Digital Cameras below $300

[Calaber]

My point exactly

I appreciate the point your making about the convenience of disposable batteries, but was thinking that a proper lithium battery, recharged each night when the opportunity would present itself, would last through the following day without problems, whereas AA's would need replacing at least once a day. If we didn't have some with us, the camera would be sitting in a bag, useless, until we stopped the next night. The battery to our Konika film camera carked it in the UK in 2000 and a replacement was 8 quid. At the time, the exchange rate was 37 pence to the dollar, so the bloody thing cost over $20, whereas it cost only 6 bucks out here. And that was for a generic camera battery, not a model specific one.

The other half has pretty much ****-canned the idea anyway - says our existing camera will do the job perfectly and she'd rather have the cash to spend over there.

 

[VS Omega]

Don't y'all think it's amazing how far we've come... it used to be a case of how much film/developing you could afford (or the raw materials to DIY), now with 2GB cards for less than $20 how many pictures we can take is determined by how much battery we have.

Camera's too - $200 back then would get you a crappy 2MP with a blurry low-res screen

 

[jakbob]

I appreciate the point your making about the convenience of disposable batteries, but was thinking that a proper lithium battery, recharged each night when the opportunity would present itself, would last through the following day without problems, whereas AA's would need replacing at least once a day. If we didn't have some with us, the camera would be sitting in a bag, useless, until we stopped the next night. The battery to our Konika film camera carked it in the UK in 2000 and a replacement was 8 quid. At the time, the exchange rate was 37 pence to the dollar, so the bloody thing cost over $20, whereas it cost only 6 bucks out here. And that was for a generic camera battery, not a model specific one.

The other half has pretty much ****-canned the idea anyway - says our existing camera will do the job perfectly and she'd rather have the cash to spend over there.

I do see your point, but a decent set of rechargeable AA batteries should last you the day even if you are going to hammer it. The price of anything over there doesn't surprise me. I lived in the Falkland Islands (overseas british territory) for a bit once, the exchange rate on the pound was similar. In the video store a vhs tape of the fast and the furious was 50 quid! Thats 120 bucks!
As for the 'other half' all I can say is keep your pimping hand strong!*

*I do not condone violence against women in any way.

 

[danja]

Calaber,

I wouldn't upgrade solely for the "more megapixels" factor. 8 MP is plenty for decent 6x4" prints unless you crop them heavily.

Also these days its the ancillary qualities like lens quality, battery life, image processing/correction abilities, etc which make a good camera, far more than the number of megapixels it can capture.

When you have a candidate in mind, it may be worth searching to see if it produces images you're happy with. Flickr has a good feature where you can find pictures taken with a particular camera:
Flickr: Camera Finder

I'd also put up my hand for Digital Camera Warehouse. Good prices, good service:
Digital Camera Warehouse Australia - Discount Digital Cameras shipped Australia Wide - Home