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Help my parents pick a digital camera

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pnj

pnj

Turbo Monkey till the fat lady sings
Aug 14, 2002
4,696
40
seattle
Price range is around 200 bucks.

My parents are OLD and not very computer literate...

I would like simple, large display and if possible, easy or no software needed.

a camera that has the option of "email mode" or something so they don't have to try to resize images would be nice too.

and along with a large display, large simple buttons would be neat but I don't think they make those?
 
I

ito

Mr. Schwinn Effing Armstrong
Oct 3, 2003
1,709
0
Avoiding the nine to five
Sorry, I didn't read the $200 pricepoint. I'll edit my choices now (though I stand by the two I chose) The AS530 is $200 and a good deal with 5.0 MPs. It has a smaller screen, but is still fairly large. I wouldn't go smaller than 5mp's, but if you did keep with the Canons.

Canon Powershot SD600 or 700 are two of my favorite point and shoot cameras. They have great (and even complicated if you wish) features that make for a very powerful camera. The color balance is awesome.

I've used digi cams from just about every major maker at multiple price points, the Canon's out perform everything.

These two have high MP counts, large viewing screens, keep the view finder, and have fairly large buttons. There are cheaper ones in the lineup, but these are the best.

As for the email issue. Have them download Picassa. It can be set up to automatically create a reduced size picture for email and easy viewing. Also, if they have Outlook there is an option to reduce the size of all attachments after loading them to an email. This is very easy and makes things easier than having multiple copies of photos in different sizes.

The Ito
 
binary visions

binary visions

The voice of reason
Jun 13, 2002
22,165
1,261
NC
http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&sku=A0522910

Believe it or not, you can ignore the Casio brandname. It's got a Canon sensor and lens. Just happens to be at a good price now which is why I'm posting it. I've handled it a bit and it takes good photos.

Other than that, I've been very happy with any Canon Powershot A-series camera I've picked up. I had several purchased for the last place I worked for taking pictures for manufacturing procedures, so I ended up using them quite a bit. I've also got one sitting next to me right now as a birthday present for my sister - it's the A610 and it's just a nice, solid camera. Pull out and twist LCD makes it easy to capture off-angle shots.

However, I would disagree somewhat with what ito said... The $200-300 range is actually a really great price point for digital cameras, and there are numerous cameras that will be more than satisfactory for them - and I think one of the most important things is ergonomics. Is there a chance you could take them to a retailer and let them pick up and use some cameras from Sony, Canon, Nikon and Olympus? See what feels good in their hands? There are a LOT of cameras at this pricepoint that will take good snapshots, but if the camera feels good to them, they'll take twice as many snapshots.
 
pnj

pnj

Turbo Monkey till the fat lady sings
Aug 14, 2002
4,696
40
seattle
I agree that they should like the feel of the camera. but they are hundreds of miles away so I wouldn't be able to do it with them...
 
pnj

pnj

Turbo Monkey till the fat lady sings
Aug 14, 2002
4,696
40
seattle
that A610 looks pretty good. how's the software that comes with it?

I like that it is shaped like a normal camera that they have been using for so many years.
 
binary visions

binary visions

The voice of reason
Jun 13, 2002
22,165
1,261
NC
pnj said:
that A610 looks pretty good. how's the software that comes with it?
Click to expand...
No idea, I never install software with cameras. It doesn't really matter, there's so much good, free software out there that will do image editing - picasa, irfanview... I'm sure whatever comes with it is fine, too, we're talking about needing to resize here, not mask layers and perform other advanced editing functions.
 
binary visions

binary visions

The voice of reason
Jun 13, 2002
22,165
1,261
NC
pnj said:
that A610 looks pretty good. how's the software that comes with it?
Click to expand...
Canon Powershot A620

$50 drop. Dell Home has the Canon PowerShot A620 7-MegaPixel 4x Zoom Digital Camera for $299 - 25% off code 52$W1W5L6BHL9B [Exp 4/22, 800 uses] = $224 shipped.

Nice price, couple more megapixels than the A610 (not that the megapixels matter that much, but it's still a good price).
 
pnj

pnj

Turbo Monkey till the fat lady sings
Aug 14, 2002
4,696
40
seattle
binary visions said:
No idea, I never install software with cameras. It doesn't really matter, there's so much good, free software out there that will do image editing - picasa, irfanview... I'm sure whatever comes with it is fine, too, we're talking about needing to resize here, not mask layers and perform other advanced editing functions.
Click to expand...
how do you get the images off the camera? might be my lack of experience but my old digi cam NEEDS the software that came with it. and it sucks....
 
VaNIlLin81

VaNIlLin81

Monkey
Jan 27, 2006
403
0
c-ville
Whatever you do ALWAYS go with Canon, their customer support is awesome. I have a friend who sent in a lens, they replaced it and sent it back to him, they paid shipping.
 
Changleen

Changleen

Paranoid Member
Jan 9, 2004
14,729
2,712
Pōneke
I have the Casio Exilim z750 and it's a freakin awesome camera. The movie mode is especially pleasing - It can record (with zoom) at 640*480 HQ 30fps until you run out of memory card. You can do forward and backward slow-mo at 2 speeds and frame by frame and forward and backward fast forward.

Also with a half decent memory card, you can review the photos you've taken at ludicrous speed if you like. It's also pretty easy to use.

The buttons might be a bit small for old folks, but they battery lasts for weeks without a charge. It's quite amazing. Also shows up a simple USB drive so getting photos off is easy.
 
binary visions

binary visions

The voice of reason
Jun 13, 2002
22,165
1,261
NC
pnj said:
how do you get the images off the camera? might be my lack of experience but my old digi cam NEEDS the software that came with it. and it sucks....
Click to expand...
Actually, a vast majority of the time the camera claims it needs software but it actually doesn't. When you plug it in, it should show up as a device in My Computer if you're using a recent operating system and connecting via USB. Once it shows up in My Computer, you can navigate and pull the files off it just like a regular directory. Plus, the Windows AutoPlay deal pops up and asks if you'd like to view or copy over the files.

I don't usually plug the camera in, though, I buy a card reader and use that. Card readers are typically much faster than plugging the camera directly in, and it's mildly safer, too. If I were to grab my camera in a rush and it were plugged in, I'd be wrecking my $600 camera instead of my $20 card reader. Small chance that will happen, but better safe than sorry.
 
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