# OT What kind of camera do you have?



## badjenny (Mar 13, 2006)

I am shopping for a new camera and having a hard time deciding. I want something small, easy to use and in the $150 to $200 range.

I have my eye on the Canon Power Shot SD 1000










I am also eyeballing the EXILIM Z77










They seem very similar in features. Anyone have any experience with either one? Recommend something different?


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## jeffj (Jan 13, 2004)

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/read_opinions.asp?prodkey=canon_sd1000


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## chuky (Apr 3, 2005)

We use the Canon SD 800IS. The image quality is really high, imo.
http://www.flickr.com/cameras/canon/powershot_sd800_is/

You can check out what we are able to do with it, here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/sets/


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## womble (Sep 8, 2006)

The Olympus 790SW is a bit more than what you specified- 300. But it does have a couple of big advantages over other cameras:

It's waterproof (to 10 feet) and shockproof

The lens doesn't poke out when zooming, so dust and dirt can't gum it up

There is a sports mode that takes ten shots in quick succession and then you keep the ones you want- great for mountain biking.

http://www.photoxels.com/olympus-stylus-790-sw-review.html


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## formica (Jul 4, 2004)

ditto on the Canon SD800


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## flipnidaho (Aug 10, 2004)

Do not get the Exilim. I had one and I kept getting Lens errors when the camera is accidentally turned and and the lens can't extend. Eventually, this will cause the lens mechanism to be misaligned which will result in an expensive repair... I eventually purchased a Canon Powershot and couldn't be happier as it is as small as the Exilim but seems sturdier..
Here is a thread with pictures and videos taken with the camera. Obviously, we had to resize the pictures to fit. An inexpensive Canon Powershot SD30 that I got on closeout from Circuit City. Portability was our primary criteria for a point and shoot...
http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=351853


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## alaskarider (Aug 31, 2004)

I have a Nikon Coolpix 3200 from 3 or so years ago that I have really enjoyed. I'm not sure about the newer models, but at the time it was more user-friendly and less expensive than the comparable Canons (for a camera-challenged person such as myself). 

When you pick one, don't forget to post your photographic ride reports!


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## connie (Mar 16, 2004)

womble said:


> The Olympus 790SW is a bit more than what you specified- 300. But it does have a couple of big advantages over other cameras:
> 
> It's waterproof (to 10 feet) and shockproof
> 
> ...


After shattering the screen on my Canon, this is exactly what I bought. (Olympus 790 SW)










Aside from the waterproof/shockproof part, which is a major selling point, I was also psyched to hear that it's apparently insulated better than average so it works in the cold. When we take skiing pictures, my old camera would die very quickly because the batteries freeze.

And my favorite option is that there are multiple modes for taking sequences of action shots - you have a fast setting and a slower setting so you can get a bunch of shots of a quick thing, like a jump, or a whole series of a section of a trail, where you want them more spread out.


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## aword4you (Jul 25, 2005)

Canon SD800 IS with a Delkin snug-it camera skin.


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## Prexus2005 (Mar 18, 2005)

I have the SD800 also. SD1000 is very compact and great value, only it doesn't have image stabilization.

I tried the Olympus 770SW? but didn't think image quality was not very good. Maybe the 790 has been upgraded? 

For the price, SD1000 is a great buy. Also check out reviews on Amazon.com.


Phil.


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## Prexus2005 (Mar 18, 2005)

chuky said:


> We use the Canon SD 800IS. The image quality is really high, imo.
> http://www.flickr.com/cameras/canon/powershot_sd800_is/
> 
> You can check out what we are able to do with it, here:
> http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/sets/


Awesome photos! Great shots! Thanks for sharing. =)

Phil.


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## badjenny (Mar 13, 2006)

Thanks for all the feedback! Part of what finally spurred to get a new camera was on my Saturday ride there were some amazing shots that I coulda, shoulda, woulda taken if I had a snazzy little camera to fit in my Camelbak and my upcoming vacation. We are going to Hawaii next week for a 2 weeker!! I will post up some ride and hiking shots, probabaly a few flower shots too.  It will be a good test of my photographic skills or lack there of...


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## Arsbars (Apr 15, 2004)

I use the Canon Elph SD400 daily for carrying around in my bag or pocket. I had a EXILIM for two weeks and returned it. Low light photos were very grainy and the telephoto feature wasn't the best. For the same price I got the elph and don't regret it at all.

A lot of my photos can be found here
http://flickr.com/photos/arsbars/collections/72157600439779337/

I also use a Canon XTi and they'll say on the lower right which camera is used.

Good luck! A ton of big box stores (like circuit city) allow 30 days to return, just keep your packaging so it can be resold.


