Canon makes very nice camera. My sis in-law has an A80 and it’s really nice. I have an old S110 and it still gets the job done, although it is starting to show it’s limits (1.1megapixel and all). They work quite well with iPhoto and have a direct camera->usb cable.
For camcorders, Sony makes some good “bang for the buck” models. We got a relatively good model for ~$400. Firewire (or as Sony calls it, iLink) is the key feature I would look for.
I like the small ones like the Optio S and th4e Exilim.
— pb 
I like the small ones like the Optio S and th4e Exilim.
— pb
You can’t go wrong with Canon – I picked up an A40 last spring that still amazes me. The features-to-price ratio was incredible. Enough so that I chose fewer megapixels for more features (2MP instead of the 3MP I could have got in another camera for the same price) – a decision I don’t regret.
It’s a bit hard to use; finding the good stuff requires some thought each time, it’s not very intuitive. It’s billed as an automatic/manual camera, and although the manual features DO work, they aren’t nearly what you’d want for serious photography. The newer models may be better for this.
No guidance on specific models here, just that Canon is a choice you probably won’t regret.
(You’ll want an extra, higher-capacity Compact Flash card, but you knew that.)
— Dave S.
“Canon makes very nice camera.”
I read in Consumer Reports that Canon has the highest repair rate and Sony has the lowest. Something to keep in mind.
— MikeyC
After much research, we got a Sony TRV22. One prerequisite we had was Firewire so you can import into iMovie. We like the size (small) but you can probably get a less expensive Sony Digital Camcorder if larger size isn’t a concern.
Go to Amazon.com and read the customer comments. It seems like the smaller size camcorders have motor noise issues that get into the recording (though we haven’t noticed it in ours).
For digital cameras, we have an older Canon Powershot S30. The Canon A80 is intriguing because of its swiveling LCD screen, similar to the G series.
— Michael Go
Minolta’s Z1 is very nice too. 10X optical zoom for a reasonable price. I find that zoom is much more important megapixels. Also, it records 640×480x30fps movies, which makes it a videocamera replacement for shorter movies.
I have an Olympus C4000Z Digital camera. It has onboard USB, and I like it a great deal.
— Larry Wright
i’ve been extremely happy with my Pentax Optio S: http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/pentaxoptios/
takes good pictures and is small enough to fit in an altoids tin. the only catch is that there is about a half-second delay between when you press the button and when it actually takes the picture. so it might not be ideal if your kid moves fast.
— anders
I have the Canon A60 and I’m very happy with it. With a 256M flash card, I can do nearly 20 minutes of video on it. 2Mpx is fine for me – 8×10 glossy works. Most of my pix are for the web anywho.
Also, I have found over time that I never sit through an hour long video of a kids birthday party or wedding or whatever. The bits I actually watch between ffwd and rew are generally the ones I would have taken had I thought of just taking short video clips.
So now I carry only one camera and still get the meaty bits.
My A60 is recognized via USB by GPhoto2 on Linux too, although with the CF card it’s easy enough to transfer things.
I highly recommend the Canon A70 you mention for a camera in that price range. I bought one several months ago because I was looking for a good, solid, inexpensive camera, and I have not been disappointed. I’ve owned a number of digicams (both Nikon and Canon), this one is easily my favorite. The reasons:
1. The metering is very good and consistently produces results I’m happy with (unlike my Canon Digital Elph, which occasionally seemed like it was on crack).
2. The menus are very intuitive. Unlike some cameras (namely the Nikons I have owned), I can actually figure out how to use the manual controls quickly when I need to.
3. I love the size and ergonomics of it–it’s just the right size and shape to make it easy to hand hold in low light situations.
I originally bought my A70 to “tide me over” until I had the money to get a fancy digital SLR, but, honestly, I’m so pleased with it I’m not sure I’ll feel any need to upgrade any time soon.
