Digital camera

[mike98t]

Any recomendations on a digital camera 8 megapixels or more. for $300 or less.

[KCXD45]

8 Mega pixel for $300 or less....ouch. That's a tall order for today's technology/price break. If you find it, the optics are going to suck. It doesn't matter if you have super high resolution if your lens can't render a well focus, well lit image.

If you lower your sites a little (fitting pun for this board) you might be able to find a nice camera with a good lens and a reasonable amount of zoom. Try looking for a 5 Mega pixel camera for $300 or under. Your options will open up greatly.

If you look for that, you'll find camera's like the Canon S2 IS. A fine camera with 5M Pixel, 12X Zoom, and makes creating great images very easy! I had one and it was a wonderful camera. I just bought a Nikon D80 (12 Mega pixel DSLR), so I gave my Canon to my Son and Daughter-in-law.

[darkvibe]

I'm a D-SLR guy but i use my company's kodak V570 and like it a lot. Worth looking into. I think it's discontinued but they make a very similar camera in their current lineup.

I also like the nikon and canon point and shoot's but IMO all of the major brands are pretty much the same in that price range. Technology is getting so good they all take excellent pictures.

Edit: what will you be using it for? 8MP is good for very large prints or cropping a lot out of your photos. If you are going to print say 8x10 or smaller go for something like 5MP and get a nicer camera for the same price.

[Tally XD]

Go for the Nikon D40 6.1 MP for under $550. It will do all you will ever need, excellent picture quality, interchangeable lenses etc.

If all you need is an internet/web camera, get something like a Nikon Coolpix or HP or Kodak Easyshare.

[D_Fence]

In that price range you are much better off looking for a 5 to 7 megapixel camera. Five megapixels will be more than sufficient unless you plan on printing billboards. Once you get over 5 to 7 megapixels you should be paying more attention to optics.

As far as point and shoot cameras go, I suggest the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W55. Fantastic battery life, huge screen, 7 megapixels, optical zoom, small enough for a pocket, but large enough to give you something to hold onto. The price is well within your range at 200 dollars.

Here is a review.

http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/so...ew/index.shtml

[jednp]

I have a fuji finepix that is a 6.3 megapixel. The newer version of the camera has a 7.1 megapixel I think. I am very impressed with my camera. It dang near takes as good of pictures as my $1800 camera that I have. It also didn't cost a whole lot, and I think the newer version isn't that bad either.

This one is listed for $299 most places on the links they provide when you click buy online. Searching around might find lower prices.

http://www.fujifilmusa.com/JSP/fuji/...vBarId=I862214

I've been very happy with my camera. I can only expect the above camera to be even better than mine. One thing that's good about it is the 2000 iso equivilant speed. Trust me, in lower light settings when you can't use a flash.. say indoors zoo where there's glass.. you can't use a flash because all you'll see is glare on the window. The higher iso speed a camera can do, the better you'll be in low light. I've had to use the 1600 on mine many times just to get the shot. Sure you lose some quality at higher iso... but sometimes the higher iso means getting the shot, or not getting the shot. You will accept less quality with any camera when it comes to that. Even my $1800 camera I have to use the 1600 iso speed to capture some shots.

I also can't say enough about the audio and video these cameras record. I did some recording in a concert and I was amazed at how good it came out. Other cameras that I've used before were horrible.. the sound was just terrible and the video was less than desireable too.

Definitely check out the fuji brand, I don't think you'd be disappointed. These new cameras will be even better than mine, and mine is only 1 year old.

[ActionAl]

My wife and daughter both have the Casio EX-Z850 EXILIM 8.0MP and absolutely love them. A couple of my daughters friends bought the same camera after seeing the quality of pictures. I think it has been replaced by the Casio EX-Z1050BK 10.1MP which is on sale at Buy.com for $265.99 with free shipping.

I do most of my shooting with the Nikon D200, but I'll grab the wifes camera for quick snap.

