Academic

DIGITAL CAMERA CARNIVAL: A reader asked for advice a while back, and as I noted I haven?t been in t?

By Glenn Reynolds

DIGITAL CAMERA CARNIVAL: A reader asked for advice a while back, and as I noted I haven’t been in the market lately. So here are some of the responses to my earlier bleg. Reader Michael Cummins writes:

My wife and I still love the 10MP Samsung you shouted out to in this post, which is still available at Amazon for $127.

http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-SL420-Digital-Stabilized-Black/dp/B001PKTRA8/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1260369218&sr=8-10

It?s been a standup all around pocket camera, and it looks like they have a new 12 MP version here for $274.

Reader Robert Schwartz writes:

I really like my Canon A1000. It cost me $140, has an f 2.7 lens, and lots of other features. I regard the 2 AA batteries as a feature not a bug, but they do make the camera bigger than its more expensive mates that use rechargeable Liion batteries. But not that big. I find it to be pocketable.

That said, there are a lot of good cameras available in the $100 — $200 category.

Yes, there are, including this Nikon.

And reader C.J. Gordon writes:

I’m going to put in a plug for the Pentax line of DSLR’s. Lili and I use the K200 model for our work on both our sites.One of our two cameras is approaching 75,000 shutter activations and the other is a little over 10,000.Not bad for cameras in the $600.00 price range.Pentax offers good value for the money and has some very fine lenses also. C.J. Gordon of the eroticalee sites.

Here’s a review from Half Sigma of the Canon S90.

Reader Corey Appleby writes:

I recently purchased a Samsung TL320 digital camera and I love it.

The lens is amazing but the part I like is the OS. So far none of the things I’d want to adjust are more than two button clicks away, and the on-screen menu is incredibly simple to navigate.

Plus it has two super fun retro dials on the top to display memory and battery usage.

Reader Natalie Moresco emails:

I am normally a Nikon kind of person, but I was heading for a 2 week trip to Cancun with my family (including sons and nephews) and really wanted a waterproof (point and shoot) camera. Nikon doesn’t have one, so I looked around, read reviews, thought about it, looked around some more, until I almost didn’t have time to order it anymore and finally ordered the Canon D10. It is somewhat bulky, but I love it! It was great on the trip, it is durable and it’s great fun. I could give it to my kids and newphews (18mos – 8yrs) to let them take pictures of each other in the pool and learn to take care of a camera without being worried about it. It is also dust- and shockproof. And the picture quality is really good. We took it to the beach, swimming with dolphins, in the pool, everywhere.

I think all gadgets should be waterproof, personally. And reader John Smith writes: “Nikon D300s is WAAAAAY cheaper than D300 on Amazon.” He’s right.

Reader Greg Dougherty writes: “The Canon Powershot SX 10 IS is, IMHO, the best point and shoot camera out there. It is not great in low light / no flash situations. But neither is any other under $400 camera that I know of. Other than that, it has 20x Optical zoom, and a wide range of controls to let you fiddle with what you want, and the support you need so you can ignore the rest.”

Well, the bottom line is that there are lots of good cameras out there. In fact, nowadays the technology has matured to the point that a bad digital camera is so unusual it’s practically newsworthy.

Meanwhile, reader Bill Cook writes: “What’s the single-best how-to book you’ve seen on digital photography? Man, I really need one. I have a nice camera, but my pics are mucho fail.” I like Scott Kelby’s books. There’s also the Basic Book Of Digital Photography.

And if you just want to browse, there’s a Digital SLR store And the folks at DP Review have a buying guide. Plus, here’s a roundup of point-and-shoot cameras.

Full post as published by Instapundit.com on December 14, 2009 (boomark / email).