it ain't frugal.....but I guess it's time for a digital camera

[Blackdog Lin]

(I think I'm gonna do a lot of sighing here - bear with me please.)

We're taking a big (for us) trip this spring. sigh. I don't wanna, even though DH is right, we need to go visit elderly family now, when we can enjoy visiting and loving them, rather than wondering about whether we should travel to attend their funeral(s) later. He's right. But doggone it, I've changed. The adventure of travel doesn't hold a candle to me now compared to the simple everyday pleasures of my house, my yard, my BED!, my DOG!.....sigh.

Anyway, we're still in the 35mm era of photo-taking, and for the trip (and beyond) I guess it's time to go digital. I don't have a clue. sigh again.

Requirements: SIMPLICITY! Point and click. Easy enough for an idiot to both use, and interface with their 'puter. Cheap - we're not much into photo-taking anymore, so don't want to spend much money. Neither need nor want bells and whistles. I guess we would want.....capacity? Need it to have the ability to hold a bunch of photos till I could upload them on the 'puter when we get home.

I don't even know enough about digital cameras to know if I'm explaining my requirements correctly. sigh. and sigh again.

Recommendations? Ideas on where to start researching? (bonus points to anyone who can help me talk myself into anticipating the trip.)

[pinkytoe]

DH's passion is photography and cameras. I can come up with a few models by asking him if you will tell me what your price limit is.

[Blackdog Lin]

Thanks, pinkytoe. I don't have a price limit per se - just want the most basic cheapest one that would do what we need it to. One that is simple to use, simple to upload/interface with my home computer (something I really didn't want to have to learn - but it will be good for me, I guess, to have to learn something new), and one that has a (memory card?) that would hold enough (data? photos?) to wait till we got it home to upload. Ten days of awesome western United States and Pacific Ocean photos.

I appreciate your offer - tell DH we're the newbiest of the newbies to digital photography, and not very technology-savvy to boot.

Okay, price-point: couldn't I find something $150.00/and below? (or are you laughing about now? I haven't researched this at all yet.)

[iris lily]

Oh I'm sure that you can find a point and shoot camera for $150. Digital cameras ARE frugal because you can take so many photos but get rid of the 90% that aren't what you want.

[Tradd]

Blackdog, just go to Target or Walmart and look at what they have. Then go to Amazon for reviews. I've had several Canon SureShots I loved.

This time of year with all the sales, you should be able to find something good for about $100.

[pinkytoe]

If you want good quality, DH said stick with simple Canon, Panasonic or Sony point and shoot models (ie no extra lenses) available at places like Best Buy. He recommended the Canon S-100 (Sure Shot) specifically. He suggested dpreview.com to compare and check ratings on different models. The larger memory sticks (2 GB) like you want are sold separately since the ones that come with the camera only hold a small amount. Also take backup batteries on your trip - whatever kind your camera uses. On many a trip out in the boonies, he discovered that the hard way.

[Tradd]

Blackdog, to make things easier on the batteries, see if the Canon SureShots still require AA batteries. That makes batteries easier to come by. The Energizer Lithium work very well. Memory cards are relatively inexpensive, so you should be able to pick up a larger sized one without too much extra expense.

[peggy]

Oh I'm sure that you can find a point and shoot camera for $150. Digital cameras ARE frugal because you can take so many photos but get rid of the 90% that aren't what you want.

+1 I love my digital camera! You save so much on film and development, especially, if like me, if you aren't a perfect photographer. With a digital, you take several shots of the same thing, and from different angles, so you are sure to get the best shot of that sunset/elk/mountain, etc...then simply go through them at your leisure and delete all but the best, like IL says.

[Alan]

+1 I love my digital camera! You save so much on film and development, especially, if like me, if you aren't a perfect photographer. With a digital, you take several shots of the same thing, and from different angles, so you are sure to get the best shot of that sunset/elk/mountain, etc...then simply go through them at your leisure and delete all but the best, like IL says.
Count me in agreement as well. I've had several small point & shoot digital cameras, chosen mostly by price and size and they worked wonderfully for me. Except for the time several years ago when my wife and I were boating with the dolphins in Florida. I must have taken 50 shots at the dolphins as they leapt over the boat's wake but never got even one decent picture due to the lag time between the camera's click and capture sequence.

After that, I got a big body Nikon DSLR camera and have been very happy. It was expensive but I've now taken thousands of memorable pics with it at no additional expense.

