Any digital camera experts out there???

Hi everyone. My hubby un-surprised me by telling me that he got a digital camera for me for my birthday (a week before my actual birthday) and I don't know if I want the camera that he got me or if I should get the camera that KayAnn has. The camera my hubby got me is a Sony and it was $430 so it probablly has to be a pretty decent one, but it stores the photos on disk so it will be easier to take on vacation because all I have to do is make sure I have lots of extra disks. The downside is he said the photo quality is not as good as a camera that does not store images on disk, which means if I go on vacation and I want to take lots of pictures I have to also bring my laptop so I can transfer the images onto the computer, otherwise I run out of room on the camera.

So my question is this...this is my first digital camera, and I really want good pics, and a good brand of camera so does anyone have any advise or experience with different brand names. Sofar I think I am going to take the Sony back and get the FugiFilm Fine Pix 1300 that KayAnn just got because her pics are so incredibly clear, but the camera is pretty cheap ($200) so I want to make sure I am getting a quality camera...and since I will have $430 to spend on a camera does anyone know of any really good, high quality cameras that take fabulous, clear pictures? Does anyone know how good FugiFilm cameras are? I do know that Fugi Film is higher quality then Kodak film, but not sure about the cameras. If anyone with experience with digital cameras has any words of wisdom or advise please advise. Thanks :)

-Leslie

[ June 29, 2001: Message edited by: AdoreMyDogs ]

photopoint used to have an area where you could see pictures taken by different brands of digital cameras. I tried to find it but I couldn't. You might want to go into a camera store and just talk to the staff about which ones they recommend and the pros and cons of each model. I have seen a lot of beautiful pictures taken with Sonys.

I have a Hewlett Packard PhotoSmart camera. I cost about $400, with an extra disk. It also gives me the choice of what quality picture I want. Low resoultion, I get 40 pictures on my disk. With medium resoultion, I get 20 pictures on my disk. With high resoultion, I get 10 pictures. On my spare disk I can get 80 pictures on low resoultion, 40 on medium resoultion, and 20 on high resoultion. I also have the option of deleting pictures directly on the camra, if they didn't turn out like I wanted. It has a screen on the back so you can veiw the picture before you save it. After you download on the computer, you still have to go through the camrea and delete the pictures off the disks before you can use it again. If you like, I can email you a picture that I have made on it.

[ June 29, 2001: Message edited by: Dixie Belle ]

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Originally posted by Dixie Belle:
<STRONG>I have a Hewlett Packard PhotoSmart camera. I cost about $400, with an extra disk. It also gives me the choice of what quality picture I want. Low resoultion, I get 40 pictures on my disk. With medium resoultion, I get 20 pictures on my disk. With high resoultion, I get 10 pictures. On my spare disk I can get 80 pictures on low resoultion, 40 on medium resoultion, and 20 on high resoultion. I also have the option of deleting pictures directly on the camra, if they didn't turn out like I wanted. It has a screen on the back so you can veiw the picture before you save it. After you download on the computer, you still have to go through the camrea and delete the pictures off the disks before you can use it again. If you like, I can email you a picture that I have made on it.

[ June 29, 2001: Message edited by: Dixie Belle ]</STRONG>

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I would like that very much! I would very much like to see what kind of pics that camera takes. I would like to go to a camera store but I am afraid they will just try to sell me the most expensive instead of the best quality camera, just don't want to fall victom to that game. We do have Ritz Camera stores here, maybe I'll try to talk to them and see if they will try to get me to buy the most expensive one or if they will be honest and tell me which one has the highest quality pics regardless of how much it costs...

Thanks for all the help. Rachel, that would have been great, thanks for trying! I wonder if there's another site that compares digital camera pics...maybe I'll look around if I get some time today.

Leslie - I got a FujiFilm FinePix 2300. I love it! Mine was $230. Its not top of the line but you sure get your money's worth. It takes great, clear pictures. I'd recommend it if you decide to get that type of camera. They also have higher versions of it.

Here's a pic from my camera (I haven't taken any exceptionally good ones yet because Shiloh and Reece keep moving away as soon as I click :) )

http://wsphotofews.excite.com/025/NM/DV/G8/fS22138.jpg

Here's Shiloh

http://wsphotofews.excite.com/024/Tb/oz/3O/HU55393.jpg

Digital cameras are definitely one of those items that you get what you pay for. It sounds like you are on the right track of understanding the features and the trade offs. :D

Don't buy a cheapo camera! You will outgrow it about the 3rd time you use it. Even kids don't really like the poor quality, so you can't give it to an unsuspecting young relative. ;)

Good luck with your camera hunt. And have fun on vacation! :cool:

Oh Aly I am gasping here! What wonderful pictures of Reece and Shiloh! Keep taking and posting those pics!! You are doing great! ;)

Adorable pics! Simply adorable! I think I have narrowed it down to the FugiFilm Fine Pix series. I went to Ask Reeves and learned that it's a good camera for the price.

Thanks for the help, and Spencer, thanks for the info, and the website. I have gone to Ask Reeves before but I did not even think about it for the camera. It was really helpful.

And as KayAnn says, "watch out for tons of pictures" :)

Take a look at: http://www.steves-digicams.com/

It's a pretty large site, but is mentioned on many other camera sites as an excellent source of information and reviews of digital cameras.