So for my Birthday today my GF game some options on presents since she knows i'm picky. one of the them was a digital camera to replace my 10 yearold cannon brick.

Although I took photography in HS years ago i'm not going to try and pretend to be cool and jump on the camera bandwagon as I dont want to carry that to the track, or camping. Just looking for suggestion a relativley "frugal" digital cameras with a decent optical zoom as I could care less about digital zoom is it is a POS. And something that I might be able to take track shots too.

I was looking around on www.tigerdirect.com and www.newegg.com Any suggestions would be great

 

I like these canons nice shutter speed and good useability + they run on AA's so you nvr need to worry about finding a place to plug in your charger.
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Canon+-+...&skuId=9454994
http://www.amazon.com/Canon-PowerSho...7917713&sr=8-1 <-- i got my sister thisone cause she is a newb and needed a good camera. she has done some nice pics with it. + it was onsale for like 120 bucks

 

It's funny, camera phones are getting so good that I've basically stopped using my P&S. I'm either using my Nikon D50 when I'm serious, or just taking snapshots with my Droid Incredible.

 

I dont like smart phones. I like being off the internet.




that first cannon is one of the ones I was looking at.

Maybe I should just take the cash and put it towards a Rollbar lol.

 

I have a Sony DSC7 for my P&S. Use it regularly for work too.

 

the second one is a real good camera it just doesnt have the optics of the first. All in al if you dont need the extra zoom i would get the second one.

 

I bought my wife the exact camera in Magna's first reply...and it's been ABSOLUTELY great. Good photos, good battery life, and they're AAs so easy to carry two extra. I use rechargables and it's been the easiest system to keep going we've got.

So easy my wife can use it, and a few things you can play with yourself.

[img]stupidstilldogpic...will look for trackday pics[/img]

 

http://www.kenrockwell.com/canon/s90.htm

 

Cannon for the win. We have two in our family that have been dead reliable. I like the AA batteries too. You always seem to run out of battery at inconvenient times and you can get AA's everywhere.

I had a Nikon Coolpix for a while too, I dropped it once when sitting in a chair on our tile floor and it literally exploded. I've dropped the cannons a whole bunch at they have lasted well. One is even surviving after being tapped to an R/C car and jumped.

 

i'm torn I'd like a longer lense to be able to capture autoX/Track shots but dont want to be encumbered by the lens, even more so if i am out hiking.

The S90 looks interesting, but probably higher than I want spend right now.

 

This is actually the one that my wife has...previous gen, most of the same features and capabilities, and the price has come down a good bit sense.

The lense is really good. I need to get some pics off of it, but the zoom works much better than the pocket point and shoots.

http://www.google.com/products/catal...d=0CDwQ8wIwAg#

 

I picked up a Canon Elph SD1110 for $115 delivered and got another battery for $8. The batteries last forever. It shoots excellent video too at 640x480 30fps. It'll put an hour of video at that rate/rez on a 4gb card. It's small enough to fit in your pocket, light enough to mount on the roll bar, and at the price it wouldn't be the end all if it got crunched.

 

The S90 is pretty much the best pocket camera around for the price.

If you want something cheaper and smaller, just run your finger down the Canon product list for point and shoots until you hit the price/features point you need. I have an SD1100IS that works well for when I dont want to lug around an SLR.

 

lol i forgot about the ebay

some decent prices.

 

Another option you might consider is the Panasonic line.

They've partnered with Zeiss for lens technology, and have very solid software and sensors. The Leica point and shoots are really panasonic camera's.

They've got a couple decent camera's in the middle price range.

 

+1 Canons
They seem to have the best pic quality among P&S's.

 

I've had great success with our olympus water proof camera. The wife lost and we both liked it enough that we're getting another one.

 

++++ on the Canon S90

I have a Pana Lumix LX-3 which used to be the standard for competent point and shoots until the S90 came out. I bought my GF one for her birthday and the picture quality betters the Lumix by a good margin.

While it's no DLSR, it's ability to control noise thanks to it's huge (by consumer/commodity camera standards) sensor gives it a decisive advantage over the point and shoot market.

I still have resisted trading up to an S90 from my Lumix though - the Panasonic has a superior IMO interface if you prefer manual shooting.

-Zach

 

If you are thinking about a bit more than a pocket p&s, look at the Canon SX10 or SX20. The 20 is newer, as it replaced the 10, but they're pretty much the same and the 10 can be picked up used/refurbished for a good bit less. The zoom is VERY useful, but it's not too big. I use the older brother, the S5, and I'm sure you've seen some of the pics I post on here that I've taken with it (including my sig pic).

Whatever you get, make sure it has a viewfinder so you don't look like a cockmaster by holding the camera aaway from your face to take pictures.

 

I've got this one as well.

It's bombproof and takes decent shots. Panasonic gives up the durability of the Olympus but takes better shots...actually, more consistent shots.