Because I wasn’t irritable enough - my wee camera is now on her last leg.
I picked her on a whim in New York three years ago on a business trip - we were having a big silly team lunch and I thought I’d like to snap some shots of the gang in their free meal feeding frenzy so I bopped over to the Circuit City near the office at Columbus Circle and grabbed the first one I saw that was 3mpx and around $200.
She’s been riding shotgun ever since.
She’s lived in my handbag the better part of the last 3 years, traveling with me to England, Virginia, Alabama, North Carolina, Alaska, Florida, Texas, Ohio and all over Georgia. She’s captured over 7,000 snippets of time in her lens, recording them for painfully nostalgic moments to come.
Alas I pulled her from her habitat in the bowls of said handbag for a little point and shoot last week to find I couldn’t get her flash to come on. I’d manually turned it off the last time I used her as I’m apt to do and it seems the button to turn her back on had been abused for the last time. No more.
She’s still functional for brightly lit/outdoor shots, but for dinners with friends and hijinks at the office and knitting documentation – I’m afraid she’s done.
So here’s the question: ultimately I’m itching for a phat SLR but that will hardly fit in my doctor bag…so tell me for my money if you have a point and shoot around $200 that you’re in love with and would recommend. Pointers to your flickr proving it’s worthiness earns bonus points.
Thanks in advance and kissy boo, moppets.
30 Jan 07
10:55 am
I would go with the one on the link below as it is probably the point and shoot I would get if mine died. True, it is not $200, but it probably matches you lifestyle more..
The camera is waterproof amd drop proof. Perfect for those Alaskan winter, Irish Rain or Georgia Mudding.
http://www.olympusamerica.com/cpg_section/product.asp?product=1225
30 Jan 07
11:00 am
Sorry for all the typos. Using the work laptop and the keyboard sucks.
30 Jan 07
11:15 am
Any Canon that starts with “SD”. Mine starts with SD and ends with 300.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tonysimon/
(The less than stellar photos on my flickr were taken with a Treo 650)
30 Jan 07
11:21 am
Tony! Whazaaaaaa. You make a good point - even if you didn’t mean to!
My baby is/was a Nikon “CoolPix” E3200.
http://www.nikonusa.com/template.php?cat=1&grp=2&productNr=25518
I dream of something with sharper photos and a wee more control…without a wee more $ (Tulio, I threw up in my mouth a little at the price of that Olympus)
30 Jan 07
11:57 am
I’ve been using Canons handhelds for the last few years. and been very happy with them. After our Canon PowerShot A20 was stolen we went to a PowerShot A510. We bought the first camera through B & H, and maybe the second as well.
In addition to pretty good pictures…
http://www.flickr.com/cameras/canon/powershot_a510/
…both cameras had been repeatedly dropped with no affect. The camera software for Mac is really easy to use. The only thing is low light pictures are harder to take without a tripod.
You can check this handy Flickr page for commonly used cameras…
http://www.flickr.com/cameras/
…and see pictures taken by the various models, and check price ranges when you click on specific models.
And that’s my advice. My pix here… http://www.flickr.com/photos/rkimberly/sets/
…with most recent sets = newer camera.
30 Jan 07
11:59 am
id go with a pentax optio w10. this baby is awesome! you can find it for 230-250..
http://www.pentaximaging.com/products/product_details/digital_camera–Optio_W10/reqID–7399568/subsection–optio
30 Jan 07
12:20 pm
I’m with Tony. I haven’t made it to the SD series yet but I’ve have an A60 and S300 (still based on CF cards). I’d been a Nikon photographer my whole life before that, so my first digital was a Coolpix something-900. It drove me insane; sluggish to respond, iffy color fidelity. I’m sticking with Canon.
30 Jan 07
12:25 pm
Good feedback, all…keep it coming!
Shelby - Excellent point and if I had one complaint about my little girl, it would be that. She wasn’t able to be as spontaneous/ractive as I might have liked. Gracias.
30 Jan 07
12:42 pm
i only have great things to say about my Canon SD200. takes great photos for something that i can keep in my pocket. and, the durability was confirmed when i had my trampoline accident this past summer.
if i had to upgrade right now, it would either be the sd630 or maybe the sd700. the 700 has image stabilization, which i don’t know if it makes a difference, but it sounds cool!
in conclusion, Canon is probably the only camera i’ll own going forward. i don’t think you can go wrong with anything in the sd line.
30 Jan 07
1:38 pm
I agree with the Canon school. I swear by them and there is a decent one out there 6mps, 12X optical zoom for 3 bills or so. I’ve seen snapshots from this camera on: sushiandmaplesyrup.blogspot.com
Good luck on your quest!
30 Jan 07
9:41 pm
I have a Nikon Coolpix 4800 and I LURVE it! I have carried it from Alaska to NC to OR and now to VA without any problem. If you check out the “Life at 70mph” link on my blog you’ll get my shutterfly account. All of the pics from Crater Lake and all of my sunset pics I’ve posted were taken with it. Amandaland found out the hard way to keep your receipt when her Nikon had trouble, but I haven’t had any trouble with mine.
31 Jan 07
12:12 pm
Flanks, keeds!
I done did buy myownself a SD600 last night, should be here in a few days.
Yeee haw!
16 Feb 07
8:13 am
[...] the new camera for a stroll after [...]