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http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1967137,00.asp

Thanks to all for your comments.

I have narrowed it down to the Canon A4xx (like the A430) range or the
Kodak C3xx (like the C340) range but now to find either a used one or
new one at a good price in Australia (WA preferred). If you have one
your selling in Australia let me know (or know soemone lese get them to
contact me (), or if you know of a
good supplier with good prices let me know (that has in stock)

Cheers all for your help and comments it is very much appreciated.

A little more info may be helpful here, what is her needs, ie, to
start her off in photography, taking close up piccy's or happy go
snappy, you can appreciate a general purpose camera is gonna' fall
short for a camera for some specific purpose, how much are you
willing to pay is another factor ~ giving a wee clue here will help a
long way.

Here's a good site to peep at-:
http://www.steves-digicams.com/hardware_reviews.html I don't like
giving links to other forums.... but what the heck if it helps
people, so try this -:
http://www.stevesforums.com/forums/ look under the heading of 'What
Camera should I buy'.

Davy

"minnesotti" <> wrote in message
news: oups.com...
>
> mehere wrote:
>> "Randy Berbaum" <> wrote in message
>> news:ehhu4n$gqc$...
>> > wrote:
>> > : Hi all
>>
>> snip
>>
>> >
>> > Randy
>> >
>> > ==========
>> > Randy Berbaum
>> > Champaign, IL
>> >
>>
>> Randy, great replay and all very valid and good points. To be honest not
>> 100% sure, this will be her first camera and well she is keen and I would
>> imagine by her hand drawn and painted art work (very good work but I'm
>> probably biased) has quite detail she would get bored with a very basic
>> camera, but again I am not wanting to spend too much now, I would rather
>> start small and if she does get really into it then get her a more
>> advanced
>> one later.
>>
>> Price in AUD$ I would be looking at around up to $200. Not a lot I know
>> but
>> it is a start. Have been looking at some of the cheaper Kodak's but not
>> sure, would prefer Canon as that is what I use and have been very happy.
>>
>> Guess I need to do more research, just was hoping for some starting
>> points
>> form the NG readers/writers.
>
> Here at r.ph.d., there was pointed out many times on the wrong use of
> "it's" instead of "its".
>
> Above is another typical mistake -- the use "AUD$" or "USD$". The
> letter "D" already means "dollar" -- just like the character "$".

Who cares?

Philly wrote:
> "minnesotti" <> wrote in message
> news: oups.com...
> >
> > mehere wrote:
> >> "Randy Berbaum" <> wrote in message
> >> news:ehhu4n$gqc$...
> >> > wrote:
> >> > : Hi all
> >>
> >> snip
> >>
> >> >
> >> > Randy
> >> >
> >> > ==========
> >> > Randy Berbaum
> >> > Champaign, IL
> >> >
> >>
> >> Randy, great replay and all very valid and good points. To be honest not
> >> 100% sure, this will be her first camera and well she is keen and I would
> >> imagine by her hand drawn and painted art work (very good work but I'm
> >> probably biased) has quite detail she would get bored with a very basic
> >> camera, but again I am not wanting to spend too much now, I would rather
> >> start small and if she does get really into it then get her a more
> >> advanced
> >> one later.
> >>
> >> Price in AUD$ I would be looking at around up to $200. Not a lot I know
> >> but
> >> it is a start. Have been looking at some of the cheaper Kodak's but not
> >> sure, would prefer Canon as that is what I use and have been very happy.
> >>
> >> Guess I need to do more research, just was hoping for some starting
> >> points
> >> form the NG readers/writers.
> >
> > Here at r.ph.d., there was pointed out many times on the wrong use of
> > "it's" instead of "its".
> >
> > Above is another typical mistake -- the use "AUD$" or "USD$". The
> > letter "D" already means "dollar" -- just like the character "$".
>
> Who cares?

Why post stupid remarks like that!