[Float On]

For a little camera that I carry around in my purse all the time, I have a little canon powershot sx/150 (14.1mp). I use lithium batteries in it and it holds its power well, I can go weeks to months without needing to replace batteries (and I use it a lot). Its been a good little camera and easy to use and has a great zoom. It also survived being 'latte'd' when my son spilt coffee in my purse and it sat there soaking. I got one of the boys a sony and it has a rechargeable battery pack and that thing will barely hold a charge over a day. My big cannons all have rechargeable batteries that hold their charge well.

[shadowmoss]

Buy a couple of memory cards, or plan to pick up extra as you go. Reasonably inexpensive, reusable once you download the current pictures from them. All in all cheaper than film and developing.

[fidgiegirl]

I second what others have said about Canons. I was very happy with mine.

I'd go with a camera like this one. (http://www.amazon.com/Canon-PowerShot-Stabilized-Wide-Angle-Recording/dp/B0075SUII4/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1355837968&sr=8-4&keywords=canon+sureshot+digital+camera)

Like Tradd said, I found AA batteries convenient when I had an older model of this one because I was traveling, camping - to places where I couldn't plug in the battery to recharge. If you are traveling to homes or hotels, you may prefer a different style of battery - a NiMH that can be recharged right in the camera. That's what I'd probably get now if I were buying a dedicated camera.

You will need:
- Camera
- Spare batteries if AA. I don't usually buy them, but when I have used them, I've found that the electronics-specific AAs do last longer. They are more $$ though.
- Case unless you have something around you can repurpose, or put it in your purse
- An SD card (http://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Flash-SDHC-Memory-SDSDB-016G/dp/B001W1BSM0/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1355838308&sr=1-1&keywords=16GB+sd+card)to expand the memory. For your purposes, 16 is probably waaaaaay too much, but heck, you'll never run out of room and it's only $11.

When you get the camera, figure out or have someone show you how to (not in order of importance):
- Turn the flash on and off
- Change and charge the battery
- Switch between displaying the photo on the viewfinder and taking a new photo
- Where to insert the SD card
- How to download the photos to your computer. What kind of a computer do you have?
- How do take brief videos! That's fun stuff!
- Set the camera to take the highest resolution photos. That's where having the 16GB card will be handy. That way you can be guaranteed that they will be print-quality files. One time I went to Hawaii and didn't notice that somehow we had switched the camera to E-MAIL QUALITY file size. I was not a happy camper when I got my prints back!!!! They were very grainy as e-mail quality is the smallest, and therefore crappiest in prints.

Then there's the next step of having them printed once you have them taken! I like Walgreens.com for quicky prints because we can pick them up in the store and Shutterfly for nicer prints that are mailed to the house. You can upload them right to their site from home. Places like Walgreens and Target also have a terminal where you can bring in the whole setup and the staffers will help you pull the photos off to make prints.

What other questions do you have now that you've received a bit of advice? Anything sparked for you, or confused?

[catherine]

I'm assuming you're not going to be in the market for a smartphone any time soon? I have a Canon digital camera that I LOVE but I never use it anymore, because phones take such great pictures these days and it's just one thing to carry around!

However, if that's not an option, the camera in the link below (I can't get it to link properly here) is an example of the many good ones you can get for under $100

http://www.amazon.com/Canon-PowerShot-Stabilized-Wide-Angle-Recording/dp/B0075SUHQC/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1355838797&sr=8-2&keywords=camera

[CathyA]

Of all the modern conveniences I love, the digital cameras are one of my favorites! (But then you'll need a software program like Zoombrowser, etc.).
I have a small camera and a larger one. The small camera is probably at least 10 years old. Its a Canon Power Shot A80. There have been many newer models, but I totally love this one, and use it all the time. You can even take videos with it, if you put in a large enough memory card. It only has 4.0 megapixels, but still does a great job of making beautiful, clear pictures.
We've always bought canon and love that brand. Do a little research and and you can probably find a decent, less expensive one at a place like Target. Don't go as cheap as possible, but also no need to go really expensive.
Let us know what you decide.

[CathyA]

P.S. Blackdog Lin........don't forget to buy a battery charger for the batteries too. You don't want to go to take that perfect shot, and not have enough juice!

[pinkytoe]

smartphone
DH also told me to consider an i-phones as they take wonderful pics.

[SteveinMN]

Great advice all around. You should easily be able to do what you want for under $150 for everything; probably under $100 if you shop carefully.

