Digital Camera opinions please

[Rick Gifford]

I have a decent camera - Olympus something or other... but it literally takes 8 - 10 seconds between shots. I cant stand it anymore.

Any opinions on a camera with faster recharge time under $500?

I just take pics of family, granddaughters antics, woodworking etc. I am not needing a camera for sports photos or real high end.

Id love to find something with recommendations that takes nice pics and is quick at it too.

I know there are cameras out there that are very fast and sharp pictures, but they cost big money and I cant justify that for my use.

[Peter Stahl]

Seems like that's the way most point and shoot type cameras work. I bought a Digital SLR which will take them quickly and one right after the other but I think they are usually over $500 range.

[Stan Johnsey]

Canon G10 and soon G11 is a point and shoot on steriods right at that $500 mark if you shop carefully. It has a faster cycle time than most point and shoot.

[Darius Ferlas]

There are a few models of SLR cameras that you can get under $500. These are the same cameras that would have cost over $1K just a year or two ago - lense included. SLRs will lhave a point a shoot mode too.

Depending on various things, you may want to make sure the camera you get accepts readily available batteries. Proprietary ones are usually more costly and you can't get them in a corner store if you run out of juice during that wonderful trip here or there. I'm not a pro so I make sure I can run my digicams on AA batteries.

As for point and shot cameras there is a whole whack of them on the market. Too many to go through them here. I'd say Nikon (juicy color) and Canon are some of the best. Sony is not far behind.

I'd say one of the best sources of information and reviews is http://www.dpreview.com. Just be careful not to get caught in too much sensitivity over all of the specs. Some reviewers are pros and will notice things you and I wouldn't even know matter. At the same time, they will be perfectly happy with a $100 table saw.

[Brian Kent]

Canon Power Shot A1100 IS. 2 frames per second continuous. Under $200.

Canon Power Shot X10. $379.

Canon Power ShotG10. $489.

My kids have bought a range of Canon cameras recently and they keep on amazing me, whether the compact variety or the larger size. Lens and image quality comes first, and then they also amaze me on their eatures.

I recommend http://www.imaging-resource.com/ as an excellent resource for reviews, sample images, "Find the Best Camera for You", etc. I came up with the first recommendation by plugging in the criteria and ended up with the same camera my daughter bought.

[Mike Conley]

We just recently purchased the Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS3. So far we have been very happy with our purchase.

This camera also serves as a HD camcorder.

http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/pa...mc_zs3-review/

[jim hedgpeth]

My wife and I have a Fujifilm finepix s1500 we bought 4 months ago. It has been great so far. My only complaint realy is indoors, the flash can wash some colors a little, and without it kind of easy to get blurring.

Outdoors, excellent. I picked this one for the big zoom and price combination. We gave just a couple bucks over 300 with extended warranty, camera bag, and a pair of 2GB sd cards There are turkey around where I deer hunt and they don't let you get very close. I haven't had a chance to get a pic of them yet but this one came out great... (sorry it didn't go where I wanted it)

You can see the dew droplets and hairs on the ? stamen? I think thats what its called. I was standing about 3-4' away looking down from the porch trying out the zoom. It does rapid shots but too, but gets slow like you were talking about in rapid fire mode. Single shots, snap push shutter button to half to focus and snap again, no noticeable lag, and we didn't even get a "fast" sd card.

Jim

[glenn bradley]

The delay between shots also drove my new camera purchase. I am no photographer so I needed a camera smarter than me. I went with a Canon Rebel. The version I have will take 3 flash shots in a row by holding the button, supports wired and wireless remote and can be completely manual all the way through full auto (my usual setting). I believe the newer version does more shots in a row, has a few more pixels and has integral image stabilization.

[Chuck Wintle]

I just bought a Canon and it works well. What the others said. get a Powershot.

[Ken Garlock]

Hello Rick.

A little over a month ago I purchased a Canon SD1200IS "point and shoot." The nice thing about it is that it has a separate view finder indepndent of the LCD screen. It also had Lithium Ion batteries. We used it on our recent trip to Redmond OR. to visit our son and family.

With 10 Mega pixels, it take very good pictures, and continuously adjusts it focus so that there is a minimum delay when setting up a picture. We shot over 100 pictures before needing to change batteries. Another nice feature is that it transfers the photo to the hard disk in less than 2 seconds, something our old camera couldn't begin to do, more like 4 or 5.

No it is not a Rebel SLR, but on the other hand it costs about 1/4 the price of the Rebel.

For an easy to use, slip in your pocket camera, we are very pleased.

[Alan Trout]

Rick, DPReview is a great source for expert camera opinions. Not many DSLR cameras in the under $500 range. There are some nice point and shoots available. All of the point and shoots when you get to higher ISO settings tend to get a little noisy but for most of us with the print size we use they are more than acceptable.

Like mike I recently purchased for my work a Lumix ZS1 compact surper zoom. It is basically the same camera as the ZS3 minus the HD video. It records video just not HD. These 2 cameras are pretty much on top when it comes to image quality for compact super zooms and they are really easy to use. I have been impressed with the camera and its Macro capability is very good. The ZS1 can be purchased as a kit right now at Cosco for about $240 which includes a leather case and 2 gig SD card. which is a pretty good deal.

Also the LX3 by Lumix and the FZ35 are highly regarded far as image quality go on no DSLR cameras. Most of the Lumix cameras use Leica optics.

Good Luck

Alan

[Rick Gifford]

Hey everyone I appreciate the replies on this. I am going to lookup the listed cameras. I always prefer direct recommendations over online reviews!

[Tony Joyce]

If you are talking about the recovery time between shots. The memory card can have some bearing on this, look for a high speed card 250X to 300X or Class 6. This could make an appreciable difference, besides memory is cheap now, or at least cheaper than a camera.

Just my .02 cents, free advice is usually worth what you pay for it!

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[Jim Rimmer]

+1 on the Canon Powershot for what you describe your doing. Love mine. Takes great pics, battery lasts long time. I went on a ten day tour of Israel, took hundreds of pics and the battery didn't give out till the last day.

And if something happens to it you don't have a small fortune in it.

[Joe Pelonio]

I was amazed with the quality of my new Nikon Coolpix L100. It was a gift but I think they can be bought on sale for under $300. Huge screen, and a real lens with optical zoom. No time at all between pictures and the 4 AA batteries last for several hundred pictures.