newbie needs advice

I have a Dell Dim 2400 basic system.

Up to now I have always used a 35 mm camera but I am thinking of finally
getting a digital camera. I just want to take good quality home-type
pictures. From my reading, it looks like a 4 megapixel camera would be more
than adequate. Is this true??

Are there any recommendations, given my system. Oh, I would like to be able
to keep the price under $200 (I don't mind shopping on EBAY or elsewhere
online).

Mel

On Sun, 12 Sep 2004 16:45:02 -0400, "MB"
wrote:

I have a Dell Dim 2400 basic system.

Up to now I have always used a 35 mm camera but I am thinking of finally
getting a digital camera. I just want to take good quality home-type
pictures. From my reading, it looks like a 4 megapixel camera would be more
than adequate. Is this true??

For simple "home-type" pictures, if you mean things like family and
vacations, which you will print on 5x7 at most, then even 3.2 mpxl
would be enough.

Are there any recommendations, given my system. Oh, I would like to be able
to keep the price under $200 (I don't mind shopping on EBAY or elsewhere
online).

As far as I've seen, you're not going to see a 4 mpxl camera under
$200 unless
1) it is used
2) it is a terrible camera

However, you should be able to find a 3.2 mpxl for around that price.
Perhaps a bit above $200. I recommend looking into the Canon A75 to
start. There are plenty others as well which are decent cameras.


---Atreju---

Careful shopping for a refurb might get a such a camera in that price
range...if you are patient.

"MB" wrote in message
...
I have a Dell Dim 2400 basic system.

Up to now I have always used a 35 mm camera but I am thinking of finally
getting a digital camera. I just want to take good quality home-type
pictures. From my reading, it looks like a 4 megapixel camera would be
more
than adequate. Is this true??

Are there any recommendations, given my system. Oh, I would like to be
able
to keep the price under $200 (I don't mind shopping on EBAY or elsewhere
online).

Mel

Careful shopping for a refurb might get a such a camera in that price
range...if you are patient.

"MB" wrote in message
...
I have a Dell Dim 2400 basic system.

Up to now I have always used a 35 mm camera but I am thinking of finally
getting a digital camera. I just want to take good quality home-type
pictures. From my reading, it looks like a 4 megapixel camera would be
more
than adequate. Is this true??

Are there any recommendations, given my system. Oh, I would like to be
able
to keep the price under $200 (I don't mind shopping on EBAY or elsewhere
online).

Mel

"MB" wrote in message
...
I have a Dell Dim 2400 basic system.

Up to now I have always used a 35 mm camera but I am thinking of finally
getting a digital camera. I just want to take good quality home-type
pictures. From my reading, it looks like a 4 megapixel camera would be
more than adequate. Is this true??

Sure. Four megapixels is plenty for making nice, sharp 8 x 10 prints or even
a bit larger than that. As for making the 4 x 6 prints that most people
actually make most of the time, it's more than enough.



Are there any recommendations, given my system. Oh, I would like to be
able to keep the price under $200 (I don't mind shopping on EBAY or
elsewhere online).

If you can go just a little higher, Buy.com is selling the Minolta DiMAGE
S414 for $219.99 with free shipping. This is an excellent 4-megapixel
camera, just recently discontinued, at a very good price. And Buy.com is
100$ safe and reliable to deal with in my considerable experience with them.

http://www.buy.com/retail/product.as...1&loc=111&sp=1

You can find a very full and complete review of the S414 he

http://steves-digicams.com/2003_reviews/s414.html

Or, I will soon be putting my S404 up for sale on eBay and it will almost
certainly sell for less than $200 including shipping. This is also 4
megapixels, the immediate predecessor of the S414 and about 99.9% identical
to it. (I liked mine so much I decided to upgrade to the S414.) A review of
the S404 is he

http://steves-digicams.com/2002_reviews/s404.html

N.

"MB" wrote in message
...
I have a Dell Dim 2400 basic system.

Up to now I have always used a 35 mm camera but I am thinking of finally
getting a digital camera. I just want to take good quality home-type
pictures. From my reading, it looks like a 4 megapixel camera would be
more than adequate. Is this true??

Sure. Four megapixels is plenty for making nice, sharp 8 x 10 prints or even
a bit larger than that. As for making the 4 x 6 prints that most people
actually make most of the time, it's more than enough.



Are there any recommendations, given my system. Oh, I would like to be
able to keep the price under $200 (I don't mind shopping on EBAY or
elsewhere online).

If you can go just a little higher, Buy.com is selling the Minolta DiMAGE
S414 for $219.99 with free shipping. This is an excellent 4-megapixel
camera, just recently discontinued, at a very good price. And Buy.com is
100$ safe and reliable to deal with in my considerable experience with them.

http://www.buy.com/retail/product.as...1&loc=111&sp=1

You can find a very full and complete review of the S414 he

http://steves-digicams.com/2003_reviews/s414.html

Or, I will soon be putting my S404 up for sale on eBay and it will almost
certainly sell for less than $200 including shipping. This is also 4
megapixels, the immediate predecessor of the S414 and about 99.9% identical
to it. (I liked mine so much I decided to upgrade to the S414.) A review of
the S404 is he

http://steves-digicams.com/2002_reviews/s404.html

N.

MB wrote:

I have a Dell Dim 2400 basic system.

Up to now I have always used a 35 mm camera but I am thinking of finally
getting a digital camera. I just want to take good quality home-type
pictures. From my reading, it looks like a 4 megapixel camera would be more
than adequate. Is this true??

Are there any recommendations, given my system. Oh, I would like to be able
to keep the price under $200 (I don't mind shopping on EBAY or elsewhere
online).

The one thing you'll find yourself using the fastest is your storage
space. Your main upgrade should probably be a bigger hard drive, and/or
a DVD burner to archive your files to.

Why DVD and not CD? DVD burners can be had for under $100, CD-writers
for $60 and up; DVD blanks for around 70-90 cents each in bulk, compared
to 30-40 cents per disc for CD-R; but at 4.7GB per disc, DVD gives you
some 6.7 times the storage of CD-R's 700MB, which helps make up the
difference quickly.