Going to buy a digital camera, but know nothign about cameras....

[zenitram]

And I really mean nothing. :(

I'll be using it for vacation and concerts, and whenever stuff.

I want:

rechargable
good battery life
great picture quality
nice zoom
not to big

Not sure about price, a couple hundred I guess. Suggestions would be appreciated, thanks in advance.

[tehboris]

I would recommend not getting a camera with a manufacturer specific any thing if possible.

Esspecily:
Battary
USB connection

What always works well is:
AA battaries
USB-mini

[mikec]

Do you want a camera that has a special built in rechargeable battery? I think HP made one. If so, don't. You can only use the camera when it is charged, you can't just stop in the nearest store and buy new batteries. For both of our cameras, uses AA size, we bought some AA rechargeable batteries and a spare set for each camera. That way we have two sets for each camera.

Two things, digital zoom sucks, don't get fooled by that. B) Don't get sucked in by mega pixels. Unless you plan on blowing an image up real big most current generation cameras offer enough pixels. You don't need the newest and greatest. Just browsing Best Buy's site they show some 10+ mega pixel cameras. If you can find a good deal on a lower spec camera, be willing to go for it. Ignore the previous if you plan on blowing every picture up beyond 8x10.

[tokenuser]

Flipside of the battery argument is that I have a Sony Cybershot T100. WIthout the slim battery pack, the camera would never be the size it is. I travel with the camera extensively, and have yet to run out of battery ... and when the battery does run low, I just pop in a spare I carry. Sure, I can't run into the local quik-e-mart for a set of Energizers, but thats not an issue I have ever had.

The camera has a 5x optical (physical) zoom using Carl Zeiss lenses (ie good quality), and a 6x digital zoom - giving a 30x zoom. I rarely go beyond 5x, instead choosing to shoot at 8MP and digitally zoom/crop on my computer.

In the market there are two point and shoot models that are recommended - Sony and Canon. I had a Canon (Powershot s510) that got stolen, and if that was a model still in production, I would have gotten that again. Why sony and Canon? Their colour reproduction is consistently the most accurate. Skin tones are correct, and landscapes are natural - not over staturated.

Having said that, go into your local megastore and try them out. You wont be able to print images, but you need to hold the camera ... see how it sits in your hand ... check the easy of zooming in and out, where the shoot button is ... if your fat thumb blocks the lens ... how complex is the menu system ... etc. You can get good deals at the megastores, and you will find better deals online, but be VERY careful about buying online. There are a lot of shady camera dealers (most located in NY) that will try to upsell yo on packages and accessories you dont need. I have used Beach Camera and Cort (?) Camera in the past ... but check ResellerRatings.com before buying online (no matter how good the price).

[mikec]

Token, is that battery used by anything else? What is the rated life span of the thing? I don't like proprietary batteries and would avoid a camera if they used one.

[tokenuser]

Token, is that battery used by anything else? What is the rated life span of the thing? I don't like proprietary batteries and would avoid a camera if they used one.Do you have an MP3 player? Do you have a cellphone? Do you have a laptop? They all have proprietary batteries. The battery can be used by other Sony cameras. My 20 year old Minolta SLR takes a proprietary battery as well - you walk into any camera supply place, and they have them on a rack. Ditto the Sony battery - walk into Best Buy, Circuit City, or even Walmart and you will find them there.

FWIW - The batteries used are NP-BG1, and is a 3.6V (mean), 960 mAh Lithium Ion battery. It lasts about 150min on a charge, or approx 300 shots. It rapid charges and has no "memory".

[masherscf]

Digital point and shoots and legendary for sucking down batteries. You're not going to get good battery life and non-dedicated batteries...especially if you want rechargeable batteries.

With all due respect to T/U, I'd avoid a Sony Camera unless you have a myriad of other Sony devices that use the same memory cards. Those Sony memory cards are pretty pricey compared to SD.

The Sony camera that T/U mentions is nice but I think you should think about getting something in th Canon Powershot SD line. They do have dedicates rechargeable Lithium battery packs.

I'll give my stock advice for first time Digital-camera-buyers.

Shoot for between 6 and 10 MP. Megapixel count is meaningless software on you camera is crappy. So, go with Nikon, Canon, Sony or Kodak. They make the camera that are consistently good. If you get something with a huge zoom (say more than 3x) also get image stabilization because the zoom will be useless without it.

The most important thing is to try out the camera you want at the local box store. You don't have to buy it there. Bring a memory card and take a few picture with it. Take the card home and look at the image pixel-by-pixel and the computer and see which has better color and image quality. never thrust the look of a picture on the LCD.

[tokenuser]

With all due respect to T/U, I'd avoid a Sony Camera unless you have a myriad of other Sony devices that use the same memory cards. Those Sony memory cards are pretty pricey compared to SD.

The Sony camera that T/U mentions is nice but I think you should think about getting something in th Canon Powershot SD line. They do have dedicates rechargeable Lithium battery packs.The only thing I use with removeable memory is the camera, so it wasn't a big decision for me.

As mentioned above, if the Canon model I was replacing was still available, I would have gone for that one again. There were two things that swayed me to the Sony over the newer model Canon ... size (it is literally the size of a deck of playing cards) and the optical zoom (5x is as good as it gets in a PaS digital camera).

I am not 100% happy with the camera though - set to auto mode, the low light (indoors) photos are terrible. Washed out and yellow. You can compensate by fiddling with ISO settngs, etc., but as something that should work out of the box it stinks. Outdoor shots - both static and motion - are terrific.

Canon still have consistently the best colour representation of any PaS - beating Nikon and Kodak hands down. IIRC, Nikon photos were overly blue, while Kodak were overly red? Might be vice versa.

[masherscf]

There were two things that swayed me to the Sony over the newer model Canon ... size (it is literally the size of a deck of playing cards) and the optical zoom (5x is as good as it gets in a PaS digital camera).

Canon still have consistently the best colour representation of any PaS - beating Nikon and Kodak hands down. IIRC, Nikon photos were overly blue, while Kodak were overly red? Might be vice versa.

Despite being a devout Nikon DSLR owner, I still prefer the Canon P&S models. Some of the newest ones with Image Stabilization have 10z optical zoom. But, not in the OP price range. The models with IS seem to run about $100 more dear. I think it's worth it, if you can afford it.

[zenitram]

Thanks for all the info, I have a lot of research to do.

The reason for the rechargable battery is that my mom's camera takes 2 AAs, and if their not the best quailty or practically new; the camera gets fickle and acts up.