Compact Digital Camera suggestions
 

Yay! Another recommendations thread!

I'm looking to buy a compact digital camera for under $300.

I'm kinda into photography and have a couple of nice analogue cameras and normally I'd spend hours and hours researching every tiny aspect of the purchase until I'm blue in the face... maybe its age, but this time I'm asking you guys! I figure they are all getting pretty good these days.

Minimum 7 megapixels, reasonable optical anti-shake, decent LCD, hopefully more than 3x optical zoom. I like the look of the Canons and the Panasonic Lumix, but I'm open to suggestions. Obviously Mac-friendly is essential! :)

I recently picked up an Olympus 770SW, mostly on the basis that it is waterproof and shockproof. It's very nice to be able to take the camera with me anywhere, including into the water, and not worry about it. Bonus is that the photo quality is astounding, and the menus are fast and clearly laid out. Works perfectly with the Mac. The price was right at $300.

I've got Canon Powershot S3IS
http://www.foto.ru/products/images/th/22209.jpg
It has only 6 megapixels, but I believe Canon has some recent better modifications to suit you. I'm very pleased with this camera. It posesses all the qualities of a good semi-professional camera.
By the way, I got a tripod for it. As a small Christmas gift for myself! Here it is:
http://www.foto.ru/products/images/th/3035.jpg

About a month ago I bought a 'Mitsuba' (never heard of this company b4) digital camera. It has 12 megapixels, can make videos of dimensions 640x480, came with a bunch of stuff to use it on your tv and stuff like that. I also came with a 3 inch tripod (XD), which can be useful sometimes... but I usually use the tripod from my telescope, as they are compatible and it works well. It didn't come with a memory card, and I'm using a 1.2 GB one that I got from one of my dad's broken digital cameras, so you might have to buy one.
I'm not sure what the optical zoom is by I know the digital zoom is about x5, but I could be wrong. I bought it off ebay for about $120, it was new, or so it looked, everything was sealed and in their own bags and all that. Hope this helped ;)

When it comes to zoom, optical zoom is always preferred over digital. Digital zoom basically crops the image, and rescales it back to it's original size. Usually makes for poor-quality photos.

I find FujiFilm's cameras give you good amount of features for not much $$$. I personally dislike Kodak cameras for some reason.

I have an older FujiFilm S5200/S5600 (depending on where you live), 5.1 MP, 10x optical zoom. I got a refurb for about $170.
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/122/c...ebd50001a6.jpg
The only thing I find bad about it is the horribly slow manual focus. Other than that, it still takes great photos. I'm a part of the S5200 group on Flickr:
http://flickr.com/groups/s5200/pool/

The new S700/S5700 has replaced the S5200, with a 7 MP sensor, better noise reduction, and a SD/xD flash memory slots (so you can use both types of flash cards), and it's slightly more compact. You can find it for about $210.
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1068/...ec37441c95.jpg

Because these aren't 'true SLR' cameras, they require you to set the aperture and shutter via the LCD screen instead of using that manual twisty-lens thing (forget what it's called).

For a real SLR, there's the 9 MP, 10.7 zoom, Fuji S9100. It can take xD, CF, and Microdrives, but it might be out of your price range, starting around $450:
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/111/c...2c26427c43.jpg

If you aren't looking for that kind of thing, and want something more pocket-sized, there's a bunch of other models available:
http://www.fujifilmusa.com/digitalcamera/showcase.jsp

If you don't like Fuji cameras, or just want to look at other brands as well, I have heard pretty good things about the Nikon D series, the Canon EOS series, as well as some Olympus and Lumix cameras. My friend told me Pentax used to make some good film cameras, and they have started to make some digital ones. In general, all the major brands have some good cameras.

http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/controller?act=ProductCatIndexAct&fcategoryid=113
Cannon Professional Cameras
All Olympus Cameras
All Nikon Cameras
All Panasonic Lumix Cameras

Also, here's some good review sites:
http://www.dpreview.com/
http://www.imaging-resource.com/DIGCAM01.HTM
http://www.steves-digicams.com/

These sites really know what they are talking about. Some reviews go really in-depth and use terms I have no clue about.

Flickr has a large camera database that you might find interesting:
http://flickr.com/cameras/

In general, look for for low shutter lag and 'reload' time, low image noise, high ISO settings, high zoom, high MP resolution, and an easy-to-use interface.

Cameras that take AA batteries are actually a good thing, as they don't require you to use a special proprietary battery pack. You can use rechargeable AA's, and if you ever are in a jam, you can always use regular alkaline AA's. Be sure to buy some rechargeable batteries, as digicams will eat through alkaline batteries like crazy.

I have the Canon Powershot SD750 Digital ELPH. Its 7.1 Megapixel, 3x Optical Zoom, 4x Digital Zoom and it fits in my shirt pocket. Great point and shoot camera.

I went with the Kodak Z710 for $A290. They are all about the same resolution in the budget ( $A500 and under ) cameras but I just wanted the maximum optical zoom for the best price. I don't think it's got anti-shake though. I believe the Fujis do for about the same price. I prefer the Kodak because it imports straight into iPhoto. I borrowed my brother in laws Fuji and I had to mount it as a drive and import manually.

http://www.foto.ru/products/images/th/22209.jpg

I have one as well, and am very pleased.

You guys, as always, are terrific. And I can't believe the amount of effort you've gone to - thanks so much. I'm really looking for a compact camera though (despite my tendency to go for the best of the best of the best, Sir!). Something more like this http://www.usa.canon.com/app/images/...is_586x225.jpg
Although that model is more than I was thinking.
Something interesting that I stumbled across purely by chance after posting my initial request that you all might be interested in: 6 Megapixels is enough and Megapixel Myth
Some more food for thought.

