Recommendations

[munchkin1616]

Although money is super tight, my sister and her husband are preparing for a baby in March and I am considering giving them a digital camera for the holidays, both since I know they'll want to capture everything and because it'll help keep me included (I live 2 hours away). (I'm thinking that might be better than a webcam, ya think

Comments

[sarahcb1208]

I got mine at Walmart (Nikon CoolPix L4). It has internal memory (not much, but still). It was cheaper to go there, and still get the same thing as anywhere else. My parents paid for it, but there are lots of cameras for under $75 in stores, because they try to get rid of the "older models" when the newer ones come in.

[celisnebula]

I would tell you to check out the clearance areas of places like Walmart or Meijers. I bought my Samsung A400 4.0 mega pixels digital on clearance ($100 marked down from $187) and it also had a $30 rebate form that generated at the check out, so I got it for $70 total. Look at Ebay too, sometimes there are some very good deals on Ebay.

[babspace]

This may be more of the same, but I'd suggest browsing through your libray's Consumer Reports. They usually test a wide price range of whatever it is they're testing (sometimes the cheaper models are the best performers), plus often the tested items are on their way to the discount bin by the time the testing is completed and the issue released.

[nymphatacita]

I second with the recommendation to check ebay. I bought my olympia from olympia itself, it was refurbished. More than $100... but I'm sure there are other companies and/or other models available.

[jennifer0246]

camera advice: check epinions and consumer reports, watch for specials and deals, check http://www.cheapstingybargains.com/, http://groups.msn.com/GoodDealAlert/messageboard.msnw, http://www.gotapex.com/, http://slickdeals.net/, and http://www.spoofee.com/ for bargains, and buy one with a card slot so they can expand the memory and a rechargeable battery. (those last 2 are critical)

good luck!

[sarahcb1208]

A rechargable battery isn't a requirement, since you can cheaply get actual rechargable batteries from anywhere (we've got Energizers for the camera and boyfriend's cordless PS2 controller). Got 'em from Walmart for less than $15, for 12 AA's and 4 AAA's (exactly the sizes we needed)

[jennifer0246]

yeah, but a cam is such a big battery drain that you end up only being able to take a certain amount of pics before you need to recharge. a cam with a recharg battery tends to hold a bigger charge (in my experience)

[sarahcb1208]

I've never had that problem. I got almost a month between charges, and same amount of time between using regular non-chargeables. I think a lot of it depends on the camera, since I had a problem with batteries in my old Olympus.