A few points I haven't seen yet:
- Get a camera that uses the SD memory card format (or microSD or a similar variant). Lots of devices take SD cards; not so many take Memory Sticks or XD cards. If you have a mobile phone and it uses a memory card, consider getting the same format card; that way you can use the card elsewhere if you want.
- It sounds tempting to buy a larger-capacity memory card and not have to deal with keeping track of the darn things. But if you're not going to be able to transfer your pictures to a computer or prints righy away, and if the card gets corrupted, you could lose far more pictures on a larger-capacity card than you could on a smaller-capacity card. Similarly, if the only card you're using is in the camera and it gets smashed or stolen, then all your pictures are gone, too. Neither corruption nor damage nor loss are very common, but if the pictures are irreplaceable, it's worth a little to limit your losses.
- Don't be chasing pixels. A camera in this range that has 14 megapixels is not necessarily better than one that has "only" 12.

I've had Canon point-and-shoots and liked them a lot, too. I'd stick with a main camera brand -- Canon, Nikon, Sonly, even Olympus and pass on brands like Insignia, Polaroid, GE. I'd also be a little wary of Kodak given the financial state of the company.

And, by all means, if your mobile phone has a camera and a flash, think about how much you want just a separate camera.

[JaneV2.0]

Given a choice, I'd have a vewfinder. It's literally impossible to frame a picture in bright sunlight using an LCD. I'd also have easy battery replacement/recharging. I have an older Fuji Finepix, and I have to take the battery out and put it in a special charger. I'd much prefer to use double As or some other method. I could carry a fully-charged spare, I guess. When I replace it, I'll get something with more powerful zoom and solid image stabilization.

[Dhiana]

I'm assuming you're not going to be in the market for a smartphone any time soon? I have a Canon digital camera that I LOVE but I never use it anymore, because phones take such great pictures these days and it's just one thing to carry around!

However, if that's not an option, the camera in the link below (I can't get it to link properly here) is an example of the many good ones you can get for under $100

http://www.amazon.com/Canon-PowerShot-Stabilized-Wide-Angle-Recording/dp/B0075SUHQC/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1355838797&sr=8-2&keywords=camera

+1 Loved my Canon Powershot but no longer use it because my smartphone takes great photos.

[Blackdog Lin]

My goodness - thank you all! So much to think about.

I have a stupidphone, and no plans to upgrade, so we'll use the camera - but we don't have occasions to take photos much anymore, which is why I don't want to overspend on it. For our purposes, I think one that just uses AA batteries would be smartest. And an additional memory card. And a name brand like Canon.

Give me a couple days to take notes on all your suggestions and do some research.....I'm off to Amazon!

[CathyA]

I have a stupidphone too Blackdog Lin! And I'm happy with it. :)

[Blackdog Lin]

Additional question: upon checking, I see I have Windows Live Photo Gallery already loaded on my 'puter. I've never even opened the program till just now. It has icons to upload from a camera, organize, print etc. For my very very basic purposes, wouldn't that be enough of a program to allow me to organize here at home? I imagine I will want to ultimately take my (memory card?) to Walgreens for printing of the photos we want hard copies of. How does that work? Where do I delete the images I don't want? Here or at Walgreens?

I feel so stupid.....but I can learn!

[fidgiegirl]

You don't actually *have* to have any special program. You can simply organize your photos into files just like your other documents.

You would delete images off of a memory card using the camera itself. There is probably some kind of "delete all" somewhere in the menu of the camera.

[SteveinMN]

For my very very basic purposes, wouldn't [Windows Live Photo Gallery] be enough of a program to allow me to organize here at home?
It should be fine. Kelli is correct in that you can treat your memory card like any other folder. But I like seeing larger images as I decide to keep or toss. Some stuff that I don't see on the 3" camera viewfinder is quite apparent on a 15" screen. :0!


I imagine I will want to ultimately take my (memory card?) to Walgreens for printing of the photos we want hard copies of. How does that work? Where do I delete the images I don't want? Here or at Walgreens?

I feel so stupid.....but I can learn!
I'm not sure whose machines Walgreen's has. Today I stopped at a CVS for a quick print on one of their Kodak machines. A touchscreen walks you through what you want to do (prints, enlargements, calendars, coffee mugs, family crests, and whatever-all other options) and then tells you when to insert the card in the machine (it has all the slots for any memory card format you'll have). You can then either browse and select specific pictures or look at all the pictures on the card. Pick the image(s) you want to print, choose to do some light editing (like get rid of redeye and crop the picture), choose the print size, and wait for prints. In fact, the editing options on the machine probably will substitute for Windows Live Photo Gallery for the pictures you print (you'll need WLPG for the ones which will remain electronic).

