Hi y'all.

We currently have a very cheap HP 2.31mp digital. Its ok. Landscape pics come out ok, and your usual pics of subjects like people, etc. But when we zoom real close forget it. :mad:

I have seen pics taken by others with their digital cams, say of a persons face, and you can see every little peach fuzz hair on their face crystal clear. I have seen them take pics of things like food, or snow, and the detail is just great. And i know they are prob from $500-$1000 cameras, but we just cant swing that right now.

So, here are a few questions.

What the heck do megapixels have to do with it all? (yes i'm camera challenged lol). Will going from 2.31 to say a 4.0 or better change the quality that much? How about when zooming?

Can we reasonably expect to pay $250-$300 (our budget, maybe $325 max lol) and get a much better camera than the one we have now?

If so, any recommendations?

Also, and heres the tricky part, Ihave a TON and I mean a TON of memory cards that I have bought when they were on sale here and there that are yet to be used. They are compactflash. So I would really like to TRY and get a new cam that takes the same cards so that they would be cross-compatible.

So, picky enough for you yet? lol Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks. :D

We got a dig cam its a 4 megapixels.Not sure what that means.But the one thing ya do want if you like close up is Macro.At lest thats what I was told.When I was looking for a cam.My DH got ours from EBay.We got a large mem card and the cam for less then buying it in stores.You can also check overstock.com they have cams sometimes.

I don't know much about Digital cameras (ok, I know one thing, that I'll share). If you are planning on using the zoom feature, make sure it's an OPTICAL zoom -- you don't want a digital zoom. You can digitally zoom when you get the photo on your computer and cut off the edges and make the picture back to the normal size.

Thanks for the info everyone, I have given up on the memory card compatability thing. No biggie.

So the cam I now have my eye on is the sony cybershot 4.1mp model #DSC-P73

The specs can be found HERE (http://reviews.cnet.com/Sony_Cyber_Shot_DSC_P73/4507-6501_7-30725456.html)



If anyone has this cam, or has an opinion on it. I'd love to hear from you.

Thanks.

I just got (Monday) a Canon Powershot A80. Staples has them on clearance for $279.99 with a free 128MB Compact Flash memory card.

So far no problems. Lots of manual photo type features for people who are into that and several auto modes for people who aren't.

Great review at Cnet. In fact they claim its the top 4mp camera. (http://reviews.cnet.com/4521-6530_7-5021301-3.html?tag=subnav). Take that with the usual top ten list grain of salt.

If you want one though, you better hurry. I had to hit 3 Staples stores to find one. (For you San Diego area padders Kearny Mesa and Poway were sold out, Mira Mesa had a couple left as of Monday.)

Thanks for info Matt!

All the staples around here were out of them, but I compared both on the net, then in person at best buy.

I really liked the flip out lcd screen, and how it could be swung back into the back of the camera and used like other cam's without the flip-out feature. Nice to have the flexibility.

Also, it IS cross compatible with all of my memory cards from my old cam.

the specs were almost identical to the sony, but those 2 things I just mentioned put me over the top with the cannon. So it was worth the extra $20 at best buy, so I bought it this afternoon. lol

So, I have only tried it out on the family pet, our african grey parrot, named Angel.

But here are 2 pics, still learning alot about the cam.

Pic #1 (http://www.jersey.net/~njmike/IMG_0022.JPG)

Pic #2 (http://www.jersey.net/~njmike/IMG_0023.JPG)

Not bad for only having it an hour huh?

Thanks again for the tip, this camera rocks. :D

Thanks for info Matt!

All the staples around here were out of them, but I compared both on the net, then in person at best buy.
Did Best Buy give you the free memory as well as the price match?

I really liked the flip out lcd screen, and how it could be swung back into the back of the camera and used like other cam's without the flip-out feature. Nice to have the flexibility.
Agreed. I must have spent 15 minutes last night just playing around with self portrait type pictures. Yes, I am a geek.

Also, it IS cross compatible with all of my memory cards from my old cam.
Lucky. My old camera used the increasingly obsolete smart media memory cards. Those max out at 128mb. Bad luck for me.

the specs were almost identical to the sony, but those 2 things I just mentioned put me over the top with the cannon. So it was worth the extra $20 at best buy, so I bought it this afternoon. lol
They didn't price match the Staples ad?

Thanks again for the tip, this camera rocks. :D
Glad to help. I've got a trip to Lego Land planned for tomorrow, so that'll be the first real test of the camera.

They didn't price match the Staples ad?

He said that the Staples stores in his area were out of stock on the item. From my experience, Best Buy will only match an advertised price if they are able to call and confirm that the item is in stock at the other store.

-Jeff

Exactly, and since they were on clearance at staples, they (best buy) dont consider that "advertised", or so i was told. I did look up my current local staples ad on the net and it wasnt in it, so i couldnt take the physical "ad" to best buy. It would have been nice if they did match it, but they wouldnt. Thats ok, i mean free memory is always nice, but i popped a brand new 256mb card I had already had sitting here in it when i got home anyway ;) . And like I said, for the extra $20 for the camera it was still worth it. :D