Camera suggestions?

i n c u b u s

So here's the deal: I'm going to Puerto Rico at the end of the month to visit some family and my old middle school. The entire island is absolutely GORGEOUS and I want to take as many quality pictures of it as I can. Having said that I need a camera that is up to the challenge and not just any old couple megapixel camera. Preferably something that captures color really well and isn't more than a couple hundred dollars. Ironically my father has an extremely nice Rebel XTi that I'd love to use but I doubt he'll even think about letting me take it with me. So any suggestions? And........GO!

Dark Moon

For under $200, you don't have many choices. Find an old Canon Powershot A570IS, which should go for around $100ish, and you'll be set. It's well designed, not too large, has full manual controls and decent image quality. If the 570 is scarce, any older A-series camera that offers manual control will work. Should your budget go as high as $500 I would highly recommend the Canon G9, but that's likely well out your price range.

Dman

olympus e-volt 510 is what i ended up getting instead of the latest cannon rebel...and it is an awesome camera. The rebel is very awesome also though. I used Kodak disposable cameras for a couple years because I didn't want to buy a cheap camera I would only replace. If your going to be getting wet/dirty/damaged they aren't bad. If your not going to be getting wet/dirty/damaged I would beg for the rebel.

ED!

Megapixels aren't your concern. Camera sensor is. 10MP dont mean anything if your camera cant reproduce the dynamic range of the shots your taking.

The XTi is a dSLR and while it is nice, might be more than you want to deal with for a one-off photo-experience.

I would say anything other than the "slim" pocket cameras should suffice for what you are doing. I remember (way back when) Canons A series (powershots) being absolutely awesome for what I used it for (just farting around town taking pictures).

Go here -

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/specs/Canon/

And check out any of the Powershot A cameras, the ones with the site grip. Digital zoom sure, but it will definitely take some rich pictures. Then hit up Craigslist and get it on the cheap.

EDIT: Christ. Everything second poster posted.

Pheezer

The Powershot line typically offers 3x or 4x optical zoom. You shouldn't need to use the digital zoom.

Dark Moon

Dman wrote: »

olympus e-volt 510 is what i ended up getting instead of the latest cannon rebel...and it is an awesome camera. The rebel is very awesome also though. I used Kodak disposable cameras for a couple years because I didn't want to buy a cheap camera I would only replace. If your going to be getting wet/dirty/damaged they aren't bad. If your not going to be getting wet/dirty/damaged I would beg for the rebel.

Don't get a DSLR unless you want to do some research and invest in the system, rather than the individual camera body. The Olympus line is great for some purposes, but is very limited in others - the most obvious problem being the total lack of super-wide angle lenses due to their 2.0x crop factor and the noise associated with such a small sensor.

Besides all that, $200 won't get you half a used Rebel, never mind glass, so DLSRs are definitely well beyond the budget and probably aren't all that desirable for a non-photog traveller anyways.

Pheezer

The entire DSLR argument is completely irrelevant here, both because of cost and because of the amount of time properly researching the options, and learning how to effectively use a DSLR will take up. If you had $1000 and were going away next year, then it'd be a great plan.

It sounds like a Canon Powershot A series camera is probably the best bet here.

i n c u b u s

Thanks guys! I appreciate the help.

EggyToast

Hey, my wife got a Samsung NV24HD and it's a wonderful little camera. We were Canon afficionados for a while, but her old 3.2mp camera bit the dust twice (she snagged her sister's version when hers died).

The NV24HD's standard lens is wide angle, which is typically what I want in a picture anyway. The menu system is pretty fast (uses a cross-style system instead of menu digging) and it's pretty smart. The video it takes is also awesome, since it shoots in 720p HD. We were skeptical that it would look good, but after trying it out there's such a dramatic improvement over old point/shoot video that we're sold.

We were looking for a video camera and good picture quality and are both thoroughly impressed by the camera. It's available for around $200+. I sound like an ad because I thought it would just be another camera, yet have really liked the pictures we've taken (even more so considering it's a fraction of the price of a DSLR or a video camera). Maybe it's just the built-in wide angle lens...

Here's some pix we took, although you can probably find more actual "test" pictures around review sites.

http://www.kateandderek.com/wordpress/photos/7-6-08/metric-1.jpg
http://www.kateandderek.com/wordpress/photos/7-6-08/metric-2.jpg

codetrap

What we did for our Mexico trip was we picked up the Canon 850IS. The reason with the optical zoom, the really nice color reproduction, and the relatively fast photo taking (for point & shoots). Also, because we could easily pick up the waterproof case for it. No worries about sand, water, mung etc getting into it. The photos it takes are easily as nice as the basic photos my rebel XT takes (on auto). Also, with the IS (image stabilization) you generally get much clearer photos as it'll compensate for lower light conditions, or fast photos a fair amount more.

Review Conclusion

Gafoto

I also recommend the Canon A series as people have mentioned. DPreview and megapixel.net are both great sites for reviews.