digital cameras

[Chucky]

Looking for some advise. I plan on buying a digital camera and not sure what key features to look for. At what point is megapixels enough.
Any suggestions on brands to go with or stay away from.
Appreciate any and all help.

[kbsocial]

Chucky,

The Olympus D460 is only 1.3 megapixels - but its a good work horse. With a 32mg expansion card it can hold upwards of 150 pictures in a relatively decent quality. Probably not recommended for any print or web high quality photography.

On the other hand, the Kodak DX4900 (which I just recently won from AmeriSpec) is 4.0 megapixels and while it doesn't hold as many pictures - the quality is UNbeatable.

The higher the megapixels - the more full/more rich the pictures - of course that all depends on the kind of computer/monitor resolution/graphic card you have.

That is my experience with the cameras we have. GOOD LUCK:)

[Stingray53]

My hubby has 3.1 megapixels and the pictures are great. He's lusting after a 6 megapixel camera though. :laugh:

[booboo]

I'm on my third digital camera (all kodak). Chucky, the decision on a camera really depends on what you plan to do with the camera and the pictures. If your picture printing is limited to 3x5 or 4x6 a 3 megapixel camera is fine. If you want to print larger, you will see a noticable degredation in quality. If you are only doing web photos, buy the cheapest camera you can find beacuse the pixels will be more than sufficient for computers. I've got a gap in my knowledge from 3 to 16 megapixels. I've played with a 16 megapixel professional digicam and printed a 26x34 with amazing results. I'd go with the highest pixels you can afford. Olympus, from what I've heard, makes the best amature cameras. I'd recommend getting a camera with optional lens attachments for close up and wide angle lenses. I love my close up lenses. Good luck!

[meydey]

I've had an Olympus 1.3 mp for about 2 years now and it has been great.

The camera that I recommend is the new Olympus D-720. It is 3.1 megapixels, has an 8x optical zoom lens (35mm * 300mm equiv.), and takes nice shots. Should price around $500 to $600.

You can still find the older model (D-700) at Officemax for around $400. It has a 10x zoom (35*380 mm) but is a 2.1 megapixel. I think that that one takes movies with sound also.

The one bit of advice that I give is go for the zoom. It's easier to have it and not use it then the other way around.

Check out DPreview (http://www.dpreview.com) for good info, reviews and forums about the cameras out there.

[wdmouse]

Chucky, I have a Sony Mavica that I love ! I only wish it had a more powerful zoom. Mine is only 3X but I know there are some available now with a lot more. The Sony saves the pics right to a disk and no need to download from a card to the computer...very convenient, plus diskc are cheap and extra cards are not so cheap.

I know that whichever camera you get you are going to love !