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Digital Camera Suggestions!


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Hello! Any suggestions on a decent digital camera? I am looking for something better than my galaxy s5 phone camera, but nothing too fancy. Under $200 for sure, would of course prefer cheaper, as I probably won't use it too much after the cruise. Any suggestions?

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Slightly more than your target price, but the Nikon AW 130 is awesome. Waterproof, wifi (so you can send pics to your phone and other devices) and darn near indestructible. We use a fleet of them for work. You'll probably find that you'll use it more than you think. You can find factory refurbs on Ebay for less than $300. Most are buyer's remorse returns and are perfect in every way.

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We recently picked up the Nikon Coolpix B500. I feel it is a great choice for a few reasons. It's the same sensor and same operating system as the AW130 but with far better optics, especially for sightseeing excursions. What you get with the AW130 is ruggedness and water resistance (things that were likely not any part of your considerations if you're replacing a Samsung Galaxy S5 smartphone as your camera-of-choice) and a much lighter unit. With the B500 you get a 40x optical superzoom, 23-900 mm, so slightly better at wide and remarkably better at tele. You also get an articulating screen, more battery life, and it's almost $100 less than the AW130.

 

However, it really depends on what you're going to be doing with the camera. Like I said, the B500 is better for sightseeing excursions. One of our upcoming cruises is to Alaska, and I couldn't imagine not having a superzoom camera with us for that.

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Can't say enough about the Panasonic DMC-ZS50. Compact, 12.1 mp for good low light performance, very usable EVF, 30X zoom and shoots in RAW.

 

Its running under $200 at Costco, if you can still find it. Panasonic just released the ZS70 so you will probably see the ZS60 start to come down in price but that one they bumped up to 18.1 MP which means it lost its low light advantage. The ZS70 even more so with a 20.3MP sensor

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Can't say enough about the Panasonic DMC-ZS50. Compact, 12.1 mp for good low light performance, very usable EVF, 30X zoom and shoots in RAW.

 

Its running under $200 at Costco, if you can still find it. Panasonic just released the ZS70 so you will probably see the ZS60 start to come down in price but that one they bumped up to 18.1 MP which means it lost its low light advantage. The ZS70 even more so with a 20.3MP sensor

 

DW just picked up one of these for our upcoming cruise. So far pretty impressive for the price when compared to the newer model.

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I have the Fuji XP, you can get the latest model at Costco for under $200. It takes fantastic topside shots, macros and wide angles. Not great with zoom, but okay. It is shockproof and water proof down to 30' but I haven't used it for snorkeling so don't know for sure. I am a hiker here at home, so this is my daily use camera and I give it a workout. Battery life is fantastic, takes really nice clear 1080 HD video too.

 

here is a video with still shots and video on it, taken in March.

 

I have seen some really good stuff about the Olympus TG-4, but I think it is a bit higher priced.

 

robin

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  • 4 weeks later...
Can't say enough about the Panasonic DMC-ZS50. Compact, 12.1 mp for good low light performance, very usable EVF, 30X zoom and shoots in RAW.

 

Its running under $200 at Costco, if you can still find it. Panasonic just released the ZS70 so you will probably see the ZS60 start to come down in price but that one they bumped up to 18.1 MP which means it lost its low light advantage. The ZS70 even more so with a 20.3MP sensor

 

I have a ZS50 as my travel camera and get good results with it!

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Good to hear!

 

Just got the new Costco ad - the ZS60 is on sale for $299

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

 

I saw this too and was thrilled! I almost bought one from Target, for a LOT more $.

Costco had a ton of the ZS60's in stock.

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I saw this too and was thrilled! I almost bought one from Target, for a LOT more $.

 

Costco had a ton of the ZS60's in stock.

 

 

The ZS70 came out about a month ago so the price will probably start coming down more. The only downside is that they bumped the sensor up to 18mp so it will suffer a little in lower light performance compared to the ZS50, but still a nice little camera with faster shutter and double the focus points

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

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The ZS70 came out about a month ago so the price will probably start coming down more. The only downside is that they bumped the sensor up to 18mp so it will suffer a little in lower light performance compared to the ZS50, but still a nice little camera with faster shutter and double the focus points

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

I actually wanted the ZS70, but it's still not available anywhere that I can see. We're leaving soon for Alaska, so no time to wait for it. At least with Costco, I can always return or trade-in if we aren't totally satisfied with the ZS60.

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  • 2 months later...
We recently picked up the Nikon Coolpix B500. I feel it is a great choice for a few reasons. It's the same sensor and same operating system as the AW130 but with far better optics, especially for sightseeing excursions. What you get with the AW130 is ruggedness and water resistance (things that were likely not any part of your considerations if you're replacing a Samsung Galaxy S5 smartphone as your camera-of-choice) and a much lighter unit. With the B500 you get a 40x optical superzoom, 23-900 mm, so slightly better at wide and remarkably better at tele. You also get an articulating screen, more battery life, and it's almost $100 less than the AW130.

 

However, it really depends on what you're going to be doing with the camera. Like I said, the B500 is better for sightseeing excursions. One of our upcoming cruises is to Alaska, and I couldn't imagine not having a superzoom camera with us for that.

 

I also bought the Coolpix 500. Love the ease of taking the photo and then it appearing on my ipad/phone via bluetooth! I am very pleased with the majority of the photos. Most likely the ones I wasn't happy with were operator error rather than equipment error. I just use it is "basic" ("auto") mode. I am sure if I were more tech savvy and learned how to use the rest of the features I would love it even more!

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