Canon PowerShot A550
Canon PowerShot A550 has a 7.1 megapixel camera effective pixels and image sensor of 1/2.5-inch type CCD. It is integrated with DIGIC II that employs high-definition and higher-speed processing without damaging the beauty of subjects. It has an optical viewfinder allowing you to turn off the LCD display when taking pictures, therefore, saving battery life.
The A550 has a 4x Optical Zoom Lens. You can enjoy viewing the photos at its 2.0-inch type, low-temperature polycrystalline silicon TFT color LCD. It also has an AutoFocus system to make it easier taking pictures.
Canon PowerShot SD800 IS
Canon PowerShot SD800 IS is one of the most popular digital cameras according to CNET’s review. Aside from its cool and attractive design, it can be matched against other cameras in the same price range as the SD800 has a 7.1 megapixel sensor resolution and 4x digital zoom. It has a quick performance and good focal range for lens.
According to CNET’s review:
The Canon PowerShot SD800 IS is a great point-and-shoot camera. It’s small, it sports a stabilized, wide-angle lens, and it can pump out beautiful shots at a pretty rapid pace.
Combine performance with an attractive design, Canon PowerShot SD800 IS is a good choice.
Nikon Coolpix S4
Nikon Coolpix S4 could get your attention because of its cool design. It has a swivel design to make it easier taking pictures of objects in an awkward angle from your head. It has a 6.0 megapixel resolution just enough to give you a clear picture. It has a high quality 10x Optical Zoom-Nikkor 38-380mm Glass Lens (35mm equivalent) that gives you the ability to get a better picture of things from afar. The Coolpix S4 is made up of a bright 2.5 inch LCD giving you a good view of your pictures.
Other features include In-Camera Red-Eye fix to avoid red eye destroying your photos, Face-Priority Auto-Focus for great portraits, and D-Lighting to fix dark images.
Nikon Coolpix P5000
Nikon has been focusing on releasing point-and-shoot digital cameras. And one of the best models to be released is the Coolpix P5000. It has a 10 megapixel resolution that targets customers that are looking for the best quality images rather than looking at the price but are just not ready yet on purchasing SLR digital cameras.
It has a glass Nikkor lens with a 3.5x zoom. The Coolpix P5000 also has an optical VR image stabilization technology giving a steadier image for the best quality. Enjoy viewing your captured moments on its 2.5 inch LCD display.
Other features include Optical viewfinder, In-Camera red-eye fix, Face-Priority AF, D-Lighting and Program, Aperture, Shutter, and Manual exposure modes.
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T50
Sony adds up to their collection of stylish digital cameras. Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T50 is a super-slim camera that comes in so handy, small enough to carry in your pocket.
Take pictures at 7.2 MP Super HAD (Hole Accumulated Diode) CCD design which gives you a clearer picture because of increased sensitivity and reduced noise. Enjoy looking at these pictures at its Huge 3.0”1 Clear Photo LCD Plus Screen that has a touch-screen technology making it more user-friendly.
It uses Super SteadyShot Optical Image Stabilization to give you a better picture even with a shaky hand and also uses Carl Zeiss 3X Optical/2X Precision Digital Zoom to give you better capability on taking even distant pictures.
To add up to these list of features, DSC-T50 lets you view in-camera images in slide show and can add up to four music background tracks making it more entertaining. You can also record audio/video clip that is only limited by capacity of your memory.
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H5 digital
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H5 digital gives you a powerful feel in taking pictures, in any environment. This 7.2 megapixel camera uses Super HAD (Hole Accumulated Diode) CCD design that gives you a more detailed and high definition pictures by reducing noise and increase sensitivity. Carl Zeiss 12X Optical/2X Digital Zoom/24X Total Zoom lens lets you take distant pictures and still could give you smooth images without jagged edges.
A great feature of this product is the Super SteadyShot Optical Image Stabilization. Especially for shaky hands, this feature minimizes motion blur when taking pictures. DSC-H5 has a built-in memory slot so you can add up storage capacity enabling you to take more pictures. And you may enjoy looking at these pictures at its bright 3.0″ LCD screen.
Sony DSLR-A100K/B
Another model for digital SLR cameras from Sony is the DSLR-A100K/B camera. It is built with an 18-70mm F3.5-5.6 Lens. Having a 10.2 Mega Pixels CCD, enjoy taking great images indoors or outdoors. And immediately see what you’ve captured in its Clear Photo LCD Plus.
