PizzaCam?

[Ian]

I want to get in on the Pizza pic sharing fun but know nothing about digital cameras and am not sure I can afford one which would produce the awesome pics posted here. What kind of cams are you guys using?

[canadianbacon]

If you are in the United States, cameras are very inexpensive now.
You can get one for under $200 if you wish. 

Go to Wal-Mart even and buy one that is at least 3 megapixels and you are fine.

Do NOT buy one that is 2 megapixels today ( it's a big waste of money ), if it were me buying one, I'd get at least a 4 megapixel.

Want to learn about digital cameras and what to buy ? go to www.Dpreview.com - this is THE "bible" of knowledge on the Net,
this is the number one website for digital camera reviews - there's not another that comes close.
There are forums there also, go nuts, they get so posts a minute it would make your head spin haha, hey the guy is in his 30s, lives in England
and is a millionaire already, ( the owner of the site ) .... he must be doing something right :-)

Another one to check is called Steve's Digicams, his is a simple site but a good one.

If you want a good camera ? ... go with a Canon PowerShot series camea, you won't be disappointed. 

I shop here all the time: www.ecost.com
check out this amazing Canon camera: The Canon PowerShot A85 for only $222.95
This camera gets amazing reviews, and the results are very very good.
http://www.ecost.com/ecost/ecsplash/shop/detail.asp?dpno=483884

I ordered the A75 for a friend last March, and the image quality is amazing on his.

Go to ecost.com and do a earch for "canon powershot" ... then check out what you can afford.  I like Canon because they
have been a true camera maker for decades, and they know what they are doing, no wonder Canon is such a big seller these days.

I do a lot of photography stuff, and just love Canon, everyone will give you info on what you want though so take it all in
then decide on what you want and can afford.

If you want a really high quality camera production work, then go with the Canon EOS 20D, which will set you back about $2500 ( this is a professional SLR )
( I don't have this camera but a buddy of mine does, and I drool over it, but it's just out of my league.  )

If you want to save some money then think about the Canon A400, seen here:
http://www.ecost.com/ecost/ecsplash/shop/detail.asp?dpno=494220
it's : $159.00

My wife has the A300 ( Canon ) and is happy with it, although it's a bottom of the line camera.  Image quality is very good, but the camera is a bit
slow to respond for me.

The A85 and brand new A95 are very nice cameras, you get a swivel LCD which is super.  I have an older PowerShot G2, ( bought in 2001 ) but works great.

If you want a really SUPER camera, that is super super small, then go with the Canon PowerShot SD300 ! , the size of this camera will blow you away haha,
my brother and brother in law just bought this camera about 2 months ago.  It's a 4 megapixel powerhouse ! .... HUGE LCD screen on the back of it,
and the image quality is amazing.

I have photos of me holding it, which I can post if you want - this is one sweet camera !
see review here: http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canonsd300/


Mark

[canadianbacon]

I just found the images of me holding my brother-in-law's new Canon PowerShot SD 300 !

see here :

http://www.sendpix.com/albums/05020113/5i14ocqxb4/

this is one sweet camera.... it's so so fast in response time also.... turn it on and before you can put it to your eye it is ready to shoot.
Camera goes totally manual also, very very nice.

He sold his Canon Powershot G1 so he could buy this one.

The only thing I can say is this, if you are going to plunk down money on a camera, buy a good one, and you will never be sorry.  You will
go out and find many camera that look nice, but the image quality is bad.  Check www.dpreview.com for a review of this camera, and sample images
they will make you hungry for this camera, just like pizza makes ya hungry ! 

oh heck I even found a direct link to this camera review for ya 
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canonsd300/  ( I also put it in my first post for ya also )

Steve: if the images of the camera are a bit too big, let me know and I'll reduce the size and also quality a little to save some space
on the server.

Mark

[Ian]

Mark, thanks for all your info! The SD300 is truly STUNNING!! I had no idea such a small camera could be so near perfect.

Any idea who has the best prices on this stuff here in Canada (I live in Winnipeg). I see Future shop has the SD300 listed for $499.

Ian

[canadave]

Welcome abord eh?  Nice to see another Canuck around here.

Future Shop tends to be overpriced.  Wal-Mart (or even Superstore, believe it or not) would have the best prices...unfortunately there's no way that I know of to look it up on the Internet, you'd have to go to the store and actually look.

Dave

[canadianbacon]

ah heck, I'm in Ottawa hehe.

Yeah I know $499 is not cheap, but I tell ya Ian, you get what you pay for, this camera is very highly rated... and full of features you don't see,
remember also this camera can go to full-manual mode ! - so this is worth the price of admission, something I would never go without.

You can go to Futureshop and see some other cameras that are slightly less expensive, but you get what you pay for.  If you see something else
that you think you may like, I strongly suggest to check out the sites I've given and look into reviews on that camera.  If Dpreview doesn't consider
a camera "worthy" they won't even do a review on it, something for many people that put up a red flag.  Anyway I can't say much else 

Well my brother in law bought the SD 300 at Futureshop, and so did my brother in Vancouver,
he got it for hmm..... $479, it was on sale.... he also bought a 1 gig Sandisk card t go with it.

Ian, that camera is worth the money, it's amazing.  The video it produces is amazing also.

If you go to Stevesdigicams.com and check out his review on it, there's a video of a train and you can kind of tell
how well it shoots.  It has unlimited shooting at 640x480 mode which I really miss on my old PowerShot G2.

You should also check www.bestbuy.ca , they are now online, and eventhough Futureshop is owned by BestBuy sometimes
you can see slightly different prices.

I don't know where else to go for a camera.... I will NOT buy a camera at any small shop.  Have a problem with it and they don't want to
even look at you.  Yeah we don't have much choice unfortunately up here Ian.

edit: here is Steve's review of the SD 300: http://www.steves-digicams.com/2004_reviews/sd300.html


*** oops ! *** that train video is actually on yet another camera review site called : www.DCResource.com

see this guy's good review here: - some good images also.
http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/canon/powershot_sd300-review/

here is a direct link to the train video footage from the camera:
http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/canon/powershot_sd300-review/MVI_0853.AVI


Mark

[Ian]

Mark/Dave,

Thanks for your help. I'll be going on a shopping expedition soon and I'll hopefully be posting Pizza pics before long.

Ian

[canadianbacon]

Good luck 

ask questions before buying and stay away from the crappy cameras 

Mark
www.YummyBeer.com