Can you recommend a camera?

[Carrie]

I am in the market for a new camera. What do you suggest?

99% of my pictures are printed out in a 4x6 size for scrapbooking. I have had a few blown up to 8x10's, but that's not a common thing. I doubt I'd use a size bigger than that.

I take pictures of Tyler and my nieces around the house, at the park, zoo, doing kid things. I don't have any decent nighttime shots or fireworks. We had an awesome fireworks display on the 4th and I was at a rooftop party with an excellent view, but no good pictures to show for it.

I'm going to WDW in September and I want to get a lot of good night time (as well as daytime) shots.

Does anyone have knowledge of a good camera to use? I want something that has the ability to be opened up for longer exposure times. I'm not looking for top of the line. Just decent scrapbooking pictures. My budget is around $300.

[Scottwdw]

I've heard good things about this advanced Point & Shooter.. http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canons3is/

I've seen this as low as $286 (see bottom of the page in the link). Canon announced the S5 IS last spring so the S3 IS price has been going down. I have only read many people's favorable reviews and experiences, maybe someone here can chime in who owns one.

BTW, dpreview.com is a great place to browse around, see what models fit your budget and then read about them.

[PixiePrincess]

I have a Kodak easy share z650 and I paid around $250... I love it... it's easy to use.

[Simba001]

After much research I finally broke down and purchased a SONY DSC- H5 about 2 months ago. I LOVE this camera! Now it's not a small pocket point and shot. It is an alternative to a digital SLR that can take interchangeable lenses. Sony has upgraded to the H-7 & H-9, but I stuck with the older H-5.
DSC-H5 Cybershot cameras ability to capture amazingly sharp, highly detailed long-distance images with 7.2-megapixel imaging, powerful Carl Zeiss 12x optical zoom lens and Sonys Super SteadyShot Optical Image Stabilization system, sold me on it.

Here are a few shots I took with this camera.

http://tagrel.com/photopost/data/500/DSC01129.JPG

http://tagrel.com/photopost/data/500/DSC00694_edited.JPG

http://tagrel.com/photopost/data/500/DSC01052.JPG

http://tagrel.com/photopost/data/500/DSC01029.JPG




http://tagrel.com/photopost/data/500/DSCO1129.jpg

[Carrie]

Sorry, forgot to mention I want any brand but Kodak. I won't do Kodak ever again. I don't care if it gets a million star rating, won't ever buy a Kodak camera again. I have owned 3 different Kodak Easyshare cameras in the past year. All 3 of them had defects, and they were all different models. The first one never worked upon opening it, so I took it back and bought a different one. The second one quit working after about 3 or 4 uses. I had to send it into Kodak's repair place at my own expense. They refurbished it and sent it back to me 3 months later. It worked for about a month and quit. Then I bought a better model this past January. It quit on me last week. All 3 cameras have had the exact same problem. They won't turn on at all, or sometimes they'll turn on and turn right back off. They act like the batteries are low, even after putting in fresh new batteries. A friend at work had the exact same problem with her Kodak Easyshare and my Mom had the same problem. The friend at work bought a different model. Mom exchanged hers and hasn't had any problems yet. Kodak is too unreliable and their customer service department is very rude. The people who do their repairs are not even Kodak, its a third party.

[Carrie]

Oh nice pictures Simba. Does it take good night shots? I'll look up more info on that model.

[Robin]

I'm partial to the reviews at Steve's Digicams (http://www.steves-digicams.com/best_cameras.html).

You can glance through the best list to get an idea on cameras.

There is no one camera that is best, simply because everyone has different 'must haves'.

Do you want something to fit in a pocket, or do you want a camera with a bit more substance to hold.

Things I have found important are the camera's ability to compensate for shake (stabilization) and a good flash. My old camera had a weak flash which made for disappointing indoor photos.

[Simba001]

Oh nice pictures Simba. Does it take good night shots? I'll look up more info on that model.

Carrie, I haven't taken many night shots yet. But here is one.
http://tagrel.com/photopost/data/500/DSC00738.JPG

This was taken through the front window of a helicopter returning to Las Vegas after visiting the Grand Canyon ( a trip I would HIGHLY recommend).

I'm partial to the reviews at Steve's Digicams (http://www.steves-digicams.com/best_cameras.html).

There is no one camera that is best, simply because everyone has different 'must haves'.

Things I have found important are the camera's ability to compensate for shake (stabilization)

Steve's Digicams is great. I agree with the stabilization feature. Love it.

I wanted clear, crisp , solid color and wanted to be able to make enlargements without much 'noise'. I also didn''t want to be packing a lot of lenses around like I have with with film SLR.

