<p>I’m sure there are several threads on this topic, but I haven’t the patience just now to dig for them. Any links would be greatly appreciated!</p>
<p>My old film SLR has been dead for several years, and we have been limping along with a point-and-shoot film Olympus supplemented by rather grainy digital photos from our now ancient cell phones. Happydad wants a better camera, and I’d like to not have to shell out so much for developing all of that film. Since Father’s Day is almost upon us, and Staples (and other places) are running sales on this kind of thing, I’m just about ready to drop some money on a new camera.</p>
<p>What should I/we be looking for in a DSLR or a digital not-DSLR?</p>
<p>Any specific recommendations in the $200 range, the $150 range, the $100 range, the under $100 range?</p>
<p>I have a Panasonic purse camera, NOT SLR, 10-12x zoom is available, which I like, the family complains the flash is a bit harsh. You can get the latest and greatest at Costco w/ a coupon often.</p>
<p>good SLR tend to cost at least $350 with sales. unless you are professional photographer, you don’t really need a SLR. a point and shoot and semi point and shoot from canon will be very good. just stay away from olympus! </p>
<p>try to avoid kodak because the quality of the pictures wont be as good. you tend to get the most for what you pay with canon. also, amazon tend to have lower prices than the stores and you get free shipping</p>
<p>Truthfully if your not too familiar with DSLR i would avoid them because they are a bit bulky to carry around also. Also i would recommend spending a Little more and get a canon S95</p>
<p>it comes with an wide-angle lens that is very useful and one of the best point and shoot on the market and also gives you dslr like control on aperture. On top of that it also shoots HD video so all in all a pretty well reviewed and regarded point and shoot</p>
<p>my friend has the fujufilm instax 7s and the quality is AMAZING! it’s polaroid and the pictures come out credit card sized, but the fujifilm instax 210 uses a wider film and is larger</p>
<p>My daughter just purchases the Canon PowerShot S95; well I purchased it for her as she is out of the country. I used a Best Buy 10% coupon which made the price cheaper than anywhere else I could find. Just a little secret, if you want a Best Buy coupon, just go to the post office and get one of their moving/change of address packets. Inside the packet are several coupons, including the one for Best Buy.</p>
<p>I took a digital photography class last year, and I found the extensive advice about how to pick a camera to fall apart a bit–it was better to figure out what I wanted to spend and then to just buy something. Everything had plenty of pixels and all the other attributes we were learning about. In your wide price range, among my class members, people were happiest with their Canons (validating the posts before mine), seconded by Nikons, and then there was a gap to the other brands. </p>
<p>As others have said, nothing in your price range is an SLR/digital mix. But that may not matter to you when you see what inexpensive digital can do.</p>
<p>^The Nikon SLR’s are superior to their point and shoots. My S has a Nikon D90 SLR and the picture quality is excellent, imo. The quality SHOULD be excellent for the price paid!</p>
<p>I’m sure they are bout a Nikon DSLR isn’t in the OP’s price range where as their point and shoot ones are and they just don’t take very good photos at all. Their shots in the dark are very grainy and the flash takes forever to reload.</p>
<p>I agree with fendergirl. DH gave me a Nikon coolpix last year and I hate it. I think I am going to sneak out and buy a canon. I use to have one and loved it to death or at least until the lens cover failed.</p>
<p>I am sure there are Nikon point and shot cameras that are better than others, but I would still take a Canon over any others. With a family of 4 we have had more than our share of cameras; the Canon out performs the Nikon every time.</p>
<p>My BIL buys a new camera every year; as cheap as he can find!! When he gives me copies of family pictures, I hate to take them as they are horrible. he thinks they are fine, but he doesn’t know what a good picture looks like. He was floored that my daughter would spend $400 for a camera when his for $150 is just fine. Well BIL, maybe she wants her pictures to be more than fine!!!</p>
<p>I didn’t price the Canon cameras at Best Buy but I did look at the Canon Powershot A3300 at Amazon and it was $155.56 with free super-saver freight. That may be cheaper than Best Buy for the same camera, even with their 10% off coupon. I didn’t see this same model no. at Best Buy.</p>
<p>I always had Canon camera and liked it very much. Last year I bought Nikon Coolpix ($200-300 range) for the first time in my life. I am so unhappy with it and there is something wrong with it already. I would never buy Nikon again.</p>
<p>While Nikon makes great, if not the best, SLRs, their “soapbar” cameras are inferior in quality and durability to Canon and Sony products.</p>
<p>Perhaps the most important thing in the SLR is the lens. Some lenses can cost several times the cost of the camera’s body, and a photographer will need several lenses. SLRs are also way heavier than point and shoot (aka “soapbar”) cameras, and are more prone to breaking. Even my DH, who loves photography, rarely takes his Canon SLR with him when we go on vacation. Our little Sony camera (and an underwater housing) do a pretty decent job.</p>
<p>My dad had several Canons over the years (film), and we were always happy with the results. I’ll definitely look at them first.</p>
<p>All this idea was brought on by an email from Staples offering a number of discounts on cameras this week including a couple that would have brought a cheaper DSLR into the $200 range - none of them seem to be Canons by the way. Happydad and Happykid have both been dreaming about a DSLR, but I haven’t been willing to shell out $400 or more for one. I will have to talk with them about the merits of point-and-shoot. I think that the offer of a camera NOW rather than at some vague time in the future might just bring them around.</p>