Buying a Digital Camera!

[MeltedPixel]

Hello Everyone,
We have a small regional airport withen walking distance of my house and i watch planes from a small feild next to it all day long, and thought it would be nice to take some photos of them.
I'm currently in the proccess of finishing a clients website, and I want to invest into a digital Camera.
I have a budget of around $250.
I am looking for a good Camera for basic plane spotting photos to be taken with.

I have found this camera:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00006IR39/qid=1060758309/br=1-3/ref=br_lf_p_3//102-4627541-6006531?v=glance&s=photo&n=499058

I have played with it before, and it seems to be really nice.
Im not sure about the quality, as I did not load the pictures onto a computer.

One of the things that i want to have with it is a simple naviagtion, where I can delete photos, the basics you could say. This is my first digital camera aswel, so that is another factor.

If any of you have any suggestions on Digital Cameras under $250, Please let me know.

Thank you,
MeltedPixel

[MeltedPixel]

Hmmm. I think i could stretch my budget a bit and go with this:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000068BRE/qid=1060758615/br=1-6/ref=br_lf_p_6//102-4627541-6006531?v=glance&s=photo&n=1067692
8X digital zoom is fine with me =D

[Petertenthije]

I am not a user of either of these camera's, so I can not speak of personnal experience. I do know that quite a few spotters use the C-720 or its newer versions (730/740...).

Just enter the camera typename into the photo directory. You will find about 100 photo's shot by the C-720. You can then see that this camera can do, and if you want you can ask the photographers for information. "Do they like it", "Are there bad points" etc.

I did not find the other camera in this database.

What kind of shots do you want to take? If you want to take ramp-shots both camera's will probably do good. If you want to do pics of planes on final approach you really can't have enough zoom. That is OPTICAL zoom, DIGITAL ZOOM IS CRAP! Therefore, without having tested either of them I'd go for the C-720.

Also please bare in mind the extra's you will have to buy! At the very least more MB's (16mb just won't cut it, 128mb will be a nice start!). Rechargable batteries are also very recommendable!

My advice, calculate how much money you are now spending on buying, developing and printing film. These costs will disappear. Depending on the amount of pics you (intend to) shoot you can save a lot of money. If you can spare it you might want to go for a more expensive camera. In a few months you will have a lot of money and you'll possibly regret not having gone for a newer version of the C-720, or for another camera (Sony F717 rules! :D).

Believe it or not, I have saved a few 100 euro's since I got my camera (Sony F717) a few months back! I am already well on my way too having earned back my camera!

[SWA733Captain]

One user that has the 720. Clovis, he's the one in SXM. He gets damn good pictures with it too!

[MeltedPixel]

Thanks for the help!
However, i just noticed that its not currently avalible, and that the price that i was showing was the resold price!
I also noted that its usualy $500+, which is way out of my budget.
However, i did find this:
Fujifilm FinePix 3800 3MP Digital Camera w/ 6x Optical Zoom
by Fujifilm
$349.99

I think that i would be willing to save up a bit longer and get a very nice camera.
To me, its worth it.
Check out some more info about it here:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00006FMPP/102-4627541-6006531?v=glance&s=photo&n=1067692