Help me pick a digicam

[TheGr8Schlotzky]

I need a digital camera.. something really cheap. Preferably under 100, 120 is acceptable. It'll probably be used or refurb'd on ebay and that's fine. I was looking at the Nikon 5600:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Nikon-Coolpix-56...QQcmdZViewItem

I'm looking for something with 5ish megapixels, (of course more is fine too) and sound with videos. I'd say I'm going for image quality over user friendliness, but I know I can't get anything special for such a low price. Probably a discontinued model that was relatively nice for it's time or something. If you've got any suggestions for best bang-for-the-buck that I can find for cheap, please lmk!

[kala]

Re: Help me pick a digicam

Canon > Nikon > sony > other crap!



:)

[zlexiss]

Re: Help me pick a digicam

http://www.imaging-resource.com/WB/WB.HTM?view=dp_cheap

Check out Dave's Picks for Tight Budgets. Imaging Resource is a great site with evenhanded reviews.

[silvachris1]

Re: Help me pick a digicam

Dude, look for a Cannon SD1000. I think it's in their Digital Elph line or something like that. Either way, pictures are 7.1MP, and video shoots in 640x480 in AVI format. Picture and video quality are purely awesome. I'd look for a used one on ebay. Best digicam I've ever used in my life. New was like 220 at Circuit City.

[TheGr8Schlotzky]

Re: Help me pick a digicam

Well, after reading all the posts, i checked out that site, and noticed that if you click beginers, the SD1000 is the number one pick. I've now shopped around a bit and it looks like I'm [once again] going to exceed my expected budget. I found it cheaper than on ebay though, which were all close to 200, mostly over. Thanks for the help guys, I think I'm going to be buying myself a SD1000 later tonight :)

EDIT: I'm never going to have money for wheels :(

[silvachris1]

Re: Help me pick a digicam

Lol, good choice man. You still should go to Circuit City or Best Buy and try a few of them out, see which you like the most.

After trying a few different cameras that had the features I wanted, I couldn't find a better choice than the SD1000.

[zlexiss]

Re: Help me pick a digicam

I was going to suggest the SD1000, just bought one 2 weeks ago myself! Didn't due to budget, figured you could find one of the earlier gen elphs for half the price.

Great cam, though the image noise is def more noticable than my other digicams due to the compressed optics and sensor. But the size and speed is great.

[TheGr8Schlotzky]

Re: Help me pick a digicam

I was looking at a bunch of reviews and sample pictures. The noise is almost very unnoticable on settings ISO 80 and 100, just hardly on 200 and 400+ start getting bad. I have yet to figure out, however, what exactly ISO is. There were night and day shots compaired in the ISO setting demos and the only difference i saw was the amount of noise. What exactly is ISO and why would you want to run it so high as to have that much noise?

[zlexiss]

Re: Help me pick a digicam

ISO in a digicam is bascially how much the camera has to amplify the CCD to get the sensitivity.

If the lens opening (aperture) is the same size and the shutter length (time it's open) is the same, in a darker environment the camera cranks up the amplification (ISO) to get the same brightness. This leads to noise.

[zlexiss]

Re: Help me pick a digicam

To answer why the cam would raise ISO, it's trying to keep the shutter speed reasonable to keep camera shake from blurring the image. The aperature is probably already wide open.

[TheGr8Schlotzky]

Re: Help me pick a digicam

ahh, so pretty much the only time you would want to use a high ISO is an action shot in low light? A tripod should solve the problem of noise then for still shots.

[zlexiss]

Re: Help me pick a digicam

Yep, for a still night shot you can use a lower ISO and slower shutter, if the camera is braced or on a tripod.

Tip- use the 2 second self-timer for slow shutter shots, even on a tripod. It lets you hit the shutter and get your hand off the cam, instead of shaking the camera a bit during the picture when you push the button.

[badinfluenceRS]

Re: Help me pick a digicam

dude, i'll sell you one

my camera is a POS

$1 and its yours!

[TheGr8Schlotzky]

Re: Help me pick a digicam

is that price shipped? :p

[badinfluenceRS]

Re: Help me pick a digicam

is that price shipped? :p

local pickup only!