Digital Cameras

[terrylamar]

Some of you are posting great pictures, which I find extremely interesting, the subject matter that is. I can see where it would be helpful in your job also. For instance, if you have an accident or you want proof of what came in over the qualcomm. I'm thinking about getting a camera. I am a novice at this. I have one on my cellphone, which I never use. I have been looking and doing a little research. I went on line and looked up digital camera reviews. One that seems to stand out is Cannon's PowerShot SD900 ELPH. It was released this year. It is a little pricey at $499.00, but that is suggested retail. You can find it for mid to high $300.00 something online. It gets high reviews, seems to have all the features I might need and will fit in my pocket. What are the rest of you using?

[bcbasher]

Sony cybershot. bought it a few years ago and they have a lot better ones out now but i just cant see spending the money on a new Sony since mine works so good. one thing you will want to be sure of when and if you buy one is to make sure it has the anti movement thingy on it so the pic wont be blurry of you happen to move the camera a little big as you take a pic. tends to make it all blurry and sometime you might not get the chance to take the pic again.

[terrylamar]

Sony cybershot. bought it a few years ago and they have a lot better ones out now but i just cant see spending the money on a new Sony since mine works so good. one thing you will want to be sure of when and if you buy one is to make sure it has the anti movement thingy on it so the pic wont be blurry of you happen to move the camera a little big as you take a pic. tends to make it all blurry and sometime you might not get the chance to take the pic again.

That is one of the things that I want. Some cameras come with software to recover a picture, it somehow remembers the movement a restores the picture. Pretty amazing.

[devildice]

I bought an Olympus "Stylus 400" about 2+ years ago. Paid somewhere around $200 and it is awesome.

It came with a 16mb memory card which I immediately replaced with a 128mb card. With a medium resolution, I get something like 400 pics on it. High resolution about 150.

It has all the bell and whistles such as the anti-vibration thingy...which basically lets my dumb butt take pics without them coming out blurry. In fact, my son once was taking pics out the side window while I was driving down the road. I told him I highly doubt they will come out but boy was I wrong!!! They were so clear, it looked as if you were just standing still when the pics were taken. It also automatically detects weather I am indoors or outdoors and adjusts itself accordingly.

I know it does more, but I have yet to explore it all.

[vavega]

right now i have a fujifilm f10. i had a f700, just out of warranty when the lcd screen went pink. i sent it in for repairs and they ended up giving me a brand new f10 with an original warranty as a repacement for free.

you won't regret having one with you, it can save your butt.

i had backed into an outside dock that had a large overhang and an unlevel parking lot. unknown to me the overhang sloped down and was lower than 13'6" on the right side. yeah, you guessed it i hit it and tore a piece of the soffit. you could see where it had been hit numerous times in the past. i took pics to prove exactly how much damage i did and that i wasn't the only one who hit it. came in handy for the insurance company when the claim came in. pics tend to keep people honest.

[terrylamar]

OK, I followed my own advice and the research I did on the internet and I purchased a Cannon PowerShot SD 900 ELPH. It is a subcompact, handy to put in your pocket. I am a non technical cammera user. I'll keep you posted on how it works for me. I'm about to head back up to TMC this weekend and I'll post pictures on the training. Others have done so and I found it to be helpful and interesting. Hopefully, I can do the same for some one else.

[BigBird01]

I just bought a sony cybershot 7.2 meg pixel for 199.00 bucks at best buy and it seems to take very good pictures im happy with it.

[Sheepdancer]

Ive been a semi professional photographer for many years and i have always been happy with the canon products. My main digital camera is the Canon 5d. My "carry with me always" camera is the Canon 30D. I also have a Canon Digital Rebel XT that I use when im out in the sticks. Its my "wont bother me if I drop it on a pointy rock" camera.
As far as point and shoot digitals. My wife has the Canon S70 that seems to work pretty well for a point and shoot.

[serbie]

Cameras that were purchased 3 years ago or more(the ones that are in the 2 or less Mega Pixel range) Will still serve well if all you need is a camera that takes pictures. If you bought a higher resolution camera then this few years ago, you should do fine for a few more years. If your looking to get a little more detail in your pictures, Most of the cameras sold now a days should last you for years to come.

The resolutions have jumped dramatically in the last few years. Most of us really don't need anything higher then a 5MP camera.(unless you have a photography studio in your truck) The technologies being used to transfer pictures from camera to computer, printer will not really change all that much. They will come out with faster ways, but the core technology will be around for quite a while.

Example. Bought a Cybershot 2MP camera 4 years ago. Upgraded recently to a Samsung 5MP for under $130. Camera uses an SD memory card(which will be here 5 years from now) and plan on keeping this camera around for as long as possible.

[Sheepdancer]

most people looking just to take non professional pictures will never need more than a 5mp camera. In reality, even with my Canon 5d which is 12.8 mp, unless Im doing some pro work for a large print, or something that requires heavy editing, I always keep it set around the 5mp range.
A 5mp camera with a great lens will take a far better picture than a 12mp camera with a crap lens.
If I didnt do some professional work and just wanted an everyday camera. I would go out to ebay and find a Digital Canon Rebel. The first 5mp model for around 300 bucks and then spend money on a good lens with image stablization for about 700 bucks. You would spend 1000 bucks but that combination would take much better pictures than a 3500-4000 dollar 12mp camera with a standard lens.

