Help buying first digital p & s camera

[5th Beatle]

About ready to take the digital P & S plunge. What features are most useful for typical CL and ebay photos as well as macro and general photography? Would like to stay under $125 and know that will limit choices.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

I had used Canon A550 for ebay usage and had great success with it's macro mode, you can find something comparable like Canon Powershot A495.
For more info check out reviews on dpreview.comc - they have huge and very active community of both amateur and pro photographers.

 

[Seth=L]

I know that the G series is not considered P&S, but that would be my recommendation with your budget and use. PowerShot G6 prosumers go for around $125, give or take. It's a 7.1mp with a great sensor and lens. The rub is that it doesn't have image stabilization, so the flash is required unless you have very steady hands, or a tripod. Other than that I enjoy using it, and it's got a lot of options. It does use Compact Flash media, which is very durable and not very expensive. It also uses the same batt pack and charger their DSLRs use, so battery life is very long. It's also heavy and a tad bulky for a P&S with a total weight of 1 lb. with the batt pack in.

 

[5th Beatle]

Help buying firstdigital P & S camera

Have read some good things about Canon's Power Shot series. Does the "A" series offer enough manual controls and fast lens to shoot indoors without flash? My limited experience with friend's camera is flash is needed indoors and flash tends to wash out detail shots of circuit boards and other close up work. Any advice here?

 

[Vracer111]

Have read some good things about Canon's Power Shot series. Does the "A" series offer enough manual controls and fast lens to shoot indoors without flash? My limited experience with friend's camera is flash is needed indoors and flash tends to wash out detail shots of circuit boards and other close up work. Any advice here?

Best thing for shooting indoors is high quality lighting, a tripod, and not using the flash. A "light box" is generally used for shooting smaller objects up close. Hard to have too much light for indoor shots...

As previously mentioned dpreview.com is a great site for digital camera reviews and information.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Best thing for shooting indoors is high quality lighting, a tripod, and not using the flash. A "light box" is generally used for shooting smaller objects up close. Hard to have too much light for indoor shots...

As previously mentioned dpreview.com is a great site for digital camera reviews and information.

You are absolutely don't want to use flash in close/macro photography - unless its special macro flash and these WILL cost arm and a leg and require DSL body to work with - in short - WAY more than your $125 budget...

Get some powerful spot/flood light or even better like mention above - light box (or make it yourself)

About controls - with good light you don't need too much controls/fast lenses - If you absolutely can't add more light, then look for expanding your budget exponentially.

 

[5th Beatle]

I am able to get some good natural sunlight for a few hours. Some times too strong. I tends to wash out much like flash. This frustrates me because the auto mode did not read light as too hot and read it as normal. That's one reason i was curious if manual controls would let me adjust for this. Apperciate all the tips regarding flash and DIY lightbox.

 

[slupry]

Take a look at the Canon PowerShot A1100IS 12.1 MP Digital Camera with 4x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 2.5-inch LCD..

This is a review for it.