Good inexpensive digital camera for jersey pocket?

[Brons2]

I am about to leave in less than 48 hours for the Bike Tour of Colorado. I have decided that I would like to pick up a small digital camera for the trip. Something that would easily fit into my jersey pocket.

I am not looking to spend a lot of money on this endeavor. I looked at a 4 megapixel Nikon at Wal-Mart for about $150 that seems like it would fit the bill pretty nicely. I think it was this one: http://www.nikonusa.com/template.php?cat=1&grp=2&productNr=25546
I also plan on visiting Fry's and Best Buy.

I do have some SD cards lying around so that wouldn't be a problem.

Anyways, if anyone has suggestions I'd love to hear them.

My criteria:

-I'm leaving for CO after work on Thursday, so it has to be available locally.
-Has to be fairly small, although not tiny.
-Must take decent photos, although "great" is not required.
-# of megapixels is irrelevant
-At least 3x optical zoom required (the Nikon had 3x and that is fine)
-Rechargeable batteries a nice plus but not a necessity. Good battery life desirable.
-Would like to spend $200 or less.

I am very technical (network engineer), so ease of use is not a prime consideration for me.

Guess that's it.

[DavidK]

I purchased this camera for that use:
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/panasonicfx01/

It has no viewfinder, just a very large and bright screen.
A Leica lens.
Image stabilisation.
Great field of vision.
Goes up to 1600 ASA in high sensitivity mode.
Easy to hold, aim and fire with one hand.
3.6 Optical zoom.
Battery life lasts forever (or around 300 photos in the real world it seems).
It's damn small.

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/PanasonicFX01/images/allroundview-001.jpg

I recommend it highly. Oh, and the colours are great, here's a link to a set of photos from, er, the World Naked Bike Ride 2006, London stage:
http://flickr.com/photos/buro9/sets/72157594161749861/

All photos taken by above camera... in a very "point and click whilst cycling"
kinda way.

[Louis]

I recently got a Vivitar for free. One thing that was a surprise is that in full sun the display is useless because it is overpowered by the sunlight. The camera itself has no independent viewfinder, so when taking pics outside in bright sun you have no idea what you are actually doing.

I don't know how higher-end cameras solve this problem (if they do), but I thought I'd mention it.

Louis

[Brons2]

DavidK, that camera is ~$300.

[DavidK]

Ooops! I missed that requirement! I also have little idea of how much hardware costs in the US. Apologies... damn nice camera though.

[m_moses]

. . . the World Naked Bike Ride 2006, London stage:
http://flickr.com/photos/buro9/sets/72157594161749861/. . .

Certainly makes any discussions regarding chamois quality moot! ;)

Mick

[keno]

I've had great success with a Canon Elph for a few years and had no trouble carrying it in my jersey and shooting while riding. Mine is an s100 and has only 2x and goes for $140 on Amazon, the Canon Powershot SD400 5MP Digital Elph Camera with 3x optical zoom goes for $200 on Amazon and lower, I'm sure, on ebay. I know you need local, but that was to give you price idea.

keno

[Brons2]

I've had great success with a Canon Elph for a few years and had no trouble carrying it in my jersey and shooting while riding. Mine is an s100 and has only 2x and goes for $140 on Amazon, the Canon Powershot SD400 5MP Digital Elph Camera with 3x optical zoom goes for $200 on Amazon and lower, I'm sure, on ebay. I know you need local, but that was to give you price idea.

keno

I would definitely be willing to pay $200 for the 5MP Elph. They had only the 6MP version at Squall Mart and it was ~$300.

I am off to Fry's at lunch, we'll see what they have there.

[catulle]

Shouldn't you be concerned about the camera getting wet and so on? Just a question. I wonder. Cameras tend to be kind'a finicky, atmo, no?

[PBWrench]

Brons have a great ride and hook'em.

[catulle]

Answering my own question, I found this:

Nikon Coolpix S2 splash-proof camera.
$249 at Ritz Camera (probably cheaper somewhere else).
5.1 mega pixels; 2.5" LCD; 3X optical zoom, 4X digital.

[Brons2]

Shouldn't you be concerned about the camera getting wet and so on? Just a question. I wonder. Cameras tend to be kind'a finicky, atmo, no?

I'll put it in a Ziploc bag.

Most of the cameras have a auto-closing shutter over the lens so it won't get dirty, also.

[Brons2]

Brons have a great ride and hook'em.

thanks!!

[Skrawny]

The Casio Exilim (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=388228&is=REG&addedTroughType=categoryNavigation) is a little out of your range, but everyone I know with one is happy. Two general recommendations

1) Ziplock sandwich bag will keep the sweat from wrecking things
2) Buy an extra battery you will find it very usefull

Enjoy!
-s

[catulle]

I'll put it in a Ziploc bag.

Most of the cameras have a auto-closing shutter over the lens so it won't get dirty, also.

I think your quote below your post is absolutely the best. Thank you. Oh, btw, I hadn't thought of the Ziploc bag. Good idea. Good luck, and may you have a great trip, atmo.

