My son wants to get a digital camera for christmas. I don't want to spend over $150. I know nothing about cameras. He is 12 and never had one before. I really need help....lol, anyone.


Thanks in advance










Excal

Hi Excal,

I would recommend you go to a Target store and take a look at them, you can get a really nice one now a days for what you want to spend or less… Does your son do any type or photography, or does he just want it to take basic but good pictures?

You can take a look around Target Online Cameras to get an idea, but they have several others in the store and often run good sales.

Now here are two things to also consider

Memory cards, most cameras have a small internal memory so you will have to get a memory card. There are various different types depending on what camera you get, but the tipically range from $25-$80 bepending on the size.

Batteries, rechargeable “hi-energy nickel-metal hydride” work great. I have two sets that I rotate from the charger to the camera and I have been using them for a couple years now and they are holding pretty strong. Also you will need the charger of course they average about $30 for the set of charger with batteries, but it’s a good investment because a digital camera will eat through regular batteries very fast.

sweet Thanks!



What about MP's? 8 good enough? Zoom? I am a camera idiot, no clue at all

I’m not really up to date on the modern day specs, I’m sure someone will jump in on that. But I can tell you what I have been using for the last six years.

Olympus C-3020 with 3.2-megapixel, and a 3x zoom. Back then I paid about $500.00 (ha ha you can probably get one today for half of that )

But I love it… it takes great pictures, and has been use and abused for 6 years with no problem. So I would imagine now a days anything with a 4-megapixel & 3x zoom or better would be great.

Just be sure not to get one with only an internal memory, I can’t imagine quickly using up all the memory with 15-20 pictures and not being able to take anymore until you get it home and upload what you got.

I had a little Nikon Powershot that worked great. It was 5-6 Megapixel and I used it for work, taking pictures for all company brochures, presentations, etc. Traded it in for a really nice one, but I used that one for years. It may have been a Canon Powershot. it's been a few years but I've had both of those small ones and they both work well.

I like this forum a lot:

http://photo.net/equipment/

I mostly lurk on the sports photo board.

thanks for the advice guys. I ended up going with a nice Kodak camera has 10 MP and comes with a 1MB card. Also has a 3" viewer. $149.99 @ costco.

sounds pretty nice, I'm sure your son will enjoy it