Help choosing a digital camera under $100

I just had to come back to this. I've been here for a while now and I just don't get it. If you take snaps, go away. If you take records, go away. If you can't afford the best equipment GO AWAY! There was a time when I was enjoying "photography" developing B&W from a Ansco 120 Viking folder on a piece of plywood on two saw horses! Half of you people probably weren't even born at that time. Anyone who enjoys pressing a shutter and seeing their results should feel welcome here. I just checked, and I didn't see ther word "Professional" anywhere in the title of this forum.
 
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I just had to come back to this. I've been here for a while now and I just don't get it. If you take snaps, go away. If you take records, go away. If you can't afford the best equipment GO AWAY! There was a time when I was enjoying "photography" developing B&W from a Ansco 120 Viking folder on a piece of plywood on two saw horses! Half of you people probably weren't even born at that time. Anyone who enjoys pressing a shutter and seeing their results should feel welcome here. I just checked, and I didn't see ther word "Professional" anywhere in the title of this forum.

Well, look at it this way: how many members on here do you think have experience with sub $100 cameras? How many people are comfortable recommending cameras without ever having used them? I offered an alternative of used but this person needs to buy new from best buy.
 
But I am in a digital photography class which I have to take for my web design major.

Eh? Do they provide cameras or require manual mode? It seems weird that a photograph class, digital or otherwise, would let you get away with a P&S.

Used may be another option. I just bought a Canon Rebel XT 350D for $165. It's a DSLR that's several years old, but I wanted to buy a gift for someone and didn't have $500 to spend on a new entry level camera.

Well, the school has a Photography major and I'm sure in that program, a really good quality SLR or dSLR would be required. But I'm just in the web design program and this is the only photography class in it. I'm very grateful that they don't require a dSLR camera. It is highly recommended, but honestly, I would rarely use that camera. So it would be a waste of a lot of money that I don't have. The Craig's List and Used ideas are actually very good ideas and if I'd had cash money to buy it, I probably would have tried those options. But all I had was about $117 on my Best Buy card so I was forced to use Best Buy to purchase the camera. I'm not complaining, though. I'm grateful I had a means at all to buy a new camera. The Nikon S3300 might not be a high quality camera but it's better than what I had and I think I can make some use of it. It actually got some good reviews and several sites compared it to others in that price range and the S3300 beat out the others in all of the comparisons I saw. So I'm hopeful. =)


This is a photo forum and it's memebers are saying "Hey if you can't afford $100's or $1000's go away". That's very sad.

5 Digital Cameras Under $100 ? Camera Review Labs

check out this link. There's a lot of good information there. Good luck :wink:

Rick, thank you so much! I really appreciate your kindness in trying to help me out! I've already made my camera purchase but I'm going to look through that page anyway. Information is never a waste and I might be able to pass that article on to a friend looking to buy a P&S camera if one crops up. =)

I really made the decision not to get discouraged here. I realize that this forum is really for more dedicated photography artists. I don't know if that's how it began, if that was the goal when it was created, but that seems to be where it ended up. And that's cool. The members of a forum tend to dictate where it goes. The great thing about forums like this is that they draw in and nourish people of like minds and help those who are looking to learn a particular subject. I'm glad they're out there and I find them to be quite useful when I'm trying to make a purchase decision or learn something new. I actually found a forum that's dedicated to vacuums when I was looking to buy one and the members there were very helpful in pointing me toward a good purchase in my price range. I was looking for the same thing here. But it turns out this forum is specialized in a different area of photography and that's cool. No hard feelings at all. But I do really appreciate the kindness and consideration. So thank you. =)
 
I just had to come back to this. I've been here for a while now and I just don't get it. If you take snaps, go away. If you take records, go away. If you can't afford the best equipment GO AWAY! There was a time when I was enjoying "photography" developing B&W from a Ansco 120 Viking folder on a piece of plywood on two saw horses! Half of you people probably weren't even born at that time. Anyone who enjoys pressing a shutter and seeing their results should feel welcome here. I just checked, and I didn't see ther word "Professional" anywhere in the title of this forum.

