Is this a good deal for a newbie?

[corey05]

hey guys, i really need a new digi cam NOW lol i need it mostly to have great zoom be manageable and take good enough pics to make super 8x10's. is this a good deal please please please someone help me lol...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...825054429&rd=1

[jerrymeola]

I have bought cameras before on ebay so I am not against buying that way.

However, I would avoid any sale where they pretend the deal is great by adding a lot of worthless items.

The tripod is very light and can be bought at walmart for $15. The compact flash card is too small be be of any value, you will need 256mb as a minimum for this camera and bigger is better.

The compact card reader is very useful but it is probably USB1.1 and I get them free at office max. About every 6-8 weeks office max offers them for (9.99 with a 9.99 rebate)

The camera case is available everywhere for $5-8 and the brush and lense cleaner about 1.99.

Final result you are paying $485 for a good camera but this is a price you can get most anywhere and probably for less.

My advice is buy the camera you want and do not buy any assessories until you need them. First a 256($38) or 512($70) compact flash card and then a 2.0 USB card reader if you want the speed (40 times faster than 1.1) for about $17 or look for a free 1.1 reader.

[corey05]

thanks for the advice im thinking more along the lines of a Canon PowerShot S1 IS my max spening is about 500 bucks. But im not sure yet....all this mega pixel, optical zoom, and telepoto lense stuff is driving my bonkers...lol

[jerrymeola]

I teach an intro to digital photography seminar a couple of times a year so I hear these questions often.

Megapixels - it is becoming a marketing gimic - a high number of megapixels is only important in large (greater than 8x10) prints. You will have to downsize your photos for email or web posing. A 3 meagapixel camera will make beautiful 8x10 prints and good shots can go 11x17 or even larger with noise reduction software. A 5 megapixel can make 16x20 or larger. The limit is your skill in the first exposure. Buy 3-5 mega pixel camera based on your budget. More than that you probably will not use. Extra mega pixels will allow you to crop your pictures and still print large but it is better to learn to fill the frame and take better pictures the first time.

Lense quality is more immportant than megapixels, fortunately all the major manufacturers (Nikon Canon Sony Olympus Fuji and others) have good quality lenses in their cameras

Optical zoom is valuable to allow you to get closer to your subject and fill the frame. Digital zoom is basically worthless and forget that it exists. You can crop and interpolate after you take the picture so there is no reason to do it in the camera.

Telephoto lenses (I assume you mean add on convertors) are a way to extend the range of the telephoto zoom that is built into the camera. A 2X teleconvertor can be purchased from a decent secondary manufacturer for about $20. The original manufacturer charges much more.

The most important thing I believe is how the camera feels in your hands. It has to be comfortable. Go to several shops and hold the cameras. There are so many small digital cameras that the styles vary greatly. Chose one that feels good to you.

Remember to allow $30-70 in your budget for an extra compact flash card and if you expect to take over 100 pictures at a time you will need extra batteries. I see 3 mp sonys in the $250 range and 5 mp for $350. Canon or Nikon are a little more so you should be able to get an excellant camera and assessories for your $500 budget.

Buy it and enjoy it. If you have any other questions just ask.

[corey05]

thanks jerry. Im watching a canon A80 right now im going to try it out at a store and see if i like the feel and all that good stuff i really appreciate the break down lol.