[DavidK]

Shouldn't you be concerned about the camera getting wet and so on? Just a question. I wonder. Cameras tend to be kind'a finicky, atmo, no?
Mine goes in an airtight sandwich bag :)

[Birddog]

I use a Nikon Coolpix 4300 (now discontinued). It is a little large, but I wanted one that I felt that I wouldn't drop. There is a frequent poster over on Roadbikereview.com that lives in France and posts great pictures. Here is a paste from him about the same issue.

"I use a casio exilim which is not the smallest point-and-shoot out there but nearly. I carry it in my back jersey pocket in a snug-fitting neoprene case that I picked up in Japan. I ride w/ the case unzippered and it's a piece of cake to reach back, loop the little leash attached to the camera around my wrist, pull it out and take pictures -- I haven't dropped it yet!"

His handle is PhillepC, and it's worth the time to do a search and read some of his reports and check out his pictures atmo.

Birddog

PS why hasn't somebody entered atmo into the wikipedia files yet?

[BumbleBeeDave]

That is exactly the Coolpix that I just bought. I'm the photo editor at the local paper and I wanted something small, inexpensive (4MP was $149, you can get higher res in same body for more $$), and able to use easily on the bike.

Here are some impressions after a couple of months of use . . .

• 4MP is fine unless you are shooting a "Hail Mary" while on the bike. I usually have to crop the images down to get the framing I want. If you want to be able to do that yet still get a large print out of it, then you might want to consider the higher MP models.

• While doing the aforementioned over-the-shoulder shots, my thumb gripping the camera sometimes hits the menu or selection buttons and the camera then won't fire until you've cleared whatever sub-menu has appeared on the screen. And obviously, I have to be REAL careful while I'm fishing it out of my jersey pocket.

• No viewfinder, but so far that's no problem.

• Make sure you turn off the "blurred picture" alert, or else after you shoot the photo the camera asks you if you want to keep it and you can't shoot again until you answer. Very inconvenient if you want to shoot multiple while you're moving.

• Alkaline batteries do NOT last forever in this thing, especially if you are using the flash, and especially if you have the red-eye reduction turned on, which means the flash goes off several times for each picture. The display also eats up power because there's no viewfinder--if you're waiting for your shot you have to keep the display turned on to frame it. You can save some power, though, by turning on the "sleep" function which seems to turn the display off faster while still keeping the camera turned on. Make sure you take extra batteries. The store clerk will try to sell you lithium rechargeables, but be aware that the lithium part has to do with the shelf life of the batteries, not the power capacity, though the clerk at Best Buy tried like heck to sell me some by claiming this.

• Also note that even with the red-eye feature turned off and the "auto" flash setting on, the flash STILL does one "pre-flash," so it's not instantaneous shooting. There's no such thing as a "quick grab shot" with this camera because either it won't shoot until the pre-flash has gone off or because it's still focusing. But these are common problems I've seen with many of these cameras. But to this 20 year news photographer who's used to a high powered flash and motor drive that do it NOW, it's an adjustment.

• I have not had any problems with moisture yet carrying it in my jersey pocket, but I also have not carried it on a really long, sweaty ride yet. But if you don't want to shoot while in motion like I do, you can just use a ziploc. I am also experimenting with a very short strap and tuck it in the front of my jersey.

• Another neat feature of this particular line of cameras is that you can shoot color, B+W, sepia tone, old time blue-tinted pix, or even "vivid color" (essentially increased color saturation) by setting the shoopting mode preferences. Prett cool . . .

• Lastly, if you're not already aware of it, there's a big difference between an "optical" zoom and "digital" one. An optical zoom does so in camera, so your enlarged photo is still a full 4MP or whatever. But a "digital" zoom zooms by grabbing a portion of the larger file, so your "zoomed" shot will not be a full 4MP.

Hope this helps, and in any event, I'm jealous you're getting to ride around colorado!

BBDave

[Brons2]

I raised my budget substantially and bought a Canon PowerShot SD600. I didn't really want to compromise on any of the features I wanted (Li battery, good low light shooting, small form factor, big LCD viewfinder), so price became the compromise.

I could have gotten it for $280 online, but since I had to have it today, it cost me $346 plus tax. Also picked up a 2GB SD card that came with a free 512mb SD card, so 2.5GB for $69.99.

Budget be damned!!

[Ginger]

oops...


I should have mentioned my Olympus 710 that I picked up for 229...7.1mp, big view finder AND most importantly....

weatherproof...

or some semblance thereof.

so it can ride in the jersey pocket and I can sweat on it and it seems none the worse for wear. It took the pics on my century ride posted here...

The powershot is a nice camera too.

[Fixed]

bro my birthday present a couple months ago it's easy to use even I can do it ... kodak
cheers

[Brons2]

bro my birthday present a couple months ago it's easy to use even I can do it ... kodak
cheers


I am very technical (network engineer), so ease of use is not a prime consideration for me.

:D:D

[Fixed]

[

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bro hope this helps
cheers