Good point and shoot for under $100?

[rachelyoung]

Hi,

 

I'd like to get a cheap point and shoot camera to take to places where the risk

of losing or damaging my camera is high. I need 3+ megapixels, exposure

compensation and an optical viewfinder. I'd like to spend less than $100.

 

I've done a few searches and come up with the Kodak C530 and C330. Any other

suggestions? The C530 is a fixed lens camera, no zoom, no autofocus, etc. As

a result the shutter lag is similar to that of a DSLR. Does anyone have

experience with a camera like that? Is the sharpness for shutter lag trade

worth it?

 

Thanks,

Rachel

[evan_goulet]

Why not go used and get more features?

[walter_degroot]

go on ebay and buy from the Olympus store. no risk and they have a warranty.

just keep bidding low 'till you win one.

no risk good products

[phule]

Buy something used. I purchased my 2MP Fuji for $35. It sucks in every way except price and reliability. I love it.

[mark_sam]

I might be tired but Rob's answer is the funniest thing I've read in a long while! More too that answer than one might first think; reliability is important.

[tommyinca]

You can get a re-furblish Fuji E550 for $97 at Amazon.com. Full manual with A/S priority options, 6MP, Very Usable ISO800, f2.8 at 32mm FOV (4X zoom), RAW option (need RAW converter, not the one that come with the Camera), Support optional Macro filters. This one can do a lot more then point and shoot.

[calculuspanda]

I've used a few fixed focus cameras before, all of them low end (is there any other kind?) and none of them recent. If it weren't for some proprietary transfer software, I'd probably still be using one of mine for the occational time my p/s decides to focus on the fence in front of the subject or something like that.

 

Anyway, in my out of date experience, the electronics on mine were quite slow. It would take seconds to turn on and off. Writing an image to memory took a good 10+ seconds, but it could take a few in a row. Lens suffers from vignetting. F/stops really suck, and as a result shutter speeds were generally low. Colours were generally poor. Battery life was also poor. Once again, there've probably been some improvements since my unnamed cameras.

 

Having SLR like lag is kind of pointless. If you're not ready when the moment happens, it'll be long past by the time the camera is ready. If you need to focus quickly because something is moving, you can pretty much be assured motion blur.

 

Oh and as a bit of a side story, I was sharing pictures in a chat room one day and someone kept insisting that I needed to spend more time practicing my focusing. After a few rounds of telling him that I couldn't since I had a fixed focus camera, I told him that focusing would require dismantling my camera and he became quite insulting. Anyway, it says something about the general image quality you can expect.

 

I agree with the advice about going used. A camera that's become cheap due to out of date electronics will usually out perform a camera that's been designed cheap to begin with. Unless there's things that work to the advantage of a fixed lens camera, look for something refurbished.

[dg1]

The E550 fuji was a good suggestion. IMO, and even better suggestion is the Fuji F700, available through amazon factory refurbished for as little as $85.00. I have 2 of them. Really sweet little camras, with all magnesium alloy bodies, SR sensors, shoots raw, light weight and will fit in a pocket, even an optical viewfinder. My favorite little camera, and was quite expensive when introduced at around $600.00. They come with a 90 day warranty from fujifilm.<div></div>

[davek57]

Don't forget TCO: total cost of ownership. Don't most of the Fuji cameras mentioned use pricey xD cards? Do they use proprietary lithium batteries? The Fujifilm F700 is very versatile, but uses these pricey accessories.

 

I'd be looking at digital cameras that use cheaper SD cards and rechargeable AA's. That's why I've held onto a little Pentax Optio S40. It's a capable 4MP picture taker that -- while not a great performer -- wouldn't break my heart if it got lost. A refurbished Kodak C633, with 3X zoom and 6MP, goes for about $100 on the kodak.com website, has the same warranty as new, and also uses cheaper SD cards and and AA's.

[tommyinca]

A 1GB xD card is ~$20. TCO for a Fuji+1GB xD is $120. Also a small detail, Fuji F700 is a 3MP camera (interpolated to 6MP) verse 6MP (interpolated to 12MP) for the E550. The good thing about Fuji is its sensor has DSLR like low ISO performace.