Buying Digital Camera

[ashu888ashu888]

Hey guys, I wanna buy a Digital camera and my price range is from Rs.5000-8000/-

I will use this cam solely for clicking clear and good quality pictures at high as well as low resolutions. Video recording is not my priority but atleast a 4-5 minutes of Video shud be recorded by the camera.

The Cam shud hv a charger facility to recharge it and shud not make use of ONLY Batterries. If the Cam has an option of both charger as well as Batterries, then its well and good but if not then i will prefer a Digital camera with a charger facility. It shud hv a USB cable option so tat i can transfer the pics from the camera to my PC and then send it by mail to my friends. It shud hv a Zoom facility along with a driver CD for s/wares to install, resize the images and send it in jpeg format (via mail).

So please help me guys as to wat brand, model, make shud i go for...


Cheers n e-peace....

[ashu888ashu888]

Hey guys please help me out abt my querry, Please its urgent...

Cheers n e-peace.....

[hafees]

You can buy a descent 3mega pixel camera from a good brand like Kodak, canon etc. Techcom offers 5 mp camera for almost this price range.

Look for some optical zoom. atleast 2x. dont go after Mega pixels. You never need resolutions > 3MPs for normal printing. I used to click @ 1MP in my sony p100(5MP) . So opt for optical zoom and other features instead of just going for MP ratings.

[ashu888ashu888]

I will prefer goin for a SONY or a CANON so please tell me if they provide chargers and/or batteries in the price range as mentioned above...

Wat abt the guarantee/ warranty that i will get ? please if any of u guys can giv me a detailed reply then it will be really helpful...

Cheers n e-peace.....

go for Canon A400, it's enough for home usage. Buy the SD Memory card according to your requirments

[janitha]

You can get a fairly good idea by visiting www.jjmehta.com regarding the approximate prices of various brands and models as well as detailed specifications. But check to see whether they offer company warranty or their own warranty for 3 months. Personally I have never bought from them but I am sure you will find their site very useful.

For casual photos with good quality, a 3 or 3.2 MP camera with about 3.2X Optical Zoom from a brand like Canon, Sony or Kodak will suffice I think. The prices for the said brands will generally be in the decreasing order and quality the other way around. And never give any consideration to the Digital Zoom.
Happy shooting!

V.Prem Kumar

[ravimevcha]

i have Nikon CoolPix 7200
it have good functionality and Picture quality is pretty good.. also it has Video recording too.

[tuxfan]

IMO, Nikon camera are the best. See which one fits in your price range and pick up that one. I think some 4MP camera should come in your budget. Or may be even 5200 could fit.

Coolpix 7200 must be out of his budget.

[janitha]

Originally Posted by tuxfan

IMO, Nikon camera are the best. See which one fits in your price range and pick up that one. I think some 4MP camera should come in your budget. Or may be even 5200 could fit.

Coolpix 7200 must be out of his budget.

I too have a Nikon Coolpix 5700 brought about 3-4 years back for Rs.50000?-. (grey market price then) Of course it gives very good results and it has an 8X optical Zoom which was a rarity then. But I personally prefer Canon over Nikon. And I have been using different models of Canon film SLRs for more than 25 years. (BTW I am not at all a pro photographer).
And I think the Coolpix will not fit in the budget mentioned.

V.Prem Kumar

[Ramakrishnan]

there will be either dry cell batteries or rechargeable batteries. You may not get good quality videos with digital cameras. For that you have to buy video cameras. A good camera should have lot of presets. In digital cameras power usage is an issue. So give careful thought to these. Also the bundled memory(mostly 32MB or 16MB) is not enough. You have to buy cards also. These cost money in the region of Rs.1000 for every 128MB. Visit JJMehta at Dadar if you are from Mumbai. They have got a website also.

[janitha]

Originally Posted by Ramakrishnan

there will be either dry cell batteries or rechargeable batteries. You may not get good quality videos with digital cameras. For that you have to buy video cameras. A good camera should have lot of presets. In digital cameras power usage is an issue. So give careful thought to these. Also the bundled memory(mostly 32MB or 16MB) is not enough. You have to buy cards also. These cost money in the region of Rs.1000 for every 128MB. Visit JJMehta at Dadar if you are from Mumbai. They have got a website also.

Good suggestions. But what do you mean by "A good camera should have lot of presets." Do you mean settings? If so, too many settings will confuse a beginner and cause inconvenience for one who is not very seriously into photography. For an average user, a good camera with simple and not too many controls will be ideal IMHO. And such models are available.

V.Prem Kumar

[ashu888ashu888]

Thanx for all ur helpful and detailed replies

I will Visit jjmehta as im located in mumbai, goin thru all ur replies, i will check if the Nikon Coolpix fits my budget or not and will go accordingly

@ janitha
Thanx for the site, it is really helpful

BTW, i will post my results/confusions after goin thru that site and also taking into account the usage of Nikon over Canon


Cheers n e-peace....

