Digital Camera purchase advice
 

Ok I really would like to get myself one for the upcoming Mac shows next year. A lot of you here on the Ledge (esp. the UK shows) got some fantastic photos. I am looking for a very compact camera with at least 3.2 megapixels and a 3x optical zoom. Anybody that can tell me about any kind that they have or have used would be helpful.

We just purchased a Sony DSC-P8 Cyber-shot camera. It's 3.2 mega pixels, has an optical 3x zoom, smart zoom, and mpeg movie vx. The only thing you might want to buy extra would be a memory stick and the image mate (made by Scan Disk) so you don't have to keep pulling the USB stuff in and out of the camera...this gives you the option to just take the memory stick out of your camera and stick it in the image mate to load on your computer. Here's the camera we have....

Sony Camera from Best Buy

We just got both my mother and mother-in-law the Kodak 6330. It too has a 3X optical zoom and 3.2 MP. I got it for them because it's supposed to be the easiest to use.

They are all pretty compact, but Canon has the Elph wich is little more than a really fat credit card! I actually thought it was uncomfortably small in my hand, though. Canon is also supposed to take excellent pictures because they have the best lenses (glass I believe).

I would suggest going to your local Target (or whatever) and getting your hands on whichever ones your looking at. Ultimately I preferred the way the Kodak felt in my hand, because I think the Kodak, Canon, Fuji, and Sony all have similar specs and are highly rated.

And GardenStateGirlie has a good point about memory; buy an extra card! I believe most of these cameras have an internal memory of 16 MB, which is only about 14 photos. So another thing to consider is if your local retailer is throwing in a 64 or 128 MB memory card for the price of the camera. Office Max around here (Philly) has been doing this.

I used my year-old Olympus at the concert and all my photos came out blurry!

Good luck!

Thanks for the camera advice, Marissa and Sugar.:) I have my eye on 2 actually. One is the Canon Elph and the other is the Pentax Optio S. They are both very small but I do have small hands. The more I read about them the more confused I seem to get. I plan on getting extra memory so I can take lots of photos. I need to learn how to use it first.

Sugar, the Olympus that took the blurry photos was that a 35mm or a digital?

Digital. It was probably my fault too; I was in the second row and right in front of a whole herd of security. I was trying to be discreet since my ticket said "no cameras". Apparently not all the concerts are forbiding cameras so if I'd have taken my time maybe I could have gotten decent shots. It's only 2 MP too.

I know what you mean about it getting confusing. I shopped (the guys gave me money and said "pick something") for the Kodaks and the more I read up on them the more they all seemed the same. I don't remember seeing much about the Pentax, but the Elph was up there. And I work with someone who just got the Elph and he said he likes it! Read the reviews on Amazon and epinions.com and Consumer Reports if you haven't already. :cool:

This is my camera:

http://store.yahoo.com/bigkidatheart/fujfin47digc.html

I got great pictures and video clips

Pip

I just bought an HP 733 yesterday, and I really like it. 3.2 MP; 3x optical and 3x digital zoom; video recording with audio...and it was only $178. I got mine from WalMart, where I found the price to be the best.

I just got a C-750 Olympus ultra zoom. 4.0 megapixel and 10x zoom. My dad did tons of research (he's a major digital cam nerd lolol) and it always got great reviews as being very sturdy and great quality. It's a bit of a jump in price sometimes, but you can get a pretty dam good deal if you do alot of shopping online. It takes really great pics!

Well, I got the $ today and I was on a mission to get my camera. The one that I wanted was out of stock of course. Then I got more confused when I went to the store.
I finally decided on one then I was undecided where to get it from. I finally ordered the Pentax Optio S4 from Ritz camera online. The benefit was no sales tax on online orders. :)
I won't get it for another week or two.

Well done Pattie! I ordered mine online and saved a ton! What are the specs of the one you ordered?

Pip

Pip, here is the link. The camera fits into an Altoids tin which was one of the reasons that I liked it. ;)

http://www.ritzcamera.com/webapp/wcs...2&cmCat=SEARCH

That's a great camera! Can't wait to see your pictures and hopefully you can get some great movie clips too!!

Pip