Which Camera to Buy for Mom?
Here’s a question I received today regarding the photo lifestyle of older people.
My mom is 76 and takes pictures of anything. She has asked for a digital camera for Christmas, is there any tips you would give as I know nothing about this kind of stuff.
I’ve looked into several models and if you can find it, would definitely choose the Casio Exelim EX-277 7.2 mega pixels with a 3x optical zoom lens. It’s actually been rendered obsolete by the powers that be, and replaced with a 10 mega pixel model, so if you have to you can settle for the newer one.
The fact is, though there will probably be no occasion where mom would use 10 mega pixels. It would be far to big to upload easily on her computer screen, taking up at least 6 screens per picture, and isn’t necessary in the world of printing unless she plans to blow them up to poster size, so if you can find the older model, it will be easier on your pocketbook, and on mom’s memory chip.
But I digress. The reasons I would choose this camera are as follows:
It has the world’s brightest display screen, (at least so far) so you can see your picture easily even in bright sunlight. No shading the screen and squinting to see what you are taking a picture of.
Although it has more features than any other pocket camera out there, with dozens of automatic settings as well as the ability to adjust the lighting, speed, focus and flash settings manually, there is also an “easy” mode that changes the camera into a simple, yet super-intelligent point-and-shoot.
The anti-shake feature will actually enable her to take photos without a tripod even if she gets a little tipsy a few years down the road.
And it comes in a great rainbow of colors, all pleasantly brushed to not show fingerprints.
Cons? The battery only lasts for about a year, and then will have to be replaced for about $20. Since it is an older model, I would suggest buying an extra battery when you get the camera, and setting it aside for the inevitable event when the first one expires.
Also, the default settings are super clear and bright, to the point of seeming unnatural. If you go into the settings and change the sharpness, saturation and contrast to -1 instead of 0, you’ll get a more natural warm looking result.
I’ve been using this model for my portable take-everywhere camera for about a year and a half now, and am really very pleased with the results I get. It would definitely be a good choice for your mom regardless of her level of technical knowledge.
Tags: Cameras, casio exilim, photo lifestyle
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An average 256 Megabyte digital photo card will allow a user to take rougly 200 pictures at a resolution of 4 megapixels. If that were applied to a 10 megapixels camera, mom would probably be able to take 20 pictures before she ran out of card memory. It's best to go with the predecessor of the 10 megapixel camera in this case. Bigger is not always better.
At the average prices of sd cards (around 10 dollars for 2 gigabyte sd card) I think the best solution would be to buy a couple of spare memory cards and have them with your camera just in case you ran out of memory.
Debbie, great post. What I think is also a benefit is how easy it is to upload the photos to your PC, so you can save them or manipulate them. Is there anything much to choose between editing software, or are they all much-of-a-muchness?
I'll have to do some research on that. I use Picture-it-9 because that's what's on my computer. I really don't know if it's a paid program or not, since my mother gave me this computer already preloaded with a ton of software. Does anyone know?