# Camera advice



## Bogy (Mar 23, 2002)

From previous threads I know a lot of people who post here have a lot of experience with photography. In the next month or so I will be buying a new camera. Many of you who have been paying attention know that my daughter will be leaving for 27 months in Kenya in the Peace Corp. I want to send her off with a good digital camera, so she can take pictures and then mail us the card/stick to download and print. That way we can send pictures to her friends while she is gone, and have them ready for her when she gets back. We can send the empty media back to her and she can "refill" them. I am not sure how available film will be in Kenya, and what the price would be. I am not planning on her downloading pictures and sending them to us attached to an email because her access to the web will be limited and slow. I will be making my final decision after my uncle returns from his current trip to Haiti. He will be returning to Kenya in July, and has been there three or four time previously. He will probably be going there a couple of times a year in the future. He hopes to see his neice when he is there. I hope to go with him at least once in the next couple of years. He does work trips to help at different missions. He should have some information what would be most workable.

Up front, there are some considerations. The first is that in our family my daughter has a reputation for being hell on cameras. I am not sure (I don't want to think about) how much money I have laid out on really nice cameras for her over the years, that she has trashed in six months or less. She drops them, she just looks at them wrong, they break in her presence. She has also been thoughtful enough to do this with a few of my wife's cameras when her's were broken as well. She is not real technically savvy. She just wants to turn it on, point and shoot, and have picture magically appear. Complicated settings and menus will only frustrate her. A simple thing like electricity to recharge batteries may also be a luxury she will not often have access to. Therefore, I am ruling out any camera that cannot take standard AA batteries. No fancy battery packs that MUST be recharged or the camera doesn't work.

I have two ways I could go. Considering her track record, I may just give her my Sony CyberShot P-71. Its a 3.2 megapixal that takes nice pictures. If she breaks or loses it, it's about 3 years old now. The advantage is of course that I would have to buy a new camera for myself to use. If I do that, since I don't have the unlimited funds some of you do, I need to find a compromise between megapixals and zoom. Since about anything I would buy today would be in the 5+ megapixal range, how much of a priority would you make increasing that capacity? I would like an optical zoom capabilty of 10x or 12x. Digital zoom as far as I am concerned is of less value. 

Or I can buy her a new camera. In which case the criteria changes. Then I want the most rugged camera I can get, with the best battery life possible. And as simple to operate as possible.

Now the really fun part of this, as I mentioned before, is that I don't have unlimited funds to make this purchase. That would make things way to easy. I am looking at a budget of $300-$400. If I get her a new camera now, I will plan on getting myself a new one before I make my trip to Kenya sometime in the future.

So, solve my problems. :lol:


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## Bogy (Mar 23, 2002)

This is kind of what I had in mind for her. Has anyone had any experience with one of these. Can you bounce it off a concrete floor? 








http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/con...025&is=REG&addedTroughType=categoryNavigation


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## AcuraCL (Dec 12, 2005)

For image quality, I'd stick with one of the "big" camera makers: Pentax, Olympus, Nikon, Canon, or Sony. I'd avoid Sony since their proprietary memory sticks are more costly per MB than other media types.

Here are some possibilities:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage...5330&skuid=6100257&type=product&ref=06&loc=01

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/con...w=OLS720SW&is=REG&Q=&O=productlist&sku=421579
Rechargable Li Ion batteries, but these chargers usually work on local currents 50/60 Hz 110-220V provided she has 1) power 2) a plug adapter


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## Jason Nipp (Jun 10, 2004)

Bogy, I have had the Olympus it was nice. Right now I am using the Minolta Z series, I like it very much but it is not a very compact camera. However the optics on it are by far the best on all the digitals I have had.

My sister had 2 different Kodaks, took nice pictures but ate battery life like it was never there. She recently switched the the Nikon 8 Mpix, I borrowed this for my last trip to Europe, I really liked the portability of it, however it is an extremely slow camera as far as write time to card and readiness for the next picture. My Minolta has a very fast shutter to write time and is ready for the next pic very quickly. Though it sometimes does have issues focusing on close up objects.

My brother in law has the Cannon Elf, very compact, but again kinda slow on readiness for the next pic.


