OT recommend a cameraand place to buy?

[SleepyRose]

Hi all, we've decided to buy a new camera for our Alaska trip and I'm looking for recommendations. Also, is there a place to buy online that doesnt charge an arm and a leg?

[plr66]

Wow. Huge range of choices. So it would be good if you would narrow the field a bit when asking for recommendations. For starters, what's your top price limit? Do you want point & shoot or more complex settings capability? Do you want low, med, or high zoom capability?

[SleepyRose]

Wow. Huge range of choices. So it would be good if you would narrow the field a bit when asking for recommendations. For starters, what's your top price limit? Do you want point & shoot or more complex settings capability? Do you want low, med, or high zoom capability?

I kind of want something that zooms in case I see a bear I wont have to get too close to get the pic . Seriously, Id like to be able to zoom in on stuff.

I guess I want point and shoot, Im not very camera savvy but I want something more than my current one. Its a Nikon CoolPix 3700. My husbands camera bit the dust so he took mine over.

\TOP price is probably $300.

Oh, also, I want one that has internal memory as well as a card.

[plr66]

I kind of want something that zooms in case I see a bear I wont have to get too close to get the pic .

Good decision!

I guess I want point and shoot, Im not very camera savvy but I want something more than my current one.
\TOP price is probably $300.
Oh, also, I want one that has internal memory as well as a card.

Okay, I'll at least make a suggestion, since I had the same thoughts in mind when I recently bought a new camera for an overseas trip. First of all, I just usually go to Amazon.com to check out what's available, because I appreciate being able to read all the reviews of the products there, and there are often very good deals to be found when you click on the "New & Used" option. I bought a Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H10 and really love it. Always swore I'd never buy a Sony due to their requiring specialized-Sony-brand-everything (there's a term for that, but it escapes me...) from battery to memory cards. All my other digital cameras have taken rechargeable AA batts and common SD memory cards, and there's a lot to be said for that. But this camera has 10X zoom, an excellent lens, and lots of great features that I did not find in other brands. (Or when I found comparable features in other brands, did not find the ratings to be nearly as good). I may never use all the bells & whistles on this camera, but it is great! Here's the page:
http://www.amazon.com/Sony-Cybershot-DS ... 947&sr=8-1

[araminta]

The folks at B&H photo are the best in terms of price + reliability.
They can be reached on line or by phone at the 800 #.
And if you care to, sometimes you can negotiate a few extra perks with an order.

I have a Canon Power Shot -- the famous digital Elph series SD800. It's now about 1 or 2 years old, but excellent.
I'd buy it again tomorrow.

[Uncle_Bob]

Hi all, we've decided to buy a new camera for our Alaska trip and I'm looking for recommendations. Also, is there a place to buy online that doesnt charge an arm and a leg?

http://www.dpreview.com for seelecting a camera and I normally find amazon has good prices on cameras.
I never deal with the camera shops they have a reputation of bait and switch and hard sales etc.

[Paul56]

The Canon A720 IS will give you great bang for the buck. The downside is the flash takes a relatively long time to recycle between shots... but that won't be a bother for daylight shots. Lens is 35 - 210mm which gives you a great range to work with. It is a very capable point & shoot camera that offers you plenty of control if you want to get more adventurous/creative with photography.

The Nikon D series would be the next step... perhaps the D90 or lessor. But, this system may be beyond your budget or needs.

Go with 2GB cards and rechargeable batteries. The A720 IS takes "AA" cells which is very convenient. Get either the Sanyo Eneloop or the Ray-o-Vac Hybrid "AA" cells. Why those? Because they retain their charges much longer than conventional rechargeables.

Purchasing online is fine... but do visit a local camera shop to get a hands-on look & feel with the camera before purchasing.

[tdm5032c]

From my experience, the Canon's are pretty tough to beat. I've had several different brands of cameras including Kodak's and Casios. The Canon has the best lense and picture quality of all of them in my opinion. I now have the digital Elf and absolutely love it. Has lots of features, good battery life, and came bundled WITH the 2GB memory card AND all-in-one Canon Photo printer for less than $300.00 at my local Costco. If you have a Costco around where you live, that's the best place to buy anything like that in my opinion. If you don't have one around, you can always order from them on line(costco.com). They include free shipping with most things they sell too. I've had my latest Canon(SD850 I beleive) about one year now and find it takes great, blurr-free pictures with the built in digital image stabilization. Also has a pretty good zoom on it and excellent macro for taking extreme close-ups.

The main thing I love about Costco is that you can buy something from them, and if you don't like it for ANY reason, you can take it back and they give you a full cash refund, no questions asked. Anything you buy from them online can be returned to the local store too instead of having to ship it back to them. And no, I don't work for Costco, lol.

Tracy

[SleepyRose]

Thanks! This is exactly what I needed!

[plr66]

So many wonderful options, and you just have to narrow it down to what is important to you. Have fun shopping!

[SeaPappy]

I highly recommend the Canon S5-IS...I love mine. It's around $300 at Best Buy, which is about the best price I could find and have any confidence in reputation for problems or returns. With any digital camera, be sure to buy a high speed card, like the Sandisk extreme 3...it really speeds up the recycle time and you should get a couple of 4MB cards ( instead of one 8MB, in case something happens to one) to take bookoo pictures. Have a great trip!

[hobbs]

Canon G10. Spring for the extra $$$, you will not be sorry!

[kopoloff]

You've opened a can of worms. There are a hundred questions you should answer before selecting a camera.


Are you a skilled photographer, do you have technical skills. Do you want a long zoom. Do you do much happy snapping (grandkids, pets, picnics etc) or do you want to do the landscapes. architecture stuff instead. Some cameras are great for low light stuff (The Fuji F series are phenomenal) or will it be mostly natural light (The Canon S5's are great for outdoors, natural light stuff, hopeless under flash and low light, but have a great zoom) Do you want a pocket camera or a round the neck camera. Are you a photoshopper.

Then you need to consider things like batteries (The canon S5 uses AA's, which is fantastic when travelling) Type of memory card, since some are more expensive than others. Is it well made - the biggest disaster of the lot is if the camera breaks when you're about to capture that once in a lifetime event.

As you can see, there are so many parameters, I don't think anyone can make a recommendation. Best you go to dpreview.com, do a heap of research, And enjoy the trip!

K

BTW I have a Fuji F series, Canun Ixus, Olympus SLR and a Canon S3is. Each has its strength and weaknesses, and I use them where appropriate. If I could only buy 1 camera, it would be the Fuji for its low light performance, general capabilities otherwise, and its ruggedness.

[kopoloff]

Oh, also, I want one that has internal memory as well as a card

I may be proved wrong, but not many cameras are provided with internal memory of any real capacity. It is not a common feature, and I'm not sure that it will be of any real advantage

K

[fuzzy96]

kop i see your camere works well with the self timer, as appearant with your self portait you used for your avatar!!!!!!!!
j/k

a few years back we got mom an hp i believe 310. although inexpensive at about 100.00 (back then) it had both electronic andlenstatic zooms. the sd cards were easy to remove and replace(without opening the battery compartment. and it took excellent pictures.

and a lesser expensive camere for a trip is less likely to be the target of a thief. if you loose it or it gets stolen you won't be out too much, just those pictures of that ferocious bear that you can go get at the zoo lol

thete my 2-1/2 cents (inflation.)