[CopeyXD]

try tigerdirect.com REALLY cheap prices for name brand stuff!

[nicklk]

Canon SD600...dont get efixiated with the megapixels

[devochka]

Here are my recommendations when looking for cameras:

Buy a brand name that makes cameras and optics. Olympus, Canon, Fuji, Minolta, Kodak and Nikon are all good brands. Stay away from companies that make computers or electronics other than cameras (HP, Casio, Epson, Gateway, etc.). They entered the camera arena a lot later than the companies listed above and don't have quite the experience making lenses and fine optics. For example, HP cameras that I've had experience with have especially crappy build quality.

Before you buy, research. Read reviews from the following sites to get an idea what features you're looking for:

http://www.dpreview.com/

http://www.dcresource.com/

http://www.steves-digicams.com/

http://www.imaging-resource.com/

Get an idea of what you can afford and what features you want. You may even have an idea of what specific model you want. Before you buy it, go to a place like Circuit City, Best Buy or CompUSA. Actually hold the camera. Play with it. If the camera on display doesn't have batteries or a media card, make sure the sales droids there put them in and let you work the menus and check out the various features and zoom on the cameras. This "hands-on" experience will help you decide which camera fits in your hands better and will help you actually get a feel for how the cameras operate, as well as a feel for the build quality. While there, note how quickly the camera can turn on and be ready to shoot. Sometimes when you want to take a picture, it will need to be quickly. Cameras that take a long time to turn on and extend the lens, etc., will be problematic for those "once in a lifetime" shots.

Once you have chosen a model that you like, buy it. But before you buy it locally at a superstore like Best Buy, Circuit City or CompUSA, check prices online. Good resources are:

http://www.shopper.com/

http://www.ibuyer.net/

DO NOT BUY FROM ANY CAMERA SHOP IN NYC. Trust me on this one. They may advertise the lowest prices on the 'net, but they will end up SCREWING YOU. Buy from a reputable dealer. The dealers have ratings on the comparison sites I listed above (usually represented by "stars"), but BEFORE you plonk down your money, look up the seller's ratings on http://www.resellerratings.com/ .

Make sure that the dealer is an authorized representative of the manufacturer. Many camera companies will void the warranty if you do not buy from an authorized dealer. Make sure the camera was originally for sale in the USA. There are cameras shipped from overseas that come with manuals in Japanese, Korean, etc. These cameras are called "Grey Market" cameras, and their warranties will not be valid in the USA.

I would recommend that you buy a much larger media card than what comes with the camera. Typically, bundled cards will hold less than 20 pictures. 1GB CompactFlash cards are going for ~$30, and will hold quite a few pictures, even with today's higher-resolution cameras. A good source for flash memory prices is DealRAM ( http://dealram.com ), just click on the "Flash Memory" drop-down menu to select the type of flash memory your camera requires.

I would also recommend that you NOT use the USB cables that come with the camera to connect it to your PC. Buy a USB card reader (they are typically had for $10 or so) for the type of media your camera uses. Plug it into the computer and use it to transfer the pictures to your computer.

Then use a program like Adobe Photoshop or Adobe Photoshop Elements to resize, remove red-eye and color-correct your pictures. Most decent cameras come with Photoshop Elements these days, and if they don't, it can be bought for cheap, usually around $50.

This way you do not need to install any propretary software on your computer (many drivers are buggy and can cause your computer to crash!), and you don't have to worry about draining your camera's batteries (the camera needs to be turned on in order to transfer the pictures to the computer).

Speaking of batteries, get a camera that takes standard batteries, e.g. "AAA" or "AA" size. This way, when you run out of juice, you can stop by any convenience store or supermarket and get more batteries. Cameras that come with proprietary rechargeable batteries either force you to carry your charger around with you (and wait while your battery charges before you can take pictures again) or buy a second (or third!) battery to carry with you (which can get expensive!).

Hmm, that's pretty much all I can think of off the top of my head. I hope this helps!