For the Camera Buffs

[Tuna]

Hey guys, I'm a little bored and so I thought I post up a question.

For my wedding a bunch a friends were going to go together and hook us up with a digi Cam. I haven't done a tone of research but I'm kinda partial to Canons. I've been looking at the Canon A80 it's 4MP, 3x optical zoom (not great but ok), and a small flip out screen and whatnot. One of the things I like about it is you can either choose fully automatic or you can pic various manual settings, which I like because then I can play around with it but I can still give it to people and they can just point and shoot. Anyway, price is around $500 (London Drugs, could probably get it a little cheaper).

What do you guys think? any Cameras out there for that price that would be far superior or anything?

Jason

[liquid]

Re: For the Camera Buffs

That was the camera (along with the s500) that I was looking at. I dont know much about Digitals camera's though.... I know Canon is good

[Boy Racer]

Re: For the Camera Buffs

One thing I noticed when I was looking was something that there was alot that reading the specs just didnt give you a feel for... like digi-lag! There were some that took forever (7-8 secs) just to turn on, which for a point and shoot deal is pretty inconvenient. I am sure there are other example like this but it just goes to show that it is worthwhile having some real world experience in addition to the specs or that it 'takes great pictures'. Hopefully you will get some good feedback here that will help me too when I eventually buy one!

[Tuna]

Re: For the Camera Buffs

One thing I noticed when I was looking was something that there was alot that reading the specs just didnt give you a feel for... like digi-lag! There were some that took forever (7-8 secs) just to turn on, which for a point and shoot deal is pretty inconvenient. I am sure there are other example like this but it just goes to show that it is worthwhile having some real world experience in addition to the specs or that it 'takes great pictures'. Hopefully you will get some good feedback here that will help me too when I eventually buy one!

Yea, I made sure to check for that, The A80 powers up instantly, even the screen comes on right away so that was nice. I plan to play around with it a little more this weekend because I need to make up my mind fairly soon.

As for the S500, I think it may be a outta my price range as A80 is kinda pushing it.

[Billip]

Re: For the Camera Buffs

I don't know much about the current state of the point & shoot digital camera market, but here are a few resources that might help you.

CNet Camera Reviews

Digital Photography Review

I can't find any other useful links right now. I should also say that I've always been happy with Canon - I own a Canon Digital Rebel and a Canon Elan IIe. One of the things I really like about Canon in the digital market is that they are *actually* a camera manufacturer. They've been making cameras forever. This is unlike Sony, Fuji, etc. who only jumped into the digital market when it emerged. Just my $0.02 though.

Edit: This is not to say that other companies can not or do not make good cameras, I'm just more comfortable with Canon.

[bart]

Re: For the Camera Buffs

i have the a75 and its very good!

[Derick]

Re: For the Camera Buffs

Well Jason, I don't have too much experience with Canons. However, I can say that I've used the A80 first hand. A friend of mine owned one and was quite impressed by it. I was gonna post some really nice pictures he took, but I deleted them off my HD. I also bought one for my sister and played around with it on a few outings in California. The thing I liked about it is that it's very easy to use but still has a lot of adjustability and features that allow you to take more complex shots. I think for the price that these go for, you can't really go wrong. I bought my sister's from Canoga camera (in L.A.) for $314 US tax included.

My suggestion would be to go to Walmart and buy one. They have a no-hassle return policy, so if you're not happy with it you can return it after having used it for a few weeks A buddy of mine went through 4 different cameras this way at Walmart before finally settling on one. If you want to see first-hand the capabilities of this camera, check out this link to DPchallenge (an online digital photography contest). They have archived photos from A80 users who have participated in the challenges. Just click "browse" in the highest rated photographs to view them. Some of them are truly beautiful....

http://www.dpchallenge.com/camera.php?CAMERA_ID=691

Damn Bill, Why you gotta hate on my Sony?! lol
I can appreciate the point Bill made on dedicated camera makers. I myself was originally looking into Canon/Olympus. But from all the sample shots and research I did, I found that the advances in technology and quality between makes has really leveled the field. It all boils down to the features that are important to you and weighing the pros and cons of each individual camera. Also, in the true DSLR range, Canon is definitely a clear winner (and also Nikon) but in the mid-level point and shoot cameras, I find the differences in brand vs. quality is more negligible. Anyways, just to pic whore a little and since you're looking for a "wedding" camera, here's some shots I took at my cousin's wedding with my Sony........










