Digital Camera question

[beestieboy]

Howdy all, after so much reading and reading I\'m finally getting out my shell and posting. Got a question here about digi cams. I\'m looking at a few right now and I\'m sure there\'s a few of you out there that use em and have an opinion. I did a search on the forum and there were suprisingly few posts about them. The big theme seemed to be \"Get one with a macro\". Sweet, will do. But that\'s like one feature out of a possible million out there. To be specific, I\'m looking at a Sony DSCP72, a Canon Powershot A70, and an Olympus D-560. They are all 3.2 megapixel cameras and pretty close in price. Anyone here use one of them or have feedback on one? Or do you use another camera that you think everyone should use? Thanks much. As soon as I get it, I plan on putting up lots of minis here so hook a brotha up with some feedback! Peace.

The Beestieone

 

[Sand Rat]

The higher the mega pixel, the better the quality the shot you will take - and macro is important as well. I would suggest one that is also fairly user friendly, not user confusing like the olympus I was working with over the weekend - great camera but sweet monkey jesus it was more complicated than my first car.lol

 

[finn17]

Originally posted by steelcult
..great camera but sweet monkey jesus it was more complicated than my first car.lol

What, you mean it ran on steam and had a man walking in front of it waving a red flaglol:bouncy::flip:lollol

 

[KatieG]

What will you be using the camera for?

If you are mainly going to be using your camera for taking picture of minis, I highly suggest getting a Nikon coolpix. These have the best macro function out there. I can get as close as 2 inches before the shot starts getting blurry...

If you\'re going to be using it for other things though, I\'m not sure what to suggest My Nikon does just fine on \"normal\" pictures anyways. A note about the megapixellage - it doesn\'t matter all that much if you are going to be uploading pictures to the web, as you can\'t go past a certain resolution anyways... I would say anything around 2-3 megapixels would be fine, more than that, and your pictures will be so huge download times will be very long, and you don\'t really need a picture bigger than a browser window You\'ll have to reduce it significantly in size to get it to fit CMoN requirements too...

Now if you are planning on taking and printing out pictures, then you do need more megapixels. The more megapixels, the larger the picture can be printed out (my 4 MP camera can print out up to 10 X 14 I think at 300 dpi - but only if I use the higest quality picture setting, which means I can fit less pics on the card - I typically use the middle or lower setting for mini pics to upload to the web).
Anyways, maybe that was too much info, but I hope it helps.
--Katie G.

P.S. It\'s a very good idea to look at some of those websites that review cameras... I did quite a bit of research before deciding on mine - I had narrowed it down to two (Canon A70 and Nikon Coolpix 4300), and fortunately the local store were experts and showed me why the one that had originally been my second choice should be my first (I ended up with the Nikon Coolpix 4300) I brought a mini with me to play with...

 

[Raptoriffic]

I\'ve got the Sony that you\'re looking at, and it works quite well for me. About 4\" out for very high quality pictures. It\'s got a timer function, so you can push the button and then take your hands off to prevent bluriness in the photo. Get some decent lighting, and the only thing I have to do after I take the shot is adjust the levels in Photoshop, and resize the picture so it\'ll fit.

 

[Otter]

Has anyone personal experience with Fuji? I\'m looking at one on sale now (3800 with 3.2x zoom) that has all the bells and whistles, but the reviews are shoddy.

- Otter
\"Never send a ferret to do a weasel\'s work\"

 

[KatieG]

Originally posted by Otter
Has anyone personal experience with Fuji? I\'m looking at one on sale now (3800 with 3.2x zoom) that has all the bells and whistles, but the reviews are shoddy.

I\'d go with the reviews and think about another camera. Better to get a more expensive better camera than one that will have so many problems that you won\'t want to use it. (What exactly did the bad reviews say though, thats also important... if people are complaining there\'s no XX feature and you don\'t care that\'s one thing, but if they\'re complaining about bad pics, etc, that\'s something else).
--Katie G.

