Digital Camera advice / recomendations

[charvelguy]

Re: Digital Camera advice / recomendations

have a safe trip!

[Number Of The Priest]

Re: Digital Camera advice / recomendations

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Mega Pixels are a marketing gimmick. My 2.1 Minolta DIMAGE X is excellent. The new 3.2 is a great value. The Optical Zoom to Digital zoom ratio bears more importance to me.

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I am an advocate against insane numbers of megapixels as well. See, my purpose for my digital camera is to share my photos over the internet. OVER THE INTERNET. That means no 2048x1536 resolution shots that stretch the screen. My camera has 3.2 megapixels which I NEVER EVER USE anyways. I stick to 640x480. Multiply that and you get a third of ONE measly megapixel. And it fits on the screen.

People think, "Holy crap, this camera has 8.0 megapixels, it MUST be better than the stupid 3.2 megapixel one". Ooooooooh, bigger numbers MUST MEAN BETTER QUALITY!!!!! [img]/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif[/img] And they buy it because they think the 8.0 is a better camera. In some cases, yes. If you're going to be taking photos that you're going to be PRINTING into large photos you're going to have framed on a huge wall, go for more megapixels. But even 3.2MP is enough for me and I don't even print, I just share small pictures with the world online.

So, I place a LOT more emphasis on OPTICAL ZOOM. I hate cameras that have 5.0MP and no optical zoom compared to cameras that have 2.0MP and 4x optical zoom.

And digital zoom is useless. Ignore at all costs. It's basically CROPPING a picture and making it larger like on Microsoft Paint when you stretch a picture. Notice how it gets all pixellated and terrible looking? That's essentially digital zoom. Go for true OPTICAL ZOOM.

Also for me, UNLIMITED MOVIE MODE was important as well. The ability to write movies to the card until it was full was a MUST for me.

Finally, I wanted ULTRA COMPACT SIZE so I could sneak the camera into concerts and carry it with me wherever I would go since it could literally fit into a pocket.

So, I chose the Minolta DiMage Xt.

They're now RIDICULOUSLY cheap on Ebay compared to when I paid for mine two summers ago. Personally, I think it's great for what I need, which is budding photography (most JCFers know the kinds of photos I shoot), ultra-versatility, and travel-friendliness, but for the pro who wants something more, look elsewhere.

[semagic]

Re: Digital Camera advice / recomendations

try an olympus c-4000 zoom 4.0 pixel, best one we've had. [img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]

[~K~]

Re: Digital Camera advice / recomendations

I have 2.. I have the sony cybershot 3.2 mp and the thing can take great pictures but the loss of time between shots or even setting your shot is a pain in the ass ... so if you need to take quick shots forget it .. Great camera otherwise ..

This past summer I went all out and bought a Nikon d70 on the advice of Chad A from here and CC. The camera is a high end digital SLR. The camera is everything an SLR is in digital format and there is no dropout or wait time. You can do burst photography with it to get action shots even ... the downside is they are still fairly expensive.. $1100/$1200 US prices .. but the lenses are interchangable and the features are great so it was well worth the extra dough ..

[Immortal]

Re: Digital Camera advice / recomendations

Hm ... I would go for Sony DSC-F717 ... Or maybe Minolta dImage 7, if you're not short on money.

[Deneb]

Re: Digital Camera advice / recomendations

Nikon 5700 takes shat night pics, but is nice.
Canon Power Shot G3 is sweet, 4 megapixel which as stated above is more than you need.

It needs to be said though, the megapixel of the camera pretty much directly translates to how large of a photo you want. If you just want 3x5 or 4x6 or 5x7, stick to a smaller number. If you want 8x10 et cetera, you get a bigger camera.

What takes the picture is the optics, NOT the megapixels, so just because it has listed more megapixels, it doesn't make it better.

That said, some of the old sony cameras were putting TOO much emphesis on the reds and blues. They've corrected that problem it seems, and they are making a solid camera.

Nikon is ass for night pics, but they make a nice camera.
Canon is my favorite all time. I've got 4X optical zoom, and even more digital. Digital zoom on cameras tends to get grainy, but I get a good pictures for a bit, before it gets grainy. I personally do not like Olypmus but it doesn't mean they are not taking bad ass pics.