After reviewing different cameras with the features I wanted, I made myself a spread sheet and compared the different models. I then went to the camera stores and held the cameras in my hand and played with them a little. Some just were not right for me.

I must say I am still getting use to the Sony DSC H-5 and it has a few quirky things about it, but overall I am very happy. I really appreciate the large LCD screen as I had eye surgery in November to repair a hole in my left retina, plus am having difficulty with my contact prescription for both eyes. I am having lots of trouble still with my left eye and will never have good vision in it. The large LCD screen is real helpful to me!

[FLSharon]

I have a fugi finepix which takes great pics... it has the huge display on the back

BUT... it doesn't have the little eye viewer and the problem here is in the sun sometimes, I can not even see if I got the picture, let alone if everyone looks good. For the next camera, I personally would not sacrifice this little viewer for the larger screen.

[WillCAD]

Not being terribly familiar with point-and-shoot digitals these days, I went to DP Review and sorted their recent reviews by rating; the top of the heap was the Fuji Finepix F31fd, a simple-looking 6.3 megapixel, 3X optical zoom P&S with a street price of under $300.

Note that this camera is actually a small, incremental upgrade of the Fuji Finepix F30, which has been out since early 2006. The F30 has also gotten dazzling reviews; the only difference between the F30 and the F31fd is that the F31fd has new facial recognition software buit in, so it wil, theoretically, automatically focus on peoples' faces in a shot instead of background objects.

The DP Review article on the F31fd specifically mentions its image quality, particularly its low-light quality; the F31fd can shoot at up to ISO3200. With this sparkling review, I'd look at the F31fd very seriously. The only drawback I can see is the lack of an optical viewfinder, which I personally can't stand, but aside from that it's a nice looking little camera.

[geffric]

I have a Canon S3 IS.. bought it from the dell website for $250... I have been very happy with it but then it was an upgrade from a S2 IS which I need to sell...

I'll look for some pictures and post them..

[Robin]

When my sister was here I went with her to pick up a camera for her daughter and we settled on a nice little Nikon Coolpix.

Upon getting it home I was halfway through setting it up (like the date function) when the camera lens function went on the fritz. No matter what I tried, the lens would start to come out, then retract and an error would appear. I checked online and found this is a common problem (http://www.google.com/search?q=nikon+coolpix+%22lens+error%22&sourceid=navclient-ff&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1B2GGFB_enUS231US231). My sister ended up taking the camera to exchange at a CircuitCity in NJ and dropped the box on the counter. Error went away, but they swapped out the camera anyway.

Having seen this problem for myself I would unfortunately advice against a Coolpix. When there are so many other good choices out there, I'd steer clear of brands that have a high incident of problems.

[PixiePrincess]

Sorry, forgot to mention I want any brand but Kodak. I won't do Kodak ever again. I don't care if it gets a million star rating, won't ever buy a Kodak camera again. I have owned 3 different Kodak Easyshare cameras in the past year. All 3 of them had defects, and they were all different models. The first one never worked upon opening it, so I took it back and bought a different one. The second one quit working after about 3 or 4 uses. I had to send it into Kodak's repair place at my own expense. They refurbished it and sent it back to me 3 months later. It worked for about a month and quit. Then I bought a better model this past January. It quit on me last week. All 3 cameras have had the exact same problem. They won't turn on at all, or sometimes they'll turn on and turn right back off. They act like the batteries are low, even after putting in fresh new batteries. A friend at work had the exact same problem with her Kodak Easyshare and my Mom had the same problem. The friend at work bought a different model. Mom exchanged hers and hasn't had any problems yet. Kodak is too unreliable and their customer service department is very rude. The people who do their repairs are not even Kodak, its a third party.

hmm, I'm on my 2nd one and I've never had any issues with either camera. I'm very pleased with both Kodak easyshare cameras.

[WDWNJ]

I bought the Canon S3 IS right before our WDW trip in April and I love it. You can view some pics in my 3 trip reports posted in the Tell Us About It Forum. I think there is a night shot of Main Street in one of the reports.... but the camera does take nice night shots and is very simple to use.

[DizzneeMomma]

hmm, I'm on my 2nd one and I've never had any issues with either camera. I'm very pleased with both Kodak easyshare cameras.

I like my EasyShare too. I bought it for my 2005 Disney trip but I'm only just now learning how to use the manual settings. I'm having a blast with it and I like that it's a chunky block-style camera and not the thin candy bar type. I don't know why I have this preference.

[Kelly Grannell]

I second WillCAD's recommendation of the Fuji F31fd or F30. Great high ISO (lack of) digital grain.