Oh, I forgot to mention–here are some images I took with my A70:
http://www.scifihifi.com/weblog/california_move/VanishingPoint.html
http://www.scifihifi.com/weblog/california_move/CaliforniaMove.html
Let me know if you’d like to see the full-size originals…
I have an Olympus that was about $50 less than the Cannon A40 or Nikon coolpix 750?, and it’s been very good. It uses Smartmedia which apparently has the inconvenience that they won’t go higher than 128 Mb (maybe around 150 3-Megapixel shots). Sony uses a proprietary, and more expensive, memory card, has no white-balance, and a nearly useless optical zoom, but records MPEG minimovies with sound and the lens is very good. Olympus saves movies in Quicktime.
I bought a Cannon ZR50-MC Camcorder (outpost.com had them much cheaper than anyone else) about a year ago, and in general am very happy with it. Except that it did need a service trip at about 6 months. At least it was still under warranty: they returned the camera in about a week, no cost, no fuss. It has the best zoom, both optical and digital (22/440), and it does have a firewire connection and USB for the stills.
If you go with Sony, just make sure that the camcorder follows the miniDV format, not Digital8, which would tie you to Sony forever.
— Carlos
I like my brand new Canon S230. Its small and fits in my pocket. I’ve learned that the easier the camera is to tote, the more likely it may actually get used. And it takes movies, although not of the best quality. Good enough for the grandparents on the web though.
It is new though, so I’ll have to see how well it fares long term. I’ve had Olympus and Fuji cameras before this, it seems that digital cameras have a 2 year half life, and they just start to wear out at that point. Or I’m just so hard on them that they wear out that quickly. :)
Whichever one you pick … since you’re going to be taking lotsa kid pictures … get one where this as little delay between the time you push the button and the time the camera snaps the shot.
I’ve got one of the original Kodak digital cameras. I love it, only there is a delay long enough that by the time I’ve pushed the button .. my baby has stopped making the cute face.
So go down to your local camera store and test for speed.
Hi Mark;
I have a Canon Elura digital Video camera which is great for iMovie, but I never use it because it’s bulky.
I have a Canon S400 which I love.
PROS:
- small so I carry it everywhere
- 3 minute video with sound is awesome, can’t edit in iMovie AFAIK but for me editing is a waste of time so I don’t bother, quality is reminscent of Super 8 but since I always have this camera with me it’s better the video you have than having a great video camera which you never take anywhere and therefore have no videos
CONS:
- shutter lag, much better than my old Canon S10, but still too slow and not as fast as the Casio EXILM
- camera might be physically too small
SAMPLE PHOTOS from my Canon S400:
http://www.camblognation.com
SAMPLE Videos from my Canon S400:
http://www.rolandtanglao.com/videos/2003/
RECOMMENDATION:
If you are on a budget, get a Canon S400 or A80.
If you are not on a budget and don’t mind getting and carrying two cameras, get two cameras. Canon is good here, if you don’t mind extra bulk like an SLR then the Sony DSC717 that Dan Bricklin used at Blogger Con has an excellent zoom, is excellent in low light and probably is fast enough to get those fast moving babies.
If you are not on a budget and only want one camera consider the Sony video cams. The latest models that Doc Searls uses, have awesome optical zooms and great stills.
You might want to think about a waterproof camera from Olympus. They’re a bit more expensive, but your kid could (and likely will) get the camera and put it in their mouth.
And it will no doubt get its fair share of food on it. Works fine with my iBook.
— Lou
For Point-and-Shoot (and even some artsy manual applications) the Canon A70 is an amazing camera. It’s fast, easy to use, and the images are superb. It’s under US$300 and has enough resolution for a decent 8×10 should you desire to send prints to the family at Christmas time. I’ve seen lots of digital cameras come through my hands and, of all of them (including the Nikon D100 that I use regularly) the Canon A70 is by far the most impressive for the price.
