Camera Help

[kilreli]

ok, so today i went to the electronic store to look for a camera, which i plan to buy tomorrow. i narrowed it down to
1.Casio Exilim EX-Z600 (http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7708769&type=product&id=1138086046965), and
2. olympus stylus 810 (http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7687292&type=product&id=1134704163705).

before i first went to the store i was considering the first of the two. my host family has that one and i seems really good to me. i messed around with it and the olympus one i listed for a while, and the olympus one just seemed better.
for example, one of the things i tested is the shaky camera option that will help make the pictures clear when the camera is shaking. the first camera did ok. it was still a bit blurry. the second camera did aweome. it also did good with the setting for taking pictures of something really close. the second camera had a lot more special settings for different things.
anyways, the first camera is about 50 dollars less than the second.
i was gonna buy the second one today, but i decided there is no rush since ill be able to go back tomorrow. im just wondering if any of you might know anything about these, have one, or have any opinions on them. i hate only looking at the pictures and stuff that they show that the camera can take in teh catalouges, because i usually dont believe that the camera actually took the picture without it being touched up. it seems like the quality is a bit too good for the camera. but maybe im just weird. :meh:
Im torn between the two. i want the olympus camera, but something is making it hard to let go of the casio camera. maybe its because, as i wrote before, i had gone to the store with hopes for that one the most.

so yes, any help, input would be nice!

[Riinuka]

Well, the links aren't working anymore...

Could you post the model number and make of each of these cameras? I could provide info on them, but my close friend is a photographer. xP He could analyze all of the stats and such.

[kilreli]

first one:

Casio EXILIM 6.0-Megapixel Digital Camera
Model: EX-Z600
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f201/kilreli/7708769cv3a.jpg


Second:

Olympus Stylus 8.0-Megapixel Digital Camera
Model: 810
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f201/kilreli/7687292_ra.jpg

is that what you needed? or do you need something else?

[Kwiz]

Some specifics for number one (http://www.dpreview.com/news/0601/06012301casioz600.asp#specs) and number two. (http://www.olympusamerica.com/cpg_section/product.asp?product=1223)

[PiccoloNamek]

If I were you, I'd go ahead and get the EX-Z850. Ken Rockwell certainly has a lot of nice things to say about it: http://www.kenrockwell.com/casio/exz850.htm

It's slightly better but otherwise identical to th e 750. You can read his review here: http://www.kenrockwell.com/casio/exz750.htm

[kilreli]

darnit so many cameras to choose! my brother has been helping me, but its only giving me more options. too many options. :(

[Kwiz]

Well, what kind of photography will you be doing?

[King Kong]

The olympus, definately. As a former camera salesman, I should know my stuff.

[kilreli]

well i hope to do many different kinds. as far as things coming up soon, ill be doing stuff with friends(im on my last month in japan), some stuff for sports, a trip or two, fireworks festival, etc.
i want to take pictures for as many things as i can i guess. sorry, i bet that doesnt help :gloomy:

[PiccoloNamek]

Read the entire review I posted. I doubt you'll find a more feature-packed camera in that size or price range. It has some features that even multi-thousand dollar cameras like the 1DS-MKII don't have!

[King Kong]

Piccolo is wrong. Listen to MEEEEE!!

Hes just canon-philiac. Dispicable.

[PiccoloNamek]

Canon? The camera I'm talking about is a Casio. But Canon does rock.

Also, you have no right to judge my camera preferences. For your information, I have owned and used an Olympus C-5050 since 2003 and love it dearly. Most of the best pictures I have ever taken were taken with that camera. (Or with my Olympus C-720.)

http://blaisefrazier.zoto.com/img/49/7ac081abd8545c02c2332749b0e704b7-.jpg

Snap!

[King Kong]

Canon? The camera I'm talking about is a Casio. But Canon does rock.

Also, you have no right to judge my camera preferences. For your information, I have owned and used an Olympus C-5050 since 2003 and love it dearly. Most of the best pictures I have ever taken were taken with that camera. (Or with my Olympus C-720.)

http://blaisefrazier.zoto.com/img/49/7ac081abd8545c02c2332749b0e704b7-.jpg

Snap!

