help a girl out -- which camera?

[almostdiva]

OK Gents,

Help a girl out who knows NOTHING about digital cameras/photography.

As some of you may know, I am in information technology and pharmaceutical staffing (I'm a 'headhunter') by day/opera singer whenever I can.

My company runs a contest two times a year. We earn points, then bid on and win products. Highest points goes first. That's me! !

I have over 275 points, so I can have which ever of these cameras I want. I am a VERY amature photographer! I would take pics of the aquarium (of course!) and stuff like when I go on vacation. Nothing fancy (although it would be cool to take pictures like Gene's and Mike's!).


Sony DSC-H2 6Meg 12x Zoom 275 points
Digital Camera

Fuji S700 7 Meg 10x Zoom Digital 225 points
Camera

Olympus FE280 8 Meg 3x Zoom 200 points


So -- what are your recommendations??

PS -- this would be TOTALLY FREE (how cool is that??!)

Thanks!

Rebecca

[Poseidon]

Digital Cameras Side-by-Side, 3 cameras: Digital Photography Review

I couldn't find the Fuji listed, I though you may have meant a F instead of an S, but that can't be right looking at what came up. So..... Based on the 2 that I could find:

The Sony and the Olympus, I would get the......





Sony.

It has many more options that are less gimicky and relate directly to taking GOOD pictures. The Oly has face detection, and more MP, but so what. 6MP is plenty for printing 11x14 images, heck even larger if you send the file to the right lab....

The memory for the Sony is more expensive, but since the camera is "free" the memory is not that big of a deal!

Great Job on getting the most points, that is very cool! I used to be in the top 10% at my sales job... It was very hard, and a LOT of stress.

[almostdiva]

Mike,

Thanks for the help! MP=megapixels right? (I don't mean to sound thick/stupid).

11X 14 is pretty big. I doubt I'll be printing pics that big on a regular basis, but it's nice to know I can!

Free ROCKS!

Thanks for the congrats. Yep, sales is hard and LOTS of stress. You would think finding jobs for people (or people for jobs, mostly) is easy. Only sometimes.

The "bidding war" is this Friday. By next week I should be able to load pics in my gallery that weren't taken with a cell phone!

[Poseidon]

Yup, MP = Megapixels.

I am looking forward to seeing the results of your new toy!

[SouthBayPhoto]

Miss Diva...

I would agree with Mike's choice as well. I have actually used the Sony at one of my part time jobs (they won't let me use my stuff) to get some nice shots "on the go" and they have come out very nicely. I have an OLLLLLD Olympus which worked okay, but as for pic quality, I like the Sony.

Like Mike said, since the camera is free, it's not that big of a deal to buy the memory stick for it.

I hope you win and outbid everyone else. Definitately looking forward to seeing some of your shots!

[charlie]

I also look forward to seeing some pics from you!!! Now all you need to do is get an achilles!!!!

[almostdiva]

Now all you need to do is get an achilles!!!!

Yeah! And reinforce the basement ceiling/living room floor! And get a 200+ g tank

(which would rock)!

[almostdiva]

by the way.... about how many pictures can be stored in 6 MP? (ballpark...)

Soutbay -- I will get the camera. No question. I have the most points and I get to go first! That's why I asked which of the 3 I should take. Nobody can outbid me!

[Poseidon]

Well, that depends on the size of your memory stick. If you buy a 1GB, then you should be able to take about 400+ images (at ISO 100). As you increase the ISO the file size also increases, decreasing the amount of pictures the card will hold.

MP=Picture Quality (way over simplified)
GB=Number of pictures you can store.

Does that help?

[zhenya]

Hi Rebecca,

Is it possible that the Fujifilm camera you listed is s7000 model? If it is I would definately consider that camera as a possibility. Having said that, I know that Sony cam that Mike chose is definately a good camera, though.

PS> I just dislike Sony as a company is all...

[Poseidon]

I do too Gene, but that looked to be the best of what Rebecca posted. I'll check out that s7000.... Though.

[SouthBayPhoto]

I third that notion....personally I like to shoot Canon (unless I have no choice, such as at work at times. LOL ), but like everyone else said, it seems the better choice of the two.

Miss Diva...enjoy that camera then!

[JR719]

I'm not really big into the camera thing.... But my wife is a prof photographer, picture taker person. She likes the Fuji over anything other than a Nikon or Canon.

MP is not the whole story here. You need to look at the ccd sensor size. The larger the ccd sensor, the more light, thus, better pic. You can have a 12 mp point and shoot with a tiny little ccd sensor and get a good photo. Try and enlarge it to a poster size, good luck with the quality.

My wife shoots a photo with her tiny little Nikon D1X with a 6 mp (yep way out dated) and can blow it up to a poster size with great quality. If that is not good enough, the D200 will do the job.

The wife will not use a Sony. She says the quality is crap when "blown up". That is up to an 8 X 10. So some research, Fuji is known for their quality in camera and print material. Olympus, well, never used one and have never heard very good results. MP is not all where it's at. Stick with a company that is known for it's camera's. Nikon, Canon, and Fuji.

You need to check the ccd sensor size vs. mp. The larger the ccd, the better pic you get. Of course, the more mp and larger ccd, the same.

Go with the Fuji, you'll like it. Even better, get a camer that you will be able to change lens's.

[Poseidon]

Did you ever check the sensor Manufacturer in those Nikon's (well the D200)?..... It is Sony.

You are correct about the sensor size = better picture quality, but all of these camera's have the same sized sensor.

[almostdiva]

The auction was a success. I took the Sony (I'm neutral about them as a company) because it looked to be the best of my choices. I'll have it mid-week latest. I will post pics after my next tank clean up (probalby next weekend).

Woo-hoo! I'm going digital.

[Poseidon]

YAY!!!! Congrats on the win Rebecca! I can't wait to see the results of the new toy.

[zhenya]

I hope I didn't start anything, like bashing Sony...
There is nothing wrong with their eqipment, nothing at all. I simply dislike the company for different reasons, which shall remain private. ;)

Rebecca, congrats on finally going digital.
You'll definately fall in love with it and scratch your head in disbelief that you had gone so long without a digital camera.

[Poseidon]

No, you didn't start anything Gene..... I have a couple Sony TV's and they are GREAT, however I have been through several of their "NEWER" DVD recorders, and they just don't have the quality they once had... The first damaged movies, the other just quit... I have a DVD player from them that is almost 10 years old, and it works great. I wonder what happened to them?!

[zhenya]

I wonder what happened to them?!

I don't know if anything happened to them at all, Mike. They still make heck of a television set and everything else electronic. Like laptop, for example.

Quality control is an issue with any manufacturer, so I am not surprized that some equipment fails. It is response to quality issues that bothers me. ;)

[charlie]

The auction was a success. I took the Sony (I'm neutral about them as a company) because it looked to be the best of my choices. I'll have it mid-week latest. I will post pics after my next tank clean up (probalby next weekend).

Woo-hoo! I'm going digital.

Congrats, I can't wait to see some pics. Oh and about going digital, the best part is the delete function, without having to use up film, if you get a big enuf memory card, you can take pics until the cows come home and still have some left!
You are getting the software with it, right?