Digital Cameras
August 8, 2005
It used to be that none of the cameras sold for $200 were really worth having. Now, two of the most well-regarded digital camera makers have complementary offerings at this price. Canon's PowerShot A510 is a 3-megapixel camera with a 4X optical zoom lens, while Sony's Cyber-shot DSC-S40 is a 4-megapixel camera with a 3X optical zoom lens. Which is right for you? If you consider yourself an experienced shooter who, with enough zoom, can frame a shot on the fly, and you rarely, if ever, crop an image, go with the Canon. If you're a little more reluctant with a camera, and don't care so much about zooming into action provided you have leeway to crop out extraneous objects, pick the Sony.
A year ago, CVS rolled out the first single-use digital camera. Buy it, shoot 25 shots (along the way deleting the last picture you took if you decide you don't like it), then take it back to CVS and order prints. This summer, CVS introduced something that's perhaps even more suited to
both parents and students alike, a single-use video camcorder. It's the same
idea: you shoot 20 minutes of video, turn it into the store and order a DVD. If you don't want your kids walking off with your Handycam, maybe this is the way to let them down easy.
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