Oh, and no one is born knowing this stuff. Ansel Adams himself would have to take a few minutes in front of the picture machine to figure it out. So don't feel stupid!

[Tradd]

Option for Walgreen's. Upload your photos to their site and then print from there at the store.

I like Picasa (Google). Especially if you're going this big trip and want to share your pics with others. You can then actually choose to print the photos you want prints of at Walgreens.

[Blackdog Lin]

Cool. Ok, kinda have a sense of what's involved here now, and I can't thank you enough. Headed to Wal-Mart today to browse, but will probably just take notes and then peruse Amazon for reviews, along with the tips y'all have given me.

[mtnlaurel]

I just wanted to use your thread to mourn my first maybe second generation Kodak digital camera that sat on a docking station to both charge and download the pix....
It's never been the same for me since that one broke after YEARS of abuse and finally being held together with duct-tape (we took it on outside adventures a lot).
I have been a total Luddite with every other camera we've had. :(
I'm looking forward to coming back and reading this thread all the way through to learn something.

[reader99]

(I think I'm gonna do a lot of sighing here - bear with me please.)

We're taking a big (for us) trip this spring. sigh. I don't wanna, even though DH is right, we need to go visit elderly family now, when we can enjoy visiting and loving them, rather than wondering about whether we should travel to attend their funeral(s) later. He's right. But doggone it, I've changed. The adventure of travel doesn't hold a candle to me now compared to the simple everyday pleasures of my house, my yard, my BED!, my DOG!.....sigh.

Anyway, we're still in the 35mm era of photo-taking, and for the trip (and beyond) I guess it's time to go digital. I don't have a clue. sigh again.

Requirements: SIMPLICITY! Point and click. Easy enough for an idiot to both use, and interface with their 'puter. Cheap - we're not much into photo-taking anymore, so don't want to spend much money. Neither need nor want bells and whistles. I guess we would want.....capacity? Need it to have the ability to hold a bunch of photos till I could upload them on the 'puter when we get home.

I don't even know enough about digital cameras to know if I'm explaining my requirements correctly. sigh. and sigh again.

Recommendations? Ideas on where to start researching? (bonus points to anyone who can help me talk myself into anticipating the trip.)

I bought a digital camera at WalMart for $40, plus the memory card was $10. It will hold more pics than I'll ever take and came with a cord to upload them to my laptop. I don't print pics anymore, just enjoy them digitally. It is frugal because it's a one time purchase, no more film and developing costs

[shadowmoss]

If you get one of those digital picture frames that holds the memory card you can use it to sit and scroll through the pictures to show others. No printing needed.

[iris lily]

I don't print photos any more on paper because I just don't get around to it.

Technically I intend to keep photographs in paper form, but in reality it just doesn't happen. Everything on my computer is sort of "temporary." That reminds me, I should probably print out the few that I would like to keep forever.

[Rogar]

I have bought and sold more fancy cameras than you could shake a stick at and have had a little photo business on the side. I think Nikon Coolpix, Canon Powershot, and what ever the comparable Sony versions are the brand standards. You probably want to get a camera with a zoom lens and just about any other name brand like Panasonic, Olympus, or Pentax in the $100-$200 price range is going to be a very nice camera. Technology is amazing these days and those are all decent brands. Most will come with software to do simple photo manipulation. If you have a color home printer, it's possible all you will need is some photo paper to do nice prints.

[Blackdog Lin]

We spent 10 minutes perusing the digitals in Wal-Mart today. I focused on a cool little Fugi for $69.00, and of course DH spent all his time on a $99.00 Cannon. Didn't have notes from this thread written down, so was unable to really look at the details we might should look for, all I could remember was that I wanted one that used AA batteries (for various reasons, this is the most practical for us). They're all SO SMALL - shiny.

What was VERY SHINY to both of us was that you can actually test out and see what the cameras are like, right there at the store. They are all hooked up to power, and we could both pick up a camera, find the ON button, and see how it worked, what kind of viewfinder it had, how easy it might be to use. I figured out the zoom and the menu on the Fugi in a minute - and helped DH figure out much about the Cannon in a couple minutes more. We had fun looking.

Definitely gonna buy one for our trip, just the details of which one remain. Now that I have a price-range idea (we can get everything we might need as beginners for $120/or less), next step is Amazon research. I'll keep you posted. Once again, you guys rock my world with your advice and help.....