Gadgetory

for most things you might buy a cheap camera for your honestly better off using a smartphone but if you want sharper pictures or if you really need long zoom and more versatile performance you're going to want a camera and you might be surprised with how much camera you can get for not a whole lot of money what's the best you can do for 250 bucks if you're looking for the best camera you can get for under two hundred and fifty dollars you should buy the Canon Powershot SX 280 HS it strikes the right balance of features performance ease of use and picture quality and doesn't cost a fortune to do it the SX 2 a DHS has a long 20 times zoom lens to get you close to the action a compact solid metal body that can survive banging around in your bag of your pocket a big bright display for composing and reviewing your shots 12 mega pixels of resolution and a variety of easy to use automatic and manual modes for taking pictures as a bonus it also includes Wi-Fi and a/c and GPS so you can quickly send photos to your smartphone for sharing on the go or tag location data on your pics for plotting on a map later on and it only cost 199 dollars so you'll have enough money left in your budget for a memory card or two the SX 2 a DHS has accurate color and takes good pictures in most lighting conditions but it will struggle a little in low-light that's just a fact of life with all inexpensive cameras if you want better you're going to have to pay for a mirrorless camera or a premium compact the SX 2 a DHS isn't the smallest or lightest in the field and it's battery life of 210 images per charge isn't class-leading but it is enough to last a day of shooting but if you're looking for a cheap compact camera that does more than your smart phone the SX 280 HS is the one that you should buy there's also the sony cybershot WX 350 which offers many of the same features as the canon in a smaller lighter package and it lasts a stunning 470 shots per charge but the sony doesn't take as good pictures indoors as a Canon and doesn't offer any manual controls which can make it easier to capture that picture of a fast-moving 8 year old the sony is also 248 dollars almost $50 more than the Canon and really pushing the envelope of our budget and if you buy an SD card you go over budget there's a huge number of other cameras also in this category but there's only a handful actually worth looking at the Canon ELPH line has been very popular for years because it's so small but the latest model elf 3 4 ths has a shorter zoom lens no manual control and worse image quality low light than the SX 280 similarly nikon coolpix s 6800 is compact and cheap at 166 dollars but it's short zoom lens slow focused lack of controls and poor low-light quality take it out of the running Panasonic Samsung and Fuji film all also have cameras in this category and they all have big zoom lenses and relatively compact sizes but they are all really cheap feeling compared to the Canon and in the case of the Samsung and Panasonic took worse pictures in my tests and have other quirks that make them not as nice of a choice beyond that field there isn't much else you should consider cameras that are super cheap like under 150 dollars have shorter zoom lenses typically terrible battery life lousy video quality that doesn't even compare to the video your smartphone takes and are made with cheap feeling plastic they don't even warrant a look but if you're willing to spend $100 more you can really get something worth your time an inexpensive camera won't ever take stunning photos in low light but they can take better the photos on your smartphone with many offering built-in Wi-Fi you can quickly send those photos to your phone for posting on Instagram or Facebook the Canon SX to me DHS is the closest thing to getting the best of both worlds and you don't have to break the bank and get it you