Looking For a New Digital Camera

[JD435Bill]

I'm looking for a new Digital Camera. It's time to give up on my old antique Kodak. What I liked about the Kodak is that it had a Dock for a quick connect and charging, and transferring pictures was pretty simple. I'm looking for a similar camera, but not a Kodak this time.

My wife has a Panasonic Lumix FH 22 that I've been trying out, but it is a lot more troublesome and time consumming to what I'm used to.

I'm looking for something the has a Dock, good quality, reasonably priced, and that has a good software program to simply transfer, select, delete and send pictures to my E-mail address with.

Any good suggestions out there?

Bill

 

[Fossil Farm]

What is your price range? I have Nikon and Canon digital cameras, point and shoot and also SLR's.

There are many good cameras out there. Not sure what you mean by troublesome and time consuming. All digitals have a longer learning time than film cameras. There are just too many options for most consumer users. Is there a reason you need to send photos to your own email address? Most of the software packages that come with the cameras are very basic, since they are a package deal. I use Irfanview - a free program. It is very good and does take a bit of time to learn it, but does work very well. The Adobe products and Microsoft products work well also. I have both of them to use for various tasks.

I do not "dock" the camera. I prefer to take out the card and use a card reader to copy photos to the PC and then edit, delete there. Much less overhead on the PC. I then have a backup of the photos on the hard drive in a photo directory instead of using My Documents which can become overloaded in a hurry. I can back them up to CD if needed, email them, print ( I usually let the local drugstore print first - cheaper and I can view the print on their ink if I need to edit it) and then do whatever I need to with it.

If you have a local photo store nearby, stop in and try a few in your hand to see what fits you and feels comfortable. If it doesn't feel good, you probably won't use it as much. Good luck.

 

[sodamo]

Just a guess, but it doesn't sound like you are seeking high end. That said, I haven't touched a standalone camera since getting the iPhone. The tasks you mention are almost automatic. It is so convenient I even take pics when doing disassembly/assembly projects. Rather than make notes when shopping so much easier to grab a shot of the item, the sales tag, and some items even have size or description conveniently located allowing 1 shot to get it all. Once asked the wife to pick me up something at Home Depot, she simply showed him the pic and brought brought home exactly what i needed. As for email, the old adage, a picture worth a thousand words - some days none but others quite a few. Right now we have our granddaughter for the summer, send our son a few shots as they happen and gives a good starting point when he calls.

David Sent from my iPad using TractorByNet

 

[JD435Bill]

Is there a reason you need to send photos to your own email address?

I have an antique auto salvage yard. I take roughly 5 to 15 pictures at a time, then load them onto the computer. I like to send them to myself first, as I have had some problems with them going directly out before and at the same time, it is a good way to keep pictures on file. This way if the part doesn't sell, I'll have the pictures ready to go for the next guy. With the Kodak program, this way I could also delete some advertising and stuff that I didn't want on there.

The Kodak was real convenient with the Dock. Once I came back with pictures, I just drop it onto the Dock and hit just 1 button. It automatically transfered all the pictures, unloaded the camera at the same time and also automatically gave it a re-charge. I then could choose and delete any picture real quick and just drag them over to send box.

I would like to have a similar camera, but something other than a Kodak this time.

Bill

 

[JD435Bill]

David, you're right, I'm not seeking anything high end. The iphone sounds good, but I'm going to try to stay with a regular digital, if I can. But the camera phones are impressive. I just asked a friend the other day what camera he uses, as he sends me pictures of his ongoing car project that are always pretty quality stuff, and he said that it was just a phone!!

Bill

 

[creekbend]

This is a serious question. I have never used a digital camera before in my entire life. Is a digital camera the only camera that one can use to post pictures on one's PC? Thanks for answering. Thanks to the OP also for allowing me to use this thread to post my inquiry.

 

[JD435Bill]

No problem. I would answer your question, but I will let the much more qualified jump in.

Bill

 

[BobRip]

This is a serious question. I have never used a digital camera before in my entire life. Is a digital camera the only camera that one can use to post pictures on one's PC? Thanks for answering. Thanks to the OP also for allowing me to use this thread to post my inquiry.

Yes it is.

