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What's the Best Brand?

This is a matter of opinion in some ways but there are brands that offer more to their customers and are simply more popular.

Here is a link to a handy website that has 1000's of sample photos of just about every camera available so that you can judge for yourself in the best way possible. You can search for a particular brand and model on this site to see all the sample photos people have sent in :

www.pbase.com/cameras/

 

Below is a list of popular cameras amoung both customers and reviewers;

Entry-Level
Nikon Coolpix L4
Canon Powershot A430
Kodak Easyshare C533
Olympus FE-115 Zoom
Olympus FE-120 Zoom
Fujifilm FinePix A400
 

Ultra Compact - Pocketable

Canon Powershot SD600
Sony Cybershot T5
Casio Exilim EX-S600
Nikon Coolpix S5
Canon Powershot SD700 IS
Casio Exilim EX-Z1000
Sony Cybershot W50

All-Weather Cameras
(Olympus is clearly the leader of this category)
 
Olympus Stylus Digital 710
Pentax Optio W10
Olympus Stylus Digital 720 SW
Olympus Stylus Digital 725 SW
Olympus Stylus Digital 500
Olympus Stylus Digital 600


5 Megapixel

Canon Powershot A530
Kodak Easyshare V570
Fujifilm Finepix A500
Sony Cybershot W5
Kodak Easyshare C533
Canon Powershot SD400
Nikon Coolpix 5600
Panasonic DMC-LZ3

 

6-10 Megapixel

Sony Cybershot R1
Kodak Easyshare P880
Sony Cybershot W70
Casio Exilim EX-Z600
Kodak Easyshare C663
Nikon Coolpix 7900
Canon Powershot SD630
Canon IXUS i7
Panasonic DMC-LZ5

 

Hybrid Media Cameras
(digital cameras that are very good video cameras too)

Sanyo Xacti HD1a
Sanyo Xacti C6
Sony Cyber-shot M2


Cameras with WiFi Built-in

Nikon Coolpix P1
Canon Powershot SD430
Kodak Easyshare One
Nikon Coolpix P3
Nikon Coolpix S6
 

10-12X Optical "Super" Zoom
(Cameras marked with "*" include image stabilization)
Canon Powershot S3 IS *
Sony Cybershot H5 *
Kodak Easyshare Z612 *
Panasonic DMC-FZ7 *
Olympus SP-500UZ
Kodak Easyshare P712 *
Fujifilm FinePix S5200
Nikon Coolpix S4
Panasonic DMC-FZ30 *


Digital SLR (under $1,000)

Pentax K100D
Sony Alpha 100
Nikon D80
Canon Digital Rebel XT/350D
Pentax *ist DS2
Samsung GX-1L
Olympus E-500 Evolt
Nikon D50
 

Digital SLR ($1000-2000)

Nikon D200
Canon EOS 30D
Fujifilm S3 Pro
Olympus E-330


Digital SLR (over $2000)

Canon EOS 1Ds Mark II
Nikon D2X
Canon EOS 5D

 

I have given my opinion from my experience with the following brands below:

Canon
Heading the bunch in popularity is Canon, and I can see why. Canon make very good value cameras that take great photos no matter which model you buy, and they are very generous in the features they give to lower spenders.

FujiFilm
Another great brand is FujiFilm although I believe they are very underrated. FujiFilm make all their own parts, from the lens to the sensor so they can make very good quality for a lower price, since they don't need to buy anything from anywhere else.

This lower price can sometimes be interpreted as being lower quality, but they are quite good. The photos produced by FujiFilm can be a little cooler looking in colour so ultimately is comes down to taste.

Nikon
I have found Nikon to have excellent image quality, very colourful, natural, smooth yet sharp at the same time.

Olympus
Olympus have stepped up in the digital camera world with some great new cameras. Olympus are famous for their lenses but when they first began making digital cameras they were a bit of a let down to me. It's good to see them make big improvements and also more innovative cameras that are waterproof and shockproof for example. I really like those because you can get a little rough with your new camera and take it where others cant go.

Panasonic
I haven't seen much from Panasonic but know that they are good value for money. The image quality on most of their digital cameras is a little cold looking according to most users.

Pentax
What little I've seen of Pentax is very impressive. The digital photos coming from a Pentax look very natural and film like, the most natural I've seen so far.

Although I can't comment much more due to the unfortunate lack of experience, I would still say that getting a Pentax would not be dissappointing.

Sanyo
I find Sanyo have average image quality but they are certainly very unique and pioneering in their digital camera's, creating good models that double up as a high definition video camera for example.

Sony
Sony have always had a reputation for being a great brand but in later years they have put me off. Sony like to reserve all their quality for the rich and offer very little in their lower end products. Put simply, you have to spend more than normal to get better quality from Sony than other brands.

Although many may not agree, the photos from their lower end cameras have a tell-tale grottiness to them, like they were printed with an old bubble jet printer look.

They do however offer innovative features that are quite handy, but as mentioned before, they don't give away much in their cheaper stuff.

Kodak
I'm not impressed with Kodak. Although they make great film their digital cameras are not so great. The usual problem is that the photos have a watery painting effect, which is the result of the in-built noise reduction. Alot of finer detail like hair, fur etc looks very blotchy.

Other brands
I can't give my opinion on other brands because I haven't had enough experience with them. If you are looking for a particular brand it's still worthwhile looking at the website that contains photos that average people have submitted so you can see the image quality yourself.

Unknown brands
I don't know enough about unknown brands because what I do know stops me from looking into them any further.

In my opinion a digital photo should look natural and definately not "digital" looking. By digital I mean fake, or that low digital quality. Compare a photo from a camera on a mobile phone and one from your film camera and you'll know what I mean.

From what I've seen of uknown brands a common similarity seems to be this artificial low quality look, but that's only from what I've seen so far.

 

 
Copyright 2007: Chris Syrimes