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## Bogy (Mar 23, 2002)

Acura, if Best Buy really has it in stock the Pentax looks like a good possibility. I wouldn't even mind finding the 43 that replaced it. It doesn't look like many outlets have it in stock anymore, and the current Optios have a proprietary battery. This is also the problem with the Olympus. To reiterate, it is VERY possible that she will no electricity available at all, much less a problem with needing an adapter. The ability to use standard batteries, with the best life possible is a priority. Sony memory sticks are not. My wife and I each have a Sony PDA, the Sony CyberShot I mentioned earlier, and a Sony Handicam. My Toshiba Qosmio laptop has a memory stick slot. I already have a good supply of sticks, so that isn't a problem. Battery life and type and ruggedness are the priorities. But as I said, the Pentax looks good, if I can find one of these that takes the AA batteries.

Jason, glad to know about the Kodak battery life in particular. I got a Minolta SLR 26 years ago before my first daughter was born (XG7, I think). I still use it once in a while, and my daughter used it in high school for photo classes. I think it would still be working great except about 12 years ago someone spilled root beer on it and gummed up the on/off/etc. switch on top. I took the camera apart to clean it up. I did that, but in so doing I somehow lost the "clickstops". You have to be very careful in turning it off or when you try to use it the next time the batteries are dead.  
We have also had several Olympus film cameras, and they have been very good (except for the need to keep them away from my daughter.  )

My daughter who is NOT going to Kenya is the real photographer in the family. She is the one who used my Minolta in hs, and after hs bought herself a nice Cannon 35mm. She has been very happy with it. Most of the time its loaded with b/w. When she is on her own to do an art project there is a good chance it will involve multiple images, shot in b/w, but processed in various colors. 

I have also been happy with my Cybershot. When I get my next camera, whether right now or a little later, Minolta and Sony will be two of my prime contenders.


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## Bogy (Mar 23, 2002)

BTW, after reading some user reviews on Amazon I have had to drop the Bushnell from consideration. To bad, because it really looked good from the ruggedness standpoint, and even my daughter knows she is hell on electronics, and cameras in particular. There are two cell phone providers in Kenya, and she is hoping the one that is named "Safari phone" provides service in the area she will be in. Partly because she thinks the name is cool, and partly because she hopes they will have a phone that will survive a rhino charge. It might then survive her for 2 years. I don't have insurance on any of our cell phones here, except hers. :nono:


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## Richard King (Mar 25, 2002)

http://www.shortcourses.com/choosing/contents.htm
As for the battery charging problem, *if* she will have access to a car, get her an inverter (they can be had fairly cheaply now) and use that to charge the batteries.


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## olgeezer (Dec 5, 2003)

Olympus and Fuji also use somewhat proprietary cards (XD). Today SD is the most common card used followed by compact flash. Todays best value in small cameras is Pentax. Larger cameras, the Sony H1 if you can find one on closeout ($349). Battery charging is a concern. Minolta/Konicas assets are now in Sony hands, which should make Sony an even stronger competitor. You might also look at some of the Casio cameras. We have a 18x24 posted in our store, taken by a small 5MP Casio that is super.


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## DonLandis (Dec 17, 2003)

My wife is the same as your daughter- Hell on cameras and doesn't want to be bothered with reading the directions to use it. I bought her a Canon A520 and a 1G SD card with a Half G card backup. It uses 4 AA batteries and I bought the little $20 recharger kit as well. (Costco) She uses the rechargeable ones until an emergency and then has the alkalines for backup. But the cool thing with her camera is that when it's off the lens retracts and a cover automatically seals the lens. That will prevent the same thing that happened to her previous camera with a broken lens! 
The Canon takes great pics with terrific auto flash in auto position. She has also learned the video mode and has taken as long as 15 minute videos in 320x240 resolution. Cost about $140 and 4 Mpixel res.

Main disadvantage of this model- Slow latency. Click the shutter and wait for a second before the picture takes. But all low cost digitals suffer from this.

You'll need to set it up for her in advance so the auto modes are properly defaulted to what you want her to shoot, such as 640x480 or 2000K .. The bigger, the better but fewer you get per meg AND the slower the camera recovers for the next shot. You'll figure that part out so she doesn't need to concern herself with it. Also it will auto title the pics which is nice too (date and time)

Anyway, I have used it on occasion and it felt good. The sound quality is great and you can attach a sound doc to the stills too. Pretty cool!

When I got the A520 for my wife we spent a day at the beach shooting and learning and she enjoyed that while being taught how to shoot and frame like a pro. That was time well spent because now, I don't get embarrassed with her shooting, infact she gets asked to shoot pictures now for office events. So, learn the camera and then spend some quality time, just the two of you having fun with it. Do both video and stills. I did the same with my daughter some years ago and then she did some dark room and B&W courses in college, came back and taught me a thing or two I never knew about film. MY daughter, now is good enough to sell her work as a commercial photographer. No, she doesn't shoot video! Maybe some day she'll want to learn that craft. I bought her the Canon A510 so you can see, I'm partial to Canon. I carry a G3 and it is old now but does great work for my needs.


