OT: I need help choosing a digital camera. It'll be my first digi-cam...... - The Unofficial BMW M5 Messageboard (m5board.com)

FAST 5 · 24th December 2003, 05:40

Hi Guys,
I've been on this board for a while but have never posted a photo of my ride, why simply because until now, I do not have a digitalcamera.
My wife tells me I can buy one as a holiday gift, to myself.
I know little about digital cameras, otherthan one should get a camera in the range of 5 mega pixs, for better resolution.
Can anyone recommend a good digital camera for me to buy?
Where can I find it/buy it?
Who has the lowest price?
Should my first digital camera be, not less than 5 mega pixs ????
Is getting a camera with less than 5 mega pixs a waist of money? I guess Im in your hands. I'll go buy whatever you suggest/recommend, since Im confident, you'll steer me in the right direction.
Thank you very much!
Robert
PS One I get the camera, I'll post pictures of my bad boy.

Artur Costa · 24th December 2003, 05:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by FAST 5

Hi Guys,
I've been on this board for a while but have never posted a photo of my ride, why simply because until now, I do not have a digitalcamera.
My wife tells me I can buy one as a holiday gift, to myself.
I know little about digital cameras, otherthan one should get a camera in the range of 5 mega pixs, for better resolution.
Can anyone recommend a good digital camera for me to buy?
Where can I find it/buy it?
Who has the lowest price?
Should my first digital camera be, not less than 5 mega pixs ????
Is getting a camera with less than 5 mega pixs a waist of money? I guess Im in your hands. I'll go buy whatever you suggest/recommend, since Im confident, you'll steer me in the right direction.
Thank you very much!
Robert
PS One I get the camera, I'll post pictures of my bad boy.

Good Quality , good style , good price get the Sony DSC-P92 or the more compact P10

To have the best I think Canon will do it!

ycchan · 24th December 2003, 06:58

Depends what you are looking for. For point and shoot cameras there is always Sony. Model P9 or P10...better one is the V1 with Carl Zeiss Lens

or

Canon S50 (the one I have now...its great!)

MEnthusiast · 24th December 2003, 15:23

Digicams are just like anything else with specs- if you only buy through the specs you are likely missing something. eg- AMGs can go very fast but many here find them less involving to drive than our beloved BMWs.

Megapixels are not the only thing to consider. the most important thing is lens. But honestly, most of the smaller ones will have a small plastic lens- even the better lenses cant be that good. In this vein I find Nikon and Cannon to be better than the Sonys of the world- although Sony supposedly has been better. Then you have the processing of the images. Sony seems to be pretty good here, but Cannon seems to introduce some mild purple into the blue sky- I dont know if theyve fixed that as its been 2 years since Ive looked and technology marches on. Nikon seems to be very good here too. The most important thing to consider is how will you handle these pictures (printing them out, storing on the computer). You need to do research on who makes a nice easy system for getting from camera to computer to paper. You could always just upload to ofoto and have them print. And then theres just the plain ease of use of the actual camera.

I am brand loyal to Nikon since I have never had a problem with them. Ive returned a Cannon for the aforementioned blue sky problem.

vndkshn · 24th December 2003, 19:06

Your best bet... www.activebuyersguide.com.

On there is decision making guide. It will ask you a series of questions, from specific brands you are more likely to be interested, to megapixels, to zoom, minimum-maximum price, etc. The nice thing, if you are not sure of what the difference is, there is a pretty good little help link associated with the choices for most things.

Once you have answered the questions (from 7 to 20 I think it what they say it could take, based upon what you input), it will also show you links to places that have the best prices.

That said, I used the site to narrow it down to a few choices, learn more about the technology, then took my list to a local camera store so I could look at all of them in person. I also bought from them. Sure, maybe a little more expensive that way, but if I have a problem.... But, to each their own, there are some good deals on the net, but I did not find the price that much cheaper when you consider shipping and the possible service/warrenty issues.

tsaros · 24th December 2003, 23:37

I like the Minolta Dimage 7i or 7Hi, they are cheap, easy to use, produce good quality pictures and it has decent zoom range.
The downside is that it eats batteries like nothing else i have seen

The 7i is my first camera in quite a few years, my next camera will be something a little more advanced DSLR.
you can see the result of my 7i on my webbpage (http://defense.nu).
Two good pages for digicam revies are
http://www.steves-digicams.com/
and
http://www.dpreview.com/

Good luck.

Gustav · 25th December 2003, 01:14

If you really want a small camera I can recommend a small Sony camera:

http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INTE...meras&Dept=dcc

Its only 2 megapixel but all these picutres were taken with that camera:

http://www.m5board.com/articles/germany2/hartge2.htm

It does not have zoom.

MIB · 25th December 2003, 05:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by ycchan

Depends what you are looking for. For point and shoot cameras there is always Sony. Model P9 or P10...better one is the V1 with Carl Zeiss Lens

or

Canon S50 (the one I have now...its great!)

P10 is awesome. I did a compare between the P10 and the V1. The V1 is bulky, the only added benefit is the carl Zeiss lense, but hold the phone,

A friend of mine just bought the updated model P10, its only just been released and it has the Carl Zeiss lense.

He was pointing at the Carl Zeiss sticker. I just have to check what the model number is, but it is 5 megapixel and looks the same as the P10 but with the Jiggy wit it lense.

Great size and value. No one wants to hump around a big V-1 Box in this day and age.

bstnsportsfan · 25th December 2003, 07:38

Fast5- Don't feel bad, I don't have a digital camera either. I don't know much about them, but I can recomend a great website for consumer computer related electronics. You have probably have been here Cnet.com

Just a quick look at the Cnet.com digital camera page, they have the "best" 5-megapixel cameras for sale. Here are the top 5:

1) Canon Powershot S50 (Editors pick) 8.2 overall rating
2) Canon Powershot G5 (Editors pick) 8.2 overall rating
3) Sony Cyber Shot DSC-F717 (Editors pick) 8.0 overall rating
4) Konica Minolta Dimage A1; 7.9 overall rating
5) Nikon Coolpix 5700; 7.9 overall rating

Here is the page

HTML Code:

[url]http://reviews.cnet.com/4521-6530_7-5021301-4.html?tag=prmo1[/url]

Here is the page on digital cameras. I hope it helps

HTML Code:

[url]http://reviews.cnet.com/Digital_cameras/2001-6501_7-0.html?tag=cnetfd.glnav[/url]