I’ve tried a friend’s Canon A70 and it works great! I think for something below $300, you can’t go wrong with it, and it has many features you can only find in the $500 range. The A80 looks good, with even more features, if you have another hundred dollars to spare.
— markku
canon s400 is an awesome camera its one of the better value cameras. there are some cons such as the high high price for a 4mp =/ ($450) but imo the pros outweigh the cons by a long shot.
— andy
If I was to buy a digital camera right now, it would be the Ricoh Caplio G3: Good price, very good pictures, very short release time lag.
As for Digital Video Cameras: We have one from JVC which we are very happy with. Good thing is it has not only DV-out, but also DV-in. That way way you can record the cideos back to tape after editing for storing purposes.
However the model is a bit old, and I don’t know enough about the current models to really give any good advice.
— Sencer
Canon A70 all the way. Got mine this summer… after using a Nikon Coolpix 800 for several years, the A70 is a nice upgrade for a nice price. The pictures are great.
Also, you may want to forgo the camcorder idea if you get the A70 since it can take videos up to 480×640.
If you haven’t seen it before, I recommend you check out Digital Photography Review (http://dpreview.com/). Extremely informative, with very in-depth camera reviews, but also has a camera comparison widget, etc. Good place to do research.
Don’t forget ebay. There are some very good but not new cameras in the 3-4 MP range that gadget freaks might be retiring. I’m guessing you could get a good used Sony or Oly in your price range.
MikeyC wrote:
“I read in Consumer Reports that Canon has the highest repair rate and Sony has the lowest. Something to keep in mind.”
Sony uses a proprietary storage medium, which is enough to keep me away from their digital cameras.
Consider a slightly used Canon G2 (~$300), if you don’t mind the larger size and a camera that’s not brand new. I find small digital cameras difficult to hold and use to compose steady shots.
— Ryan
I have a Canon A60, and am very happy with it. I would highly reccomend the A70 as it can do 640×480 video as opposed to the A60 which can only do 320×240 maximum.
I would prefer a faster ISO option as the A60 only does up to 400. 800 would be much better, as I could use the flash even less.
Get a good set of rechargeables and a smart charger!!!
— Dave
One more vote for the Canon S320 (Digital Elph)
Compact and oh so cute. The smaller the camera is, the more likely you will take photos.
The one bad thing about it is so small that it’s easy to create shaky pictures.
— joy
I’m very happy with my Canon Powershot S50. It’s a bit over your price range, but at 5megapixels, it’s a good long-term buy. You’d be disappointed with something in the 2-3MP range, especially when 5MP gets cheaper and everyone has one.
— Charles
I’m have a Canon G3 and is very pleased with it. I can only recommend Canon. I used http://dpreview.com/ mentioned by Adam in comment 23 to help me decide which camera to buy.
I’ve been researching digital cameras extensively, and I’ve decided on the Canon S45 because of its manual settings, picture quality, and “like a camera” feel. It’s 4megapixel instead of 5 (which is the S50), and you can find it for about $100 less than the S50… and worth the extra over the A70/80.
I’ve owned a digital video camera for 2 years, a Sony TVR-240. It’s Digital8 and works fabulously – I would choose a Sony over the cheaper brands any day simply because of the bidirectional/bridging firewire, USB, S-Video, etc. The Digital8 cameras are a steal right now, and you don’t need the still picture capability if you’ll have a separate still camera, so you can get the lowest end. MiniDV is nice and holds more per tape (1 1/2 to 2 hours instead of 1 hour), but the Hi8 media is CHEAP for the Digital8 camera. Plus, I think the MiniDV cameras are too small… they don’t have enough heft in carrying them around (IMHO).
— Jim
It is important to have low shutter lag when taking picture of children because children don’t like to sit still. You can find lag data in the “timings and & performance” section of the reviews at http://www.dpreview.com/ .
