Best Digital cameras in $500 - $800 USD range

Posted:
in iPod + iTunes + AppleTV edited January 2014
Does any one know of some good digital camreas in the $500-$800 USD range. Any information would be appreciated.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 19
    beakeebeakee Posts: 64member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Rick1138

    Does any one know of some good digital camreas in the $500-$800 USD range. Any information would be appreciated.



    Check out the Olympus C-5050. It accepts CF, SD, and XD film. Has a 5.1 MP CCD, and lots of custome features. Many say it's the best value for features camera.



    Also, You can find the Minotla Dimage 7i for under $800. (I have the Dimage 7 and love it)5.2 MP with CF memory. It is a killer camera with about the best lens on the market (7X optical).



    Good Luck
  • Reply 2 of 19
    Canon Powershot series, Powershot S45, Powershot S50. Best reviews. check out cnet.com's reviews and also Steve's digicams. Here is a review of my personal favorite 5 Megapixel digital camera.



    http://www.steves-digicams.com/2003_reviews/s50.html



    If you want compact with awesome image quality, look at the Elph series, like the S400.
  • Reply 3 of 19
    jbljbl Posts: 555member
    The Sony F717 is now down to $800. It is big but it has the best lens of any non-SLR digital camera. Check out what dpreview has to say about it.
  • Reply 4 of 19
    rick1138rick1138 Posts: 938member
    Thanks for all the replies, I'm going to take a look at all of those cameras.
  • Reply 5 of 19
    macusersmacusers Posts: 840member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by JBL

    The Sony F717 is now down to $800. It is big but it has the best lens of any non-SLR digital camera. Check out what dpreview has to say about it.



    this one is really really good, you can get oune from $650 to $800 if you search around
  • Reply 6 of 19
    ed m.ed m. Posts: 222member
    Does anyone know if the X3 CMOS image capture technology is used in any other cameras besides the Sigma? You would think Foveon would have digital camera manufacturers lined up at the door.



    Foveon X3 Technology



    --

    Ed
  • Reply 7 of 19
    matsumatsu Posts: 6,558member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Ed M.

    Does anyone know if the X3 CMOS image capture technology is used in any other cameras besides the Sigma? You would think Foveon would have digital camera manufacturers lined up at the door.



    Foveon X3 Technology



    --

    Ed




    Not neccessarily, so far X3 seems way behind conventional sensors when it comes to "film speed" the best thy can do is 400. Conventional sensors in professional cameras can get up to 3200. Just like film, there won't be one sensor for all occassions. Also, the image interpolation tech just gets better and faster all the time, and chips liek digic are just the tip of the iceberg, byt he time of digic3/4/5... interpolation may be as good as makes no difference. Neither have manufacturers quit developing mosaic pattern sensors. Sony has a new 4 color sensor, Nikon has new high speed sensor tech in the works (good for 8fps! at full res)



    Obviously, then, the future of cameras will be one of varied technologies in varied appplications and there are just as many reasons NOT to use Foveon technology as there are to use it, probably more in most cases.



    As i see them, the issues in Camera technology involve getting the resolution up, and getting dynamic range up and increasing ISO sensitivities and shooting speeds/lag times.
  • Reply 8 of 19
    nanonano Posts: 179member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Rick1138

    Does any one know of some good digital camreas in the $500-$800 USD range. Any information would be appreciated.



    any camera for that price is good
  • Reply 9 of 19
    alcimedesalcimedes Posts: 5,486member
    an excellent question, best answered in the Digital Hub forum....
  • Reply 10 of 19
    rick1138rick1138 Posts: 938member
    I was just looking at the Sigma SD9 that uses Foveon tech, it does some pretty amazing things-I am thinking of increasing my budget. The images are almost noise-free, even at ISO 400. Even though it is only around 3 mp, it has much more information in each pixel and is equivalent to a 10 or 11 mp camera.
  • Reply 11 of 19
    rick1138rick1138 Posts: 938member
    I just thought, this is the beginning of the megapixel myth.
  • Reply 12 of 19
    matsumatsu Posts: 6,558member
    Many factors come into play. For example...



    Take one Foveon X3 with roughly 10.5 million sensors recoring an image, and one Canon, also with 10+ sensors.



    The Canon returns a 10MP image, the Foveon, a 3.5MP image.



    Even though the Canon interpolates the color info from a mosaic pattern, there's no question that it returns significantly more detail, more real resolution, than the Foveon sensor.



