(All these prices are in american dollars, but my camera is $120 and also L133 so I'm not tooo worried about the price conversion, though maybe I should be)
I recently just bought a digital camera and, though I researched my prices in american dollars, it seems that the jump from under $100 to around $120 is a HUGE difference in product. The cameras below a hundred are... well... not that good at all for taking photography. The cameras around $120 (my camera is L113 on amazon right now) popup with settings galore, the ability to add on lenses and, basically, a good choice if you are a beginning photographer or if you ever want to become one.
But that's not quite what you want to do, now is it? If you're just going to be your average blog photography takin' pictures of friends, stay strict to your budget of under L100. You'll be wasting money otherwise on features you wont be using.
Imporant things to remember for a under L100 camera...
-Can you see the screen when it's dark?
-Does the lense have a built in cover? Chances are, you're going to be carrying this around with you (if it's a casual camera), so you'll want it to be able to protect itself.
-Is it slim enough for your purposes? BUT is it still comfortable in your hand. My Finepix E510 is slim except for the part where you hold your hand. I thought I was going to be annoyed at first but now I'm thankful. If I had one of those ultra slim cameras (like I used to, one of the ultra slim under $100 cameras) I would never be able to get a still shot. And I'd always drop it. It's a balance.
-What kind of battery do you prefer? I prefer a battery to plug in the wall, save the environment and all, but my Dad prefers just using AAs.
-How well does it do in the widest range of lighting conditions? Since it's a casual camera, you can't expect it to do well in all lighting conditions, but you need to expect it to do "medium" in at least every lighting condition you can think of. If it is a perfect camera for every lighting condition except for outdoor and then it just plain out stinks then... don't get it. Casual cameras mean you don't want to have to think about lighting conditions. Point, click and go.
-How quick does it boot up? Though I would not recommend my old Finepix A330, I loved how it started up nice and quick. I popped out out of my purse as I was sliding the cover off, took the shot, and then put it back in. Point, click, and go. My supa fancy camera, though it's much better, does not do that. I need to check at least two settings first before I can take your basic shot, and it takes longer to start up than my old one (more settings) but only by I think something like 1 second. Anyway, I notice it.
-And, do you just plain out like how the pictures look? On my old Fujifilm A330, everything was much... well... pinker. Any photographer would hate the amount of... pinkier-ness that camera added. Except for me. I'm f-in pale. And that camera made me look GOOD. It couldn't take pictures in the dark, and I couldn't see the screen in the light, but when it did take pictures, g-d I looked awesome. I looked like I had blood in my veins. Very, very, different than what I actually look like. When I got my new camera that shows the... right... colors. I was dismayed, because I was so used to... pink pictures. Now everything's white again and I'm used to everything being the right color. Think about what hues can you take a little bit of offness in (none of them are going to be perfectly accurate, I believe my E510 is still a bit pinkie, though barely noticable). You can check this out at the best website for digital camera reviews on the web, Steve's Digicams. Look at a camera you're thinking of and check out its pictures. How are you supposed to know if you like the camera or not if you don't know what pictures it takes. You can even compare cameras pictures to each other. All the cameras specs are on there.
If you do decide you want to get that extra $20 for some nice photography ability, and give yourself room to learn and grow, the Fujifilm E500 and the Canon Powershot A510 are the absolute end all to be all at that range. Those two cameras honestly give you as much as you should be getting in a $160-$170 camera. I waited till the E500 was on sale for $100, but they were sold out, so I got the E510, also on sale, for $120 (the price that the E500 normally is). You can time a nice camera to be about $100 if you're right.
But then you gotta think about warrenty. You want one. I promise you. You do. If you have a casual camera for blogging and stuff, chances are you're going to be carrying it around with you and chances are it's going to get hurt. Baddly. Get one. Two years, break it, get a new one.
Then you also need to think about adding extra memory. I don't need a lot of memory. I pop my pictures on to my camera the instant I get home (prevents other people from seeing the pr0n when they go through my purse, ya know). But if you do, add that into the total price.
If you want a case, think about it. I don't use one. My old camera broke because I didn't use one, but that's why you get the warrenty.
Sooo... that's Daynah's little diddy on Digital Cameras. At the under L/$ 100 range there are so many different varities that you really need to look at what you personally are going to enjoy... and when you find the camera that has all of them but one or two, can you take those drawbacks? |
