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Still on my quest to replace my old and obsolete Sony Cybershot 4 Mega Pixels digital camera; but money is pretty tight right now. The digital SLRs I’ve been looking at would probably be better for some of what I have in mind to use the camera to do but I don’t have $300 for a camera much less $2000 so I am looking at some point and shoot digital cameras. I still remember how ridiculous I felt setting up the Canon PowerShot SD790 IS on my tripod back in April to photograph my painting “The Garden”. It was a cute camera to be sure and it took a decent enough picture but it’s not something you’re going to see a serious photographer toting around. I am thinking of getting into photography as a means to facilitate creating art as I find it’s easier to setup a picture, photograph it then paint it digitally than to conceive the image and try to paint it on canvas; so I will be needing a camera that’s a bit more robust. However, as previously stated, I can’t afford a more robust camera right now so I’m probably going to have to start out  with a point and shoot.

I’ve read some digital camera reviews on CNet and it seems the Canon PowerShot SD950 IS is one of the better point and shoot cameras available so I’m considering making a purchase. Well, actually I have a birthday coming up so I’ll be putting the camera on my birthday wish list if I decide after reviewing a few more cameras to go with the powershot SD950 IS.

The reviews of the camera by experts are generally positive and the reviews by users are also generally positive with users calling the camera “outstanding”, “awesome”, and “excellent”. I just care at this point that it takes great pictures and that the pictures can be printed at large 30in by 20in sizes without loss of quality.

$319 is still a bit more than I can afford to spend right now though. Hopefully by the time I’m ready to make a purchase someone will have the camera on sale.

Looking to buy? Canon PowerShot SD950IS 12.1MP Digital Camera with 3.7x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom (Titanium)

Shopping around for a digital camera to replace an old Sony. It’s pretty amazing how far digital camera technology has come since my old Sony 4 megapixels Cybershot was considered worthy of an $800 price tag. Here you have something like the Canon Digital Rebel XT 8MP Digital SLR Camera with EF-S 18-55mm f3.5-5.6 Lens (Black) with twice the megapixels and far superior to the cybershot, judging by the specs alone, selling for $699. Don’t know what that tells you but it suggests to me that Sony was committing highway robbery in the days of the Sony Cybershot.

My Cybershot has been obsolete for years obviously but still, for $800 you’d think Sony would have made a better effort.

I recently purchased the Canon PowerShot SD790 IS from Walmart for $350 + 26.00 in tax. I needed to take a picture of a painting and my old Sony couldn’t handle the job. I find it interesting that the Sony camera I have, the cybershot DSC-S85 retailed at over $800 when it first came on the market back in 2001, touted at the world’s first 4 megapixel consumer grade digital camera. I’m not a digital camera expert or anything but by comparison to what’s available on the market today I’d have to guess my SONY is a Jurassic joke. It’s something to think that just because they were the world’s first 4 megapixel digital camera they were able to charge $800 for a camera that couldn’t compete today. Meanwhile the superior cameras of today (in the same class as far as type of camera) are retailing for significantly less.

Although it comes highly rated, I did return my Canon Powershot to Walmart because it didn’t quite meet my needs. It did come way closer than the SONY; but I guess I shouldn’t compare an outdated 4 megapixels camera with a more advanced 10 megapixels camera. I am still shopping around for a camera that will do a little better job than the powershot SD790. It would be great if I could get my hand on free discount codes for some of those ridiculously expensive cameras I’ve seen reviewed on pcmag. I’m thinking what I need is an SLR camera. I didn’t really care for the compactness of the powershot SD790 but I guess that’s the main feature of the camera and others like it. I think for the kind of work for which I need the camera something more robust might be necessary.

I’ve got my eye on the Nikon D300. Based on the specifications it sounds like it can more than meet my needs, but it comes at a whopping price range of $1,800.00 - $2,539.95.