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## Richard King (Mar 25, 2002)

http://www.beachcamera.com/shop/pro...m_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=CNDRXTB&sku=CNDRXTB
This is a steal for a great camera. It is VERY good as a point and shoot with any options available you would ever want.


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## AcuraCL (Dec 12, 2005)

Bogy said:


> ...To reiterate, it is VERY possible that she will no electricity available at all, much less a problem with needing an adapter. The ability to use standard batteries, with the best life possible is a priority. ....


Ok. I was thinking the ruggedness consideration was a more important factor. A broken camera with AA batteries is of limited use 

The "adapter" I am referring to is one I just bought to use my chargers in Ireland. All it does is convert flat plug blades to the round ones the have in UK. Cost like $4. The charger itself is "universal." Still, if there ain't no juice ....

They do make solar battery chargers. I believe the going rate is about $100 for a unit.

And there are units that trickle charge rechargable batteries from standard alkalines.

Still, Pentax is a great name, I'd buy one of their cameras any day.


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## ntexasdude (Jan 23, 2005)

I just have a couple of comments. I have had a total of three Kodal camera's. An old D50 that was one of the first conumer models back in about 1998. The I won a 1.1 meg fixed focus model in a door prize about 2001. Last year I bought my wife a 4.1 megapixel with optical zoom and dozens of nice features from full manual settings to fully auto point and shoot. The first 2 old Kodaks used 4 AA's and ate them like candy. Seems you could only get 30 or 40 shots. The new Kodak will shoot 700 or 800 pics on just 2 AA's at the highest resolution. Use of the flash weighs heavily on battery life.

I aslo have the Sony CyberShot P-71 Bogy mentioned. Great camera, lots of features, small, decent battery life and we only paid around $100 for it.


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## Phil T (Mar 25, 2002)

I have a Samsung A7 7.1 megapixel that I have been very happy with. It looks like it has a lot of good reviews at Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...f=pd_bbs_1/002-3196103-6229639?_encoding=UTF8

Cost was $269.00 at Target around Christmas time.


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## Bogy (Mar 23, 2002)

Thanks for all your comments guys. A decision has been made. My daughter is going to take the Sony P-71 to Africa with her. Like ntexasdude mentioned, it has been a great camera for me. She doesn't care as long as she has a camera. I have a bunch of older memory sticks of various capacities I can send along with her, plus I noticed my closest Wal-Mart has some 32 meg sticks on closeout at about half price I am going to pick up, so we can keep recycling them as I mentioned earlier. Don mentioned that on his wife's Canon, when it is turned off the lens retracts and is covered up. Same thing on the Sony, so that should help. We have some time to go over the instructions, and as a point and shoot it is pretty simple.

As for me, as per olgeezer's suggestion, my Sony H1 has been ordered and is on the way. 
I already have a couple or three 512 meg sticks that get used in the PDA's and the camcorder. They are the Pro format, which the P-71 is to old to use. I will be able to use them in the H1, and I am also pricing 2 and 4 gig memory sticks for it. I figure when we make our trip to Kenya a 4 gig stick, with the camera at its highest setting, will hold almost 1600 pictures. If I clean out the obvious crap every once in a while, that should be enough. :lol:


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## Bogy (Mar 23, 2002)

BTW, I will send an adapter, charger, and rechargable batteries with her, so if she DOES have electricity, or when she visits someplace with electricity, she will be able to charge them up.


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## AcuraCL (Dec 12, 2005)

Bogy said:


> BTW, I will send an adapter, charger, and rechargable batteries with her, so if she DOES have electricity, or when she visits someplace with electricity, she will be able to charge them up.


Great resource here for electrical/plug standards:

http://users.pandora.be/worldstandards/electricity.htm


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## Bogy (Mar 23, 2002)

AcuraCL, thanks for the resource. 

BTW, there is another reason why I am sending the old camera with her at least initially. I figure we might as well let her get over there and see what she has. If she is in a location where electricity is available, then we can send her a different camera. I think it is during the first 60 days she is there we can ship things to her duty free. Particularly if she breaks the camera I am sending with her, then we can buy something in accordance with her situation. If recharging the battery wasn't going to be a problem some of the Pentax, and the Olympus 720 SW look good. Waterproof, shock resistant, and dustproof. Sounds like what my daughter needs.


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