't listen to any shop assistants telling you megapixels are the most important thing. They're not.

2) Digital zoom is worthless. If a shop assistant says the camera is good because it has digital zoom, please punch them. If you want a wider range of focal length - "more zoom" - then you want optical zoom.

Happy shopping

 

[dknight3]

Hello there and welcome to the forum!

I can't really say any one camera is particularly good. Fact is there are plenty of good compact digital cameras for under $200. Too many to list. Canon, Nikon, Sony, Olympus, Kodak, Fuji, Pentax, Panasonic, Samsung... you can't go too far wrong with most of the recognised names in cameras and electronics.


I will offer two bits of advice:

1) Don't listen to any shop assistants telling you megapixels are the most important thing. They're not.

2) Digital zoom is worthless. If a shop assistant says the camera is good because it has digital zoom, please punch them. If you want a wider range of focal length - "more zoom" - then you want optical zoom.

Happy shopping

thank you for the advice i think i'm going to get a FujiFilm A800 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16830122099)

what do you think?
also, do you think i should get a tripod or does it really matter?

 

[guppyman]

Don't get Shiro... Their night shot exposures are really bad...

 

[andythebrave]

I bought a Panasonic for my wife (the FX01) and it is excellent. Metal body and top lens by Leica. That one is a little over your budget but the FX3 (very similar) is available at Circuit City for $179.95 and that seems like a steal.

The FX range is nicely styled and are truly pocketable pocket cameras so there's no excuse to go out without one!

 

[andythebrave]

The FX3 is at:

http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Pana...59037/catOid/-16941/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do

and Newegg have the FX10 in a bundle with card for $169.99 at:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16830180083


and to answer your question about a tripod I'd say you don't need one with these two as they both have an excellent on board optical image stabilisation system.

 

[NJMAN]

2) Digital zoom is worthless. If a shop assistant says the camera is good because it has digital zoom, please punch them.

LOL! That was classic. :lmao:

I would never take the advice of a shop assistant regarding zoom, especially if they were working at a place like Best Buy or Circuit City.

 

[RedDevilUK]

you never trust a salesperson... especially when its stuff they are selling!!!

thats why this forum is so popular... we are not selling anything, and we dont benefit one way or the other... whatever you buy.
but we do benefit if our advice makes you happy, because then you are more likely to be a regular on the forum

digital zoom sucks as said above...
basically digital zoom is the same as using the magnifying glass in an art package (paint shop, photoshop etc) and zooming in.... you know the pixeling effect that makes images look blocky)
optical zoom means its the actual Lens (glass) thats doing the zooming meaning the image is just as clear out wide shot as it is zoomed in!!

obviously you get what you pay for, and Optical zoom is more expensive... but worth it.

so instead of buying a 6 mega pixel with 3x digital zoom, go for a 4 mega pixel with optical zoom.... your results will be better.

good luck anyway

whatever you buy, post some pictures here so we can have a look