Buying a digital camera before Alaska... please help

[Sandy R]

I will be buying a digital camera for my August Alaska cruise. I have a few questions:

What do you recommend to supplement my SLR Canon camera with a 28-105 zoom lens... when I just want to carry a lite-weight small camera for snapshots rather than photographs. I do want a digital with an optical lens and I do want clear photos I can manipulate on PhotoShop. Can I find a digital that I'll be happy with for around $300 to $350?

 

We will be sailing on the Diamond. Is there some way I can download my digital photos while onboard, so I don't have to buy an additional memory card. I know I read about this topic but it was on the old boards, so any help would be great.

 

Thanks to all my cruisecritic friends...

 

Sandy

[stephenandrew]

Hi-

 

I personally like the Nikon Cool Pix camera's--the Coolpix 3200 is in your price range, has a good lens, 3x magnification (optical), and is small enough to fit in a pocket. Also, if you have the money and interest, you might want to investigate purcahsing Tamron's 28mm-300mm telephoto lens, and carry than in lieu of the Cannon lens you currently use for your SLR. It is light weight, and has a greater range than your current lens. I have one, and it is the ony lens I really use now. Hope you get some great pictures.

[Pam in CA]

Sandy... I used to have an expensive digital camera with lots of bells and whistles and wound up giving it to my daughter after picking up a Nikon Coolpix. It's small, lightweight, fits into a pocket without danger of falling out and takes great photos. I'm not that knowledgeable about cameras but I discovered that it takes good photos even when the train/bus/boat are moving so it must be pretty fast! There are updated versions of what I have but I'd recommend the small Nikon digital cameras in a heartbeat. Plus they're in the price range you mention.

 

The photo people onboard the ship are able to take your memory card and download it to a CD. But that'll cost you. It's probably less expensive to get another memory card which you can use and re-use. I bring mine along with the battery recharger and I'm set for a very long cruise and able to take hundreds of pictures.

[lkmamom]

Sandy,

 

I totally agree with the other two posters. I own that same camera and have been so pleased with it's results. It is very easy to use. I bought the little case that will clip to a belt and it is so easy to take with you on excursions. You will not be dissapointed!

Linda

[jennat]

Canon s400

LOVE IT! LOVE IT! LOVE IT!

[britsbest]

WE have a Sony P12 a great little camera with superpg

quality on auto and ooodles of manual over ride thingies. We also have an adapter for an IPOD MP3 player so that we can save 000s of pics from memory card to IPOD.

[JimP]

I've got a Sony Cyber Shot Digital Cameral DSC-P72, a point and shoot digital cameral. ($265) Small, great for vacations. All digital cameras in you price range are going to be point and shoots; not for taking close-ups of the bears from 1000 feet. Be sure you get enough storage (stick or disk or whatever) to take at least 100 pictures in a day and unload them at night. The beauty of a digital camera is that you can throw all but the good ones away. Good luck.

[dorotha]

Whatever digital camera you get, I'd get an extra battery as well, if it has the rechargable kind. There was a lady on our whale watching trip whose battery died after one photo--she'd just recharged it the day before. I don't know what kind it was, but she'd been braggin about it up until that point.

[Fireplug]

We have an Olympus c720. 8x optical zoom is very nice for those long shots. We used it at our sons college football games and it takes very nice pics.

Whichever camera you choose get the extra memory cards and rechargable batteries. Well worth the investment.

 

 

Squid

[wwinfl91]

We started with a Nikon 950 back in 2000 before we did our first long (longer than 7 days) cruise. At that time the camera was in the $800 range but it got all kind of good reviews and still takes great pictures. We also purchased a Minolta S414 before we did our first European cruise last year. I was worried that something might go wrong, nothing did, with the Nikon, and I wouldn't be able to get pictures on the trip. We have enjoyed using both cameras, which both have good optical lenses including telephoto. The Minolta can definately be purchased in the price range you mention including upgrading the memory card, a couple of 256 MB or 4 128's. It uses CompactFlash memory which was a requirement in our case since that was what our first camera used. One earlier poster mentioned being sure to purchase extra sets of rechargable batteries as well as a charger. You will need two or three sets of batteries to get you through a full day of taking pictures.

 

If you already are into photography and have add on lenses for your 35mm camera you may want to look at some of the newer digital cameras that can take the lenses that you used with your 35mm. They cost more but also provide pictures that might make you give up your 35mm all together.

