Christmas 2010 Buying Guide - Cameras

Originally, I was going to cover a whole host of different topics today but by the time I finished with cameras, I had a pretty good post just on that, so today's post is about cameras.  I admit to not knowing a whole lot about cameras.  We only own a Canon point-and-shoot, so I may be in the dark a little on the digital SLR and video camera aspects, but I've done my best to do some light research and make solid recommendations based on modern features that I felt were the most important considerations for new purchases.  Basically, I treated it like what I would go for if I was buying one of these.  Certainly, there may be other models and brands that are better or equivalent to what I've mentioned here, this is just a starting point.

Still Cameras
Point-and-shoot: When looking for a good, simple, point-and-shoot camera, the current standard for most small cameras is 14.1 megapixels.  12 megapixels isn't terrible though and might save you a little money.  For zoom level, you really want something between 4x and 6x optical.  In that range, you can still find a small, pocket-sized camera but still get some decent zoom.  A couple of examples of cameras in this range include the Canon PowerShot SD1400IS ($175), the Sony DSC-W330 ($140) and the Nikon Coolpix S80 ($260).  Each of those is 14.1 megapixels with the Canon and Sony at 4x zoom and the Nikon at 5x.  They're each good cameras, solid brands and span a decent price range.  The Nikon has a few more features that make up the cost difference, but it is probably the best of the bunch.

DSLR: Digital SLRs have become a pretty big craze as prices have come down some, they've become marginally easier to use at the entry level and as digital has become the gold standard in taking pictures.  These are the larger cameras with changeable lenses that all the soccer moms are toting around now.  Again Canon, Nikon are probably the major players in this area but Olympus, Sony and Panasonic also have good choices.  Most of the time you can find a package that includes the camera body and a lens (usually an 18-55mm).  The price ranges vary wildly based on model a features with some entry level models starting as low as $450-$500.  Generally speaking, I would avoid that level though and look more to the $750-$1000 range.  If you're in the market for a DSLR, then you should be serious about your selection.  The Canon T2i is 18 megapixels and records HD video also.  With the 18-55mm lens, it runs $850 on Amazon.  Nikon has the D3100 that comes in at 14.2MP but is a bit cheaper at $650 (w/a 18-55mm lens).

Video Cameras
I admit to not knowing much about video cameras.  YouTube has changed the field some though in that you can now get small, fairly inexpensive video cameras that are designed to record and post video to YouTube along with getting something more along the lines of a traditional camcorder.

Flip:  If you don't have an iPod Touch or an iPhone 4 and you're looking to post cat videos to YouTube, then it's hard not to recommend the Flip camera line.  They have a couple of different models but the Flip MinoHD 8GB (2 Hours) is probably the way to go.  It's $199.00, records 2 hours of HD video and is about the size of your cell phone.

Camcorders:  Camcorders now do HD and can record to either tap, a hard drive or a flash memory card.  Personally, if I were looking at getting one, I would probably lean towards the flash memory option.  You can always buy more cards, they generally don't fail and they're small enough you can carry a ton of them in the camera bag.  The Canon Vixia HF M31 is $500, has 32GB on board flash memory, an SD card slot and records 1080p HD video.  Or, if you're looking for more features and even better quality, the Canon Vixia HF S21 is $1099 but has 64GB on-board memory, 2 SD card slots, a better zoom and a host of other "pro-sumer" features.

So that's cameras.  For the more advanced stuff, there are a lot of considerations to make and I might not have covered everything that needed covering, but maybe this post can give you a good starting point.