Newbie Buyer Seeks Newbie Camera

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.dcameras (More info?)

### GOAL
I am seeking the best digital camera to meet the stated product
and usage requirements.

### Usage Requirements
- The digital camera should have ease of use++, battery life++, durability++.
- Operating the camera should be easy enough for my grandmother to figure out.
- The camera is for basic home use, fancy bells and whistles are not needed.
- The camera should operate fine WITHOUT having a home computer PC or printer.
- The storage media should be capable of 128MB or more.
- The storage media should be something I can take to kinkos,
wal-mart, costco, or some other ubiquitous USA retail place
and print out there.

### Product Requirements
- 3.0 Megapixels is acceptable, 5.0 is ok but perhaps overkill.
- Rechargable battery is nice.
- Non-proprietary battery is nice.
- Non-proprietary storage medium is nice.
- Retail-store "pay-print-and-go" compatible storage medium is ESSENTIAL.
- Compact size is nice.
- Not having a bunch of cables ports and attachments is nice.
- Not having to repeatedly buy consumables is important (eg, printer paper
batteries).

Is there anything that you can recommend to meet these specific
requirements? If you have a link that *specifically* addresses these

issues, it is appreciated, otherwise please share your own experience
and expertise!

Thanks

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.dcameras (More info?)

There is some really nice cameras out there for under $5K. Almost all of
them meet those criteria.

"valued customer" <scooterm@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:1b347673.0412041138.5889e233@posting.google.com...
> ### GOAL
> I am seeking the best digital camera to meet the stated product
> and usage requirements.
>
> ### Usage Requirements
> - The digital camera should have ease of use++, battery life++,
durability++.
> - Operating the camera should be easy enough for my grandmother to figure
out.
> - The camera is for basic home use, fancy bells and whistles are not
needed.
> - The camera should operate fine WITHOUT having a home computer PC or
printer.
> - The storage media should be capable of 128MB or more.
> - The storage media should be something I can take to kinkos,
> wal-mart, costco, or some other ubiquitous USA retail place
> and print out there.
>
> ### Product Requirements
> - 3.0 Megapixels is acceptable, 5.0 is ok but perhaps overkill.
> - Rechargable battery is nice.
> - Non-proprietary battery is nice.
> - Non-proprietary storage medium is nice.
> - Retail-store "pay-print-and-go" compatible storage medium is ESSENTIAL.
> - Compact size is nice.
> - Not having a bunch of cables ports and attachments is nice.
> - Not having to repeatedly buy consumables is important (eg, printer paper
> batteries).
>
> Is there anything that you can recommend to meet these specific
> requirements? If you have a link that *specifically* addresses these
>
> issues, it is appreciated, otherwise please share your own experience
> and expertise!
>
> Thanks

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.dcameras (More info?)

You are being anal.

PJ




On 4 Dec 2004 11:38:04 -0800, scooterm@hotmail.com (valued customer)
wrote:

>### GOAL
>I am seeking the best digital camera to meet the stated product
>and usage requirements.
>
>### Usage Requirements
>- The digital camera should have ease of use++, battery life++, durability++.
>- Operating the camera should be easy enough for my grandmother to figure out.
>- The camera is for basic home use, fancy bells and whistles are not needed.
>- The camera should operate fine WITHOUT having a home computer PC or printer.
>- The storage media should be capable of 128MB or more.
>- The storage media should be something I can take to kinkos,
>wal-mart, costco, or some other ubiquitous USA retail place
>and print out there.
>
>### Product Requirements
>- 3.0 Megapixels is acceptable, 5.0 is ok but perhaps overkill.
>- Rechargable battery is nice.
>- Non-proprietary battery is nice.
>- Non-proprietary storage medium is nice.
>- Retail-store "pay-print-and-go" compatible storage medium is ESSENTIAL.
>- Compact size is nice.
>- Not having a bunch of cables ports and attachments is nice.
>- Not having to repeatedly buy consumables is important (eg, printer paper
>batteries).
>
>Is there anything that you can recommend to meet these specific
>requirements? If you have a link that *specifically* addresses these
>
>issues, it is appreciated, otherwise please share your own experience
>and expertise!
>
>Thanks

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.dcameras (More info?)

"valued customer" <scooterm@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:1b347673.0412041138.5889e233@posting.google.com...
> ### GOAL
> I am seeking the best digital camera to meet the stated product
> and usage requirements.
>
> ### Usage Requirements
> - The digital camera should have ease of use++, battery life++,
> durability++.
> - Operating the camera should be easy enough for my grandmother to figure
> out.
> - The camera is for basic home use, fancy bells and whistles are not
> needed.
> - The camera should operate fine WITHOUT having a home computer PC or
> printer.
> - The storage media should be capable of 128MB or more.
> - The storage media should be something I can take to kinkos,
> wal-mart, costco, or some other ubiquitous USA retail place
> and print out there.

Because I normally don't pay attention to these kinds of cameras (I prefer
D-SLRs), I had to do some research to find something for my parents. My mom
wants a digital, but she will treat it like a non-digital (for example, I
know she will ask, "What do you mean by pressing the shutter button halfway
down?"). My dad would know enough to transfer photos to the PC and/or
printer, but he would not be an expert with any photo software (I'm glad
that I bought him a multifunction printer last year that accepts memory
cards).

After reading several reviews, I decided upon the recently released
3-megapixel Canon SD200 and a 512MB memory card. The SD200 is a good
quality, fast, ultracompact camera with 3X zoom (equivalent 35mm to 105mm)
and a large 2" LCD. I love the camera's size. It's small enough to put in
a very small purse or pocket (I felt like James Bond when I checked it
out!). Although the camera uses the DIGIC II chip (also used in Canon's
higher-end, $1500 20D camera, etc.), the SD200 is made for common folk
(i.e., autofocus, autoexposure, etc.). You can even record movies, complete
with audio. The camera is easy to use out of the box, but there is some
room for growth . For example, you can (but don't have to) display menus,
change settings, etc.. I bought these two items from newegg.com for
$314.86, including shipping:

30-120-161 DC CANON POWER SHOT SD200 9697A001

20-155-257 SECURE DIGITAL KINGMAX SDC-512M3P R (60X)

If you would like to read about the camera, dpreview has a very nice,
objective review with sample images from Canon's SD300, which is the same as
the SD200, except for an additional megapixel (and an additional $100 cost):

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canonsd300/

If you want to read about some of the SD200's contenders, look at the
recently reviewed cameras with similar specs:

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/

Let us know what you decide!

Dave