Budget Digital Cameras

As one of the comments to my entry about my new digicam, Gary asked about budget cameras. I e-mailed him about what he had in mind, and he clarified that he was looking for something around $200-$400.

I read camera reviews all the time, and I was happy to offer a suggestion. I narrowed it down to the Canon PowerShot S230 (about $345 shipped), Canon PowerShot A70 (about $312 shipped), Nikon Coolpix 3100 (about $301 shipped) and the Nikon Coolpix 3500 (about $338 shipped). I was expecting tough decisions, but it was easier than I expected to narrow it down further.

As it turns out, neither the Coolpix 3100 nor Coolpix 3500 offer ISO locking. ISO, of course, refers to the camera’s sensitivity to light. But, higher ISO settings lead to graininess. So, it can be convenient to be able to use low ISO settings with long exposures for night shots (resulting in proper exposure without the film grain). Unfortunately, those Nikons automatically crank up the ISO when the lighting gets low. Don’t get me wrong, I still think highly of Nikon as a company (I have a Nikon myself), but I think it was a mistake to leave out this feature on their low-end cameras.

So, it came down to the Canon PowerShot S230 vs the Canon PowerShot A70. Both are 3.2 MP cameras and their prices aren't that far apart ($345 for the S230 and $312 for the A70). In the end, I prefer the A70:

• The A70 has a 3x optical zoom compared with the S230 which only has a 2x optical zoom.
• The A70 supports add-on lenses. After buying a lens adapter, you can use wide-angle, telephoto, and closeup lenses with the A70. (The S230 doesn't support add-on lenses).
• The A70 supports aperture priority and shutter priority. With shutter priority, you can specify a shutter speed and the camera will choose the right aperture (f-stop) for correct exposure. Likewise, with aperture priority, you can specify an aperture and the camera will choose the appropriate shutter speed. This degree of control can be handy, for instance, with action shots where you may want to force a slow shutter speed to blur the background or force a high shutter speed to freeze the action.

The only disadvantage to the A70, if you could call it that, is that it uses four AA batteries. Personally, I prefer the convenience of a single battery module as it can be less bulky than a set of batteries. However, AA batteries have the advantage of being widely available (you could easily buy a new set while on vacation). And, they’re much cheaper than proprietary camera batteries which can cost $25-35 (or more) each.

So, Gary, I think the A70 would work well for you. B&H Photo is one of the cheapest retailers on PriceGrabber to have it in stock. B&H is also highly reputable with an 8.87/10 score at ResellerRatings along with Gold, Platinum, and Platinum+ Elite Customer Excellence Awards (the awards are given out by ResellerRatings for exceptional retailers).

The camera comes with a 16 MB CompactFlash card, but that’s just about useless. Taking full size pictures at the Superfine quality settings, you can only get about 8 pictures on the card. So, you’ll want a bigger card right away (not to worry, you’ll still be under the $400 mark). You can get a 256 MB CompactFlash card for $54 from Crucial (with free 2nd day shipping).

Other than the CompactFlash card, I’d also recommend picking up a set of NiMH AA batteries and a charger. Steve’s Digicams has a thorough review of NiMH batteries and chargers — some of the better chargers can charge a set of batteries in about an hour. In particular, the iPowerUS set looks convenient as it includes “[the] Charger, AC and DC cords, 8 AA-size iPowerUS 2100mAh NiMH batteries and two battery carrying cases”.