Digital Camera for $300-400?

Published by: admin 2010-03-16

I really really need one that zooms, atleast 10x, I don't think switching out lens left and right is practical for the kind of picture taking I want to do. I'd like the usual LCD screen and saving via compactflash, as I already have a 2GB Extreme III card I use on my audio recorder.

Also, I'd like to know how big of a difference it would be, between a camera in this price range and one in the $1,000-$2,000 range. Assuming I have an eye for taking good pictures, how much of a disadvantage would I be at? 50%? 10%? 5%?

I really need one, but I cant spend more money then that. But If I'm going to be completely void of taking good decent pictures without perfect lighting conditions with this thing, I dont think I'd want to spend any money if the cameras the one that is incapable, not the man.

Thank you.

If you hadn't mind having a "small" zoom ( 3x times factor "only), i'd have told you to take a Fuji F10 or F11, that are fantastic little performers for 3-400$ only. Their main advantage is their ability to take very well exposed pictures in low light, thanks to Fuji's Super CCD. They also sport sensibilities such as 1600iso, with a very low grain, and an advanced flash measurement system. (avoiding the "white-yoghourt looking" effect when flash is used).
The main drawback with ultra-zooms is the lens quality. Colour rendition is very good most of the time , but distortion is huge (cushion with wide angle, barrel with tele) and resolving is quite low most of the time...
but if you still want "cheap" ultra-zoom cameras, i've heard panasonics are quite good (i don't think the "leica" name written on it has anything to do).

I am three days late on this thread, but my camera is a Kodak P850. It is on clearance as kodak is replacing it for the holiday season. If you can find it, it runs around 250-300 bucks, and is well more advanced then I know how to use! 12XOptical zoom with IS, full manual mode that lets you control: Aperature (f2.8-f8), Shutter time (1/1000 to 16") Flash compensation, (+1 to -1 in 1/3 steps) ISO equiv (from 50 to 400)
Kodak has eye poping color, fairly good tech support (they even have support techs on some kodak specialized forums on other sites.....)
I have had mine since just before Christmas last year and I love it!

ordered, thank you Zaphod!

Anybody know if the Panasonic FZ30 has an automatic focus or not?

You can't really put a percentage on how much better one camera is than another. It all depends on your needs; a DSLR could be 100% better than a point-and-shoot or it could be 0% better. As you say, If you have an eye for taking good pictures a camera in that price range will probably be perfectly adequate for most shots. Having said that, to get close to the flexibility of DSLRs you should look for something with a resonably large maximum aperture (a smaller 'F' number) throughout the zoom range. One that fits the bill here and and is often recommended is the Panasonic FZ30 (it also has a 12x zoom with image stabilisation); you can probably get that for $400, though possibly second hand. There are of course alternatives from almost every camera manufacturer, but that should give you an idea of what to look for - you can get a very good camera that will produce very nice images towards or slightly above the higher end of your price range.

np, hope you like it. A few people here own or have owned Panasonic FZ models and should be able to help if you have any problems.

You can't change the lens on the FZ30 or on similar cameras; some have accessories like wide-angle adaptors you can buy, but I don't know how good they are. Video mode is 640x480.

I don't think a camera is made in this day and age that does not have auto focus.

Zaphod I spoke to soon, I had to wait but I'm about to order it right now. I have a question, does this thing have an automatic focus? I can't find that information anywhere and it seems like it's turning out to be the opposite. I'm to much of a newbie to have to be the one to focus when I zoom in and out like a madman.

Sorry for the gap, was just making sure I was going to get a digital camera instead of a video camera.

I was reseaching the specs on the Panasonic, I'm surprised it's as beefy as it is, didnt think you could get a camera like that for that price. Does the camera have a name like the SLR and DSLRs do or is it just a "digital" camera?

Does the FZ30 have a fixed lense or can you buy ones to put on it?

Anything else I need to know before buying this guy?

It says it can record video for as much space as the card has, but I dont know at what resolution, do you know? Not really important, I'm just curious.

Thanks for the replies.