We are buying our first digital camera and was wondering what people are useing. I am looking at a 3 or 4 MP, like the Cannon G2, Pro90, S40/30. I am also open to other brands and modles any experts out there who can help?

FO,
If you are looking for one to pack with you, Id avoid the high dollar models for obvious reasons (water). Unless you are looking to do alot of enlarging, you dont have to go up there with MP rating. I have a Sony Cybershot, 2.1 mp and the quality is great, even enlarged. This model is awesome because it also will record mpegs as well as stills.
my two cents
Tight Lines
RL

Bought mine about 6 months ago. Cannon S110 2.1 mega pixel. Had been told that 2.1 was only good for 5 X 8, but have some very nice 8X10 and they are not grainy. This camera is small, has manual and digitalz oom. Uses the compact flash card. Bought a 128Mg card, holds between 190 - 380 pics. Does digital moview w/sound. Small. On sale now $377 with mail in $100 accessory kit.

Get a camera that uses compact flash cards, then spend $20 for the SanDisc card reader. Way cool and very quick and easy.

We aren't going whole hog on our son's first camera, but at least he will be able take a few photos of me with my fish and vvs., if he breaks it, it is easy enough to replace. We got him a JamCam 3.0, and by the way, he's five. It is a .3, yes 3/10, megapixel camera, and the cost was under $50. This should be fine for posting on the net, email, etc, and as we don't have a nifty picture quality printer, the photos should be fine. Expect to see more photos of Hunter in the future. And yes, he will only take it out when he goes fishin' or huntin' with me.

Andy

My Dad and father-in-law both have nice Olympus cameras, I believe they are 2020's.

I have been eyeing the Canon G1 for quite some time, it's quite a machine. Takes both black and white and color pics, short video clip, 3 megapix so will enlarge to photo quality even at 8x10 size, and stores in the 90 or so pics. You might take a look at this camera and consider doing price/quality comparisons at www.CNET.com. Good luck!

RM

I have a Canon Powershot G1 and absolutely love it. I take stills and movies with it. Canon's cameras also have the longest battery life of any digital camera on the market. If you're taking your camera on trips, this is a huge issue.

The only downside to the G1 and G2 is size. I carry mine with me in the back of my fishing vest and after standing on a river for hours, my back does start to get tired. For that reason, if you plan on carrying it with you a lot, I would recommend either the S30 or S40. Both have absolutely great quality and they are both very light and very durable.

I'd go with either the G1, G2 or the Nikon 995 (if you're big in to Macro work).

All are exceptional cameras.

I personally own the G1.

Search for previous threads about digital cameras. This has all been discussed before.

I use the Nikon 990 quite a bit at work, I like the fact that you can shoot it full manual, configure the white point (daylight, tungsten, manual white point, etc.) attached external flashes, etc. I've been considering buying a digital camera for myself, and after using the 990, I wouldn't buy any camera that didn't allow you to shoot full manual. I wish they made one in a smaller package, though... like the digital ELPH, and more weather-resistant, for slipping into your vest on the river.

At work we also purchased a neat little Nikon slide/neg adapter for the 990, (about $75) that way we can shoot digital copies of slides or negs directly into the camera, then just mount the CF card as a disk on the computer... WAY faster than using our $2000 Polaroid slide scanner, and nearly as good results... just have to shoot the pics manually and measure the white point of your light table for it to get good color results...

As for me, I still carry a 35mm Yashica T4 point-and-shoot with me on the river, it's way more water-resistant than most digital cameras, and for $200, if you're shooting good slow film like Velvia, you can't come close to that quality with an affordable digital camera... I'm going to wait until the digis come down in price... in the meantime, I'll scan my slides on my Epson 2450 flatbed, or digitize them at work with the Nikon 990.

-N.

I have been using a Canon Power Shot G1 for about a year now and love it. It does everything you could want and with 3.3 mp the enlargements are very sharp. I highly suggest buying the biggest memory card you can afford.


Spin To Win Pro Staff

For a good value that's hard to beat check out the Cannon A20, or the Nikon Coolpix 775 (which we just bought). It does all those things Fishbait mentioned his Cannon does and it's very easy to use. It's also very compact for taking on fishing trips.

Of course Fishbait doesn't use his for fish pics, he likes to take shots at the moon.

RT

Hi Fish_on,
I had been looking at the Olympus 510 model. It has the same features as the Nikon Coolpix 775. Not much difference in the price either. I just know the minute I decide to get one the price will drop a couple hundred bucks.

Smily

One minor issue I have with Olympus cameras is that for media, they use Smart Media cards. Smart Media is more expensive and less durable than the CompactFlash cards other cameras use. Also, I belive (not sure though) that 64 megs is the largest Smart Media can get.