I am a beginner and I need HELP...

[rizzonjig]

I am looking to buy a digital camera. I am a web page designer and up until now I used a freelance Photographer. Well I would like to take my own pictures from now on.. I don't know much about digital cameras.

I do know some of the Spec's that I need and want on the Camera.

* The Camera will be used mostly for the web and also used to
make prints from 8x11 and lower.
* I need the camera to be able to produce RAW and JPEG images.
* I would like to have a large optical zoom the least I think
I would want would be 4X ( I would really like a 12X optical
zoom )
* I want the camera to have Macro
* I want the camera to have CCD
* I would like the camera to have some kind of flash/auto flash
* I would like the camera to be a 4 mega pixel or higher...

And my price range is from $1.00 to $300.00 I can't go any higher then $300.00

[cyberlord]

Start here:
http://www.photographyreview.com/reviewscrx.aspx

Then select the pixel and price range and hit search.

You might want to go a little higer in your price range for the review section as you can usually find cameras for a little less than list price. Bump it up to atleast $350. Then when you find a camera with most of your specs, go to pricegrabber.com or pricewatch.com and search for that model number.

WARNING! Be VERY weary of online merchants, especially camera stores (for some strange reason) as a lot of them are terrible and practice illegal marketing schemes.

Use resellerreview.com and yahoo's merchant review sites as a start to do some background checking on online merchants.

There is also a merchant feedback forum on this site.

Hope this helps,

Tim
I recommend buydig.com for camera prices, reliable source and has great feedback on all the retail review sites.

[rizzonjig]

Ok I will check out those websites today...

Thank you for your help..

[rizzonjig]

OK I am still having a hard time finding a camera that has the file format of a jpeg and raw. Does raw format come only in one brand of cameras or only in one style of cameras ??? Please help with this too.

[cyberlord]

RAW format is just that, raw image from the CCD, no modifications to it. If a camera supports it, it is usually that manufacturer’s format as not all RAW formats are the same.

If all you want is images for web pages, you do not need RAW. All you need is JPG.

A lot of the consumer cameras in the under $300 price range will not have RAW format only JPG as that is the format most point and shooters want anyway for email and web.

You only need RAW if you are going to do your own 100% post processing and need the color depth for printing detail color. RAW image will get saved as PSD (Photoshop) or TIFF and will lose some color depth when you try to edit the images as a lot of the editing features do not work in higher than 8bit color. Maybe CS or CS2 allows more 16bit editing features, I don’t know I use 7.0. Plus the conversion to get from RAW to photo editor is another time consuming step. Unless you absolutely need/want RAW, JPG will give satisfactory results in less time. More time for you to spend taking photos and designing webpages instead of tweaking photos.

Tim

[Erik Stiegler]

Very few lower end cameras support RAW format. That's going to really limit the options in your price range.

Check the specifications for cameras here: http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/specs.asp . If a camera supports RAW, it'll be listed under "uncompressed format". Be aware that TIFF is not the same thing as RAW.

The Photographyreview specs pages don't mention RAW support for some cameras that I know have it, like the Olympus SP-350. The Olympus SP series cameras (SP-310, 320, 350 and 500) are the only cameras that I can think of off the top of my head that meet your budget and can shoot RAW.

If you're willing to buy used, your options open up a little more.

[rizzonjig]

Well I would like to thank every one for the info I was given... I have finally come up with a camera that I am going to get. This camera has all the Specs closest to what I am looking for and it is in my price range... The camera I have chosen is the Olympus SP 500 UZ .. It is a 6 MP camera.. The camera has a 10x optical Zoom and it supports JPEG and RAW file formats. And it is only $270.00. If you have any information on this camera or if you own one and you want to give me you feed back PLEASE DO... The camera is not set in stone. I am getting it for father’s day so I have a little time to make sure it is the one I want.. I am going to go to a store that carries it and try it out and play with it a bit...

[cyberlord]

I am going to go to a store that carries it and try it out and play with it a bit...

Thats the best thing you can do next to looking at the reviews. You may love the camera specs and abilities, but until you actually hold and feel it you will never know if you will like the camera or not.

Good luck in your purchase.

Tim