New Digital camera

[tifosikrishna]

canon 350d or nikon d70s.

[DCEite]

Hi guys
I am a complete newbie to digital cams.. plz guide me. My budget is around 11~12k.. i want a decent entry level cam..

Is Cannon A520 good?

[vivekiny2k]

I think this is the most suitable discussion. need help in getting a camera for my cousin in india (nainital to be precise). she may buy it from delhi. budget is 14K.

I gave following advice to her already. but since she is a novice, I need hep from you guys who have already been in delhi and surrounding markets. pls suggest a good place and model for her.

vivek: follow this criteria
1. image sensor size (3-5 MP)
2. optical zoom (4-12 X) don't fall for digital zoom. it is nothing but stretching the image in computer..
3. batteries (go for AA size batteries rather than manufatucrers properietary batteries. this way u can buy batteries anywhere if u lost the power.)
4. memory card (check the prices, if u already own an electronic equipment, try getting a cam that can use the same memory card)
5. brands. sony and nikon are ostlier but worth the prices. canon, olympus, panasonic, minolta are good. kodak is for amatures. I hate HP, had a bad experience. don't go for any other brand.
6. controls- i like a lot of controls. in my canon S2 IS, i can change everything from focus, aperture, shutterspeed, flash intensity, white balance, have a super macro mode for close shots. but if u need to use all of them, u need at least 5 mins for preparing each shot. for amatures, point and shoot are best. decide based on ur comfort.
7. keep in mind that u may be shooting snow.
go to dpreview.com or imaging-resource.com and check their sample images and test results. also short list cams based on above specifications (these site have a details specification of each cam)
also keep in mind that later the camera release date, better components it will have (software, lenase asembly, CCD sensor)
THEN, call the dealers, get prices of the cams on these criteria. and make up ur mind.
I know you can get practically everything in india now, but still u ned to check prices which may vary.
you may also see the convenience of carrying. you are better off with a small cam which is lways in ur pocket, than a big SLR which is lying at home half of the time.
these review sites will give all the info.

[redrage]

hey guys ... im in dubai .. picking up a canons3-is for around 22k with a 1 gb card..... camera boasts amazing spec's ... hope its a good buy.

[shuvc]

A simple Q -
How many megapixels and how much optical zoom does one practically need for normal 'in-house', 'family photo sessions' and 'ocassional-outdoor-shots' point-and-shoot amateur usage - where the snaps will rarely be printed - and even if they are ,at most at traditional 5x7 size.

Would the Canon A540 (6MP , 4x Optical Zoom) be an overkill or just right ?

[Rudra Sen]

Originally Posted by shuvc

Would the Canon A540 (6MP , 4x Optical Zoom) be an overkill or just right ?

Close your eyes and go for it..You can do much more than family pics with that.

[navin]

for most pics 4MP given adequate light is enough. I would be more concerned with pic quality than mega pixels. Canon makes excellent P&S cameras. other nice cams are the Panasonic Lumix LX1 and LX2 and Ricoh Capillo R3 and R4.

[shuvc]

Originally Posted by Rudra Sen

Close your eyes and go for it..You can do much more than family pics with that.

Originally Posted by Navin

Canon makes excellent P&S cameras.

That's reassuring. Wifey wants one for day to day use. Obviously there'll be the normal weighing of scales - price vs practicality .. assuming I'll purchase from jjmehta .. the probable options currently are (with 256mb card) :

A430 - 4mp , 4x - 10995
A530 - 5mp , 4x - 13750
A540 - 6mp , 4x - 16750

http://www.jjmehta.com/pricelist/can...al_pricing.htm

I wonder now, whether the 530 would be a better bet and spend the extra cash on SD cards

[Rtech]

The A430 retails for about 8,000 right now. JJ mehta is always a bit more expensive.

[shuvc]

Originally Posted by Rtech

The A430 retails for about 8,000 right now. JJ mehta is always a bit more expensive.

Could that be since in this case these cameras come with a 2yr Canon India warranty and with bill ? I confirmed this from them. They are not willing to sell Canon without bills. But for e.g. Nikons, Panasonics are available both with and without bill options.

Any other reliable online shops ? - other than ebay.

[navin]

just remember in most cases digicams seem to need more light than film cameras. you can push the ISO setting on some but that increases grain so it is a trade off. I feel that CCDs are still not as sensitive as film but they are getting there awfully fast.

[tsk1979]

Originally Posted by navin

just remember in most cases digicams seem to need more light than film cameras. you can push the ISO setting on some but that increases grain so it is a trade off. I feel that CCDs are still not as sensitive as film but they are getting there awfully fast.

Nope, its nothing to do with film cams, its the Film ISO. A digicam on ISO 400 will be as sensitive as an ISO 400 Film. If you use a digicam on ISO 100, it will be as sensitive as a ISO 100 film.
Pocket cams have normally upto ISO 400, though are very noisy above ISO 100, and cams with large sensors(Sony R1, DSLRS) are pretty decent upto ISO 800 and get noisy above that. Canon usually is good till ISO 1600 in its DSLRS. Nikon D50 is also a good low noise cam.

[tsk1979]

Originally Posted by irfan

NEVER & i mean NEVER go for KONICA MINOLTA
Its such a Bad Camera even though it Being a 5 megapizel with great Optical And digital zoom the lens is SOOOO BAD IN ALL CONDITIONS
AND THE PRICE I PAID FOR IT was EVEN WORSE like 22k
+Dad got it from USA

Konica minolta makes lots of Digicams, so it is possible the model you got was crap. Moreover now a larg part of the business is owned by Sony. So the stakes are different

[iraghava]

I have a Konica Minolta G500 & it's served me pretty well. It's got good picture quality & an outstanding flash too.

[rsjaurr]

Hi Guys,my BIL is a dentist by profession and he needs a digital camera to click close photographs of patient's oral cavity for smile designing.

So obviously he needs a camera which can take ultra high quality pictures from very close distance.

Budget is no problem and can spend up to $1000.His brother is in USA and will buy from there.

Which camera will be best for him?