[janitha]

Originally Posted by ashu888ashu888

Thanx for all ur helpful and detailed replies

I will Visit jjmehta as im located in mumbai, goin thru all ur replies, i will check if the Nikon Coolpix fits my budget or not and will go accordingly

@ janitha
Thanx for the site, it is really helpful

BTW, i will post my results/confusions after goin thru that site and also taking into account the usage of Nikon over Canon


Cheers n e-peace....

But I never knew Mumbai was " between EARTH and MARS"

V.Prem Kumar

[Ramakrishnan]

Originally Posted by janitha

Good suggestions. But what do you mean by "A good camera should have lot of presets." Do you mean settings? If so, too many settings will confuse a beginner and cause inconvenience for one who is not very seriously into photography. For an average user, a good camera with simple and not too many controls will be ideal IMHO. And such models are available.

V.Prem Kumar

By presets, I meant the settings which are ready-made by the manufacturers for dummy users who don't have much knowledge. For example, for clicking sunsets, there will be a preset called sunset, for portraits a preset called portrait etc. For clicking sunset, just select sunset and shoot. everything will be taken care of. The more the presets are, the more value you will get. This I am writing from experience.

[ashu888ashu888]

Ramakrishnan wrote:

By presets, I meant the settings which are ready-made by the manufacturers for dummy users who don't have much knowledge. For example, for clicking sunsets, there will be a preset called sunset, for portraits a preset called portrait etc. For clicking sunset, just select sunset and shoot. everything will be taken care of. The more the presets are, the more value you will get. This I am writing from experience.

Wich Digital Camera offers that option ?? Yup i want a simple camera with not much fuzz abt the settings, it shud jus clik and i will be able to mail it to my family members so Please tell me wich is the camera wich has an in-built options like the one u hv mentioned.

1.) I also inquired abt Kodak Cameras, so the shopkeeper told me that it uses Alkaline batteries and the charger costs an extra Rs. 700/- and the charger will recharge the alkaline batteries wich can be used in the camera, so are the Alkaline batteries safe for use in Camera (after they are recharged) or is there a chance of leakage from the batteries?

2.) Is there any camera wich Do not uses Alkaline batteries and i jus hv to charge a Li-ion battery (same as in cell fone) and use it wen its fully charged?

Help guys.....


Cheers n e-peace.....

[Ramakrishnan]

see http://www.jjmehta.com/products/canon_a520.html
http://www.jjmehta.com/pricelist/can...al_pricing.htm
Like I told you cards cost a lot. For Rs.15,000 Canon A520 is very much worth for beginners. If you don't want to spend that much money, go for canon A410. you can use non-rechargeable alkaline batteries like Eveready, etc. which is available for about Rs.10. That will save you Rs.700/-. Anyway, They are giving a package offer which includes all(as per their website)

Good Luck

[janitha]

Originally Posted by Ramakrishnan

see http://www.jjmehta.com/products/canon_a520.html
http://www.jjmehta.com/pricelist/can...al_pricing.htm
Like I told you cards cost a lot. For Rs.15,000 Canon A520 is very much worth for beginners. If you don't want to spend that much money, go for canon A410. you can use non-rechargeable alkaline batteries like Eveready, etc. which is available for about Rs.10. That will save you Rs.700/-. Anyway, They are giving a package offer which includes all(as per their website)

Good Luck

Canon 410 will be a good choice but may be a little above the price range mentioned in the original question. (jjmeta is offering it at Rs.7500 but I think it is without the company warranty and only 3 months warranty from their side. I am not sure though)

Then about the 'presets' mentioned by Ramakrishnan, I think such settings are available in almost all modern mid-range digicams.

And about cameras having non-rechargeable alkaline batteries, you can very well buy Ni-Mh ( Nickel Metal Hydride) batteries and a charger which will be very economical in the long run. Take care not to buy Ni-Cd (Nickel Cadmium) batteries.

V.Prem Kumar.

[ashu888ashu888]

@ Ramakrishnan @ janitha

Thanx for ur replies, i think i will go for Canon Powershot A410 (3.2 Megapixel) wich is priced at Rs.7500/- (incl. of 2 yrs warranty from Canon India) as tat seems to be a good bet considering the fact tat im a beginner so it will be more than sufficient for me.

BTW, can u tell me approx. how much will a 64, 128 and 256 MB SD card will cost? and how much pictures can it hold? Also, I guess the Ni-Mh batterries are rechargable (using the charger wich is being provided with the kit), Right !

Cheers n e-peace.....

[Ramakrishnan]

usually a 128 Mb SD card will cost about Rs.1000-1500 and increasing in this proportion(for every 128 MB). If you want to record video also, go in for a larger capacity card. usually photos with 3 mp will be about 1 mb in size. so with the supplied memory you may not able to take more than 25-30 pictures.

[ashu888ashu888]

@ Ramakrishnan

Thanx a lot for ur reply it helped me alot thanx again. I wil be ckicling only pictures from my cam so video recording is not my priority as of now.

Cheers n e-peace....