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## Sadlebred (Jan 12, 2004)

+1 on the Exilim. I have one and am not pleased with it. If I could afford to right now, I'd replace it. I much prefer to shoot with my SLR, but it's too bulky to take with me most places. So, I'm stuck with the Exilim for now. The one good thing is that it's one of the smallest cameras on the market and fits into a pants pocket.


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## Crack Monkey (Sep 25, 2006)

badjenny said:


> Thanks for all the feedback! Part of what finally spurred to get a new camera was on my Saturday ride there were some amazing shots that I coulda, shoulda, woulda taken if I had a snazzy little camera to fit in my Camelbak and my upcoming vacation. We are going to Hawaii next week for a 2 weeker!! I will post up some ride and hiking shots, probabaly a few flower shots too.  It will be a good test of my photographic skills or lack there of...


If you haven't picked one up yet, I'd highly recommend getting something a little bigger than the ultra-portables. Although the true pocket-szied cameras can take good snapshots, conditions usually have to be good to do so (bright light, not much motion, etc). They simply can't cram the best optics/lens and sensors into those small packages. This is especially true at the price-point you indicated ($100-$200).

Something like the Canon A570 would probably serve better. It's not pocketable, but will fit in a camelback, backpack, maybe even side pockets on cargo pants. It's going to be a good bit better than most of the smaller cameras at that price (faster lens, better senor, more features, etc).

Personally, I use a Canon Rebel XT (consumer grade SLR) and a Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX3. The FX3 does fine for family snap-shots, but it's low light performance isn't great. It also isn't a very fast lens, so sports photos usually end up blurred (either the subject, or if I pan, the background).


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## ducktape (May 21, 2007)

I've got a Cannon A710 IS, from the riding & travelling aspect I chose it mainly because of the features (should I get more interested in photography) and mainly the fact that it takes AA batteries, which can be replaced easily if you run out of power in the middle of nowhere!

Have had it for less than half a year, finding it much better than the compact weatherproof Olympus Mju I had prior, the Cannon is much quicker at shooting photos so I don't miss any action shots of the kids!










bike wheel picture

kids picture

I'm yet to put a bit more effort in getting some nice shots.

I considered the more compact models but in the end you seem to pay more for less features. I probably would have gone for the A570 like Crack Monkey mentioned, if my budget didn't stretch for the 710.

Oh yeah, a feature I really like is how you can set it to take shots at whatever interval you choose (like 1 second or 3 seconds between shots) and whatever number you specify (5 shots in sequence). Great for getting those mtb sequence action shots at the press of a button!


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## Seasoned Warrior (Oct 8, 2007)

*I may be a heretic but Kodak was my choice*

for a knock-around camera. I use the Kodak Z710 because of its pixel density and its optical zoom. I've been a photographer for many many moons, and sometimes I've even made a living at it. I have several Nikons both silver and digital. I like the integrated Nikon systems because I can interchange the lenses. I chose a Kodak Z710 because it has a pixel density of 7.1 megapixels and it has a 10 to 1 optical zoom. Digital zoom is nice but pixels are the same size so if you zoom digitally all you are doing is reducing the number of pixels you can use. With optical zoom you can still use all of your pixels and some of the photos it takes are pretty amazing. I also like the fact that it takes interchangeable lenses. There is a wideangle and a telephoto lens available for it. I do a lot of real estate photography and it works great including virtual tours. I just like it and if you shop around you can find them for under $300. I've had the misfortune of losing or breaking them and I can afford replacing the Kodak but I am a whole lot more conservative about where I take my Nikons.


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## deanna (Jan 15, 2004)

I'm a Canon fan, so any replacements/upgrades will be another Canon. It plays nice with my Mac too. I've got an older PowerShot S50 that's been all over and has taken it's lumps well. I have a little pouch it rides in that attaches to the cheststrap of my Camelbak.

It's only 5megapixel, but it still does colors well:










PhotoStitch does neat things as well:










Also takes good closeups of my critters:


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## badjenny (Mar 13, 2006)

I love seeing every one's photos. Some really nice shots! Thanks again for all the great feedback. I ended going with the Canon SD 1000, I think it was the best option in my price range. I have only taken pics of the pets fat bellies so far. I will post up some Hawaii shots after our trip.


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## ducktape (May 21, 2007)

Hope you enjoy your trip.
Certainly sounds like the camera was the right choice for you - it looks so nice & compact! Like bikes it's too easy to get caught up in choosing more features or the next model up.

I'm pleased to hear that they work with Mac computers as well because I'm thinking of getting an iMac or Macbook once my current laptop is finished with the rental term.