 

In our case once we got our digital camera we pretty much retired our 35mm cameras. They haven't been on a cruise or trip in the last 3 years.

 

Have a GREAT next cruise.

[mpk]

Sandy R, I was in the same boat as you. I'm taking a Canon film SLR, and just bought a small digital just for the cruise. I ended up with a Canon S410 Powershot Elph. It's pretty small, but takes great pictures at the same time.

 

There is a difference in image quality... you may want to do some searches to see sample images online. There are at least three sites that I know of that post sample shots from digital cameras. One site actually allows you to choose two cameras, then puts up the images side by side so you can compare.

 

The Canon S410 goes for around $400 retail, but there are deals out there. I got mine for $334 shipped a few weeks ago.

 

No matter what camera you choose- watch out for some of those internet sellers. Shady ones will offer a low price, but that only includes the camera itself. The cameras are supposed to come as a kit, with a battery, charger, handstrap, etc. Most reputable places sell and price the entire kit.

 

Oh yeah, get an extra battery and maybe an extra memory card ;)

[Sandy R]

You guys are great... thanks to all of you for wonderful suggestions!

 

We just came back from buying the Nikon Coolpix 2300 with all the stuff... a 256 SD card, a battery charger, a card reader, a case... and yes, some extra batteries. My husband is in the other room reading the instruction booklet as I write this post. The camera also comes with an instructional CD, which he'll read next. I'm really excited to try it out this week-end.

 

Also... I've heard some horror stories on the board about passengers that had the onboard cruise photo shop download their photos to a CD. I don't mind the $7 cost but I'd hate to lose photos in the process. I'd like to hear from those that had it done successfully.

 

And... we're unsure about using a CD burner in an internet cafe to download our photos, since internet cafe's use PC's and we have MAC's. Can we use the photo filled CD with our MAC?

 

Sandy

[Pam in CA]

That's great! You're gonna love the camera. I've never had the cruise photo dept. burn a CD from my photos and I haven't used an internet cafe, but I have had photos from my card put onto a Kodak PhotoCD. If it's a Kodak, it can be read/opened on either PC or Mac. If you have AOL, another option is to have them upload the photos to You've Got Pictures. They're then stored on the internet and you can then view, create an album, save to your computer, send to friends, download, etc. to anywhere.

 

I just wait until I get home to view and manage the photos.

[deadzone1003]

Look up http://www.steves-digicams.com.

Click on "The Best Cameras"

Then click on "Ultra Compact - Pocketable"

There is about 10 cameras to choose from and their corresponding reviews.

These are cameras which you can slip into your shirt pocket.

After lugging around a Canon SLR, you will probably want something very

small. These cameras are not recommended for people with big hands or

very thick fingers.

[Coral]

Sandy - as a dedicated Mac user - you will not have any problems reading any picture CD. Macs read both PC and Mac format - the pictures are generally jpgs. YOu will be fine.

 

I strongly reccomend purchasing additional memory cards. I personally would not use the ship's staff to transfer the pictures to a CD (I am a computer person and am untrusting of staff after hearing horror stories). Besides, to do this, you have to leave your card with them for a short time period. Memory cards are pretty inexpensive - I would look at some online sites (much cheaper then Best Buy).

 

Here are the transfer prices when I was on the Dawn Princess last month:

 

To open a digital account - it is $19.95. You can keep this account open all

week and staff will unload your pictures for you. To burn a CD up to 600 MB -

it is $14.95. For a CD up to 256 MB - it is $9.95. To make any digital copies

- 4x6" prints are .35/each.

[edYYZ]

Sandy,

 

Good to hear that you found a camera. I would have personally recommended the Canon Digital Elph series. After reading many reviews, they've consistently found the Canons to have the best performance for their size. We currently own a Canon G2 for good pictures and a Digital Elph S200 for just point and shoot photos.

 

In terms of storage goes, one option you could consider is purchasing a small portable hard drive that has a built in card reader. Or if you have an ipod, a card reader for that. We bought a 2.5" hard drive in an enclosure with card reader before going to Alaska - and it was a good thing we did, since we ended up with more than 1 gig of photos! And since you'd be copying everything yourself, there's probably a smaller chance you would lose photos in the process.