[serbie]

most people looking just to take non professional pictures will never need more than a 5mp camera. In reality, even with my Canon 5d which is 12.8 mp, unless Im doing some pro work for a large print, or something that requires heavy editing, I always keep it set around the 5mp range.
A 5mp camera with a great lens will take a far better picture than a 12mp camera with a crap lens.
If I didnt do some professional work and just wanted an everyday camera. I would go out to ebay and find a Digital Canon Rebel. The first 5mp model for around 300 bucks and then spend money on a good lens with image stablization for about 700 bucks. You would spend 1000 bucks but that combination would take much better pictures than a 3500-4000 dollar 12mp camera with a standard lens.

I'd agree 100% The only problem with that is for most of us, even $300 for a camera would be a bit much. Unless of course you have the money and plan on taking pictures damn near everyday. For the casual "ohh thats a cool looking sunset etc" person, the camera might be used a few times a week, if that much. Either way good and valid point.

[Sheepdancer]

Reality, if someone is just looking for a camera to take normal everyday pics they wouldnt need more than a 3.2mp.
I guess what I was trying to get passed is really for the average consumer megapixels dont matter. A point and shoot camera with more than 5mp is just a marketing ploy. The quality of the lens in a point and shoot isnt going to be good enough to matter with anything over 5mp.

[serbie]

Reality, if someone is just looking for a camera to take normal everyday pics they wouldnt need more than a 3.2mp.
I guess what I was trying to get passed is really for the average consumer megapixels dont matter. A point and shoot camera with more than 5mp is just a marketing ploy. The quality of the lens in a point and shoot isnt going to be good enough to matter with anything over 5mp.

I get it.. like 5 mp with a point and shoot, would look great at POINT AND SHOOT distances then something that has decent OPTICAL zoom over digi zoom. Mine is pretty much a point and shoot, but can tell it takes much better photos (albeit at point and shoot distances ) then my old cyber shot. It does allow as well for manual settings to an extent but usually use the auto features.

I'm not way into photography but enough to have a semi semi decent low end digi cam around. Using the same printer I bought a year ago, the pic's I print out from both camera are night and day. Then again I have an un trained eye as well.

[Sheepdancer]

Yes, thats it.
A 3.2mp will take a perfectly good 8 x 10 picture. A 5mp will take a perfectly good poster sized picture. Megapixels dont really matter to the quality of normal everyday pictures. Where megapixels do matter is in the editing. Mostly for cropping. The higher the megapixels, the more you can crop. However when you start getting into over 5pm cameras, you still really cant crop that much more with a point and shoot because of the quality of the lens. (however, some newer point and shoots are coming out with some pretty cool image stabelization technology that until recently was only avail in high end cameras)
Example. I have rented some pretty high quality lenses for my 12mp camera. With a lens like that on a still day with no wind,and a good tripod I could take a picture of a whole tree, then in editing, crop it down to the details of one little leaf.
By all means, Im not saying you cant take a great picture with a cheaper point and shoot. People have won awards with pictures taken with disposable cameras. Being that im into photography, I want to get my kids into it. I bought my 5 year old son a Fuji 3.2 mp camera in a pawnshop for 100 bucks. He always has it with him, so occasionally, I will grab it from him when I see a good shot. Here are two photos I have taken with my kids 100 buck pawn shop special that have both won awards.




Now a photo from about a 12mp camera which with the rented lens was worth about 7 grand.

Most people couldnt tell the difference in quality of the pictures between the 7 grand camera and the 100 buck pawn shop special.
However the shot of the balloons would be a hard shot to get with the point and shoot camera because it required some pretty special exposure techniques. But you can see that as far as quality of pictures (especially for online photos) a 3.2mp works great.

[Phantom433a]

I use my cellphone....there are pics in my album (look in my profile), like the lava flows, That I snapped doing 70. Before anyone goes off....I basically point and click, without looking. Hope I get good pics, but some are......WOW

[flood]

we have a few cameras in the truck
DXG 3mp shoots pics & digital video 256mg sd card
panasonic pv-gs19 mini dv 24x optical zoom 800x digal zoom 90min mini dv video tape & 1gb sd card (what we like about it is we can shoot video and then later snap pics from the video in the cam)
fuji a340 4mp 256mb xd card
magpix b350 digital camera binoculars (what you see in the binoculars just click and you have a pic of it)
apitek duo-v39 5mp, mp3 player, digital video & voice recorder 128mb sd card
vu-point dc-m1084-vp 1mp key chain cam

all will usb to the computer as web cam's, download pic's and video

but i'm still old school if i want a GOOD pic and one that will last i use 1 of my 2 monolta's it takes more to do it in the cam ON FILM. and no i don't keep them in the truck at over $9,000 thay stay home.

[samael9]

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