It has an Anti-Dust system and D-Range Optimizer function to beef up its set of features. Enjoy clarity with the help of its High Speed Response. These features may be further enhanced by purchasing lenses and other accessories like a remote control.
Be a professional with this cool digital SLR camera.
Memory Card Types
Introduction
A memory card is your film, and the bigger the memory card, the more pictures you can fit on it, but what type do you need? How large and how fast is the right one? Who makes the best brand for your camera?
These are all questions you have to answer before you start taking pictures with your digital camera.
The five main types of digital camera memory cards include, SD, xD, CompactFlash, SmartMedia, and Memory Stick. That list might sound confusing, but it is usually rather easy to tell what type of memory card you need.
Before I go into the specifics of each type, regardless of the memory card type, the size is one of the most important factors these days. The memory card you get with the camera will probably be too small, and won’t even take the “normal” twenty-four images we are used to from our film cameras, unless you reduce the quality of the images. I recommend getting a one gigabyte card these days, as more and more digital cameras also allow for some limited movie capture mode, and being able to take more images is never a bad thing.
The prices of memory cards are also at a fairly low price, and so it is just easier to buy one or two larger sized cards than a few smaller ones that you might misplace.
If you can’t afford a full gigabyte for storage, than at least get a half-gigabyte (512MB) memory card.
Anything less and you start to get into not being able to hold enough high quality images, and that is really what you bought your digital camera for right?
Secure Digital – SD Cards
Some of the smallest and thinnest memory cards are the Secure Digital and MultiMediaCard memory and so they are usually seen in smaller digital cameras, PDA’s, cell phones, and MP3 players.
The only difference between the two memory types is that Secure Digital cards have a write-protect switch for added data security.
xD Cards
The first digital camera I had used xD Picture cards, they were introduced by Olympus and Fuji in 2002, and are the newest type of memory. Its tiny size of only 0.97” x 0.98” x 0.67” means it can fit into tiny cameras.
The xD Picture Card can also be used in any CompactFlash compatible camera with the available CompactFlash adapter.
Since it was developed and introduced by Olympus and Fuji, most current compact digital cameras from those manufacturers use the xD Picture Card media.
CompactFlash Cards
One of the most common types of digital camera memory is CompactFlash. More higher end digital cameras, and digital SLRs, are CompactFlash compatible.
There are two types of CompactFlash, just to confuse you even more. They are both physically different, thus some cameras can’t take both. There are Type I and Type II, and Type II is thicker. So check to make sure that if you buy a Type II that your camera can hold it. Type II CompactFlash is usually a higher capacity card, so if you are buying a 512MB or 1GB card, it is currently most likely that it is a Type II card.
One of the main reasons so many camera makers adopt the CompactFlash standard is that the cards have a controller chip that allows for higher transfer rates. Most cameras can’t take advantage of this, as they need to have large internal buffers. Most digital SLRs can take advantage of this though.
Inexpensive, easy to find, and work in a large variety of digital cameras, CompactFlash is one of the more desirable types of digital camera memory. The only complaint, it is a bit bigger than most other types, and so to save room, it seems like there has been a big shift towards other types of memory.
SmartMedia Cards
SmartMedia used to be one of the most common types of digital camera storage media. It was used in most Olympus and Fuji digital cameras until the introduction the xD Picture card, in 2002. SmartMedia is being phased out for newer memory types.
If you buy a camera that uses SmartMedia it might be a good idea to stock up on memory cards as they might not be available for too much longer.
Memory Stick
Sony developed the Memory Stick technology for their CyberShot digital cameras and other Sony electronic devices. You are unlikely to see their Memory Stick technology compatible with any other cameras other than Sony, so if you have a Sony, you probably need to buy a Memory Stick.
What Else?
Well, other than the size of the memory card, and the type, you also need to worry about its speed, and brand. Sometimes camera makers have it set up that you need to use their memory card, be it Olympus for an Olympus camera, to be able to use all of the features inside the camera. Usually this is just a recommendation, and you can use other companies memory cards just fine.
Sticking to brand names, SanDisk, Lexar, Kingston and other big brands is always your best bet. Not saying the memory you could get from a lesser known name won’t run as well, but the warranties and failure rates on brand name memory is less, though you do pay a little more for that piece of mind.
Don’t let their “pro” and “platinum” names confuse you, as sometimes one companies “pro” line is not even as good as the basic line of another company. Always look for the fastest transfer speed rating. A camera with 80x will be able to write the image to the memory card much faster than a camera with a 32x rating, meaning a faster cycle time for more pictures. You might not notice much of a difference when taking pictures, but being able to move through pictures on your camera, transferring them off the camera, and cycle times are all effected by memory card speed.