Canon s230, yay! (: It’s a great camera; they go for just at $300 (bought mine from a little shop [Beach Camera] in NJ after finding them through pricegrabber.com). Only time I’ve ever run into shutter lag is in manual mode at nighttime.
The 640×480 video is wonderful, you get up to 3 minutes (with sound! [I think]).
— .sara
I wanted both cameras for the same reasons. That was 4 years ago and I am still happy with my Sony cam. It has Firewire and has always played nice with iMovie. That was the No. 1 reason for getting it because it took great pictures and worked with the Mac.
Later we wanted just a digital camera for still shots. We then got a Nikon 880 a few years later it is also a good camera. It is 3 meg pixels. It takes great shots and I have published some books with iPhoto using them. We are happy still with both.
— Rob M
Another vote for the S45. Everything said above, plus accessories when you have a bit extra:
$170 Underwater housing for photos up to 100 ft deep (great for snorkeling pics):
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000067DKN/
If you really get into the photo stuff, there’s a $50 accessory that will allow standard SLR lenses to screw on:
http://www.ckcpower.com/s3040.htm
— Dave Bug
Wow. I guess Cannon is the way to go. of the 35 recommendations I counted, 26 are for Cannon products, and the bulk of those in the A** series with the S*** models getting 2 a piece.
Top 3 votes:
Cannon A70 (6 votes)
Cannon A80 (3 votes)
Cannon A60 (3 votes)
— Peter
I’m waiting for this one.. comes out in November..
— kasia
erm, sorry about that url..
— kasia
Unless you want an ultra-tiny camera (like Optio S), just buy a Canon. They make great digital cameras. Now you know your price point and your brand, the last thing you need to decide is size vs features. Do you want a small camera that you’ll always have with you? Get an S230/S320/S400. Do you want a bigger camera with lots of features? Go for A70 or the like.
Me, I wanted a tiny camera. So I went for the S400. I’m happy. http://www.nelson.monkey.org/~nelson/weblog?q=elph
— Nelson
I’ve been in the market to replace my zorched Toshiba PDR-M70, which I loved dearly. Word to the wise, don’t let salt water splash on a dcam!
The new toy arrived today!
There is no perfect camera. My wish-list pointed to big and expensive models. But ultimately, everyone needs an easily-pocketable one that doesn’t drive them or their spouse nuts.
I went with the Minolta F300, which Ritz Camera’s selling for $350 with case. I’ve also used and liked Minolta’s S414, which can be had for $250 from buydig.com. I wanted something smaller.
One afternoon and 150 pictures in, I’m impressed with the quality and the smoothness of the F300.
Now let me get back to work so I can justify buying myself a Minolta A1 this summer!
Sony TRV22, hands down.
— Adriaan
I bought a Nikon Coolpix 3100 (and a 256 MB CF card, 16MB is a joke) for my wife, http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikoncp3100/ and I seem to be using it as much as her. It is a very nice, compact camera, works seemlessly with iPhoto, has even a camcorder function for short (soundless) movies.
— dda
I’ll join in on the A70 praises, I’ve got one. A couple of key points that sold me on it, apart from an excellent feature set: It takes regular AA batteries (I use rechargeable NiMHs) and standard CF cards, so my previous investment in batteries, charger and media was conserved in the new camera. The movie mode is outstanding.
Things I don’t like about the A70: It’s not super-fast focusing, you still have to anticipate and pre-focus, though it’s nowhere near as slow as the Kodak DC290 (which is otherwise an outstanding camera). It does feel a little “flimsy.” I tend to baby it, especially the CF door and the zoom control. Overall though, it’s probably still the best value on the market at the moment.
I love my Sony TVR-22. I went through Amazon and their partnership with J&R to get a great price on it, about $620 US. There is also a TVR-19 that that does not have the memory stick for still photos that is about 100 or more less.
I am using my Sony as an iSight with full zoom so my parents can chat with their grandson and my wife and I. It has been working great. The camcorder did not come with a firewire (odd no iLink/firewire cable from Sony), but that was easy to remedy. It works wonderfully with iMovie.
