Looking for a digital camera with a lot of zoom capability

[adrian]

After 3 years of service, my cousin's HP 1mp digital camera (that came bundled with a $150 printer) finally died, so I'm helping her find a camera that will atleast have a proper zoom under $200. The only thing that she's looking for is a high zoom and the price range. From what I collected, she'll be using it for "events" (since she's always in the crowd, then she can just use the zoom and get a good pic).

Anyone has any suggestions as to where to buy one locally?

[mel]

Re: Looking for a digital camera with a lot of zoom capability

Digital Camera Review has a good buyers guide at this link:

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/compare.asp

Just plug in the criteria you are looking for and it spits out a range of models in your price range and feature set.

[helen]

Re: Looking for a digital camera with a lot of zoom capability

Because zoom is important then I would not recommend the Aiptek DV4100, it's 4X zoom is digital not optical.

[Linkmeister]

Re: Looking for a digital camera with a lot of zoom capability

I've got a Canon Powershot 110 which I'm quite happy with except for the zoom. It's just not enough, particularly after using a 35mm-70mm zoom on my Canon A-1 film camera.

[pzarquon]

Re: Looking for a digital camera with a lot of zoom capability

I'm sure you already know to completely ignore anything advertised as "digital zoom." Optical zoom is the only number that matters.

Optical zoom is one of my primary criteria in camera shopping. Of course, because it involves both optics and body size, it's also going to be one of the major factors in price.

My last digital camera was the Olympus C-2100UZ, with a 10x optical lens. Even at only 2.1MP, it gets shots that look better than those taken with newer cameras. It was $500 at the time, but you can now get a used one in your price range. My current camera is the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ20, with a 12x optical zoom.

Mel pointed out one of the better digital camera review sites. Use that compare link and just use the "Zoom tele (T)" criteria. Choose the highest zoom (320mm+) and see what comes out. I don't think you'll get lots of "super zoom" cameras for $200, though. If you'll settle for 4x or so, however, you'll be fine.

Other good review sites include the DCRP and Steve's Digicams.

[Konaguy]

Re: Looking for a digital camera with a lot of zoom capability

I got this Canon Powershot A410 for my upcoming 30th birthday.
I have been throughly impressed with the quality of the pictures.
Here is more on the camera :

http://www.steves-digicams.com/2005_reviews/a410.html
http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/ca...ew/index.shtml

The only thing I did was upgrade the flash memory up to 128MB