So my final advice, buy a brand name memory card, that works with the type of camera you have, get it as large and as fast as you can afford, and you should be able to enjoy your camera that much more.
Canon Powershot A700 Review
The Canon Powershot A700 was created to be an easy to use and reasonably priced consumer level digital camera. In most ways it is an average camera, but it has an optical zoom better than most in its class and price range. In this highly competitive digital camera market, can a slightly better zoom push the A700 to the top of its class? bDigitalCameras takes stock of this A-series Powershot.
Included in Box
Camera, wriststrap, basic and advanced user guides, USB cable, AV output cable, 2 AA batteries, 16 MB SD memory card
Major Specs
6.0 megapixel CCD, 6x optical zoom and a 4x digital zoom, 2.5 inch LCD screen, ISO 80-800, 16:9 widescreen mode, VGA movies w/ sound up to 60 FPS, SD card storage
Look and Feel
When I first picked up this camera, the thought came to my mind that I had better never drop it. It feels like a simple drop would make it break in half. It just feels cheap. It is not something that you are going to want to take on rough trips, as it does not seem to be the type of camera that could take a beating. Don’t let that steer you away from this camera though as it has got several nice qualities.
The LCD screen on the back of the camera is a nice big 2.5″ though non-adjustable. This has become the standard for many digital cameras, and I can see why, as it is just a great screen size. Though the size is great, the quality of the screen isn’t as high as I have seen on other cameras.
Picking up the camera and snapping shots with it feels pretty good as the buttons you need are all within reach without straining the fingers to reach. One thing that was a bit annoying is that the A700 doesn’t really seem to balance in my hand the way some other cameras do. It does not feel like it is going to slip out of my hand and drop to the floor by any means but it definitely feels different and thus a little awkward.
Menu System
I was actually quite impressed with the menu system on the Canon Powershot A700. Too many times I will press a menu button on other devices, only to be bombarded with choices. Many times I don’t even know where to begin as the options presented do not seem to be what I am looking for at all. When I pressed the menu button on the A700 though, I was immediately greeted with a few straight forward options like Red-Eye assist, Digital Zoom, the Date stamp, etc. They actually put the options I would be looking for on the main page of the menu.
The Zoom
By far one of my favorite aspects of this camera is the optical zoom. The 6x optical zoom is absolutely wonderful. I don’t even have to approach the digital zoom most of the time with a camera like this. The picture is crystal clear when taken with the optical zoom. If something is still too far away, I’d rather move forward than use the digital zoom, but it is there for me if I really need it, creating a combined zoom of up to 24x. Interestingly enough, the digital zoom was set to off by default.
Cycle Time
The cycle time of taking a picture was kind of annoying if using the flash. Sitting down with my stop watch I recorded a few times that I think you will find interesting.
| W/ Flash | W/out Flash |
| 4.5s | 1.3 |
| 4.3s | 1.2 |
| 4.5s | 1.3 |
| 4.4s | 1.3 |
| 4.4s | 1.3 |
As you can tell from the above series of tests, the time it takes for the camera to get ready for another picture is not very bad without the flash. There was almost no noticeable wait time. However, with the flash, it took approximately 4.4 seconds on average for the camera to get ready for the next picture. This can be very annoying when you want to snap more than just one image in a reasonable amount of time.
Please note that when you first get the camera out of the box, it is automatically set in “2 second review mode”, which means that after you snap the picture, the current snapshot will stay on the screen for at least 2 seconds. When running these tests I turned the review mode off. With the review mode on, you can expect longer delays between shots.
Movie Mode
You have got to love how many new cameras are including a movie mode for shooting home videos. The Powershot A700 includes this feature and the default setting on this camera gives you a 640×480 recording at 30 FPS. It does have the ability to shoot all the way up to 60 FPS for an even smoother video, but you have to chop the resolution down to 320×240. Unfortunately, you can’t move the optical zoom in and out while you’re shooting the video, but it does let you zoom in and out with the digital zoom. The A700 produces .MOV files which are compatible with Apple’s QuickTime. A version of QuickTime is included on the CD that is packaged with the camera.
Captured Image
Crop of captured image, Click image for full resolution image
Conclusion
Overall this is a pretty decent camera. If you don’t mind the long wait after taking a flash picture or the cheap feel to it, then it really does have some great features. The 6x optical zoom, the video mode, and the 2.5 inch LCD are all absolutely wonderful. It seems to get in focus really quickly as I never had one problem with the focus taking a while to pick up. It has 20 different shooting modes including portrait, landscape, night scene, snow, indoor, among others. It does take AA batteries as opposed to a rechargable battery pack, so keep that in consideration.