I also love my Olympus D490, a couple years old now. It has great photo quality and gets a lot out of battery. Their new models in the D-4XX and D-5XX have been considerations for up dates, but the two year old camera takes great photos of my son.
Since you’ll be taking baby pictures, here’s is the most important advice for a camera: if it features a “red-eye” flash feature, make sure you can turn it off!!!
When my first was born, I purchased a Canon Powershot S30 (with charger $600 – 3 years ago). It takes very nice pictures, however since the red-eye feature could not be turned off I have several hundred photos with my baby’s eyes closed. You see, the red-eye works by using a double flash and the first flash causes babies (and animals) to blink.
Finally, I purchased a Fuji FinePix S602 instead and I’ve been delighted with that. I also have a Sony TVR17 that’s been excellent.
— pUnk
I am suprised that Nikon cameras got so few recomendations here.
They have very good features:
1. Very good colours
2. Good presets for all sorts of situations
3. Nearly unlimited tinkering for experts and wannabees
You should also get the eBook from http://www.digitalsecrets.net/. You will get much more out of your camera.
I bought the Nikon Coolpix 3100 a few weeks ago to replace my Olympus C4040Z. Though the Olympus is a lot fancier, the Coolpix is a lot more fun to use, and I am taking more pictures than ever. Highly recommended.
I used to have a Canon Elph2 (35 mm) which had numerous mechanical problems, so I didn’t give the A70 much consideration.
— Nate
As with others here, I’m delighted with my Pentax Optio S, which I’ve had for about 4 weeks now and I’m still being surprised with new features.
— dwlt
i would reccomend olympus stylus 300:
it’s compact and lithium battery makes it very light to carry.
on the link below you can see a whole bunch of amsterdam photos taken this summer during my vacation with the stylus 300:
http://www.deelan.com/reflex/2003/08/amsterdam/
— dee
I recommend the next model up after the Sony DSCS75 CyberShot 3MP Digital Camera w/ 3x Optical Zoom. I have the DSCS75, and it’s a great camera, especially for those of us who aren’t photography buffs. My pics available at http://ostaff.typepad.com/interesting_stuff/. I toted it around D.C. this summer, and while seemingly heavy for a camera, I had no problems with it in the 100F heat. It also *feels* well made, which some of these new, nifty, itty-bitty cameras seems to have forgotten. You would need a larger memory stick, but those are relatively cheap these days. The Carol Ziess lens does wonders for my poor skills.
— Courtney
Judging from the links in your post you’re already looking at Canon and dpreview.com, which means you’re well on your way to a good buy. Canon = quality.
One piece of advice: narrow it down to a few options on dpreview and then go to a store and try them out. You can get good deals online, but it’s pretty important to have felt the camera in your hand. You’ll be spending a lot of time with it so it better fit your hand.
I’m as clueless on the camcorder as you are, so no advice there.
— Onno
Here are four camera review sites, which have been useful to me. I’m getting a Canon Ixus i (Elph SD10 to you non-europeans).
Generally good:
http://www.dcresource.com/
http://www.imaging-resource.com/
Thorough, but few reviews:
http://www.megapixel.net/html/issueindex.php?lang=en
Many facts and reviews, but vague opinions:
http://www.steves-digicams.com/default.htm
— Mattias
OK, not a Canon (although I agree, their stuff is good),
I picked up a Sanyo MZ3 a while back.
Similar specs to the Canons, similar optics, 2 MP, takes Comactflash 1 _and_ 2 (6GB microdrive, anyone?) and will do 640×480, 30fps video (to the limit of the card).
Manual and auto, beautiful pics.
Also useful for Mac owners ’cause it saves the video as Quicktime, not MS Video for Windoz.
Doesn’t seems to easy to get in the US, but seems to have a big following in Japan. (I got mine in Dubai….)
