Camera for Xmas

am thinking of buying my wife a decent camera for that expensive day. Something not to complicated but takes nice pics and can do other things with. Thanks in advance i know i came to the rite place. Jeff

Nikon is one of the best cameras out there. My wife has done some special events and friends' weddings. Not knowing what your looking to spend but COOLPIX L810 is a good one that's easy to use. More advance but fairly easy to learn is D5100 then next choice for advance D7000.... Price range from $300-$2000 for ones I mention. They go much higher

I would say almost any camera out there today would fit the bill. My first digital I bought 10 years ago. I always liked the pictures it takes and still do but when the memory cards wear out it will be done, everything about it is obsolete.

A couple years ago my wife wanted a digital camera, I knew anything with more than one button, the one that snaps the picture, would be overkill but she NEEDED a GOOD one so I bought her a rather pricey Nikon. A nice camera, takes nice pictures but we are to dumb to use it to its full potential.

A year or two ago I bought a cheap little digital at Best Buy for under $100, it may have been $60. It takes nice pictures and is easy to use.

My opinion is that almost any camera made today would take real nice pictures for you. Unless your wife is a professional photographer or a very serious amateur she would be happy with almost anything. Having said that I should warn you not to cheap out because if you get her the cheapest one you can find she will not be happy just on principal. She will be more impressed by a “nice” camera than the pictures it takes.

Canon is also a great choice.....

I'f your not a serious photographer and are just want it for snap shots and family stuff. It doesn't matter about brand. I don't know of any major digital camera maker today that dosen't take nice pictures. Just make sure the camera has stabilization built into the camera.Most consumer cameras have that feature. Nikon and Canon SLR cameras just to mention two are built into the lenses. But all their consumer cameras have built in image stabilization. My two cents.

jkabdoors wrote:am thinking of buying my wife a decent camera for that expensive day. Something not to complicated but takes nice pics and can do other things with. Thanks in advance i know i came to the rite place. Jeff

There are several factors to consider,
1 what is the primary use? If she is doing simple snap shots or will she be doing nature or sports, also primarily indoor or outdoor
2 what is her skill level? Many people buy the complicated Nikon or Cannon DSLR's only to use them on automatic all the time, top notch photos but big expense
3 what is your price range? as several have said you can get a excellent point and shoot for under $200 or you can spend $2000 on a DSLR and a couple lenses.
http://www.popphoto.com/ is a good start as is consumer reports, but have an idea on those three questions and you can't go wrong. Don't get tied up in MP's , my first digital was 3MP and I have some great 8X10's

Look at focus speed and f-stop as these 2 factors will make or break pictures in low light or fast action

I do Events so I'm usually outdoors and shoot a lot of sports. I use a Cannon Rebel mostly with a 55-250mm f4.5 it needs good light but takes great pictures
https://www.facebook.com/pages/MinimanD ... 2534982241

The other thing you need to remember is to buy her a big media card. What ever the format SD, CF or other you will want as large as you can reasonabley afford, they are pretty reasonable until you get into the 32Gb size and up. I Have a 4Gb and if I shoot in Large Jpeg format I have about 700 shots before full, when I shoot in RAW it drops to about 200.

Good Luck and post some pics!

I will be adding another lense before long and looking to upgrade the body within a year.

On media cards, over the past 5 years the following system has worked well for me.

I shoot jpg + raw and have several media cards ranging in size from 2 to 16 Gb. Most of my shooting is in batches for occasions like vacations, family gatherings, weddings, reunions, and web sites.

I start each session with a freshly formatted media card and when finished I remove the card and put in it's case with a sticky note on it. Once the pictures have been processed and stored on a computer or CD the card is set aside for the next occasion.

Even shooting in jpg + raw, in most all cases, the session will not fill up a 4Gb card that holds over 150 shots.

Unless your an experienced photographer, I'd reccomend a higher end point-and-shoot camera. They will usually take a better picture than a good camera in in-experienced hands.

I got my wife a Sony and completely love it. Was around $400. Has an amazing zoom built in, and is simple to use. Picture quality is better than we need. She even got asked to take wedding pictures for someone after seeing some that she has shot. They really are that good.

2 drawbacks of the point and shoot that I can think of: Your limited in file format, so editing can only go so far (RAW format not supported) and you only have one choice of lenses. So if you don't plan to do much high end editing, and don't plan to buy and use many different lenses, a point and shoot will do just fine.

I've got a Canon PC1565. Paid $400 for it on eBay about a year ago, and it came with extra batteries, memory, screen protector, and a tiny tripod for shooting eBay items (that I have yet to use ...). I couldn't tell you half the crap it does, but I throw it on AUTO mode and it takes great pics. Shoots video too, although they end up GIGANTIC files that can approach the gigabyte range ... I had an Olympus before that - got 5 years out of that one, and paid $100 more for that one than this new one.

We've been very happy with the Sony Cyber-shot we got a few years back. About $300, 6 megapixels, 12X optical zoom and was rated top honors for true colors.

This is all way to complex for me--what ever happened to copper etching?

Hey Freddy, Freetown and others thanks for the help. You guys have to know i am trading my wifes 1966 ETCHA_SCHETCH which she uses now for an upgrade. NO JOKE let me know. Thanks again Jeff

Now that ain't right--does Momma know about this???

Sey Cheese!!!!! And wait

I'm tellin ya, she's not gonna be a happy camperette