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Its got to be able to handle a little snow once in a while, be small and durable, and take decent pics.
Does 3mp vs 4mp make any big difference?
So far the Olympus ones seem to fit the bill - 300/400 Stylus. Is the difference between those 2 noticable? Are there others with similar size and durability that take decent pics, especially anything with more than 3x zoom? Is there anything else to look for in a digital camera that might be important for the above mentioned uses?
Sorry, don't have the models handy. olympus D-510 and
Canon S-40?
Make sure you check out dpreview. Great site for that sort of comparison shopping.
The S330 has been superseded by the S400, which a) is even smaller (fits into the V2 chassis somehow) and b) does 4 MegaPixels ...
forget about digital zoom, you'll need optical zoom. often the higher the better.
i made good experiences with olympus (older modell), still making great pictures after heavy use (everywhere), even if the cam is bigger in size, it's light-wieght.
be shure to get a large guarantee, i think the later models are more and more erreours and buggy, because of the bigger chips and resolutions.
megapixels don't count that much, now i would take about 3-4 ones.
megapixels don't count that much, now i would take about 3-4 ones.
I would have to disagree on that Hakre. I would recommend cramming as many Megapixels into the inch as posible - that twinned with a good lens lends itself to sharper images - especially of you wan to create prints from them and not just use the images for the web.
I have access to two cameras - one at 2 and one at 5 megapixels respectivley the difference is huge. I say go for as much as you can afford.
The only disappointing thing about 'pocket' digital cameras is that they have no zoom to speak of. Of course, a good zoom lens (50-200mm, no worse than f/4) is quite expensive, and typically only comes for an SLR camera anyways.
Those can powershot series are pretty slick, and small. I have used the s200, and the s300 I think. They take decent photos and are tiny but you may have a hard time doing some "real" camera effects, such as manual shutter/aperature/focus selection/ ect... which is why I opted for the nikon.
I would check out the s400 that was mentioned earlier and if you like it go for it. I would not get anything less that 3meg...they leave your flexible, you can use them on the web and still get an 8x10 if you want, plus you can always carry it with you since it is so small.
One last thing you might consider is researching all the digital camera review sites as well as the manufacturer sites. Perhaps a new camera, that is soon to be released, will tickle your fancy and be worth waiting for. The other thing you can count on is when the new models are released the price of the old will drop.
I would recommend one of the new hp camers. They have a very powerful optical zoom. Check it out.
I'd be happy to direct you to some really helpful online digital camera sites, and also to my S400 library if you'd like :)
Best of luck in your camera purchase!
With a slightly different angle, which is the cheapest country in the world to buy a digital camera?
menton
'product photography for the web' -- give a hard look to macro features or the ability to accept a macro lens. I have a Canon G3 that I love. Almost all of my product photography is for fairly small items that I really want to get close to and then later resize the image. I use the macro setting 90% of the time at least. The G3 does not enjoy a high reputation for its macro setting but I've been very pleased (lucky). If you will you use shots more for the web than for print I don't think that mp are that big a deal. The G3 is 4mp and more than sufficient for the web and print. Unless you are printing in a large format, again the mp won't make much difference.
Most of my photos end up on the Web, not in print, but being able to take 4mp pictures has been extremely useful for me due to the shots' cropability. Specifically, with the extra mp, I'm able to easily crop down to particular details (one person, someone's face, a small bunch of flowers in the corner), and still have more than a postage-size image for the Web :)