Well, look at it this way: how many members on here do you think have experience with sub $100 cameras? How many people are comfortable recommending cameras without ever having used them? I offered an alternative of used but this person needs to buy new from best buy.

My vote is this one: Amazon.com: 2.1 MP Digital Camera: Camera & Photo
 
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
I just had to come back to this. I've been here for a while now and I just don't get it. If you take snaps, go away. If you take records, go away. If you can't afford the best equipment GO AWAY! There was a time when I was enjoying "photography" developing B&W from a Ansco 120 Viking folder on a piece of plywood on two saw horses! Half of you people probably weren't even born at that time. Anyone who enjoys pressing a shutter and seeing their results should feel welcome here. I just checked, and I didn't see ther word "Professional" anywhere in the title of this forum.

Well, look at it this way: how many members on here do you think have experience with sub $100 cameras? How many people are comfortable recommending cameras without ever having used them? I offered an alternative of used but this person needs to buy new from best buy.

My vote is this one: Amazon.com: 2.1 MP Digital Camera: Camera & Photo

Very helpful.
 
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
Respect, Rick!

Anjalena, you have a lot more camera now than you did one month ago. From here onwards, it can get a lot more expensive or you can work your way through many other options which are variously less expensive. There are tons of second hand cameras out there if you ever wish to expand on what you do. Pawnshops, eBay, camera dealers..online/offline. Some basics for future reference..the bigger the sensor in the camera, the better it can see. The wider the range of the zoom built-in to a non-DSLR or interchangeable lens camera, from very wide to very long, the smaller the sensor it comes with. The "f-number" e.g f3.5-4.8, written around the front of the lens on your compact camera, indicates the maximum brightness/light gathering ability of the lens. The lower that number (e.g f2.8 is lower than f3.5) the better the lens is for making steady, hand-held photos in low light. ISO setting on your camera is an expression of your camera's sensitivity to light. The higher the ISO you can set, the more sensitive your digital camera becomes to light. So in poor light (no flash) you can use a higher ISO to achieve a steady, fast shutter-speed shot. The penalty for higher ISOs is "noise". This is comparible to the "grainy" look of film which was made for similar use in lowlight.

So an ideal to work towards in basic terms is a "fast" lens i.e a lens which is f2.8 or f2 or f1.8 and so on, a bigger-sized sensor chip which can see well and cope with bright light while retaining natural color rendition, a camera with high ISO capabilities so you retain the option of using fast shutterspeeds to avoid shakey handheld pictures and also to freeze action in less than ideal light without a flash.
 
I hope you enjoy your new camera Anjalena.

Despite what a lot of folks have been saying, "it's the photographer, not the equipment, that makes for great photographs".
 
Lew, I appreciate your candid response but it does sound a bit condescending.

He was not being condescending. He was being direct and answering your question honestly. Most people on this forum shoot with SLR style cameras which give the user extreme control over their results.

I live on a fixed income of $700/mo so it's not like I can afford to buy a camera that costs hundreds of dollars. But I am in a digital photography class which I have to take for my web design major. So I wanted to get the best camera that I CAN get on the limited money I have.

Perhaps what you might do is to look for a good entry-level DSLR through Craigslist or one of the major online retailers such as Adorama or B&H Photo/Video. It is very likely that you can find an entry level camera with a kit lens for under $200.

Here are a number of used DSLR cameras at B&H for under $250...

Used SLR Digital Cameras | B&H Photo Video

Here are a number of new point and shoot cameras from B&H that cost $150 or less...

Point & Shoot Cameras | B&H Photo Video
 
Oh, Jesus---I just saw how old this thread is. My bad. :mrgreen:
 
I thought this was fitting:

necrothread.jpg
 
I have no idea how I dug up this carcass of a post.

I thought it was current when I posted. :confused:
 
I have no idea how I dug up this carcass of a post.

I thought it was current when I posted. :confused:

Yesterday, I saw an old thread got dug up by a spammer and reported it. It could be this thread. So the mod deleted the Spam post after you reply to this thread. So now it looks like you were the one who brought this thread back.
 

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