digital camera users

[danaeris]

I'm looking at buying myself a canon a95 or a85 (or a80 if I come across one).

There are some nice bundles on eBay which would give me:
256 or 512 MB memory card
card reader
camera case
battery charger
lens cleaning kit
mini tripod

(for instance, for the a95, its $310 on amazon without accessories, $360 for the camera plus above accessory kit with 256 megs, and $390 with 512 megs)

Are these really worth buying? I've already got a 128 meg card from the previous camera... Buying through Amazon would be cheaper if I don't want those accesories, but if I want all of those things, buying through eBay would be cheaper.

any advice?

Comments

[vokzal.livejournal.com]

* 256 or 512 MB memory card
Don't know; depends

* card reader
I WUV my compact flash card reader!

* camera case
Unless its a Lowenpro or something, probably useless. You'll just toss it in a pocket anyway, right? (Ok, I bought a hopefully-waterproof case for mine, and half the time it isn't in it.)

* battery charger
Um, don't all cameras come with this? They should. Cameras eat batteries. Especially if you are using the screen.

* lens cleaning kit
For what, after the beach? Dubious.

* mini tripod
If you do serious or even semi-serious photography, yes. If you like the tripod. But I hate carrying them around, so I always improvise. Still, I should dig mine out.

Actually:
If you are like me and like having multiple flash cards (even if one is stolen, not all of the photos are gone!) get a keychain flashcard wallet holder. Mine stayed clipped to my waist in Europe and held 2 flash cards.

[nathanjw]

Those are all nice things to have, but none of them are expensive on their own. The battery charger is crucial - unlike what the other commenter mentioned, the camera doesn't come with one, because the Canon Axx series takes AAs instead of a custom Li-Ion pack. On that note, prepare to buy, if you don't already have them, a 4-pac.k of rechargable NiMH batteries

Card reader: $10-$20. I have a few and prefer using them to using the camera and cable - the readers are more compact and convenient than the cable, and don't use the camera's battery power.

Case: It's good to have something, but you probably have a small bag or something.

A 512M card costs about $35 from a reputable vendor (newegg.com), so paying $30 to go from camera+kit+256 to camera+kit+512 sounds like a bad deal.

Lens cleaning kit: eh.

mini tripod: some of them are okay, others suck a lot. If you need one you'll be better off finding one you like independently.

[vokzal.livejournal.com]

Hmm. If the camera uses AA batteries, I'd be leary of it. The temptation to use regulars will be too strong, and will be quite the expense. Instead the money is better spent on a spare rechargable battery(ies).

I guess it depends on how good the AA-size rechargables are these days.

[nathanjw]

AA rechargables are great these days; the storage capacity has increased quite a bit.

But yes, there's no reason at all to use non-rechargables in a camera. For digital cameras, oddly, a fresh batch of AA rechargables tends to last *longer* than a fresh batch of alkalines, so I don't think there's a whole lot of temptation there. If that's a problem, just buy two sets of rechargables and swap them. That's what I did with my first digicam (Olympus D-360, also 4 AA's), and it worked well.

I bought my mom an A70 last year and it's been great for her, so I think it's a fine camera line to consider if microscopic size is not your first priority.