Father’s Day Gift Guide: Shutterbug Dad

Is your old man still taking pictures with his 35mm Kodak special from 1986? Does your dad have a computer? Then be a good kid and buy him a digital camera. Yeah, you’ll probably have to spend the time and teach him how to use Flickr and a tool like Picasa or iPhoto, but look at it this way, you get quality computer tutorial time with pops.

I’m a bit of a photo enthusiast, and I also shoot Nikon, so this post is going to be a bit biased. At least my first recommendation will be. We’re working on an unbiased review of multiple cameras for dads that will be posted in July…for now, I will suggest what I know, and what I have used or what I have complete confidence in.

Artistic Dad
I say artistic, but most digital SLRs in automatic mode are still better than any point and shoot…perhaps this recommendation is for a dad that doesn’t mind lugging around a big camera or for a dad who realizes that cramming 14 million pixels on a tiny point and shoot’s sensor is counter productive to image quality…ahem, I digress, no pixel density arguments here (today at least).

The Nikon D60 is a great small SLR. It replaces the Nikon D40 and D40x which were wildly popular entry level SLRs. Not getting into total detail here, because that post it coming, but if you’d consider paying $400 for a point and shoot, do yourself a favor and spend the extra money on a small SLR. Yeah, it’s bulkier than the credit card sized 15 megapixel junker than Target carries for $99, but the image quality is TOP notch and taken out of AUTO mode opens a world of artistic expression. But like I said even in AUTO mode, it kicks ass.

Streamlined Dad
So dad doesn’t want to carry a big SLR, then get this:

I know I said that I’ma Nikon guy, but their point and shoots just aren’t that good. Above is the new Canon SX 200 IS, which is a pretty awesome camera for the money. AND it shoots HD video.

Outdoors Dad
Olympus is about the only manufacturer that makes water and shock resistant cameras. The image quality won’t be as good as an SLR or a higher end point and shoot, but then again, you wouldn’t take most cameras with you white water rafting or hunting in Alaska.

The Stylus Tough 8000 offers a virtually indestructible camera that produces great images regardless of the scenario.

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