Pick my Digital Camera <= $500

[astroglide]

http://www.powershot.com/ most notably the S* (e.g. S60) subcompacts.

for reviews see dpreview.com

[wacki]

[ QUOTE ]
http://www.powershot.com/ most notably the S* (e.g. S60) subcompacts.

for reviews see dpreview.com

[/ QUOTE ]

Ya, I switch my vote to the powershot S series as well. When I bought my powershot A80 the resolution wasn't as good as I wanted it to be on the powershots S*. Now that the powershot S* are 4+ megapixels their compact size would make it a better choice. Having a camera that fits in your pocket is soooooooo nice.

Damn you astroglide! You always have the right answers!

[derick]

RED RAIN,

Thanks for helping me with my poker.
I know more about photography than I do about poker.

I have a Canon Powershot G5. It's my constant companion. It takes fabulous pictures has a flip out viewfinder and does video's as well. You can easily transfer pictures out through a USB connector or CF card reader. I take a couple thousand pictures a month. Highly recommended. You can use it as a point and shoot or have full manual control. It's a bit big and slightly more than $500 so it might be more camera than you want but this is a good thing if your interest in photography grows. The G5 has been recently replaced by the G6. The G6 is about $700.

You can pick up a used G6 for $489 here:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/cont...d&amp;Q=347912


A good site for learning about photography is http://www.photo.net

A place that won't scam you when you buy mailorder is http://www.bhphoto.com

derick

[mmbt0ne]

My mom just got this camera. It's $519 though, and I know that's technically out of your range, but if size isn't a huge factor for you, I love this one. Plus, it has some pretty nifty features like how it can take 5 pics in 1 sec just by holding down the button. And, if you turn the resolution down to 1, 2 or 3 MP you can capture 40 frames in a second. I don't know how much use this will be to you, but it was awesome to take paintball action-shots with.

[RED_RAIN]

I've seen this S series and have watched this for awhile. I do like them. Anyone have actual apperance? Does this fit in a pocket?

I looked at some of the super compacts but they just all seem to have reviews that aren't that great and/or the features.

Looking at:

S60: $368.89
S70: $433.89

I also gotta figure in batteries, case, memory, etc. How much and what do I need to get that doesn't come with it? I'd like to figure this into my overall price.

[derick]

Get a big CF card for memory.

If you're buying a 5 Mega pixel camera like a G5.
Buy a 1 Gig Sandisk Ultra.
The G5's rechargeable litium ion batteries are good for about 300 shots.
A 1 Gig CF card will hold about 300 shots.

This will let you shoot all day and not worry about batteries or memory.

You can pick up aftermarket batteries for the G5 on Ebay for $20.

[astroglide]

i use a pentax optio s because i wouldn't carry anything else. it fits in an altoids tin and takes fine pics for web/mail/slideshows. not as good as the s50 was when i bought it, but certainly better than the picture in my head because i didn't have a camera. i know i'm a big stickler about it though so i wouldn't recommend it over the sXX canons unless somebody hated carrying things.

it's like a small brick size. it can be pocketed but you wouldn't want to walk around with it unless you were headed somewhere to take pictures. batteries and case are pretty much up to you, and those take CF which isn't that expensive at all.

[RED_RAIN]

Between the:

S60: $368.89
S70: $433.89

Is the S70 worth the extra money? Is it just overkill on features that I won't really use when I'm not going to be really into printing muchless do I have an awesome printer (Epson Stylus Photo 820)?

[astroglide]

http://www.techbargains.com/news_displayItem.cfm/37330 - that's cheap

[Popinjay]

eh good deal on a not so good camera. i wouldn't get the ELPH series, they are small but not nearly that small anymore (compared to the Pentax Optios of the world) and dont have any advantage in image quality over their smaller brethren. If you want small, go real small. If you want quality, get the Panasonic I listed above.