Cool. :gwitch:

[Riinuka]

I'd take the Casio based on the shutter speeds available. Internal storage is lacking compared to the other, though.. BUT, it has a more standardized format for external card memory.

4 to 1/2000 vs. 4 to 1/1000? No contest there.

The casio also has more shooting modes... 32 vs 24. That could be a pro or a con, depending on if you like to experiment or not. Confusing, but more options.

The Casio shoots movies in a format that is more widely supported (Casio = mpeg; Olympus = Quicktime)... So if you'll be wanting to share the videos with others, then the Casio provides better chances that they can watch it (and provides a means of directly burning them to a CD or DVD with no reason to re-encode for standard DVD players. xP)

However, the Casio has a smaller LCD panel and less options in the way of size for the images. But, that's nothing a program like Adobe or even the Microsoft Paint prgram can't take care of. Unless you'll need giant reproductions, it won't matter much.

Lastly, seems like the Olympus is able to gather better shots from farther away, looking at a 4x for the Casio and a 15x for said Olympus. But unless you're going to be zooming in on someone's face from reaaaally far away, I wouldn't worry.

Casio wins, in my opinion. Feel free to pick whichever you like, though.

P.S. Friend wasn't able to talk to me in time, so I just analyzed 'em myself. xP

[Osucka]

I'd take the Casio based on the shutter speeds available. Internal storage is lacking compared to the other, though.. BUT, it has a more standardized format for external card memory.

4 to 1/2000 vs. 4 to 1/1000? No contest there.

The casio also has more shooting modes... 32 vs 24. That could be a pro or a con, depending on if you like to experiment or not. Confusing, but more options.

The Casio shoots movies in a format that is more widely supported (Casio = mpeg; Olympus = Quicktime)... So if you'll be wanting to share the videos with others, then the Casio provides better chances that they can watch it (and provides a means of directly burning them to a CD or DVD with no reason to re-encode for standard DVD players. xP)

However, the Casio has a smaller LCD panel and less options in the way of size for the images. But, that's nothing a program like Adobe or even the Microsoft Paint prgram can't take care of. Unless you'll need giant reproductions, it won't matter much.

Lastly, seems like the Olympus is able to gather better shots from farther away, looking at a 4x for the Casio and a 15x for said Olympus. But unless you're going to be zooming in on someone's face from reaaaally far away, I wouldn't worry.

Casio wins, in my opinion. Feel free to pick whichever you like, though.

P.S. Friend wasn't able to talk to me in time, so I just analyzed 'em myself. xP

Blah, DO NOT think about dediding on these cameras based on the zoom. They both have 3 times optical and anyone that knows anything about cameras knows optical zoom is all there is. Never use the digital zoom, or as we used to call it at work, "The Pixelator!".

[PiccoloNamek]

No digicam has a 15x optical zoom. The 15x rating comes from the optical and digital zoom combined.

Also, the difference between 6 and 8 megapixels is very small.

[kilreli]

yeah, digital zoom sucks.
but on a note at what riinuka said about the shooting modes, the olympus camera also has a mode where it helps out out with things you wanna do. its kind of like a tutorial or guide mode. or example one number will say something like, "want to make the background blurry", you click on that one, it puts on the right settings and tells you what to do. sorry, i cant thik of the other things on it. they have maybe a page and a half of those. maybe around 10-14 guides. and then for example, one of the guides gives you about seven different options, while another maybe only one or two. anyways, just thought i would throw that in

[PiccoloNamek]

If you want to blur the background, just put the camera in aperture-priority mode and open up the aperture as big as you can. (It won't have much of an effect with a digicam, though, because they have almost infinite depth of field.)

[kilreli]

well anyways i ended up going with the olympus camera :D

[PiccoloNamek]

You'll be sorry. The Casio is much more feature-packed. :(

[Riinuka]

Whoops, I didn't see that the 15x was digital and physical. Darn. x x;

You know, I should have known better. I don't know cameras for that low of a price that have that kind of feature, anyway. *twitch* I really should have replied when I was lucid, eh.. *chuckles* Have fun with the new camera, Kilreli.