There was no onboard storage, and the memory that came with the A700 was a 16 MB SD card, so count on dishing out some more money for a card that can hold more than 6 or 7 full resolution pictures. I recommend getting a high speed memory card if you’re interested in using the continuous shooting mode and the movie mode, as it will really open up the camera for you and make it feel just a bit more responsive. You can snap a couple of pictures in a few seconds using the continuous shooting mode, which is great when you don’t want to miss that key moment.
The price of the camera is also very reasonable, coming in at around $300 for a 6 megapixel camera with all these features. I consider this to be a really good deal. This seems to me to be the ideal first camera for a family (not a college or high school student who’s going to give it a beating). It’s well priced and produces great image quality.
Street Price
I found this camera to be normally priced in the $300 region. However, you can find the Canon Powershot A700 priced between $281 and $350
Digital Photography: Things you Need to Get Started
Continued from Digital Photography: Picking a Camera.
Once you have picked out the digital camera you want, and you are sure that it has all of the features you will need now and for atleast two or more years, you will want to rush to the store and pick up your new toy, but you need to consider the other things you will need to pick up while you are there.
There are things you will absolutely need, and a few you can do without if you so choose. Some things you have to purchase when you get a new digital camera include a set or two of rechargable batteries and a battery charger, as digital cameras use up battery power very quickly, as everything a digital camera does uses power, even using the smaller viewfinder.
Batteries
I recommend getting two sets of batteries so that you can rotate through them or have both charged up and with you, so you have a spare set on hand because as luck would have it, most digital cameras seem to lose power just when you least want them to. Different batteries have different power ratings listed in milliampere hours. While it is not the most precise listing of power, it can be great for comparing batteries from the same manufacturer. Batteries that have a rating of 2500mAh, will likely last longer than those with a 2100mAh rating. I’d also make sure that I bought a recharger that fit my needs, as you can get chargers now that can charge a battery back to 80% of capacity in fifteen minutes or so, which is great if you are going to head out, and forgot to put them in the charger the night before.
Memory Card
Another thing you have to get is a memory card. There are many different types of memory card formats being used by different digital camera makers. You have to find out what type of memory card your camera accepts before buying a larger capacity version. The easiest way to figure out what your camera can support is to read the product manual, but if you don’t have that, your camera will usually come with a small memory card that can hold a dozen or so pictures. Since most memory card types are very distinct and different, it should be easy to visually identify what type of memory card you need to get.
The size of the memory card you need really depends on what you want to do with the digital camera, and how long you want to go without deleting pictures from the card. At this point and time I would say buy atleast 256 megabytes for anyone buying a new 5 megapixel or higher digital camera. You could probably get away with only having 128 megabytes, but with the prices of memory being so low that you can grab a 256 megabyte memory card for as little as $15, there really isn’t much of a reason to go smaller.
Going larger is a different story though. With digital cameras also able to capture video and sound, getting larger cards will allow you to take more high quality, full resolution pictures, as well as more videos, and most likely that will provide you with a better user experience.
Carrying/Storage Case
If you are going to bring your camera out into the world, you are going to want to protect it from the dust, dirt and just the occassional carelessness while you are out there, and the best way to do that is to have a carrying case. While you do not really need to purchase one the same day you are picking up your camera, it won’t take long to see the usefulness of having one, and so while you are at the store, see if you can get a deal by purchasing everything at once.
The carying case should be slightly padded, and allow room for your camera to fit without moving too much, your extra set of batteries, and your memory cards. The case should be easy to use, especially if you are expecting to be in situations where you might have to be fast on the draw with your camera.
This is also where your camera can stay when storing it away so that it does not get damaged or even just dirty.
Camera Care Kit
The last stop on your run around for your new digital camera, should include a look at camera care kits. These include brushes and other cleaning tools to help keep your camera in tip top shape. If you are going to put down hundreds of dollars on a camera, you will probably want it to work well for a long time, and simple maintenance and cleaning can go a long way to extending the life and usefulness of your camera, and honestly, there is nothing worse than a dirty lens messing up an image.
You might not need it right away, but again, like the case, you might be able to convince the store to give you a discount on the price by buying everything at once, and you never know when you might need it, and then it would be a shame to use a shirt or coat, and accidentally scratch your lense, which is worse than a dirty lens as you probably won’t be able to remove the scratch.
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