Hey everyone. I am looking for a good digital camera. I know little about them. I do not need anything too fancy, just something that I can use to take photos for Ebay and such with. I would like something that is inexpensive, but not a piece of junk either. I was wondering what brand, options and such would be a good choice for me. Any advice will be appreciated.

 

I like nikon and canon anythi ng in the 2-300 dollar range will fit your needs

 

I myself have an Olympus D-580 Zoom (4.0 MegaPixel). I love the camera and have had no problems so far.

When shopping for a digital camera, you first have to consider what you're going to use the camera for. Are you going to use it for taking pictures of the kids and at car shows (a general camera for home use) or is it for professional purposes? As you indicate, it will be for just personal pictures, so I wouldn't go nuts with buying the highest mega pixel camera available.

Before I go any farther, let me explain what the term mega pixel refers to. The higher the mega pixel number the bigger the picture that the camera will take. The advantage to this is that you can blow up the picture to bigger size without losing picture clarity (distorting the image). This is would more important to a professional photographer who makes a living from taking photos.The disadvantage is that the bigger the picture, the bigger the file that needs to be stored (whether on computer or on the storage card in the camera). If you plan to store the pictures on your computer, mae sure that you have at least a 60GB harddrive.

For the average user, I would recommend a camera in the 2.0 to 4.0 mega pixel range.
Anything more than that would be a waste of money. All the camera brands (Cannon, Olympus, Kodak etc) are respectable and reliable units. Always remember that you will get what you pay. Don't expect a Jaguar ride from a Kia.

You can do searches on the internet for 'digital camera reviews' and research the pros and cons of each model. Then you can decide which camera is best for you're needs and price that you can afford.

The last thing to think about is the batteries. I can tell you that digital cameras will eat alot of batteries. When you do get one, do yourself a favor and buy a rechargeable battery pack with 2 times the number of batteries that the camera takes ( so that you will always have a full set of spare charged batteries with you when you're using it-
there's nothing more annoying then running out of batteries before the end of the day)

One reason I choose the Olympus camera is that it only uses 2 AA batteries, so that I only had to buy 4 rechargeable batteries. The Canon's use 4 AA to operate so you would have to carry 4 spare batteries with you to have spares. I know a few people with the Canon A75. Both mine and their camera take equally great pictures, but the Canon will go through twice as many batteries in a day than my Olympus.

Do you're research and ask questions at the store to make an educated purchase and you shouldn't be disappointed.

Good Hunting!!!!!!

 

www.dpreview.com

 

I bought a camera specifically for eBay. It's an Olympus D-390. I think it was only $120 at Best Buy. It's only 2 Megapixel, but still takes a pretty nice picture.

 

Thanks for the advice everyone. I have some more looking to do, but this info will make it easier. I should add that i am looking for something in the $100 range. That is my budget for the time being.

 

check out the largan website they have nice little camera that is small (about the size of a cigarette pack). it takes 2 aa batteries and they last a long time. the price is in the 120.00 price range. www.largan.com the camera name is the chameleon. 57 trucker

 

I have a Canon Powershot A95. Its a great camera and gets lots of good reviews. Price wise its in the $250 to $300 range.
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canona95/

 

I have a 5 megapixel Olympus that is a lot smarter than I am. I've had it a year with no problems.
Dono

 

I like the Sony Mavica line with the floppy drives and CD-ROMs. I bought a Sony MVC FD-71 off E-Bay for a little bit less then $100 including the S&H. Working with cheap floppies is a big plus and the ability to just pop in a disk to the computer, since I use a computer with USB support. If you buy an older MVC make sure you get a battery and charger.

 

i have a vivitar vivicam 2mp,neat little camera has tons of settings and came with the pc cable. nothing fancy but takes great snap shots. i picked it up at conn's with a lexmark printer for 100 bucks.
later
lee

 

We are very pleased with the $59 SpongeBob 1.3 Mega Pixel camera we just bought. Since about 9 out of 10 pics the kids take are garbage, the money we save in processing will go towards a real camera after the "new" wears off the digital process.

 

For 3ft - 10 ft pics I suggest an HP120.

For close-ups use a web cam for $20.00

 

Kodak CX7430 4 mp 3x zoom .199.95

 

I got the same one for the same reason --> pretty good reviews on a few websites like dpreview and others. Its probably more camera than I'll ever use but some of the smaller ones like the new 510/520 are just too small for my big hands.