# [Wet Thumb Forum]-'cheap' camera advice?



## AndyL (Jun 5, 2004)

Hey folks,

I think my old HP C200 camera is due for an upgrade...

About all I use it for is taking fish pics (The wife is a scrap-book fiend, so she insists on 'real cameras' for family events) So its gonna be a challenge to get much $ out of her for it...

What I'd like to know, is some opinions from the experts as to which cameras to look at.

Andy

Andy L

Man created Planted Fish tanks, God created algae.


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## Guest (Jul 28, 2003)

Give some more details on what you want to do with the camera.

- What kind of pictures
- Do you care about "extra" options
- Availability of external flash
- MP amount 
- How much $$$ are we looking at.


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## AndyL (Jun 5, 2004)

- What kind of pictures
Mostly just aquarium - show and tell stuff. Occasionally I'll take it to family events so I can quickly throw up a webpage (relatives births etc)

- Do you care about "extra" options
Not really - zoom and the display were nice features on my current camera.

- Availability of external flash
I'd love one, show me how to get one inexpensively and I'd get one in a second

- MP amount 
As long as its better than the 1MP I've got now...

- How much $$$ are we looking at.
I'd like to keep it under 300US$ The lower it is the better (easier it is to sneak by the wife on the CC bill







)

Andy

Andy L

Man created Planted Fish tanks, God created algae.


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## Wheeler (Feb 8, 2004)

It's gonna be tough for you to find something under $300 with the features that you'll need. Even IF you find a camera at that price point, you can plan on adding $100-150 for basic accessories.

You may be best off trying to find a clearance deal. For example, Ritz camera had Minolta DiMage 5's on clearance for $79(!) just a few months ago. This camera is dreadfully outdated, but it has a 3MP CCD, and tons of manual featues. The Minolta DiMage line were the first consumer digicams to offer real shutterbug features.

You may want to contact Ritz and see if they have anything left. There are lots of discontinued cameras that may still be floating around which are worth looking for. The olympus C-3040 would be a great find, as would a Nikon Cool Pix 995 which should be down in the $300 range by now.

Good luck.

Best wishes,
John Wheeler


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## vijay (Aug 13, 2003)

I just got a Nikon coolpix 2100 and love it compared to my ols Kodak easyshare CX2400 i got it for under $400
Can (before tax)


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## Guest (Sep 21, 2003)

> quote:
> 
> Originally posted by vijay:
> I just got a Nikon coolpix 2100 and love it compared to my ols Kodak easyshare CX2400 i got it for under $400
> Can (before tax)


vijay,

Just wondering how much you paid for your 2100.

2100 - $247.00
3100 - $347.00
4300 - $319.00
5700- $900.00


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## superjohnny (Jul 31, 2004)

beachcamera.com has the Canon A70 for $279. Great 3MP camera. check out the review at www.dpreview.com

---------------------------------------------
Fish are the things that live with my plants.


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## Jimbo205 (Feb 2, 2006)

I like the question in this thread. 

Would anyone have an updated answer to a good old question? 

For me, I just want a camera that can take pictures of snails, plants pearling, fish, etc. 
I figure if it can do that, the camera can do anything else that I want. 

I don't care how the camera does it. I just want it to do the job. Oh yeah, and cheap. 
I am not proud. I don't care where I get it. I just want the thing to work. You know? 

Any ideas? Suggestions, feedback and personal experience would be great. 

Kodak?


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## Quantronghoang (Jan 31, 2006)

Canon S3IS is a good choice, I think so 
about 350--300US
With Super macro mode(0cm),it will be very useful for shooting plants pearling^^


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## Jimbo205 (Feb 2, 2006)

Anything a _little_ more affordable?


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## zQ. (Dec 15, 2006)

How about an Canon G7 ? ~ 500$


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## Jimbo205 (Feb 2, 2006)

OfficeMax says that when the next model comes out in a couple of months the price for the Kodak Z650 or Z710 will drop. I can wait.


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## goalcreas (Nov 20, 2006)

This is what I just got

http://www.beachcamera.com/shop/product.aspx?sku=KDZ612

Granted, this is not as good as it gets, but it is good enough for me.

I too just take some tank pics, mostly when playing with hardscapes so I can remember what they look like and take progression pics of tanks. I do not take too many "quality" photos or really try to, and I am sure that if I played with the camera that I could take some pretty descent pics, but I just use it for what I use it for and it is easy enough for the whole family to use, little ones included, and the price was right.

I actually got it from Best Buy for $189 on sale about 4 weeks ago, but it is not even on their web anymore. I bet with some internet searches you could find it for that or lower.

This camera DOES have a good close up feature and was as good as the Cannon and Sony that I compared it to and I found it in less then 30 seconds, I found the Sony in about that time, but for the Cannon 31IS (or what ever model it is) that took me and the sales guy about 15 minutes to find. It has a good selection of settings and you can max out the MP and resolution, or chop them down for better file storage.

All in all, I am happy with this camera.
If I were a pro, or even just more advanced of a photographer, I might hate this camera,
but for my skill level and for what I need out of this, I like it.


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## goalcreas (Nov 20, 2006)

Here it is for $189

I did not find anywhere that it was refurbished. There were other sellers listing that they were selling refurbished, but not this one.

I would call to conrfirm that it is NEW and not Refurb before buying.

http://www.thedigitalnerds.com/product.asp?productid=1071851&tab=1

Or here for $179.00 with some freebies
http://www.lowpricedigital.com/item.asp?item_id=124746&search_id=&view=
then here
http://www.digitalsuperdeals.com/product.asp?productid=1071851


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## Jimbo205 (Feb 2, 2006)

That is it. Or one of them. I was surprised to see in the store that the newer one had less macro 10X versus 12X. 

Either way, I am willing to wait for the price to drop when the next model comes into the store. 

By then the wife MIGHT have the family Kodak C330 repaired. Either way, by that time she might not mind my spending money on this. 

Everything in life has its own timing. Planning my next tank has taught me that. 
And if I rush things, I might blow it. 

Thanks for digging up some good stuff!

Now if only I were handy enough to mod a disposable camera. I something on the web about doing that. Hmm... Naw. Wife would put something like that in the trash (ha,ha!).


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