 

[Raptoriffic]

Originally posted by Otter
Has anyone personal experience with Fuji? I\'m looking at one on sale now (3800 with 3.2x zoom) that has all the bells and whistles, but the reviews are shoddy.

Well, from my experience selling cameras, and mind you this was a few years ago, but Fuji was one of the most returned brands, which is never a good sign.

 

[beestieboy]

Great replies

Thanks much for the replies so far! They have been pretty helpful. Katie, what exactly did make you go for the Nikon? I\'m checking it out and it seems to be just a tad more expensive than the 3 I posted, but if there is a good reason, then I\'m all for it. This camera will do some normal photography, but I\'ll use it mostly for the minis I think. If any one else out there wants to chip in their 2 cents, please do.

 

[-Percival-]

I have a Fujifilm 6800...and like it...

One of the things I would look at...is what will it do on manual...Lots of these cameras will not give control back to you should you want to play with the settings, like aperature size...focal point, shutter speed, easy manual focus, etc. etc...

Also...something people havn\'t stated...but not obvious...Batteries...are they rechargeable?...or do they use standard throw away batteries...having used both types of cameras...go with rechargeable nickle cadium...otherwise you will go through a small fortune in alkaline batteries...

 

[Sturmhalo]

Originally posted by KatieG
If you are mainly going to be using your camera for taking picture of minis, I highly suggest getting a Nikon coolpix.

Thank crap for that! I\'ve just bought a Nikon Coolpix 4300 on Ebay! I asked one of the experts in my local camera store and he seemed to think that it would suit my requirements quite nicely. Glad I didn\'t buy one from the store though as I\'ve saved over £100 using Ebay (and it\'s a brand spanking new camera - never been out of the box!). All I need now is a mains adapter and a bigger memory card.

 

[Dragonsreach]

Katie, what exactly did make you go for the Nikon?

On KatieG\'s behalf; I can give you my view and the simple answer is the quality of the lenses.

I have taken photos for over twenty years, taught it as well and I\'ve never found a better optical quality. I have 2 Nikon 35mm, a Nikon APS and was bought a Nikon Coolpix 5000 for Christmas. Altough the Coolpix is a B*****D to get used to with its menu\'s the quality is great!!. The macro mode will allow you to get to about 3cm but I wouldn\'t recommend being that close. Read Honza\'s article on single light photography and play abourt with it for a while before posting. (Oh how I wish I\'d given myself that advise!!!lol)
And the Nikon Software isn\'t too bad either.

I\'m using Photoshop 7.0 to enhance the levels and that\'s only cos of the use of flourescent lights to take the piccies.

Well Happy bunny one of the best Christmas pressies ever.

 

[AAvH-Darkblade]

Some reviews

Digital Camera reviews: PC Mag

Cheers Darkblade

 

[Sand Rat]

Originally posted by finn17

Originally posted by steelcult
..great camera but sweet monkey jesus it was more complicated than my first car.lol

What, you mean it ran on steam and had a man walking in front of it waving a red flaglol:bouncy::flip:lollol

Nope - I mean the camera did everything but tell the models how to pose - and there are a couple of times I think it did that as well
lol

 

[AAvH-Darkblade]

A few additional things...

There have been some very good points made here. I would suggest a few additional things to look for...

Percival is quite correct, about batteries...it is an absolute must that they be rechargable.

Also, look at the storage media, does it take SD cards, Compact Flash 1 and/or 2 or those memory sticks. I personally recommend Compact Flash, as then you can get a mini-harddrive if you want. They also go up to 2GB now and are usable in many more devices (PDAs, MP3 players, etc.) then the other types.

Also, don\'t be fooled by digital zoom, the only thing that really matters is the Optical zoom. Digital zoom is just fudging the image so it appears to have better resolution. Optical is the actual captured resolution, the higher the optical zoom, the better and bigger your images will be. I suggest no less then x3 Optical.

Finally, as a photographer, I would stick with camera manufacturers. They know cameras and they know lenses. My personal favourites are Nikon and Pentax.

