Camera help

I'm trying to pick up a camera to take for my honeymoon but have no clue what to look for. My price limit is bout $350. I'm not trying to pretend I'm professional or anything. Just something to take nice pictures and good for things in motion. Any help is appreciated

you want something to put in your pocket and go? or something that requires its own bag?

No pocket one. My lady has a Sony something she likes. This one is for me. I want a "real" camera. Ones I can throw in my pocket feel cheap to me and I'll also probably sit on it or lose it.

you probably arent gonna find a nice, current SLR for 350 bucks. you can probably find an older (maybe used) one for that price

aim for canon or nikon. the sony ones use memory cards that cost too fucking much

I was gonna try hitting up a camera store and seeing if they had some floor models for sale or something to that effect. I heard you can sometimes get some good deals that way.

probably, but the good deal may be the price marked off their normal prices, which can be quite high.

look into the Nikon D3000 and the Canon Rebel XS

you can probably find the bodies in your price range, but lenses are gonna bump you over. memory cards should be relatively cheap. a decent bag will bump you up too

Try Adorama.com.
They sell factory refurbished products from Nikon and Canon, which are actually more reliable than something directly off the production line, as they were inspected a bit more closely and come with the same warranty. You'll find plenty of camera bodies for less than $300, but a decent SLR that comes with a lens is usually going to run you a bit more at the least.

I did a quick search and found a factory refurbished D40 with lens for $399.
http://www.adorama.com/INKD40KR.html

Hope this helps.

I am absolutely no expert neither, but you already know the value of free advice already, so with that here I go..

Go to DPR and plug in a few values: http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/compare.asp

Mostly recommend that you pick a compact, easy to carry along, image stabilized, decent movie mode, at least 28mm W to 100+ T zoom, large LCD (3"+), built-in decent flash and excellent battery life. You might also want built-in GPS stamps on your pics. If you put pics with GPS info up on flickr they get geo-located automagically.

Don't worry about pixel count and all that nonsense. Image quality is most important, so once you've set your mind on one, go check out its sample pics on its manufacturer's site or DPR reviews. They're supposed to post pics as is, or with very little mods.
If you can, go and buy the cam you picked well ahead of time and try it out. If you don't like something about it, return it.

Some shooting advice: be sure to have the light source behind you (sun, lamps, etc.), or learn to use the flash on the cam to light your subject against bright backgrounds. Don't worry much about composition, but do avoid putting people in the middle of the frame. Shoot from many angles and shoot often. Delete what you don't like later. Or not. Oh yeah, get a decent sized memory card for your cam. Or two. They're cheap.

Finally, ignore all of the above, see what they tell you at Best Buy. Have a Happy Wedding & Honey Moon!

Go to DPR and plug in a few values: http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/compare.asp

sweet looking site1 thanks for posting this

Go to DPR and plug in a few values: http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/compare.asp

sweet looking site1 thanks for posting this

FYI, DPR is owned by Amazon.

A decent slr will start you at around 550$-600$, including the lens.... which is something else you should also think about

I recomend the olympus ep1!!

Any rec's for a good point and shoot? I love the convenience of my Canon IXUS 850 IS, but it's a few years old and I'm ready to move on.

Truth be told (and this addresses the OP, who might want to consider a point and shoot), I find these pocket cameras (from Canon, anyway), to be the Real Deal, capable of taking more than adequate shots for use online and in print. 90% of a good shot is in the subject matter and composition, not the equipment. Just my 2 cents, anyway.

Having said that, my Canon is on the weak side when it comes to indoor shots, unless I use a tripod. So I'm looking for something that can handle at least ISO 400 or 800 without noise and take crisp indoor/macro shots without needing a flash. Is that asking too much from a point and shoot?

Any rec's for a good point and shoot? I love the convenience of my Canon IXUS 850 IS, but it's a few years old and I'm ready to move on.

Truth be told (and this addresses the OP, who might want to consider a point and shoot), I find these pocket cameras (from Canon, anyway), to be the Real Deal, capable of taking more than adequate shots for use online and in print. 90% of a good shot is in the subject matter and composition, not the equipment. Just my 2 cents, anyway.

Having said that, my Canon is on the weak side when it comes to indoor shots, unless I use a tripod. So I'm looking for something that can handle at least ISO 400 or 800 without noise and take crisp indoor/macro shots without needing a flash. Is that asking too much from a point and shoot?

