1- general things to look for 2- camera brands 3- accessories 4- finding reviews and the best prices 5- conclusions
Digital Camera Buying Tips
page four of five
WHERE TO FIND REVIEWS AND THE BEST PRICES ONLINE
Finally! The good stuff.
FOUR MAIN PLACES TO CHECK FOR REVIEWS
http://www.steves-digicams.com.
One of the best resources out there. Excellent and thorough reviews. Note that
if he has something negative to say, he kind of sugarcoats it; he never really
slams any cameras out there. But there is still a lot of excellent information.
And his site has reviews of pretty much every camera ever made.
http://www.imaging-resource.com. Another excellent site. This site, and Steve's Digicams, often link back and forth to each other. This site also seems to really like every camera, so you have to keep an eye out for what may be sugarcoated drawbacks. Still, each review has tons of information and details, and it is an excellent resource.
http://www.dpreview.com. Another excellent site, very in-depth and thorough reviews. Both this and imaging-resource.com go into the technical aspects more than Steve's; and they both have really interesting 'forums' sections where people can post comments about various camera models. One of the two sites (this one, I think) has a very rigorous set of tests for image quality.
http://www.amazon.com. Amazon doesn't always have the best prices. But their reviews are helpful, because they are from actual people. So if there's something annoying that the review sites don't mention, it will crop up on Amazon. (Amazon's reviews have greatly influenced my own digicam shopping; e.g, I ruled out the Canon S20 because all the reviews here were slamming it for being a battery hog and not including a rechargeable battery.) But remember that Amazon's reviews are mostly anecdotal (and not always from the smartest people), whereas the review sites have a lot more thorough and scientific comparison-testing going on. So for the big picture, check all four of these sites (the review sites, plus Amazon.)
THREE MAIN PLACES TO CHECK FOR PRICES
CNet is a very big name in the tech world, and they have an excellent price-comparison
engine on their website. Go to www.cnet.com;
then there should be a link to 'price comparisons' on there. It may take a bit
of fishing around to find it, but doing so will save you a lot of money! These
pages also have links to reviews and customer comments and such.
Another place to price-shop is www.mysimon.com.
A lot of times, this will return the same results as cnet.com. But it's best
to check both.
The third place to check: http://shopping.yahoo.com.
Do a search on the model number you're looking for. You should be able to get
some really good prices there... possibly even cheaper than from the price-comparison
engines. Also, with Yahoo, I think they have some sort of consumer security/guarantee
thing, so that you can "shop safely" with their merchants.
One thing that some of my coworkers have done is this: they've called the 800
number for cameraworld.com (a very reputable place up in Oregon) and they have
said: "I want to buy this camera from you, but I've found it for $XXX on
blahblah.com. What is the absolute lowest price you can give me?" Usually,
Camera World has matched it.
VERY IMPORTANT THINGS TO REMEMBER WHEN BUYING CAMERAS ONLINE
Remember when you buy online to figure in any taxes and shipping charges. If the company is based in a different state, you won't have sales tax; this can save you a LOT of money on a camera. And then remember that you're going to have to pay shipping costs, which most of these places wayyyyy overcharge for. (It is a common thing to sell you a cheap camera, then gouge you on the shipping.) So figure out what your grand total will be; because it may turn out that a $500 camera, with no tax and cheap shipping, is cheaper than a $450 camera with tax and expensive shipping.
Also, be sure you are getting new equipment, sealed in the box, with original warranty. A lot of these places offer cheap prices but give you "gray market" cameras... some of them state this honestly, others conceal it. And another common thing to do is bait you with a low price, but then tell you that if you want a factory-sealed one rather than a gray-market one, it will cost you $XX extra.
Once you do order, EXPECT them to call you by phone. Supposedly, this is to
"confirm" your address or order; but really, it is so they can pressure
you into buying accessories at inflated prices. (Another common tactic... hook
you in with a cheap camera price; and then badger you into buying accessories
at two or three times what they should cost.) Know ahead of time what
things like memory cards ought to cost.
When they do make this call to you, treat it as if you
are doing battle against them. Resist their tactics! And expect the attack to
come from many angles... if you ell them you don't want the extra memory card,
then expect them to shift and tell you how much you will need an extra battery.
I've found a no-fail excuse that
shuts them up right away: just tell them "gee, sounds nice, but I don't
have enough room on the credit card." They can't possibly argue with that!!!
Extended warranties: usually, they are not worth it for any product, not just
digicams. Often, by the time you have to use it, your camera will be quite obsolete
and you'd be better off getting a new one anyway.
If you do want to get an extended warranty, bargain
with them anyway. A friend who recently got a camera was offered a three-year
extended warranty for $100. He spent a few minutes bargaining with them; and
ended up getting the same exact contract for $39.
You're almost done! Go to Page 5 to read the conclusions and Cliffs Notes.
1- general things to look for 2- camera brands 3- accessories 4- finding reviews and the best prices 5- conclusions