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Digital adds a few steps to basic photography

By DAVE GUSSOW
Published May 30, 2005

	Click to see gallery of cameras with reviews

Just the description says simplicity: point-and-shoot cameras. It's when you add "digital" to the equation that things get a little sticky.

Unlike the days when people could pop a film cartridge into a camera and shoot away, digital cameras require a bit more effort to get under way. Quick-start guides showing how to set up the cameras tell you it's different.

Digital doesn't mean it will automatically make someone a good photographer. Digital cameras, particularly point-and-shoot, are getting so small that it's difficult to keep fingers out of the way of the lens.

The first thing to consider is not to underestimate your photo needs. I did that a couple of years ago, when I bought my daughter what I thought would be an acceptable $200 2-megapixel resolution camera. She quickly outgrew it.

The second thing to keep in mind is that, while a budget is important, low-end cameras will have fewer features and potentially more issues to annoy you, such as shutter lag.

A third thing to remember is how quickly new models come out, and buying a little more now might avoid the desire (or need) to upgrade quickly.

One company sniffed that the model I own is 4 years old, an eternity in tech time. And while what I bought was a top-of-the-line point-and-shoot then, its specs and performance don't match up well with newer models that cost less.

With that in mind, we sampled several cameras ranging from a little under $200 to about $450 street. Less-expensive cameras are available, including 3-megapixel cameras for $100. But we wanted to check out models that had more than just the basics.

In general, all produced good photos. With 4-megapixel or 7-megapixel resolution, prints up to 8 by 10, or even larger, are possible. The cameras also were small enough to slip into a pocket or purse and had good battery life.

The Fuji A345 was the least expensive, available for as little as $170 online. For the money, it's quite a buy. It has 4.1 megapixels of resolution and a 3X zoom lens. It even can do short video clips.

While it promises good battery life (two AA), it ran out of juice in 24 hours of light shooting. Replacement batteries worked well in much heavier shooting, so the packaged batteries may simply have been duds or our fiddling during setup took up a lot of power.

The Fuji did better in outdoor shooting than with the flash. Some flash photos that looked good on the LCD turned out to be out of focus when transferred to a computer. Its zoom was okay, if a bit slow.

For my technophobic wife, though, it was perfect. She had to read the quick-start guide, but she managed to handle it from there.

Moving up the price ladder, the Nikon Coolpix 7600 ($300 online) jumps to 7.1 megapixels, along with a 3X optical zoom lens. As you would expect, the higher price resulted in smoother performance. The battery life (two AA) was good, as were the photos.

The complaint about the 7600 may seem odd: It tries to be too helpful. Nikon has been adding features so people can do more editing and get more help on the camera, from framing their photos on the LCD to fixing red eye.

But when trying to shoot a sequence, the camera would interrupt on the LCD by giving a critique of the last photo (it's out of focus, for example). One may find that annoying.

The most expensive camera in our test group was the Olympus C7000 ($450 online), with 7.1 megapixels and a 5X zoom lens. It also was the largest, though it weighs all of 7 ounces.

The lens by itself is worth the price difference. It was fast and responsive, even impressing a cousin who is a professional photographer.

The downside is that its menu was more difficult to figure out, with my daughter having to refer to the instruction booklet to change shutter speed, for example, or find the desired shooting mode.

- Dave Gussow can be reached at gussow@sptimes.com or 727 771-4328.

Sample of point-and-shoot digital cameras

Fuji A345

PRICE: As low as $170

FEATURES: 4.1 megapixels of resolution; 3X zoom lens; can do short video clips

QUICK REVIEW: For the money, quite a good deal - though first batteries ran out of juice in 24 hours of light shooting

Nikon Coolpix 7600

PRICE: as low as $300

FEATURES: 7.1 megapixels; 3X optical zoom lens; good battery life

QUICK REVIEW: Smooth performance, but also can be annoying as it tries to be too helpful (i.e. camera would interrupt on the LCD by giving a critique of the last photo)

Olympus C7000

PRICE: as low as $450

FEATURES: 7.1 megapixels; 5X zoom lens; larger than others but weighs only 7 ounces

QUICK REVIEW: Lens fast and responsive; worth the price difference

- DAVE GUSSOW, Times Personal Technology Editor

[Last modified May 30, 2005, 09:16:53]