Digital Camera around $500

[mitchell_loeber1]

A friend is looking for a digital camera around $500. She will be

traveling to India this year and wants the convenience of a digital

to send pics and so on. Any digitals in this price range worth it?

Where would she get the most bang for her buck. Preferably a camera

where exposure and so on could be manually adjusted.

[klix]

Whatever she gets, I would recommend one that takes CF cards and AA batteries, especially when travelling, since you can find them just about everywhere.

 

On that note, I highly recommend the Canon A80 for around $300.

[godfrey]

The Panasonic DMC-FZ10 is a good one to consider. This camera has an excellent Leica

design lens with a 12:1 zoom ratio (35mm to 420mm equivalent field of view) and built-in

image stabilization, captures a 4Mpixel resolution image, and is modest in size and

weight. It supports full featured operation: Program, Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority,

Manual exposure modes, manual or auto focus, and a variety of scene modes. The display

includes live histogram and alignment grid options.

 

It produces excellent quality photographs!

 

I paid $495 for mine and am very pleased with it. A new model, the FZ20, has been

announced as shipping in September with a few feature additions and performance

upgrades (5Mpixel, improved speed, etc).

 

Godfrey

[hyunyu]

The Canon A80 has been a Photo.net favorite recommend for some time. I use one at work, and have been very pleased with its compact size and good image quality (4 megapixels, 3x optical zoom).<p>

 

I just today helped a friend buy a complete package from Amazon.com:

<ul>

<li>Canon A80 camera

<li>SanDisk 256MB CF card (can store about 120 images at full resolution/highest quality, and around 220 at full resolution/second best quality)

<li>Sony NiMH charger with 4 x 2100mAh batteries

<li>A set of four Energizer 2100mAh batteries

<li>SanDisk USB2 CF reader

<li>Canon PSC-60 case

</ul>

The total came just over $400.<p>

 

B&H used to sell them up till two weeks ago for $270 or so, but they no longer carry it. My guess is that the A80 is nearing the end of its production cycle. Still $300 for the camera is not bad at all--it's still a great camera, come what may in the Fall (in terms of new cameras from Canon and others).

[eduardo2]

The fuji s7000 is also one to consider, 6MP, 12MP interpolated, AA batteries, Compact Flash compatible.

[jespdj]

Go to <a href="http://www.dpreview.com">dpreview.com</a>, compare cameras and make your choice.

[stwrtertbsratbs5]

Canon A80. And a backup manual film camera. Maybe even a medium format folder. Cheap and the detail will blow you away.

[david_fennema]

I'll add to the chorus: Canon A80. I bought it largely due to how widely it has been

praised here on pn. Got mine for $299, takes 4MP pics, can switch between fully

automatic and fully manual controls, decent zoom, nice color and sharpness,

wonderfully compact and easy to use, takes AA batteries. As far as I can tell, this

camera is the best bang for your buck under $500. Spend the extra cash on a large

memory card and rechargables. If your friend wants a few added features (like a hot

shoe), you probably can't go wrong with the next models up on the canon line: G4

and G5. Not quite as pocketable, though.

[david_fennema]

One more note about the A80:

 

They seem to be disappearing fast. All the usual websites have it on backorder, and

my local photo shops were out of stock. I had to buy it at one of the giant electronics

chain stores, unfortunately.

[lotsawa]

You have to think about memory. There are shops now in India (at least in the big cities) that print pictures from CF cards (or even other memory cards?) or can copy the card's content to a CD, but I don't know if you can find them everywhere, and it depends on where you friend stays in India.

 

So you might need some more memory cards (two or three 512 MB cards probably, depending on how many photos your friends shoots) or get an external storage device -- as, for example, the Archos Gemini 120 and 220 MP3 players with CF card interface. They should be about $200. There are also portable CD writers that can burn data from a CF card. Of course, this adds costs making it difficult to fit in your friend's budget.

 

Recharging batteries is usually no problem in India -- as long as there is no break down of electricity, which happens quite often in smaller towns and villages. So it might be a good idea to have a spare battery pack / accus. In the case of the Canon A80, you could still use AA batteries that are available everywhere in India.

[phule]

Another A80 vote :)

[J.W. Wall]

If not the A80, the S500 is great, S410 similar.