[borgos]

My wife and I are expecting our first child (I have a big smile on my face as I type this). So we need to get a digicam (to send photos to distant relatives and friends) and replace my old canon slr. I saw an ad for a canon elph powershot sd630 which has 6 megapixels, 3x zoom and a 3" screen for $500. Sounds good to me but it has no viewfinder which is sort of strange to me. Otherwise, I have a high comfort level with canon products. Do any of you tech savvy fellas have any recommendations? Thanks in advance for your assisatnce.

 

[Team Critter]

Seeing as you already have a Canon film SLR...why not go Canon digital SLR like the Rebel XT? Maybe you can reuse your lenses?

Trust me when I tell you that once you go dSLR...you'll never go back. The quality is stunning.

I have a contact who runs a popular chain photo store that I send people to for a great deal. Don't quote me but I think you are looking at $829 for the Rebel XT (body only) plus I believe Canon has a $100 mail in rebate right now bringing the price to $729. For the body with 18-55 lens I think you are looking at $989 minus the same $100 mail in rebate ($889). Great prices!

Let me know if you are interested.

 

[Chuck100]

Check out Steve's Digicams for very detailed reviews of every type of digital camera on the market, complete with sample photos. If you want confirmation as to which camera to buy, there is a section called "Best Cameras" which lists the top cameras in each category.

I actually just bought a new digital camera. Assuming that the technology has come far enough along that most recent cameras produce nice crisp images, there determining factors for me were the dimensions of the camera, optical zoom, video, flash range, picture modes, shutter speed, and ISO equivalent. Also consider the type of memory card you'll need, SD generally being the cheapest. I much prefer rechargable lithium ion batteries, and it's a must that they not be susceptible to the memory effect.

For me, I really wanted a pocket sized camera. From Steve's Digicams, one of the five suggested cameras of this type is the Canon SD630. I have seen pictures taken with that camera and they turned out great. I chose the Sony T5 because it's another suggested pocket sized camera, and can be purchased from Future Shop and Best Buy at a very good sale price of $299. It usually retails at 400-450.

 

[doady]

I saw an ad for a canon elph powershot sd630 which has 6 megapixels, 3x zoom and a 3" screen for $500.

That seems expensive to me for jsut a point-and-shoot. I paid $540 for my Olympus C-7070, which is a much better prosumer camera with more a lot more features.

Since you have a old Canon SLR already, I think you might as well get a Canon dSLR if you have some lenses and as long as you willing to spend the extra money.

But if you just want point-and-shoot thenyou should consider the Fuji Finepix F10 or F30.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

borgos:

You might want to hold off on the Canon SD 630 - the Canon SD 700 IS just came out, and at $599 or so, comes with optical image stablization, 4x optical zoom, etc. No Steve's Digicam review yet, but it looks promising.

Guess who had been drooling over this one? :b

AoD

 

[neggbird]

D200

The best DSLR I have ever used is is the Nikon D200.

 

[crackpott]

Re: D200

Regarding the DSLR, if his film SLR dates back earlier than the late 80's/early 90's, the lenses won't be interchangable with the Rebel XT as they'll be the old FD lenses instead of the newer EF series of lenses.

That said, regardless of that, I paid $2000 for my Rebel XT and lenses/bag/tripod/etc. A lot of money, especially for a student, but it was well worth it. There are so many times where I can do things with this camera I never could with my old Powershot A70, which had a lot of features for a point and shoot. One main feature is the interchangable lenses. I don't think I could go back to a point and shoot because of this.

Between the kit lens and my 75-300mm lens, I have an effective optical zoom of almost 17X. When you then factor in that 8.2 megapixels is completely unnecessary, you can use digital zoom (by cropping in photoshop). Normally, digital zoom is considered bad as it just enlarges the picture, making it more pixelated. But you can easily figure out how pixelated you can make it. By doubling the zoom to 34X digitally, that's still 4.1 MP, which should suffice for most tasks, and honestly... where are you going to get 34X zoom on any point and shoot?

I have some images I've taken with it of buildings in and around toronto here, if you're interested.
www.abandonedplanet.net

 

[borgos]

Re: D200

Thanks everybody for your very helpful comments. The Steve's website was particularly useful. After some research, I'm leaning towards the Canon A700 which has 6 mp, 6x zoom and ISO 800. It can accommodate different lenses, unlike the SD models, and has manual, semi-automatic and automatic settings. It has a viewfinder plus a 2.5" screen and uses AA batteries instead of the lithium batteries. All this for $399 at Just Cameras in Mississauga. My old SLR is too old to use the lenses for the digital cam and my wife wants something easy to use. The other possibitilities are the SD630 (I love the 3" screen - but has no viewfinder) and the SD700 with the image stabilizer.

 

[badga416]

Re: D200

I am looking at getting the Canon S3 with 12x zoom and stabilization to supplement my old S400 compact. I can't afford a dSLR but would like a more capable camera than the elph series. dpreview just gave it a highly recommended rating.

 

[xanidu2]

Re: D200

I reccomend the stylus 800 by Olympus.

It has a full 8. megapixels to bring make the smiles of those cute babys, blowup material.