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Sathos

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 30, 2005
113
0
Alberta, Canada
I've lately been into digital photography; not really seriously yet, but I enjoy picking up my parent's digital camera and going around taking pictures, uploading them to my PowerBook, and playing around with them a bit in photoshop elements. However, my parent's camera is fairly high end and I find it to be quite bulky and annoying to carry around. Also, they won't let me leave the house with it. So I was wondering if there is a decent digital camera for someone just wanting to get used to digital cameras. Easy to carry around, light, preferably in the $100-$150 range. If you know of any upcoming models, I'm open to suggestions for those as well, as it will likely be quite a long time before I get around to buying one (heading into college soon, isn't cheap). Thank you for your time!
 

Abstract

macrumors Penryn
Dec 27, 2002
24,836
848
Location Location Location
Well you're talking about $150-200 Canadian, right? That's not a lot.

If you're interested in getting into photography using a digital camera, but don't want to spend much money, I suggest getting a Canon A80/A85/A95 on sale somewhere. They're good cameras, have lots of manual features, and are easy to use. :)
 

efoto

macrumors 68030
Nov 16, 2004
2,624
0
Cloud 9 (-6)
Abstract said:
Well you're talking about $150-200 Canadian, right? That's not a lot.

If you're interested in getting into photography using a digital camera, but don't want to spend much money, I suggest getting a Canon A80/A85/A95 on sale somewhere. They're good cameras, have lots of manual features, and are easy to use. :)

Seconded. A ton of my friends have one of those Canon A-- model cameras and love them to death. They have manual features for when you want to learn and explore, but have great auto feature sets as well for when you just want to focus on capturing without tweaking everything.

I'm not sure they are in your pricerange as I haven't looked at them in a while, but if you save up you certainly won't be disappointed ;)
 

efoto

macrumors 68030
Nov 16, 2004
2,624
0
Cloud 9 (-6)
Sathos said:
Canon A--, ok, I'll remember that. Thanks for the info! :D

I chose to consolidate, he wrote it out....I suppose copy/paste isn't that hard....

"....one of those Canon A80/A85/A95 model cameras...."

Happy? :rolleyes: :p
 

seenew

macrumors 68000
Dec 1, 2005
1,569
1
Brooklyn
My friend has an A-95, and he is very pleased with it. 5MP is a great resolution for someone just starting out, and the manual features + movie abilites are nice, too. The flip-out LCD is very convenient as well.
 

-hh

macrumors 68030
Jul 17, 2001
2,550
336
NJ Highlands, Earth
Sathos said:
Canon A--, ok, I'll remember that. Thanks for the info! :D


I think that most of Canon's P&S that use AA batteries probably have an "A--" name sequence to them.

Our digital P&H is the A80 ... 4MP. Its since been discontinued; IIRC its replacement is the A85.

My Mom (age 76) just got the A520, which is also 4MP. The main differences that I see between it and our "old" A80 are:

Flash Media: (SD vs CF)
Batteries (2 AA vs 4 AA)
One or two modes (looks like more white balance controls)
LCD screen (non-adjustable vs adjustable)


The first two of these make the A520 a physically smaller camera. Since battery life is pretty good on the A80, I don't think that the reduction to 2 will be a real issue with the A520.

The third, more modes, is a nice-to-have. I have Photoshop, so its not a particularly big shortcoming for the A80's lacks.

The last item - the adjustability of the LCD screen - I noticed very quickly as noteworthy for me: I've gotten very spoiled by the A80's double hinge joint that allows the LCD to be turned every which way. It wasn't until I played with Mom's A520 that lacks it that I realized how much I use it and take advantage of not having to always having an eyeball nearly directly in the focal plane line. I'd definitely look for & buy this feature on our next P&S.


-hh
 

Sathos

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 30, 2005
113
0
Alberta, Canada
seenew said:
My friend has an A-95, and he is very pleased with it. 5MP is a great resolution for someone just starting out, and the manual features + movie abilites are nice, too. The flip-out LCD is very convenient as well.

This one sounds perfect. Is the LCD adjustable, or stationary? I like to be able to turn it around so I can take pictures of stuff behind me and actually see the screen to make sure I'm aiming the camera at the right spot :eek:
 
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