[cruiseaway]

Just this afternoon I purchased the new Canon S1 IS and love it after only a few hours. It has a 10x optial lens, only 3.2 pix, but the resolution is good. You can use auto controls or switch to manual. I found this site useful http://www.dpreview.com/ as well as Consumer Reports. I will be trying it out on our Alaskan cruise next week.

[Coral]

I work in the IT department at a small university and do a lot of purchasing of computer equipment. We have purchased Kodak, Canon, Olympus, Sony and Nikon cameras. I get to play with a lot of these cameras and I have to admit, there are a lot of great cameras out there. It is really hard to say one is far superior to another since all these brands take great pictures and get great reviews (and other brands I have not worked with). I read a lot of reviews and each reviewer will put a different camera on top - many times the reviews contradict another review. So, in your research - look at multiple reviews. Look at consumer reviewers also - it is one thing to have a professional photographer review a camera and another thing to have an average consumer (like many of us) review a camera. A professional is going to look at things differently then someone who just wants to point and click and play with just a few settings.

 

There are features I like on some cameras more then others but it is a personal preference. There are certain features that drive me crazy on a specific camera but my coworker loves that feature. To each their own.

 

I strongly recommend going to a camera store or Best Buy type store and to physically hold the camera, play with the menus, take a few pictures and look at the LCD display. See what you feel comfortable with. Take into consideration the cost of batteries and how long the battery life is on the batteries.

 

Good luck.

[HeartofTexas]

I also have the Olympus C-720 Ultra Zoom - it is 8x zoom with a 24x digital it is great - I've had it about 3 years! I have a friend who had his card downloaded to a CD (it got full and he didn't have a spare) without any problems on the Sapphire. Although I don't know I would be that trusting. Once it's wiped clean you never get them again.

[kruisey]

Have a Nikon 5700 it is so lite with an 8x zoom. Had a Nikon battery recharger with me on my last cruise .Would have one in use and carried a spare.Took great pictures 700.....trying to sort the ones out to delete at this moment,Had no trouble with this digital camera...its a little wonder and so lite to carry after the heavy SLR one.

[Baroo]

try going to www.dpreview.com lots of reviews, I have a Canon G5 and love it.

[fnewman]

Just before our recent Alaska cruise, I bought the new Olympus C5060 Wide-Zoom because it not only has some nice features and plenty of zoon (14x), but also because the lens goes down to 28mm for more traditional wide angle shots. It is a 5.1 megapixel model, rated a 'best buy' by PC World magazine. Given its specs, I believe you can (and I did) leave the traditional SLR at home.

 

As for storage, I would recommend that you go ahead and invest in enough additional memory cards to take the number of shots you want. For example, you can buy a 256MB card for this camera for less than $100 and it will hold more than 200 shots in the default HQ mode, which is plenty of resolution for prints up to 8x10. Personally, I wouldn't waste my time or money trying to transfer pictures while crusing.

 

Finally, I have found over many, many years that 17th Street Photo in New York will sell photographic equipment a much lower prices than any retail store, including Circuit City, Best Buy, etc. I had my new camera delivered in about 5 days (standard shipping) in perfect condition at a price that was about $150 less than I could find locally (no sales tax, either).

[kruisey]

If I purchased a camera from USA and had it shipped into Canada does one have to pay taxes ect?

I know we had cross border agreements regarding computers but wont to know if this is correct for both these products.?

Find that even with rate of exchange product can be cheaper if purchased from across the border.

Think it would be great if we could all buy one anothers products without being taxed to death.Don't think this would take jobs from anyone because both sides would be purchasing....which in turn might create more employment for both countries including Shipping and Postoffice employees.

[Sandy R]

Hi Kruisey... when I buy a product from another state, I don't usually have to pay tax on that product, unless the company has a store in my state. You might ask the company you're thinking of using. They'll tell you. Hope this helps. See ya on your Venice/Rome thread...

 

Sandy

[shellbeachjim]

Sandy,

Congratulations on your purchase. I know you'll enjoy using your digi-cam. I'm sure you're already tired of the suggestion, but getting additional memory cards is a very good idea. My experience is that I take many more pictures with my digital camera than I did with film camera. There's something about that instant gratification of seeing your picture right away.

 

One good website for comparing memory prices is Dealram. Unfortunately most of the good deals entail a rebate. I don't particularly like rebates, but they seem to be a fact of life.

 

I've had good luck ordering from Data Memory Systems. I have no connection with them other than as a satisfied customer.

 

Jim

A Mac guy and Coolpix owner too...