Good Point and Shoot Digital Camera?

[Woody13]

I'm looking for a good point and shoot digital camera for my daughter. It's got to be simple because my daughter is mentally retarded. I think the Olympus Stylus 410 would be good for her. PhotoDave, NowInc or anyone else have an opinion about this camera?

 

[mkt]

actually, given your situation, I would go against an Olympus. While they are very good cameras, they aren't the most user friendly cameras on the market. I would suggest a Nikon Coolpix 3100 or 4300. The 3100 and 4300 are essentially the same camera.. the 3100 is the 3MP version and uses AA batteries, whereas the 4300 is 4PM and uses a rechargable lion battery.

daves out for the day, but if you have any questions, drop me a line.

 

[NowInc]

Id also say stay away from sony...they come off as easy..then you realize thers a lot of little things you gotta adjust to get pics the right size etc...

 

[Woody13]

Thanks mkt and NowInc! I'll take a look at both the Nikon Coolpix 3100 and 4300. The Coolpix 4300 may indeed be the right camera for my daughter. I'll let you know. Thanks again for your advice!

 

[Woody13]

The Coolpix 4300 is looking good to me. I found it on line for $299.00 plus Nikon is giving a $50.00 rebate if I buy before 03/31/2004. Just need to do a little more research.

 

[PhotoDave219]

Since its for your daughter, id definetly take her to a store and let her play with it i the store before actually buying it and all that.

And yeah, avoid sony. Onlypus isnt bad, but the nikon & canon ones are pretty user friendly

 

[Woody13]

Very good advice PhotoDave, thank you. :wave: I will take her to a retail outlet tomorrow and let her play with the camera. Thanks for getting back to me. I really value your opinion as well as the opinions expressed by mkt and NowInc!

I will continue in research mode and will report back the results.

 

[Woody13]

Hello mkt, PhotoDave and NowInc. After doing some additional research (i.e. Steve's Digicams, Consumer Reports, etc.) I followed your collective advice. I took my daughter to a couple of local retail outlets and we looked at several cameras including the Nikon Coolpix 4300. She liked that one very much! I was not able to get any of the retail stores to sell it to me at a decent price (Wal-Mart was the best at $307.00), so I ordered it via the Internet.

I purchased the camera and some additional items (camera bag, 256 MB Flash card and an extra rechargeable battery) for a total price of $394.00 (with discount codes). Shipping is free (Fed Ex) and no sales is due. Nikon is offering a $50.00 rebate on this camera through 03/31/2004 so my total cost will end up being $344.00. Thanks again for steering me in the right direction!:wave:

 

[PhotoDave219]

No problem. Glad ya got something that works!

 

[mkt]

glad to be of service..

if you have any questions about it, feel free to ask.

 

[NowInc]

Hope it works out for you!! Let us know how the pics turn out

 

[Woody13]

Originally posted by NowInc
Hope it works out for you!! Let us know how the pics turn out

Will do!:wave: I'll give you a full report once we get the camera and figure out how to use it.

 

[Woody13]

Nikon Coolpix 4300 Report

We received the camera on 03/17/2004. Fed Ex free shipping is fast! It took about 2 hours to charge up the supplied EN-EL 1 battery and I used this time to read the instruction guide and load the "Nikon View" CD software onto my computer. I loaded the accessory 256 MB flash card into the camera and took a few (20) test shots (fine resolution) under various lighting and exposure conditions using the full auto mode.

I hooked up the camera to a USB port on my computer (Windows XP) and the 4300 was immediately recognized. All the pictures downloaded to the hard drive quickly (under 30 seconds). I manipulated a few photos with "Nikon View" and I noticed that from the menu you can go directly to Photoshop Elements 2 (which I all ready have on the computer). It's a handy feature. I then tried out the TV feature. I hooked up the included patch cord from the camera to my home theater screen and put the camera into slide show mode. Very impressive.

Now that I had a passing familiarity with the workings of the camera, I then set about training my daughter in its use. My primary worry is that my daughter's fine motor skills are impaired. She tends to shake due to the various anticonvulsant medications that she must take. However, the Nikon 4300 has a very effective "anti-jitter" feature. The other thing that concerned me is that this camera only comes with a nylon wrist strap. I had visions of my daughter dropping the camera on the sidewalk. So, first thing, I went to a local camera shop and purchased a strong nylon neck strap (Nikon 1 1/2 inches wide) and attached it to the camera.

I took her to some local scenic areas and had her take 40 pictures of different subject matter and under different lighting conditions. All of her photos came out just fine. I had to spend some time training her how to depress the shutter "half way" so as to engage the auto-focus, but once she got the hang of that technique she had no problems using the camera.

I noticed that the EN-EL 1 battery only lasts about 90 minutes when using the LCD screen. I'm glad that I ordered a spare battery, but for a long shooting day at WDW, I'm sure we'll need more power. I ordered four more batteries today (7.4V, 900 mAh) and three more 256 MB CF cards (SanDisk).

My next step is to buy a card reader. Any suggestions as to which brands are best? I've been looking at the Sandisk CompactFlash FireWire Reader SDDR-80-784 and the Sandisk ImageMate USB 2.0 CompactFlash type I & II memory card reader SDDR-91-07.

I have a firewire port on my computer and my USB ports are only USB 1.1. Therefore, I think the firewire reader would be faster. I am using Windows XP so I want a device that is truly plug and play (i.e. no drivers to load) and doesn't require external power. Anyone know of a good card reader and/or ones to avoid? So far, you guys are batting a thousand! Thanks again mkt, PhotoDave and NowInc.

 

[mkt]

for a card reader, go SanDisk.. I have a USB 2.0 Memory Stick Reader on my compy (screw installing drivers.. lol), and I love it. I'm trying to convince my girlfriend into acquiring a MMC Card Reader... but she insists that it wont' work.

so is life.


If possible, I would recommend you pick up a camera case as well... Lowepro are VERY good ones, and since you're picking up so much memory, possibly a memory card wallet (lowepro sells one, retails for $7-10)

Good luck man, and I hope to see pics soon

 

[Woody13]

I decided to get the San Disk ImageMate 8 in 1 Reader/Writer (model# SDDR-88). I'll let you know about my experience with this device. You are (of course) right about the camera bag. The outfit from which I purchased the camera included a nicely padded camera bag with the sale. It will hold the camera, extra batteries, extra CF cards and some other accessories. It's all I require now, but in the future as I purchase additional equipment a bigger camera bag will indeed be needed.

I looked at several Lowepro bags today. They are very nice and not unreasonable in price. Thanks again for pointing me in the right direction!