Digital cameras?

[CharlieD]

I have this digital camera that needs new batteries every few days. I' sick and tired of it. Need new camera with long churge life and no batteries to replace. Have been looking on line but nothing interesting. Does any body subscribe Consumer report? Any info there? Pleae help me decide.

 

[CharlieD]

GB where are you? You are the photo expert.

 

[GB]

Hey Charlie. A have moved up to a new camera myself. The one I have is very expensive, but has it's own rechargeable battery. Battery life is no longer an issue for me thankfully.

When I had my other camera it did OK with batteries. It was a Nikon Coolpix 990. It took 4 AA batteries. I bought a few sets of rechargeable and that worked out well for me.

I know a lot of the newer point and shoot cameras now have theirs own proprietary rechargeable batteries and the battery life seems to be getting better and better each year.

As far as which camera to suggest, that is sort of like which knife you should buy. It is a very personal decision that is different for everyone. My wifes camera is very small so it can fit in her purse. That is not an issue for me so my camera is much much larger.

My suggestion would be to stick with tried and true camera makers (like Nikon, Fugi, Canon, etc.). I would not recommend buying a camera from a company that makes things other than cameras primarily.

Check out epinions.com for some reviews. That site will give you some great info and it will talk about battery life.

 

[amber]

I have an ancient digital camera by Kodak, but it works well with rechargable batteries. Regular batteries wont last long in a digital camera. Just get a battery charger and some rechargable batteries.

 

[abjcooking]

I just got a new camera for the same reason.

I got the new Canon Rebel XT. I did a lot of reasearch on it and it got great reviews. I even went in to an expert and told him I was wanting to spend around $900 and the Rebel XT was his first reccomendation. I have been using it for about 3 months now and love it. It is easy enough for the average person to use, but if you are familiar with camera settings you can chose what you're wanting such as sutter spead, ect.

 

[abjcooking]

Here are some reviews and stats on it if you are interested.
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/specs/Canon/canon_eos350d.asp

 

[Andy M.]

Charlie:

One of the reasons I bought a Sony digital camera is for the battery life. The camera uses two rechargeable AA size batteries and gives me a lot of pictures on a charge. In addition, because they're AA size, I can use two alkaline batteries if the rechargeables run out of juice at a critical moment.

You don't need to get a Sony but look for this battery type in a camera.

The negative aspect of this setup is that this type of battery will discharge over time when the camera is not being used so you could be caught off guard.

I'll check Consumer Reports and get back to you.

 

[GB]

Oh I meant to mention that Sony cameras are my one exception to my rule about only buying from a camera maker. Sony actually does make a very good camera even though they do many other things as well.

 

[CharlieD]

Thank you evrybody. I guess, I should have mentioned that I did read epinions.com already, and I do not want to spend more than $300 or even less. I'm looking for something basic and simple, but reliable.
I did not really find anything on epinions that would help, unfortunately I just don't have time to seat and read every reviw.

 

[phinz]

I used to use a Coolpix 990. I now use a Canon 20D. The 990 still stays in my camera backpack, though, for a backup. The 990 did great at taking pictures like this.

Less than $300? Check out http://www.dpreview.com for some good ideas.

 

[GB]

My wife lost the lens cap for my 990 so that is how I talked her into letting me buy my Nikon D70s

 

[Yakuta]

If you don't want to spend a lot of money and have membership at SAMS Club look at getting the Casio camera. Yes Casio is not a camera company but the camera is really good. We bought it for around 200 dollars (nothing fancy and that's what we wanted). This camera replaced our Sony which gave us nothing but trouble.

The Casio one is a 5 megapixel digital camera with a 3 inch screen and it also takes movies. It's pretty handy to take little movie shots of kids over carrying a camcorder.

 

[Run_Out]

My wife uses Casio and it has a rechargeable battery. She has no complaints, it is a 5Mg.pixel and served her well the past couple of years. It is a very compact camera.

I purchased a 254MB memory card and that really makes a difference. I don't care how long the battery last, she wants to store pictures.

I haven't priced the new cameras maybe they come with more memory, the Casio came with 16MB.

Later

 

[Gretchen]

Canon s1IS- 10X optical zoom, great features. Now under $300. Use rechargeable batteries and use the eye piece rather than the screen to take pictures.

 

[Andy M.]

Charlie:

I took a look at Consumer Reports. They are a ton of very good cameras available for $300 or less.

As GB said, go for a major manufacturer and shop at the electronics stores on line.

epinions.com provides battery life in the details for the cameras they report on. In reading CR, Sony seemed to have the best battery life measured in the number of snapshots per charge.

I'd look for a 5 mega pixel (minimum) camera with a 3x optical zoom. I would also recommend getting a larger memory card to capture photos. Most cameras come with a minimal one. Look for a 256K or higher capacity so you don't have to worry about running out of storage capacity at a critical moment.

They come in several size categories - sub-compact to fit into a pocket, compact which are a little bigger than a kodak disposable camera, and larger.

Good luck!

 

[Michelemarie]

I have a CAnon PowerShot A95 - I am happy with everything but the "red eye" feature. I don't think it works great - but I could be me not using it properly. It has 14 shooting modes - under $300. I use rechargeable batteries too.

 

[ironchef]

If you don't want to spend a lot of money and have membership at SAMS Club look at getting the Casio camera. Yes Casio is not a camera company but the camera is really good. We bought it for around 200 dollars (nothing fancy and that's what we wanted). This camera replaced our Sony which gave us nothing but trouble.

The Casio one is a 5 megapixel digital camera with a 3 inch screen and it also takes movies. It's pretty handy to take little movie shots of kids over carrying a camcorder.

Yeah, Casio's digital cameras are pretty good. I have a 6 MP Casio Exilim Card camera and 7 MP Exilim Pro camera.

http://exilim.casio.com/