Edit: These shots have not been filtered for noise and quality is reduced from compression and save-for-web

[James]

Re: For the Camera Buffs

We've got a Cannon Digital Rebel at home (6.3mp) and its pretty sweet.

[R_Ethug]

Re: For the Camera Buffs

well the best camera i've seen to date for user friendly,etc was peters and chris' s400.. the quality of that camera is awesome IMO.. i dunno if i ever will buy a nice camera now cuz derick is my official photographer so ya know

[Tuna]

Re: For the Camera Buffs

Cool guys, thanks for all the input, yea, I'm thinkin that's the one we are gonna go with. The fiance likes trying out the different features too so we thinking that we get the convenience of a point and shoot with the added features to get creative if I want.

And thanks Derrick, the fact that you used one and liked it says a lot too.

[Derick]

Re: For the Camera Buffs

Cool guys, thanks for all the input, yea, I'm thinkin that's the one we are gonna go with. The fiance likes trying out the different features too so we thinking that we get the convenience of a point and shoot with the added features to get creative if I want.

And thanks Derrick, the fact that you used one and liked it says a lot too.

Oh yeah, the A80 comes with a 32mb compact flash card. But I found this pretty useless since shooting at full resolution fills the card up in no time. So you'll want to factor in the cost of some new media with your purchase. Especially at events like weddings, the cards fill up fast as hell

[Tuna]

Re: For the Camera Buffs

Oh yeah, the A80 comes with a 32mb compact flash card. But I found this pretty useless since shooting at full resolution fills the card up in no time. So you'll want to factor in the cost of some new media with your purchase. Especially at events like weddings, the cards fill up fast as hell

Good point, I'll keep that in mind. 128Mb is fairly inexpensive now so I'll probably try and pick one of those up at the same time.

[nismodrifter]

Re: For the Camera Buffs

I just picked up a Canon A75 on Monday...I'll post some sample pics up later. You can't go wrong with this camera IMO. Comes with a 32mb card but I'll be picking up a 256 soon I think

btw..go here for a full review:
http://www.steves-digicams.com/2004_reviews/a75.html

or just go to www.steves-digicams.com if you want to look at reviews for tons of other cameras

[Billip]

Re: For the Camera Buffs

Well Jason, I don't have too much experience with Canons. However, I can say that I've used the A80 first hand. A friend of mine owned one and was quite impressed by it. I was gonna post some really nice pictures he took, but I deleted them off my HD. I also bought one for my sister and played around with it on a few outings in California. The thing I liked about it is that it's very easy to use but still has a lot of adjustability and features that allow you to take more complex shots. I think for the price that these go for, you can't really go wrong. I bought my sister's from Canoga camera (in L.A.) for $314 US tax included.

My suggestion would be to go to Walmart and buy one. They have a no-hassle return policy, so if you're not happy with it you can return it after having used it for a few weeks A buddy of mine went through 4 different cameras this way at Walmart before finally settling on one. If you want to see first-hand the capabilities of this camera, check out this link to DPchallenge (an online digital photography contest). They have archived photos from A80 users who have participated in the challenges. Just click "browse" in the highest rated photographs to view them. Some of them are truly beautiful....

http://www.dpchallenge.com/camera.php?CAMERA_ID=691

Damn Bill, Why you gotta hate on my Sony?! lol
I can appreciate the point Bill made on dedicated camera makers. I myself was originally looking into Canon/Olympus. But from all the sample shots and research I did, I found that the advances in technology and quality between makes has really leveled the field. It all boils down to the features that are important to you and weighing the pros and cons of each individual camera. Also, in the true DSLR range, Canon is definitely a clear winner (and also Nikon) but in the mid-level point and shoot cameras, I find the differences in brand vs. quality is more negligible. Anyways, just to pic whore a little and since you're looking for a "wedding" camera, here's some shots I took at my cousin's wedding with my Sony........

Edit: These shots have not been filtered for noise and quality is reduced from compression and save-for-web

Nice shots man! Good composition, nice soft focus on the wedding shots.

And I'm not really hating on Sony. Your camera takes great photos. Most of the things that I find different between your Canon or Nikon and other cameras isn't the actual shot you get (you can pretty much get the same shot with every camera), it's the user interface and ergonomics. Anyways... I'm not hatin' on you or your camera bud!

[Kor]

Re: For the Camera Buffs

I have used the A80 and its awesome, definitely the best camera at that price level.

I agree with Boy Racer, the lag issue is super annoying. Personally I hate when I push the button to take the picture and it takes .5-1s to actually take it...