need help choosing digital camera

abbadoodles

I'm about to purchase a new digital camera.  My old Olympus is 2.1 megapixels, 3X optical zoom.  Most of the time I only use my photos online so I'm not worried about making large prints.

However, what I DO need is a camera that does a very good job at close-ups.  What specifications should I look for?  How important is the optical zoom/digital zoom?  How else do I evaluate a camera when I don't know a thing about optics/lenses?

There is a Polaroid 10 megapixel, 3X optical zoom, for $88 in today's Target flyer.  Seems like a very good deal.

roseg

My experience has been that digital cameras have short lives. If they don't get broken someone steals them.

Thus, I"m against spending very much money on them.

I'd google the Polaroid and see what any online reviewers have to say, and give it serious consideration.

I have been taken with the Nikon cameras Ashton whoever is advertising with the touch screen controls. But they appear to be in the $200+ category, which fails my rule about them not lasting long and not being worth a lot of expense.

wishiwere

There a lot of cameras out that will do different things as you know.  The hardest thing is that people at this time of year feel under the gun to buy at the great prices, but I must say, to take your time and get to know the camera before jumping in on a good deal.  Go to a camera shop and talk to the persons there about what you are looking.  You don't have to buy there, but their ONLY job is cameras and they know much more and much better how to explain the items you want/need. It sounds like you want that does macro settings (up close) more than anything. Do you mean as in flowers, or personal pics?  What?  Explain it to them, b/c each brings different needs.

I bought my fuji 5000 years ago and while I love it, there are many now that have things that fight that 'shake' you get with close ups and such and are nice too.  There are many different things, again, Make a list before you go and visit a shop that specializes.  Don't mention the prices you are looking for, but rather what the camera will do for you.  

Another thing is to look online for specifications to see what the different ones are and what people have said or rated them as and why.  Gives a good idea of how happy consumers are after the fact.  As in, are they user friendly or not.  Big deal, if it's a great camera, but too hard to figure out. 

Good Luck.

Anonymous

I'd take a look at the camera reviews at dpreview.com and check out the forums - there's a forum for each camera mfg - and separate ones for the pro cameras by each manufacturer ...  lots of good discussion and you can see what others think who have actually used the camera.  

I have an old olympus 2.1 megapixel camera with a 10x optical zoom that I still use and love ...  

it's the olympus 2100 UZ - a classic camera.  I also have a small canon (more megapixels) with a 4X optical zoom.  The optical zoom is typically better than the digital zoom - most people will tell you to turn off the digital zoom and not use it. I've recently bought a used canon S5IS that has a nice optical zoom .. so you can see I have quite the collection of cameras -  I love taking photos... 

Hope you end up loving the new camera you purchase! 

SoCalLisa

I love mine..and I have had six others

Canon Power Shot S5IS

8 megapixels

10 optical zoom

2 digital zoom

image stabilizer and a hot shoe for extra flash

You will just love this camera..

Bugs

Canon is an awesome camera.  My dream camera is a Canon XSi.  But right now my little Canon works just fine and it's old by digital camera standards (5 years).

LisaAlissa

Remembering that your digital sensor has a fixed number of pixels for any given resolution (that doesn't change).  However there are a couple of ways to get a larger image. 

1. Move closer.  This is the time-honored way.  Each part of the image has more pixels than if you were farther away.  Always move closer if you can!   

2. Optical zoom.  This is an adjustment by the lens of your camera.  The image that hits the digital sensor in your camera is actuallly larger.  Think of it like a magnifying glass.  (If you have an SLR--where you can remove one lens and put a different lens on--this is like using a different lens.  Again, each part of your image gets more pixels when you use the optical zoom.  This is the second-best way...when you can't get closer.  And often, you'll end up combining #1 & #2; that is, get closer and also use your optical zoom.

3.  Digital zoom, is simply doing in your camera what you do in your computer.  That is, it crops & blows up a section of the image that is on the digital sensor, and discards the rest--but there's no way for the cropped image to get more pixels.  That's why you want to ignore digital zoom.  I think of it as a marketing ploy at best, and a cheat at worst.  Just ignore the "digital zoom."

Get the best image you can (getting closer and using your zoom) and then do any further cropping in your computer.  You'll have better control. 

HTH,

LisaAlissa