[janitha]

Originally Posted by ashu888ashu888

@ Ramakrishnan

Thanx a lot for ur reply it helped me alot thanx again. I wil be ckicling only pictures from my cam so video recording is not my priority as of now.

Cheers n e-peace....

Size of the picture file will depend not only on the Megapixel of the CCD, but also the quality/resolution at which you take the pictures. In short, if you want only post card or maxi sized photos, you wont need a very high capacity memory card. May be 128 MB will do.

V.Prem Kumar

[ashu888ashu888]

@ janitha

Thanx for the advice
Yup as i hv already seen wat resolutions the Canon Powershot A410 offers so i will hv no problem in setting the resolutions that it offers.

I will also take a pair of NiMH rechargeable batterries priced at Rs. 125/piece (as per jjmehta site and sold separately) and also the Camelion Standard charger (sold separately).

BTW, are the 2 AA Alkaline batterries (not NiMH batterries, as they are jus mentioned as 2 AA Alkaline) wich are supplied by the Canon Powershot A410 digicam, Rechargeable? (using the charger)


Cheers n e-peace.....

[reddragon]

well , I have to gift my cousin a GOOD LOOKING DIGITAL CAMERA(so that everyone can say WOW just looking at it) so I am thinking of Sony cybershot DSC T7 ( the thinnest model) or Nikon S4 . my budget is sub 20k . so what u suggest ?

[janitha]

Originally Posted by ashu888ashu888

@ janitha

Thanx for the advice
Yup as i hv already seen wat resolutions the Canon Powershot A410 offers so i will hv no problem in setting the resolutions that it offers.

I will also take a pair of NiMH rechargeable batterries priced at Rs. 125/piece (as per jjmehta site and sold separately) and also the Camelion Standard charger (sold separately).

BTW, are the 2 AA Alkaline batterries (not NiMH batterries, as they are jus mentioned as 2 AA Alkaline) wich are supplied by the Canon Powershot A410 digicam, Rechargeable? (using the charger)


Cheers n e-peace.....

Never Ever try to charge an Alkaline battery, unless you are sure that it is rechargeable. Why not use it, dispose of it and use Ni-Mh with charger?

My experience with Camelion was not good. You may better buy some other well known brand.

V.Prem Kumar

[ashu888ashu888]

@ janitha

So u mean that NiMH )rechargeable) and Alkaline batterries, both are not safe! Or NiMH are safe (to be used again and again by recharging it with charger) ? Please clarify. Also wat is the other charger option other than a Camelion Charger suitable with the Canon Powershot A410 ?


@ reddragon

Yup u can see this for ur specifications: www.jjmehta.com/products/sony_t7.html and the price list also: http://www.jjmehta.com/pricelist/son...am_pricing.htm



Cheers n e-peace.....

[aadipa]

WoW.. DSC-H1 was not there on JJ Mehta's site till couple of days back, so I went to Vijay Sales and get it @ 25K with 3 years warranty.

Then went to JJ Mehta to take memory card and camera case, when I told them that this model is not listed on site.

Looks like they updated it promptly to include this model.

[janitha]

Originally Posted by ashu888ashu888

@ janitha

So u mean that NiMH )rechargeable) and Alkaline batterries, both are not safe! Or NiMH are safe (to be used again and again by recharging it with charger) ? Please clarify. Also wat is the other charger option other than a Camelion Charger suitable with the Canon Powershot A410 ?


@ reddragon

Yup u can see this for ur specifications: www.jjmehta.com/products/sony_t7.html and the price list also: http://www.jjmehta.com/pricelist/son...am_pricing.htm


Cheers n e-peace.....

Ni-Mh batteries are rechargeable and supposed to last 1000 charge/discharge cycles while alakline, as far as I know, is meant for one time use only. And reg. Camelion, I meant their batteries. And there are many better known brands of Ni-Mh batteries.

And for charging Ni-Mh, use only chargers meant for them and not the ordinary ones meant for Ni-Cd batteries.

V.Prem Kumar

[ashu888ashu888]

@ Prem Kumar (janitha)

Thanx alot Prem, well i got the point wat u wanted to tell me Now, according to ur personal flavour) wich are the better Ni MH batterries and also charger (brand/name) that i shud be lookin for (and buying also) other than Camelion brand (incl both, charger and battery). Please help me in this and i will be off to buy the digicam


Cheers n e-peace....

[janitha]

Originally Posted by ashu888ashu888

@ Prem Kumar (janitha)

Thanx alot Prem, well i got the point wat u wanted to tell me Now, according to ur personal flavour) wich are the better Ni MH batterries and also charger (brand/name) that i shud be lookin for (and buying also) other than Camelion brand (incl both, charger and battery). Please help me in this and i will be off to buy the digicam


Cheers n e-peace....

You can get brands like Sony, Sanyo, Panasonic with same brands of chargers in blister packs. Today when I was shopping for a similar digicam for my office use, I happened to see such a pack of Sony with 4 AA sized Ni-Mh batteries and charger. It was priced well below Rs.900.