 

[Paul N]

Creekbend:
To post a picture on the PC(or internet), it must be in digital format. If you have a scanner, you can scan any old photo, and have it on your computer. If you are using a film camera, ask your photo processor to also give you the pictures on a CD.

Bill:
In my opinion, if you take a lot of outdoor pictures, I would want a camera with a viewfinder. Those "view screens" get washed out in bright sunlight too easy.

Paul

 

[Bird]

Is a digital camera the only camera that one can use to post pictures on one's PC?

The simple answer is "yes", but do you have a printer that scans or a scanner. I have some photos that were made with a film camera, the film developed of course, and then I scanned them into the computer. My first digital camera was an Olympus, but I now have a Nikon Coolpix L120. I wanted the simplest thing I could get that was capable of making both still photos and video.

 

[Bird]

And while I was still typing, Paul N beat me to it, and with a more complete answer.:laughing:

 

[JD435Bill]

Probably not what he has in mind, but I believe he can also post some old pictures by a scanner as well.

 

[JD435Bill]

Well, I walked away from the computer for a bit and you both beat me to it, lol.

 

[JD435Bill]

Bill:
In my opinion, if you take a lot of outdoor pictures, I would want a camera with a viewfinder. Those "view screens" get washed out in bright sunlight too easy.

Paul

Appreciate that info.

Bill

 

[creekbend]

I wish to take this time to show my appreciation in regards to the answers given by all of you. Thanks so much. This comes from the very bottom of my Heart and Soul. Thanks once again for the OP's generosity in allowing this somewhat intrusion.

 

[Jim Shooz]

Yes and no
Yes; most people are using digital cameras now and it is relatively easy to transfer photos to the PC.
No; You can take a print photo and scan to digital for your PC but it is a bit of a PITA.
I use a compact camera and transfer all my photos to the PC using Picasa 3. Easy to use, (even my wife can use it)
can lighten, email, add titles and a lot of other features. Can handle most digital cameras. Just connect the camera to a USB port and control from the program. Best of all it's FREE.
Picasa - CNET Download.com


(my wife will never see this)

 

[Alan L.]

I download pictures from the camera to the computer using the Windows wizard, or copy using explorer, or use Picasa. I use Picasa to manage the pictures - crop them etc and the beauty of it is you can do it and email an automatically resized version without affecting the original pictures. I keep all my pictres and have thousands - backed up at least twice. Never do have prints made.

I've good luck with Canons and currently have a Panasonic Lumix FX18 with an 18-1 zoom that works great. Its about 4 years old. The software that comes with the camera shouldn't make much difference since you don't really need it anyway.

 

[CinderSchnauzer]

I was looking at some digital cameras the other day as a possible replacement for a slightly older Canon S45. The S45 has both eye piece viewer and LCD screen. On a quick tour through Future Shop, I did not find any of the current small digitals with Eyepiece. Be very careful to test drive a LCD only camera in bright light to make sure you can even see what will be in the picture. The digital screens on my Blackberry phone and Playbook are actually not that bad in bright light, so apparently all are not created equal.

I also found some of the Canon point and shoot digitals have the option for wireless downloads. Perhaps others have that feature as well. I'm not saying docking cameras don't exist any more - just I did not see any.

 

[JDgreen227]

I have owned seven digicams since the year 2000, starting with an HP 2.1 mp and my newest one is an Oympus Stylus 14 mp. The Olympus is hands down the best digicam I have ever owned for the buck, takes beautiful pictures, has a huge LCD screen and is really compact. For $65 it was a good buy with two exceptions...no printed documentation at all came with it, you can only read the manual to operate it by connecting it to a PC and downloading it to that. STUPID. And get this...it will not let you view the state of battery charge unless connected to a PC !! DOUBLE STUPID !!!

As to the Op's statement about his Kodak...I purchased my wife a Kodak Z-612 back about 2006, it is hands down the absolute best digicam we have owned...never understood why Kodak discontinued it after such a short time.

 

[CompactTractorFan]

I recently got this camera along with a 16gb memory card. It's been great so far!

http://www.amazon.com/Panasonic-DMC...+Angle+Image+Stabilized+Zoom+and+2.7+inch+LCD