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## deanna (Jan 15, 2004)

ducktape said:


> I'm pleased to hear that they work with Mac computers as well because I'm thinking of getting an iMac or Macbook once my current laptop is finished with the rental term.


It was total plug'n'play with mine. I took pics, plugged camera into USB port, computer automatically opened proper program for d/l, and voila!

Only downside is the fact iPhoto doesn't like RAW images. I use ImageBrowser for those and the process is pretty straight forward, just not as simple as iPhoto. I edited for years with PS Elements, recently upgraded to PhotoShop CS3 (still figuring that one out).


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## ducktape (May 21, 2007)

I currently use Cannons Zoom Browser EX software after images have loaded into the computer. Nice for creating pretty A4 photo (album type) pages to send out to the family. Also great for downsizing them to send via email etc.
I find these days I don't print them for myself any more (ahh the digital age), must equate to a hell of a lot of money saved! Got to get some digi photo frames I think!


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## MoMo (May 18, 2005)

Glad I stumbled upon this thread. I'm also in the market for a new digital camera. Mine has pretty much bit the dust and its also a little on the bulky side. Thanks to all who have chimed in with their camera reviews!!


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## formica (Jul 4, 2004)

this guy was hanging out on my deck this week. I'm still figuring out the macro on my SD800 (canon) but it came out pretty good.


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## badjenny (Mar 13, 2006)

I love the new camera! Super easy to use, took great pictures and survived two weeks getting lugged around Kuaui and Maui in a backpack. A few, ok, alot of example pics:

Plants



















Critters


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## badjenny (Mar 13, 2006)

Sunsets



















Scenery










My freakishly long toes camouflaged in sand.


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## venus1 (Aug 4, 2006)

Canon Power Shot 75 does it for snapshots.


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## mtb_pirate (Aug 28, 2006)

*Cameras with good video?*

Any suggestions ladies? I'm looking for something that will capture great stills and small vids of my girlfriends ripping up the trails.  I was also looking at the Olympus 790 but haven't seen any vids from it.


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## ducktape (May 21, 2007)

The Cannon A710IS that I have seems to take great little videos (with sound and all). Basically I think you can shoot a vid until the memory card is full, I've got a 1gig in it so reasonable amount of time -I haven't tested how much footage that would get me, much better than the Olympus I had which was no sound & only 3 sec footage (the Olympus was purchased 3yrs ago so things would be different now).
. I took a few of the kids playing in the mud (yeah it hasn't rained here bugger all during the year so) and it came out pretty great! Since I'm not much of a video camera person I think having the feature in a camera is great! 

Others will be able to advise you better on the models to go for, my advice: Just make sure you can shoot continuous, not 5 sec limits etc because that can be really annoying & you could miss important bits. And also if you can change the vid quality (like you can with photos) it means lower quality selection gives you more available shooting time. Of course a sound recording feature is handy too.


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## badjenny (Mar 13, 2006)

So, we just got back from a quickie trip to Cabo where I found out that my camera can withstand 2 weeks being slogged around in a backpack full of sand in Hawaii but cannot withstand one tipsy night out in Cabo. I dropped it at some point (the details are a little fuzzy...) now the lens is making a clunky clicking sound and the dreaded "lens error" message is popping up. The casing of the camera is loose now also. Anyone send there's in for repair with success? It is still taking pictures but I am thinking my love affair with my new camera is on borrowed time. Managed to get a few good scenic shots, the night out shots are censored though.


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## cyberdivachick (Jan 30, 2007)

I use a tiny Pentax 7.1 Megapixels with video cam too. Awesome pics, ok video. All I can say is get a padded case to go with it! I got both at Costco for about $179. I have had a couple of bad crashes and not a scratch on the camera and it hangs on the outside of my camel back in a padded case. One thing I have had BAD luck with is head cams! Wish I could get a good video head camera to mount in my helmet! This past April at Sea Otter they were coming out with an awesome one and I lost the info. Guess I will have to wait until April again!


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## badjenny (Mar 13, 2006)

cyberdivachick said:


> All I can say is get a padded case to go with it! I got both at Costco for about $179. ..... One thing I have had BAD luck with is head cams! Wish I could get a good video head camera to mount in my helmet! This past April at Sea Otter they were coming out with an awesome one and I lost the info. Guess I will have to wait until April again!


I have a padded case that keeps it safely cocooned, too bad it doesn't protect it from me!! ha ha...

As for helmet cams, check out this site:

http://www.helmetcamreview.com/


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## cyberdivachick (Jan 30, 2007)

Giggles! No kidding! Thanks for the link, will check it out!


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