Anyway decided to go with the Canon A430

Cheers all

Randy Berbaum wrote:
> wrote:
>> Hi all
>
>> My daughter wants a camera for her birthday, so fine, but what to
>> get. I have a Canon S3 which is good for me but will not let her
>> near it
>
>> So I am after a reasonable cheapish digital camera that is easy to
>> use,
>
>> smallish in size - anyone have any recommendations
>
>> Cheers
>
> IMHO there are many cameras that will fit the stated needs.
>
> To narrow down the possibilities you may want to think about what her
> needs and desires are. Is she just going to take "snaps" that will be
> printed (if at all) as a 5x7? Is she going to desire high quality
> prints or will she be happy if she can recognize the people and
> places in her pictures?
>
> The reason I asked these questions is if she is just wanting to snap
> pictures of her friends and doesn't expect high quality prints you can
> probably get by with a 1mp or so camera. The larger the expected
> prints or the more "artistic" she wants to get with the images, you
> would want to increase the mp count.
>
> Then you will want to concider how good she is at manipulating and
> understanding controls. For some people (adult as well as child) the
> more adjustable controls there are the more things that can be bumped
> or idilly played with, that can then adversely effect the outcome and
> increase frustration. But if they can (and wish to) learn how to make
> adjustments to get better pictures or useable images in less than
> ideal conditions, more controls may be desirable.
>
> The answers to these questions will help you look at the number of
> contols and what they control. Someone who just wants to point the
> camera and press the button and expect a perfect image probably
> doesn't need a camera that has manual adjustments for shutter speed,
> aperture, etc. The majority of cameras do seem to now include a
> "scene" setting for adjusting for broad categories of preset
> adjustments.
>
> Once you have determined all these parameters then you can compare
> price storage media, battery type, and availability. Since you
> already have a camera in the family you may want to look for a camera
> that uses the same type of media as this way you can use the same
> card reader equipment on your computer and if you upgrade your good
> camera memory you can become a hero by passing your old memory down
> to your daughter. Also since this is a child I would suggest that
> a camera that uses (or can use) standard types of batteries, such as
> AA batteries, would be a good idea as then your daughter can obtain
> her own batteries (and thus encourage her to remember to turn off the
> camera when not in use).
>
> Lastly I would concider how rugged the camera is built as it is
> probably going to take a certain amount of punishment. And also it
> might be a good idea to visit some of the local stores (Walmart,
> Kmart, Office Depot, etc) with your daughter and see what design of
> camera fits her hands. Many different brands tend to have similar
> size, shape and weight, and so you can still keep the final decision
> as a suprize if you wish. But different shapes and configurations of
> camera body and control locations fit different hands better than
> others.
>
> Of course this is what I would do and you (and others here) may have
> other ideas. One thought I would have is to generally keep the camera
> as inexpensive as possible (while keeping desired use in mind) as if
> photography does become a passion in future years, you will both want
> to upgrade to a better camera and discard this one. While if this
> desire never goes anywhere, and the camera soon starts gathering dust
> in the bottom of a drawer an expensive one would be a waste. JMHO
>
> Randy
>
> ==========
> Randy Berbaum
> Champaign, IL

What an unbelievable treatise! Buy the kid a Nikon Coolpix on Ebay for
50-quid. All gadgets end up thrown in a drawer anyway after a time. It is
not the end of the world believe me! If you feel strongly about this waste
of resources, send your unused junk to a third-world country where they will
make good use of it.

> Why post stupid remarks like that!
> Anyway decided to go with the Canon A430
> Cheers all
>

You can also look at camera_specific images at pbase.com, see what looks good.

--
}<)))*> Giant_Alex
cravdraa_at-yahoo_dot-com
not my site: http://www.e-sword.net/

wrote:
> Hi all
>
> My daughter wants a camera for her birthday, so fine, but what to get.
> I have a Canon S3 which is good for me but will not let her near it
>
> So I am after a reasonable cheapish digital camera that is easy to use,
>
> smallish in size - anyone have any recommendations
>
> Cheers

It depends on her interests. At 12, my daughter is taking journalism
classes, and they are teaching them some of the basics of photography
already, so manual controls are useful.

The standard no-compromise criteria apply:

-Optical viewfinder
-AF Assist
-Manual controls, at least white-balance, but preferably shutter speed,
aperture, and focus.

This greatly limits the choices.

At the low end you're not going to find many cameras with Li-Ion
batteries, so you'll have to go with AA batteries. Buy the new Sanyo
eneloop AA batteries, which don't self-discharge. If she only uses the
camera occasionally, you'll really appreciate the eneloop batteries.

I'd get the Canon A530 The A530 is $130 at Costco.com.

Whatever you get, ensure that it has an optical viewfinder and AF
assist. The latter is on most new cameras, even cheap ones, but the
optical viewfinder is disappearing from many the low-end cameras.

SMS <> writes:
> I'd get the Canon A530 The A530 is $130 at Costco.com.

I have one of these and it's worked out pretty well, but if I were
doing it over I'd spend a little more and get the A540. Reasons
include: 1) A540's bigger LCD screen, nicer for showing pics to other
people; 2) accepts lens accessories using an adapter--I've at times
wanted the wideangle accessory lens, and to shoot through a polarizer;
3) can shoot video at 30 fps (A530 is limited to 15 fps). I always
thought of the video feature of still cameras as useless, but with the
A530 and a 2GB memory card it's turned out to be fun.

Take a look at the Fujifilm Finepix F20. Great camera, compact, easy to
use, great photos esp. in low light.

http://www.buydig.com/shop/product.aspx?sku=FJFPF20


Rob-L in L.V.

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