Basically an 8 x 10 at 200 dpi is 3,200,000 pixels so yeah 6 mega pixels is plenty. That's why I was looking for better optical zoom over any other feature.

It's hard not getting sucked in by figures! I have used a 3 megapixel Kodak extensively and the prints don't enlarge at all well. It's got too much noise, the white balance is often out, and the flash is pretty hopeless. But having said all that it's a few years old, so an equivalent now would probably blow it out of the water.

Oops. Wrong kind of camera recommendation.

fazstp, my Fuji works with iPhoto fine. Perhaps the Fuji camera you were using was a really old model?

Anyway, if you are looking for a compact point-and-shoot, there's the:
Fuji F480 - black/silver, 8.2MP, 4x optical zoom, large 2.7" LCD, digital image stabilization, ~$150 USD
http://www.fujifilmusa.com/images/Di...f480_ov1_l.jpg

For good noise reduction:
Fuji A920 - silver, 9MP, 4x optical zoom, SuperCCD noise reduction (same as in my S5200), digital image stabilization, ~$160 USD
http://www.fujifilmusa.com/images/Di...a920_ov1_l.jpg

For something a bit more stylish :):
Fuji Z10fd - black/blue/pink/green/orange, 7.2MP, 3x optical zoom, auto face detection, auto red-up removal, up to 1600 ISO, ~$160 USD
http://www.fujifilmusa.com/images/Di...10fd_ov1_l.jpg

This one just came out recently. Has pretty good specs:
Fuji F50fd - silver (looks slightly beige in photo), 12MP, 3x optical zoom, up to 1600 ISO @ 12MP, or 6400 ISO @ 3MP (http://bigpixel.macintoshdevelopers....lt/shocked.gif), SuperCCD noise reduction, dual optical & digital image stabilization, automatic digital red-eye reduction, face detection v2.0, IR file transfer beam, ~$240 USD
http://www.fujifilmusa.com/images/Di...50fd_ov1_l.jpg


To find the prices, I did a quick Google Product search and made a quick average in my head. You can probably find the cameras for a bit cheaper if you compare prices. If you want to read some reviews, check my post above. Those sites write some really good reviews.

Fuji's SuperCCD sensor is trying to 'fix' the problem of decreased sensitivity with higher resolutions by moving away from the 'square pixel sensors' and using some kind of weird octagon matrix of sensors:
This:
http://www.fujifilmusa.com/images/Di...er_ccd_img.gif

Instead of this:
http://www.fujifilmusa.com/images/Di...en_ccd_img.gif

I'm not sure how the heck it works, but it seems like a good idea...

If you read the reviews of Fuji's cameras on dPreview, there's seems to be a lot of talk about Fuji "not really wanting to enter the megapixel race"... http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/fujifilmf50fd/
But in the end, it seems with the F50fd, Fuji gave up and made a 12MP camera.

Yeah, the camera is absolutely terrific! (Does the word 'terrific' has connotation of 'very good'?:) I'm not sure, but I heard some native speakers say so)

Yes, it means "extraordinarily good".

By the way, just to stay on-topic, I'd highly recommend Canon digital cameras as well. I just got a Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi (known as a Canon EOS 400D in some places), a macro lens, and a Gorillapod tripod, along with a few other things like UV filters, extra battery, and bag. It doesn't quite meet the original requirements that blubbernaut asked about, but it's very cool, and takes fantastic pictures.

Trevor

Trevor: It really bugs me how they use different model names in different parts of the world - makes it very difficult to research! We have the Canon 400d at work and it is quite a nice camera. I myself have an EOS 5...no 'D' unfortunately! magnificent camera, but waay to big to use regularly for happy snaps, and film is nice, but again, for happy snaps digital is so much better.

ThreeDee: You seem to be quite fond of the Fujis, have you used any of their point and shoot versions? I like the look of the F480.

Yeah, I do have a strong liking for Fuji cameras. It's just a personal preference.

I have an old A210 (3.2MP, 3x zoom, ~$250USD) back from 2003 that I still use sometimes. It's not very good in dark scenes, but I'm guessing the new models shouldn't have those problems anymore.

Hmmm. I believe it was a Fuji FinePix S5500. Don't know why it didn't work with iPhoto. I haven't tried it with the latest upgrade either. It didn't help when I was shopping for a new camera that most store clerks didn't even know what OSX was let alone whether a particular camera was compatible with it.

Well, despite some excellent recommendations here (I'm sure any of which I would have been very happy with) I ended up going for the Canon IXUS 70 (or ELPH SD1000 in the US) Here. 7.1 Megapixel, 3x Zoom, Face recognition.

I did do some research, but made a point not to get too involved in that process (like I usually do) because this was really meant to be a fun, easy camera. I read some reviews that were actually pretty good about them, and it was on special locally, and it's DAMN SMALL, which was one of the priorities. At some point in the future, I'm sure we'll get a more full featured one, perhaps even an SLR and I'll get all OCD about it!

So far I'm very happy with the camera, the picture quality, and it plays nice with iPhoto.

Thanks again for your help :)

I bought one of those last year and it has been very good. I am sure you will be happy with it. The only issue I have had with mine is it's tendency to over expose, but Aperture can fix that easily - I imagine iPhoto can too, yes?

The new iPhoto has some very nice touch up features, so yes, it will.

Blubbernaut - glad you found one that fit your criteria. So go and have some fun!

Thanks guys. So far, much fun, and quality has been great. Even had some fun with "manual" settings, which is more than you get on most ultra-compact models. Did some 2, 3, 4, 10 second exposures last night with slow synchro flash...cool!

I have access to Photoshop too, so retouching is not a problem.