First, as a point of reference, I own 2 cameras, a Lumix G1 and a Ricoh GRD III. I love them both, but I must admit I don't use the Lumix anymore. I first thought that getting into the lens game was gonna be fun, but the monsters took over..

Fully agree with your point about the artist 1st, then the camera. I've owned DSLR's and all that and I still suck at it, but that's just me.

As for recommendation, I'd look at the Lumix DMC LX5, newly announced I think. Of course, the Canon S90 and G11 are also good choices.

Some of these new breeds of prosumer compacts got pretty bright lenses, F1.9 for the GRDIII, and decent macro behavior. Again the macro min of 1cm is a plus for me. Gotta sneak up on them monsters somehow..

Canon S90.

Excellent thanks for the recs kaoshead, and for the C90 backup vote, joe.

I have a Canon G10. It's sized between a compact and a DSLR. A great camera with great features with excellent photo quality. The G11 is the latest model, but i've heard it's not as good.

I have a Canon G10. It's sized between a compact and a DSLR. A great camera with great features with excellent photo quality. The G11 is the latest model, but i've heard it's not as good.

Nothing but good reviews for this G10. And there's a new one, G11 I think, its priced around less than a grand.

Canon S90.

I've been a Nikon guy for my entire life but recently made the switch to a Canon S90 for portable shooting and I have to say it's pretty fantastic. I do a lot of post-processing and there isn't a better portable RAW shooter out there. It fits in my front pocket and the ease of taking great quality shots give it my highest recommendation. I got mine for $350 or so.

One minor flaw: The ergonomics of the pop-up flash placement aren't great. The flash pops up right where you hold the camera on top. I don't use flash that much but it's my only complaint.

One minor flaw: The ergonomics of the pop-up flash placement aren't great. The flash pops up right where you hold the camera on top. I don't use flash that much but it's my only complaint.

Yea, worst flash placement ever.
But I hardly use it.
Plus you can get a snazzy retro case like I do and get lots of compliments.

I had a G-Series before I went SLR and would highly recommend it. For a budget of $350 I might not go the SLR route since the lenses shouldn't be compromised in my opinion.

Thanks to everyone for the input. I also emailed my wedding photographers for opinions and they also said the canon s90 should be great for what I'm looking for. They're gonna see if they can find one for me a little cheaper too so hopefully that works out.

Got tired of the bulky DSLR I have been using for the past couple of years and decided to switch to a point and shoot compact camera.

Following the good reviews the Canon Powershot S90--I scored its predecessor, a Canon S95.

Just started using this badboy today and man, do I enjoy the comfort of a small cam.

Last edited by Brad814 on Wed Feb 23, 2011 7:40 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Any rec's for a good point and shoot? I love the convenience of my Canon IXUS 850 IS, but it's a few years old and I'm ready to move on.

Truth be told (and this addresses the OP, who might want to consider a point and shoot), I find these pocket cameras (from Canon, anyway), to be the Real Deal, capable of taking more than adequate shots for use online and in print. 90% of a good shot is in the subject matter and composition, not the equipment. Just my 2 cents, anyway.

Having said that, my Canon is on the weak side when it comes to indoor shots, unless I use a tripod. So I'm looking for something that can handle at least ISO 400 or 800 without noise and take crisp indoor/macro shots without needing a flash. Is that asking too much from a point and shoot?

First, as a point of reference, I own 2 cameras, a Lumix G1 and a Ricoh GRD III. I love them both, but I must admit I don't use the Lumix anymore. I first thought that getting into the lens game was gonna be fun, but the monsters took over..

Fully agree with your point about the artist 1st, then the camera. I've owned DSLR's and all that and I still suck at it, but that's just me.

As for recommendation, I'd look at the Lumix DMC LX5, newly announced I think. Of course, the Canon S90 and G11 are also good choices.

Some of these new breeds of prosumer compacts got pretty bright lenses, F1.9 for the GRDIII, and decent macro behavior. Again the macro min of 1cm is a plus for me. Gotta sneak up on them monsters somehow..

Yes get a Panasonic. I had Canons for years and the pics were, ehh, nothing great. I couldnt ever get good pics of my vinyl or my daughter,ect... so I broke down and got a Panasonic DMC-ZS5 last year and it has been great. I'll bet the newer models of that one are probably great too of course. All the photos turn out very nice. I'm happy with it.