    Now, let's say you wanted to lower noise in the Canon, if you shrunk the image down in software to 5-6MP you'd get equally noise free fotos with the same detail as the Foveon.



    Likewise, the Foveon because it records accurate three color info at each point, gives a lot of enlargement potential for, and up sizing the image in software will lead to pretty good looking 5-6MP size files.



    YOu might say that:



    number of photodectors being equal, it's better to have them arrayed in a mosaic that extracts the maximum resolution from them. YOu can always down size the image later to clear up noise, if you don't need the larger file size, you get more performance spreading your ten MP in a Canon, than you do stacking them in a Foveon -- better overall resolution, faster "film speed", and the same noise cancelling posibilities (via software resizing)



    conversely,



    number of photosites being equal, it's better to have X3 pixels (that is full color at each point) than a mosaic, you get far superior resolution and color depth.



    There is no one sensor panacea, not Foveon, not Bayer, not superCCD.
  • Reply 13 of 19
    rick1138rick1138 Posts: 938member
    Thanks for the information - it looks like the Sigma is out of my budget range after all - unless I can find one at a steep discount.
  • Reply 14 of 19
    rick1138rick1138 Posts: 938member
    And the winner is: the Sony DSC F717.
  • Reply 15 of 19
    jbljbl Posts: 555member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Rick1138

    And the winner is: the Sony DSC F717.



    Good choice. I have a 707 and am very happy with it. Great image quality.
  • Reply 16 of 19
    josephgjosephg Posts: 111member
    My vote's for the Olympus 5050. I have the 4040 (the 5050's 4Mpx little bro) and it does not disappoint. Best feature is the super bright f1.8 lens--rare on a digicam--versatile in lowlight and for a shallow depth of field.
  • Reply 17 of 19
    bill mbill m Posts: 324member
    The new Canon G5 is the clear winner IMHO. I just got one last week for $799. Excellent optics and image quality. Very well designed and built. And it has almost every feature you would ever desire from an SLR in a point-and-shoot form factor. In fact, it shares the new DiGiC technology from its pro Digital SLR siblings.
  • Reply 18 of 19
    matsumatsu Posts: 6,558member
    It really looks like you can't go wrong with any of the cameras mentioned here.



    I've been looking for a camera with a range of manual control, but not DSLR pricey, and the C5050, the G5, F602, and 717 all seem to have strong points.



    We may now add the 6/12 f602 successor I mentioned earlier in the thread. Two in fact:



    S5000



    S7000



    The S7000 looks especially interesting, and we might expect Sony's 8MP F717 replacement soon.



    While these cameras will probably be a tad higher priced than 800USD, it means there'll be a sweet little window for the next few months where some pretty good cameras will clear out cheap.



    Watch out for deals on the 717, F602, and Olympus E20, all cameras either replaced or due to be replaced soon.
  • Reply 19 of 19
    matsumatsu Posts: 6,558member
    hmmm, more info on the S7000.



    $799 US MSRP



    That's pretty darned good. From what I've read so far, the camera does have a couple of short comings: No AF assist lamp, but you can fix that with a pen light. It's supposed to have an improved focusing system though, so mebbe it will be OK. And, it doesn't have TTL flash, though it does accept external flashes and is supposed to have a very strong and useful internal flash. It doesn't have a really slow ISO mode 160, 200, and 400 speed only, and 800 up to 3MP, an 80-120 setting could probably be useful, but you can adjust the other fully manual settings to get the shot you're after.



    For $799 you get 35-210 (f2.8 constant) equivalent zoom and 6/12MP SuperCCD image, which should guarantee some pretty big prints.



    It really looks rather good to me, I wonder if you've picked up the 717 yet? The S7000 is due for Sept, and there may be an 8MP 717 replacement by then too. That's also an interesting camera, most any review I've read about the 717 says the lens is great and that the detail is as close as you can get to a DSLR, the 8MP verison should be even better. Shame about the memory stick though.



    Also a bit more expensive than Fuji offerings here in Canada. I can't find one for less than 1600 Canadian, while the S602 can be had for 1100 (and has been that price for months) and the new S7000 should come in not too much more -- it will probably cost 1199 new when it hits the street.



    If we can keep this thread alive a bit I'd like to hear what the rest of you reccomend.



    with 6-8 MP on offer (soon) in consumer cams, the time is finally right for Matsu to go digital! Hehe, I didn't have to play with film too much, or for too long either.
Sign In or Register to comment.