As mentioned above also, you will not get a camera that can do speed photography unless you spend the dough. My Canon takes wonderful shots, but it's not for speed, I've got a second delay, and I've seen some cameras take even longer. Isn't the D70 the one in the commercial where the guy is taking pics of a Rhino?

Circuit City for awhile had a great kit for people taking pics. It was a Canon Powershot camera (not sure which one) a memory card, a camera bag, and a camera kit for 200$ and the pics it takes are bad ass for the price.

[~K~]

Re: Digital Camera advice / recomendations

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Isn't the D70 the one in the commercial where the guy is taking pics of a Rhino?


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I beleive so ... My wife and I went out and took action shots of our shepherd running down a frisbee and the camera reacts will too the action shots ..

[~K~]

Re: Digital Camera advice / recomendations

I took these only a couple of days after purchasing the camera. We were going on a trip and I was trying to familiarize myself with the funtions.. ** pictures have been sized reduced for faster loading**

[Chuckracer]

Re: Digital Camera advice / recomendations

Point and Shoots will never be able to match the sleep of an SLR, digital or not. The prices on DSLRs are coming down, and in the next couple years will be sub 1k, that's when I'll get one.

Like I said, my Panasonic DMC-FZ20 is awesome for my uses. I shoot a lot of nature photography and really like a high megapixel camera cause the shot I want may be a tiny section of another picture, and if you are shooting in a small format, you are screwed. Shooting no larger than 640 x 480 is pretty bad advice, in my opinion. I shoot everything huge in case I need a major crop to bring the picture to life.

It has a real 35mm Leica 12x zoom lens. Here's a sample of what you can do. These two shots are not cropped and I didn't move.

[Chuckracer]

Re: Digital Camera advice / recomendations

Those are great, Kevin! Man...someday...there's a D70 in my future...

[Deneb]

Re: Digital Camera advice / recomendations

If it wasn't a Nikon I'd get one [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] I'm Canon all the way, but yeah Kevin, those are sweet. Chuck, you're right indeed. But if you're just being a butt muncher and taking photos on the weekends of stupid stuff, a point and shoot is ideal.

I also agree with your advice about taking them bigger, granted it's NOT needed, but it's always helpful.

[Guest]

Re: Digital Camera advice / recomendations

Hey Kev, got any consecutive flash shots that are comparable tot he ones posted? Nice pics Chuck and I agree 100%! I used to hate it when I used to get a lot of pics from a local dealer and there's 5 pics on my screen at 640x... I'm a big fan of having more at my disposal than just enough to take the shot.

My all time favorite digital was the Nikon Coolpix I lost at NAMM, I've had at least 4 camera's since then, and still don't have what I want. I'm pretty sold on the DSLR tho.

Now, how about a decent video cam? I was going through some tapes last night and found a bunch of footage of Lynch and the Charvel boys from NAMM and the quality is trash, IMO...

Pat

[Immortal]

Re: Digital Camera advice / recomendations

I use Olympus MJU 300, if you're interested in small cameras with quality pictures.

Example:



Ignore the dust, please! [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[Cleveland Metal]

Re: Digital Camera advice / recomendations

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I had a Fuji, (Cleve's got it now) and I didn't care for the quality, but that was most likely my fault as John takes some awesome pics with it. Still got it John? I think that one was like $350 or $450 ( a yr ago or more )


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Yeppir, still have the Fuji 3800 it and I love it. Well, for most things. It doesn't like low light at all, but with some light it takes outstanding pics. It is sorta hard to use though and I could see people having trouble in casual use. I've learned tricks to make it focus and when it does, it takes awesome pics for a 3.2 Megapixel

I bought the GF a Kodak DX6340, and that thing is cool. Takes great low light pics and is easy to focus in the darker scenes. Plus, it's simple to use.

[Cleveland Metal]

Re: Digital Camera advice / recomendations

Here is a link to a nice outdoor pic I took to show what the Fuji can do (sometimes). I didn't size it down as it was losing res. It is large, so I didn't post it.

http://pitbullpets.com/pictures/dscf0001.jpg