Pros: No disappointing photos, easy to use, quality photos, good camera for price
Cons: probably not a good camera for a professional
The Bottom Line: This is the perfect beginner digital camera. It is super-easy to learn the basics and pretty easy to learn the more complex settings. Takes good pictures.
I say this is a perfect camera for beginners because, to be honest, there are better digital cameras out there. They just cost more money, have more bulky equipment, and have more confusing features. I bought this camera for my dream trip to Egypt and trust me, I wasn't going to use just any old camera on my dream trip to Egypt. After researching it on here and electronics websites and consulting with people more knowledgeable in the photography arts, I settled on this camera. I knew it was exactly what I was looking for.
My main requirements were that it be at least 4 megapixels, have somewhat of a zoom, and carry at least 100 pictures. Well, this camera is 4.1 megapixels and has a pretty good zoom. You can actually zoom even more once you have already taken a picture. I had a great time taking pictures of the Egyptian police from afar (you are really not supposed to photograph them) and then zooming in to see it really close up. The one thing it didn't have was the capability to hold 100 pictures, but I quickly found out that most cameras don't come with a memory card like that. I had to buy another one (a 256 card). All in all, my camera and extra memory card came to about $400.
At first, I was running scared of all the features it has. I would safely use the "automatic" feature to take all my pictures. It wasn't until later on that I started to experiment with the different settings and was able to take some better pictures as a result. Off the top of my head, the setting they have are: nighttime setting, taking a picture of a person at night setting, taking a picture of something lit up at night setting, action setting, taking a picture of the ocean setting (it captures the blue better or something), and portrait setting. There may be one or two other settings. You can also take your picture in black and white or adjust it to look like an old photograph (you know, when it has some color, but not really, there is a name for this....).
Although this is a 4 megapixel camera, you can take pictures at lower megapixels. The 3 and 3.2 settings are pretty good. I wouldn't mess with the lower ones, personally, but I think they are okay if you don't plan on getting prints of the pictures. Remember: the lower the megapixel, the more photos will fit on your memory card.
You can also take short movies. WITH SOUND. And then you can hook the adapter into your tv and watch your video on tv! You can actually watch your pictures on tv too.
And it is all so easy! You load the software from a CD-ROM onto your computer. Then all you have to do is plug the camera into the adapter that gets plugged into your computer (I believe it is the USB port, but don't quote me on that. They give the correct name in the instructions, I'm just nowwhere near them). I leave the adapter plugged into the computer, so when I have pictures to load, all I have to do is plug it into the camera. Then the software automatically comes up and guides you through posting your pictures.
REASONS TO SWITCH FROM FILM CAMERA TO DIGITAL CAMERA
As long as you are not a professional photographer who understands "aperture" and "shutter speed", digital is the way to go. I was skeptical. It took me way longer than everyone else to switch. Some benefits are the ability to view pictures right away, erase bad photos, crop and enhance pictures once you post them online, and you save money.
It is really great to be able to view a picture as soon as you take it. How many times do you get a roll of film developed only to find that although you looked totally hot and stylish all night, you look goofy and cross-eyed in every single pic? And what is UP with all these blurry photos? With a digital camera, if you don't like a picture, you can erase it and then retake it. I also found this to be an attribute when I was experimenting with settings. I tried about 10 different settings when photographing lit-up things at night. About 2 different settings worked. 2 out of 10! Can you imagine if I tried this with a film camera? That is like a half roll of wasted pictures. And also, how would you remember which setting you used for which picture when you got them developed?
I also like that you can fix pictures online. I find that a lot of times I hate how other people take pictures. I have a vision and they don't follow through with it. However, it is unavoidable if you ever want to be in any of your own pictures. When I got home from my trip, I spent time on Yahoo photos (a GREAT place to post your pics for friends to see and to get pictures printed from if you don't have your own photo-quality printer) just making the pictures look how I wanted: zooming in where I had wanted a close-up and changing the lighting. Yes, even changing the lighting! This saved my life. On my trip to Egypt, I got my picture taken with a DEADLY SNAKE. However, my camera was set to the wrong setting and the picture came out all dark. It was a picture that couldn't be retaken so I saved it anyway because you could kind of see I had a snake around my neck. When I got home, I was able to add enough light to it to make the snake visible. Here is the snake photo (don't judge the camera on this picture. This was taken at the wrong setting. I just want to show that it was recovered): http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/andreajulia_99/detail?.dir=7d88&.dnm=e9cd.jpg. Before, you weren't able to see my face or coloring at all.
Getting digital pictures printed is cheaper than getting film pictures developed. You can either buy your own photo printer or you can get them developed by photos.yahoo.com, www.shutterfly.com, or www.clubphoto.com, among others. I chose to use Yahoo photos and paid about 19 cents a picture and there was also a discount because I was a new customer. I paid about $40 for 200 pictures. That is equivalent to about 8.5 rolls of film. Also, I saved money because of all the bad pictures I didn't develop. I probably erased about 100 pictures along the way, so that is about another $20 I didn't have to pay.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 280 This Camera is a Good Choice if You Want Something... Easy Enough for Anyone to Use
4-megapixel sensor (2304 x 1728) captures enough detail to create photo-quality prints up to 11 x 14 3x optical zoom plus 2x digital zoom for 6x total...More at Amazon Marketplace
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