Advice on buying first Digital Camera

Glebspy,

I would highly recommend this website

http://www.dpreview.com/

Try more time in this website ,you can select the various options you want, compare different models and what not.

a) Depends on camera for USB or Firewire connections .Donot worry about software.You can anytime get off the internet

b)USB 2.0 is equal to firewire

c) See the trick of e-bay is that even though the cameras might have features something like additional battery and other accessories (which may not be important ) will not be given hence price will be low.I wont say e-bay is unsafe.

d) I would highly recommend Nikon, Cannon and Sony

Sunray

Also check the reviews (and customer comments) at:

  http://reviews.cnet.com/Digital_cameras/2001-6501_7-0.html?tag=ont-cam

Stick with well-known brands.

Size and weight are important considerations.

Note that digital cameras are more fragile (and slower) than film cameras.

Overall they are superior to film cameras, and ever since I bought a digital
in early 2001 I have used nothing else.

I use a Canon IXUS v3, which is very good for my needs.  I don't think it's a low-price item, but it has
a reassuring feel to it - solid, like, and it gives good pictures.

It has USB interface and uses CompactFlash card. I don't use the software that came with it, or the USB,
as I prefer read the CF cards on my computer using a more straightforward graphics application. There are
cheap PCMCIA adapters for CF which is even better than hooking things up with a cable when you're on
the move.

So I suggest you look for a good brand of camera even if they're more expensive (the "Cry Once" theory)
and look for a model that uses memory modules that can be read in an external adapter. Look at prices
for memory modules and for replacement batteries as those things are often high on the wish list after
a while.
/RID

I would second the dpreview website - excellent analysis of all the features, and close looks at the pictures they take.  The author is a professional photographer and knows what he is talking about.

1) Don't assume anything; USB is common now, but not guaranteed - look for it.  USB 1.1 is slower than USB 2.0, but still fast enough for downloading pictures from a camera.

2) Firewire is 400Mb/sec, USB 2.0 is 440Mb/sec.  Both are fast enough to ignore actual differences, and a USB/Firewire card is fairly cheap at newegg.  I think Firewire is the choice for DV camcorders, whereas USB is the choice for digital cameras.

3) With retailers, you have a good chance that you will get a working product; with eBay, you might get a working product, you might get a defective product, you might get a product that doesn't even turn on, or you might get nothing after you send money.  A much higher risk than stores, and with higher risk comes lower prices.

4) All the system makers have pretty good cameras and they consistently come in the top of reviews: Nikon, Canon, Olympus.  However, the good models are not dirt cheap, and you will have to go above the lowest price models in order to get one that actually produces good pictures beyond snapshot size.

I recommend these sites to read up on your camera questions.
http://www.dcresource.com/index.shtml

http://www.dpreview.com/

The most important part of any camera is a quality lens.
You by cheap, you will get crappy pictures.

Personally I have a Canon A70, and before I had the Canon A10 wich both gave me excellent results, I've seen lot's of cheap camera's wich use the JPG compression to much so it can make lot's of photo's on it's memory but in a terrible quality.
Both of these camera's use USB to transfer pictures to the computer and they both use Compact Flash memory to expand the amount of photo's wich you can make (I personally use 128 Mb)

Almost all digital camera's nowadays use USB, I've only seen firewire at camera's wich have 10 Mpixels or more. But those camera's are really expensive.

LucF

Technology moves fast so just be carefull not to get an old model, you might regret it, the camera should be able to shoot between 4 to 6 megapixels and have plenty storage space on the card. Digital is still developing but very rapidly, many people regret the switch because they never researched the capabilities of the camera. One of the most important factors for me personally is "how many PRINT quality pics (300dpi) can you take with the camera and how many will fit on one card" and not how many pics in total fit on the card (you trade off on the quality). There are two grades of digital cameras i.e. Amateur and Professional, Amateur equipment is a third of the price of the pro stuff but its still worth looking at all the features of the pro stuff to get an idea of what digitals are now capable of and to see the best features on offer, then go from there.

I strongly recommend Cannon, they are now recognised as the leading Camera manufacturer in the world after so many years of dominance by Nikon. This is a link to their site:
http://www.powershot.com/powershot2/home.html

Go to a storefront, test cameras, see which package best meets your needs (does it have video, storage, flash, etc?) find the model you want, then search the internet for a better price, or a store that does price matching.  Yes, a dirty trick I know.  Dealtime.com & buy.com work well.  Actually seeing the camera in person is nice and yes, go with the USB cable especially if you have USB 2.0 already which is backwards compatible btw.

Hi Glebspy,

I Was in your position only 2 Months Ago and Spent Quite some time researching the best model and make Digital Camera to Buy with all the features I want at the right price.

Firstly 2 Questions have to be answered.

1. How much can I budget to spend on my camera?
Remember it is not just the camera you need to buy. There is Camera Cases, Extra Memory Cards and the Choice of additonal batteries and charges.

2. What am I going to use my Digital Camera For?
I take it you don't want to mearly use it as a Normal Camera but would like to have some fun in all areas of photography but I am not going to be a Professional Striaght Up and can Start with lower model camera. (Remember prices are always coming down)

Then... You can look at the features of a Digital Camera.

The two Main features of a Digital Camera IMOA would have to be the Optical Zoom and The MegaPixel's.

* Optical Zoom is Far superior to Digital Zoom. Digital Zoom expands the centre of the image but keeps the same number of pixel's resulting in a blocky image. So look for a Camera with the Highest Optical Zoom you can afford.

* Megapixel's - This is where the price begin to jump quite quickly. A 3 Megapixel camera will produce a A4 High Quality Print and a 4 Megapixel camera will produce a A3+ High Quality Print. Ask yourself how big am I going to print my pictures? More MegaPixels the Better but then there is higher cost.

Then there is all the other features.

In the 3 MegaPixel range I found the Kodak DX6340 to be a superior camera over all other cameras in its field for the price.

It has a 4x Optical Zoom and a 3.5 Digital Zoom =  4x3.5= 14x Total Zoom. The 4x optical is higher then other cameras in this field reducing the need to go to a four MegaPixel camera as you can zoom in close on the subject for greater detail.

It's Lense is very good a professional Schneider Lense with a built in automatic lense cover.

It has a really good 1.8inch LCD screen which works very well in all light.

It has Video Recording Capabilites which are only bound in lenght by the size of the memory card. On a 128MB Card I can Fit 14minutes of full video and audio. Unlike other camera which only allow 30secs' of video.

At the highest quality picture setting you can fit approx 140 Pictures on the 128MB additional card, which is really good.

It has direct video and sound playback from the camera. And a AV lead to plug straight into the TV for Picture and Video Viewing.

It has a large range of setting at a quick flick of the thumb.

It is USB and can run on standard AA Batteries or special Litium batteries for longer life.


I hope this helps you out.

I purchased the above camera and am very pleased with the results. I have tested it in low light and at the MotorCross for speed and the results were very good.

Cheers

Wyzzz