Is a digi cam worth it?

A

adri1456

Gawd
Joined
Jan 15, 2004
Messages
527
I have $150, and I'm looking for a digi cam in that price range (I'm thinking of buying it locally, because some site's shipping is a pain to Hawaii).

Should I wait until I saved up? What's the sweet spot for a noob photographer?
 
I don't know very much about cameras in that price range, but there are certainly some decent offerings. You might check out the Canon PowerShot A400. It looks like it's got a lot good features. It looks like it can be had for about $160, though it may take some shopping around, if buying online is a pain.

Regarding a noobie price sweet spot, I would have guessed around $400 or so. I thought I'd try to verify that by looking at the spectrum of Canon cameras (low-end to prosumer, anyway), but I was surprised to see that the features increase very gradually. There's not a huge difference between their $200 cameras and their $600 cameras. Anybody else have any thoughts on this?
 
i love my canon a60, which online is around $150 or so. takes good pictures, has full manual control when i want it, and works perfectly. Only two complaints: It doesn't let you go insane with the settings, i.e. it limits you to a certain range which can be annoying; and there is a noticeable shutter lag if you don't prefocus. very annoying for certain things. other than that tho, great camera and i highly recommend
 
2 year old Canon A40 2 MP camera.
4100 pictures.
No film development costs - priceless....

Well, not really. At say 20 cents a print including film costs, thats a LOT of money.

If you shoot a decent amount of pictures, you get the price of the camera back pretty dang quickly.

Stretch it as far as you can.

I just picked up the A85 for 239 shipped.

The 3.2 MP A75 is 186 shipped

Well, well worth it.

BB
 
I agree twith HorsePunchKid, referred to as HPK from here on out. lol

The $400-$500 range really is still a lower end price range campared to $1000-$6000 price range of the big boys.

My camera(Nikon 8700) costed around $700. It's perfect for a beginner. With a fully adjustable shutter and aperature. And about a 100 other settings.

I had the Canon A300, the earlier A400. It took ok shots but had a painfully long write speed. And the boot up time almost cause me to smoke a shotgun. Missed many memerable shots becasue of it.

Oh, and about the saving money on the film thing, that's true.
Although I do get my photos developed often. I go to my local camera/film developer store.
A 4X6 print costs 49 cents, but each print is looked over, exposure, tint, ect. is checked. And it's archival, which means it's last about 70-100 years before the color starts to change.

Don't go to Wal-Mart or your local drugstore for 1 hour prints. They're never as good, although they are cheaper (about 25-35 cents per print).
 
Rooster said:
Don't go to Wal-Mart or your local drugstore for 1 hour prints. They're never as good, although they are cheaper (about 25-35 cents per print).
Click to expand...

i am going to have to disagree with you there. a place like walmart will let you reprint images as often as you feel the need too... ie, if something doesnt look right, tell them, and they'll reprint it. all of my prints there have always come out just as they look on my laptop LCD, so i have never had a problem.

you DO probably have a point with the longevity issue, although i am not sure, because wal-mart uses the same photopaper/process as they do with their film, so i would assume it is also of high, long lasting quality.

personally, i would rather spend 24 cents on a 4x6 and get it in an hour. i am a quality whore, but i am still happy with walmarts prints. or better yet, winkflash.com for 18 cents for the same quality :)
 
I hear ya Kevy. I'm just tired of the inconsistancy of the prints from Wal-Mart. If you want a few more prints a week later, they won't match.
And, they always have this wierd contrast issue.
 
Don't forget the cost of a memory card (128 MB minimum for a 2-3 MP camera) and a set of rechargeable (NiMH) batteries - assuming you use one that takes standard AA format batteries (like the Canon A series).

Adds about 50-70 bucks to the total purchase price.

BB
 
I'd vote for a Canon A60.


You can get a $256 CF memory card for about $10-$15 these days.
 
I think byteware is going out of business this month so they should be unloading a lot of their cameras. They are located in the kamehameha shopping center in Kalihi. Check them out if you're buying local. You might find a deal.

--KK
 
KingKaeru said:
I think byteware is going out of business this month so they should be unloading a lot of their cameras. They are located in the kamehameha shopping center in Kalihi. Check them out if you're buying local. You might find a deal.

--KK
Click to expand...
I checked byteware a few days before they disappeared, but the only camera they had on sale that matched my price was a crappy one that didn't have the options I was looking for.

I've upped my budget to $200 (hopefully I get that much money for xmas and maybe my Mom can help with the rest).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top