I\'ve been shooting portait and fashion for about 14 years now. I use 2 Pentax 35mm cameras, 5 lens and have a small Pentax Optio point & shoot for snaps. It is only recently that I have been impressed enough by digital cameras to consider buying one . . . . my research so far is leading me to the Nikon Coolpix 5000 or maybe the 4300 (less expensive for a first step into digital).

Good topic and good to read everyone\'s advice. This has been useful to me as I intend to buy in the next month or two.

Cheers All, Darkblade

 

[KatieG]

Originally posted by beestieboy
Thanks much for the replies so far! They have been pretty helpful. Katie, what exactly did make you go for the Nikon? I\'m checking it out and it seems to be just a tad more expensive than the 3 I posted, but if there is a good reason, then I\'m all for it. This camera will do some normal photography, but I\'ll use it mostly for the minis I think. If any one else out there wants to chip in their 2 cents, please do.

Whoops, sorry I didn\'t make that clear in my previous post. The reason I went for the Nikon was that while the A70 was cheaper (by about 50 bucks, more on that in a second), in order to get the same macro range as the Nikon, I would have had to buy a $100 lens The closeups I can get with this camera are amazing! A couple of notes. My local store (B&H photo) is actually a discount photo place, so I saved $50 over the retail price. I do believe they do business over the web - and if you\'re not in NY, you\'ll probably save the sales tax, which I had to pay (and they are not one of those nasty fly by night stores that try to scam you either - they really exist and are nice professional folks) I do not recommend buying a camera on eBay (which someone here mentioned), just because its warranty may not be in force if its a grey market camera, or one meant for sale in Europe, Japan, etc. Or you may end up with one of those scammers - digital cameras seem to be one of those things folks try to scam you with (for example trying to sell you as \"extras\" the stuff that actually comes with it, or more lenses, etc etc).
If the 4300 is too expensive for you, you could take a step down to one of the three megapixel cameras instead. In general, all the Nikon Coolpixes have great macro. I also like the fact that there are both automatic settings for when I just want to take a dang picture already, and manual ones for when I want to try to take the best picture possible... I hope this helps!
--Katie G.

 

[Otter]

Darkblade, thanks a ton. That link to PC Magazine is going to be a huge help. I HATE spending a ton of money on things (that aren\'t small and made of lead-free pewter). :flip:

- Otter
\"Never send a ferret to do a weasel\'s work\"

 

[supervike]

hello...

Hi all,

I too am in the market for a camera.

I used an Olympus 4000c borrowed from my sister to take the pics I have posted. I am sure the camera was capable of better quality pics, but I just couldn\'t figure it out in the day I borrowed it. Like Steelcult said the Olympus could be more user friendly. About the time I started to figure it out the darn batteries died, and my sister needed it back (she posts stuff on e-bay)!

Would a few of you mind mentioning your camera and directing me towards a mini that you submitted using said camera?

For instance: \" I used a Nikon CoolPix5000 on this submission 12xxx\"

I think that would help me tremendously if I could see the results achieved.

Thanks in advance!

 

[finn17]

Another site you might want to check...

I have so much money tied up in 35mm equipment that I have to confess to being a bit of a digital \'lurker\'. I do own a basic Nikon Coolpix 2000 and it is a nice piece of kit, but no use for mini photography.

A site I have always consulted however is:

http://www.dpreview.com/misc/about.asp

May be of some use ....?

 

[KatieG]

Coolpix 2000?

Hmm, I am surprised that you say the Coolpix 2000 is no good for mini photography, as I think it replaced an older model that was quite good at it (the 880 or something like that I think). What kinds of problems does it give you?

Also, you can search my username (KatieG), and the 5 or so most recent photos were done with the Nikon 4300. Just keep in mind my lighting sucks, I just have a single reveal light pointing from behind the camera, a better lighting setup would probably give even better results (in fact, I think if you look at volebrain\'s minis, his are also taken with this camera - and he has a better lighting setup than I do).
--Katie G.