— Anton
Woops. Forgot the links for the MZ3:
http://www.pocketpcpda.com/sanyo/
http://www.sanyo-dsc.com/dsc/mz3/
(In Japanese, but you can Babelfish it, or look at the pictures :-)
— Anton
I’ve been using a Nikon Coolpix 3100 since June and I like it a lot. It goes through batteries pretty quickly, but so do most cameras.
Color is good, lens is good (always a strong point for Nikon), and the scene modes are decent. Mostly a point-and-shoot consumer camera, although it has a few more advanced customization features. Not everything you might want, though.
I use the macro mode a lot, which is one reason I went with Nikon.
The camera works great with iPhoto … I wouldn’t bother with Nikon’s software. (except perhaps the panorama making program they include .. goofy interface, but it does its job well.)
I’m not a huge Canon fan, though many who have them seem to like them.
One advantage of having both cameras from the same manufacturer is that you can use the same battery in either — nice with Canons because they have proprietary batteries.
I have a Minolta s414, which is quite good.
Get a media reader for your storage medium, it saves on battery power.
There’s a Mac utility for doing backups to firewire video cameras — that sounds cool.
Konika Minolta’s new G500 and G400 ultra-compacts are being raved about at the moment for their speed and quality while being really tiny. AKA Konika KD-510Z/KD-420Z in Europe and Japan.
The Pentax Optio 450 is my current favourite; it’s merely “compact”, but has a more powerful lens and seems more flexible control wise. Avoid the 550; there’s a reason it’s so cheap now…
The Minolta F200 is also a good one to look for; lower resolution than the F300, but has a better LCD and suffers from less noise since it’s “only” 4MP. It’s on the slow side, but has plenty of controls and should be available nice and cheap these days.
Note, I haven’t actually used any of these cams.. I’m just hunting (lots) for a more compact replacement for my stolen Olympus C-750, and these are the best I’ve found so far. I just need to make up my mind, damnit…
— Freaky
With so many suggestions, I think I’ll stick to more generic considerations and opinions.
Sony’s are nice for reasons not the least of which is they come with Carl Zeiss optics, arguably the best in the world. Good optics will go a long way in giving you sharp photos.
I’ve found both Olympus and Fugifilm to have excellent camera’s, the fugi being the better of the two brands because of their new chip, which (if the camera comes with it) has a larger dynamic range than the normal 6 stops most digital cameras have.
Things to consider when picking one out:
1. Lens diameter. The smaller the lens diameter, the more risk you run of getting optical aberations or just poor resolution.
2. Shutter speed. Look to see how many pics it will take in 1 sec. That should indicate to you the kind of shutter lag you are going to deal with. The Fugifilm S5000 does very well with this.
3. Megapixels. 3.0 mp will deliver 8×10 prints of pretty decent quality. If memory serves, anything higher than 200+ dpi is seen by the human eye as a continuous tone, so as long as your photos can meet that, you won’t have problems with pixelization and quality.
I have an Olympus C-50 which is awful. I get more fuzzy pictures than anything, and it takes too long to recycle (time between shots)
I wish I still had the Olympus 3030z which was a much better camera, albeit a bit bulky.
— TjL
It costs more than the A70, but I’ve been very happy with the coat-pocket-sized Canon PowerShot S45, as a good compromise between larger full-featured cameras (A70/A80, Nikon CoolPix 4300) that don’t quite fit anywhere, and the shirt-pocket-sized Elph series. The S45 has sharp optics, takes great night shots, and has a waterproof case available. The only strike against it is the proprietary battery.
If you’re not overloaded with them already, here are sample pictures…
with waterproof case:
http://www.shearersoftware.com/personal/pictures/2003/10/05/boston-kayaking/
without waterproof case:
http://www.shearersoftware.com/personal/pictures/2003/10/25/chocorua-hike/
at night:
http://www.shearersoftware.com/personal/pictures/2003/08/city/