I'm saving up my money to buy a digital camera. Mainly plan on using it to take pictures to sell things online, send pic's to friends, etc. But I would like it to be able to print a half-way decent photo on paper.

Been looking on the net; mostly Ebay. I'm seeing a lot of "Off-brand" cameras that are very cheap and sound really good, but I'm curious about quality. Has anyone had any experience with an off brand digital camera?

My next question would be on buying a used camera from someone else. I'm a little iffy on that, always thinking that I could just as welll go with one of the off brand new ones.

Finally, how many mega-pixels do I REALLY need? What is going to give me a decent picture versus a really high quality picture?

I guess I need to find a happy medium on price, reliable, and quality of camera and photos.

Thanks for any and all feedback!
Caryn

PS Looking to spend under $60:eek: if possible.

I could write a book on finding a digital camera, but I'll try to condense it :).
The amount of megapixels (mp) you need depends on the largest size of prints you want. 3mp cameras will make good 4 x 6's and decent 8 x 10's (with a good printer). The more megapixels you get, the better the resolution with larger prints. 3mp is good for most people because 8 x 10's use a lot of ink to print and most print 4 x 6's and 5 x 7's. Be wary of the cheap cameras. They may say 3 mp but the effective (actual) amount of megapixels may be around 1 or 1.5 mp. This means the pixels are interpolated, the camera uses the 1 mp it has and guesstimates the rest to get 3mp resolution. Small prints and web images are fine, but anything beyond 5 x 7 may get a bit grainy or blurry. Be sure to read the specs which list the total megapixels and effective megapixels. Decent 3 mp cameras can be had for around $100, and it's safe to stick with the brand names like Canon, Nikon, Pentax, Konica-Minolta, Fujifilm, and Kodak. The cameras that PC manufacturers are made by other companies and sometimes you can find them under their off-brand name. Again, be careful, because a lot of these off-brand cameras have warranties that are only valid if you send it back overseas to the home factory which leads to long service turn arounds.Also, the quality of your prints depend on the printer (but that's a whole different chapter). Also, look at refurbished name brand cameras which will save you money and usually still carry some sort of warranty.

you could go to target and get a cannon which is a very good digital camera for about 100 dollars

Canon makes very good digital cameras, I use a Digital Rebel

For Christmas my mom bought me a Kodak Easy Share C310, 4.0 megapixels. It came with the printer doc and I am very pleased with the pictures it prints out (there just as good as having pics developed) the camera and printer doc was only $175 plus shipping (which isn't bad cause Sears has the same thing for well over $200)

TRND_Around -

Thanks so much for all your input! It will definitely help in picking out a camera! I probably would have gone with an off brand but now I think I will stick with a brand name. Thanks again! :thumbsup:

I just got the Canon Powershoot A620, 7.1 megapixels.
I wanted something 5 or more mg. so that when I enlarge photos, the resolution will still be good.

I also would not buy a used camera from ebay or anywhere else or from someone you don't know. Spent a bit more and get a new one with a guarantee of at least a year. I found mine from Cameta Camera (you can do a web search) from N.Y. They have a store in NY and sell lots of cameras through eBay. My camera came with a tripod, a case, the memory card reader and a couple of other things. All of it was the very same price that Best Buy sells only the camera for!!

Then I found a 1 gig. memory card at amazon.com for only $51, compared to $80 for the same thing at Wal Mart. Shop around for your best prices as Wal Mart is not always cheaper!

Those photo printers may be ok, but then you can do only photos with them. Why can't you use the printer that is hooked up to your computer? I do. Why have two printers? I have a good H.P. and love it, although I must admit I do use quite a bit of ink. I get the ink from Viking Office Products - also for less than what Wal Mart charges.

I'm very happy with the Kodak EasyShare CX4200 I have. And guess what? I was lucky (for once in my life - LOL, don't ask, my luck normally is BAD it seems) and I did buy mine used off from eBay. I've had it for nearly 2 years now and use it daily without a problem. (Oh no, now I'm scared to post this, because saying it's not had a problem is sure to give me a problem with it now).

I also have to agree with just buying one good printer attached to your computer vs. having a separate printer for a camera.

I also would not recommend getting an "off-brand" digital camera. The first one I bought is an "off-brand" thinking I'd save some money, but it really takes terrible pictures.

I have a Canon Powershot A520 and I'm very happy with it. I've printed some really nice pics with it up to 8x10. 4.0 mega pixels. I got it for Christmas from my younger brother so I'm not sure of the price.

:love:Finally and Forever:love:
~Spikeswife~

I have a fuji finepix a 205. I got it at Wal-Mart a couple of years ago for about $100 it's 2 mega pixels. I prefect for what I use it for, mostly to take pictures and email them to friends/family. I get a decent print from them off my bargin basement printer :) . You can probably get something better for the same price now a days with how technology is constantly evolving.

Keep in mind if you plan on using the pictures on websites such as ebay, you will probably have to crop and resize the images anyway, just to reduce the file size for fast loading webpages. There are many excellent programs that do this one of the best free ones I've used is PhotoFiltre (http://www.photofiltre.com/).