I'm going to buy a camera .... recommendations please?

fishinchick

fishinchick

Mrs. Aquaman ;)
Premium Member
Ok guys, I can't believe I'm asking for help from the reef forum for camera advice but here goes ....

I am SO not a camera tech so go easy on me with the 'lingo' please?

Budget 300 - 500 bucks
7.5 mp or better
macro zoom (I really love this option)

Heavy or weighty doesnt bother me. Something smalll I put in my pocket and lose does. I'd rather suffer a big camera than a teeny thing that I'll loose. I prefer larger cameras to dinky credit card sized ones.

What I want out of a camera:

Not necessarily night vision but the ability to take photos with little to no light. I'll be taking photos in rooms that may not have much light and a flash may not be useful to use all of the time. My video camera (sony) has this greenish night vision thing that is kinda cool. Do cameras come with a version of that too?
I'm not (by the way) taking pictures of fish or corals.

I'd love a camera that gives me 300 dpi images. Tiff or RAW is fine, JPG almost always happens it appears so I'm good with jpg. I just want a 300 dpi image.

Lastly - storage ..... I'd love to be able to use a bigger memory chip instead of 3 or 4 small ones but I'd sacrifice that for all of the requirements above.

I was eyeing the Cannon Powershot but I keep seeing comments about 'artifacts' which to me means random crap in the picture. I don't want that specifically. I need shots I can count on.

I also apparently like the Kodaks and have usually had Sony cameras. What a headache. I spent hours on cnet and couldn't come up with any solution. The guys at best buy are usually dumb as plugs.

I figured you guys use your cameras and would have some recommendations based off the cameras you have. Is 300 - 500 a reasonable amount to spend for someone who isnt a professional photographer?

If you can point me at what ones might best suit me I'll go hunt up the info about them myself. You don't have to give me links, just suggestions based on what you've liked. I trust you guys to know *** you are talking about.

Thanks in advance for any help. I really appreciate it!!
 
Well I hope someone can help you more than me but take a look at the camera that I am thinking about buying. Sony 8.1 MP Cyber-shot DSC-H9/B
 
A FujiFilm F31fd if you can find one. It's a point and shoot with some nice additional features, but one of the best low light cameras ever produced. It's also only 6MP, but that shouldn't matter a whole lot, I've seen some fantastic photos with it.

Dave
 
more megapixels doesn't make the photo quality better necessarily, just bigger if you want to print them out, for a point and shoot, 6 mega pixels is fine. the fuji camera's typically do better in low light situations and have higher iso modes available so they would be a very good option as stated above.
 
The first thing that you need to decide is "What types of photos do you want to take?" This should help determine what type of camera you should get.

I will refer you to my favorite website for photo information:

www.kenrockwell.com

He puts things in perspective of the photo, not the technology.


Your 300dpi requirement doesn't tell us much without knowing the size of the print. It also tells very little about the quality of the image. I personally print very nice 12"x18" photos that are taken with a 6.1MP camera. This size is less likely to look as well with my wife's 7MP camera. This is because my camera is a DSLR and hers is a point and shoot with a much smaller imager. A larger imager will capture more light in a given amount of time than a smaller one and require less artificial amplification in low light conditions. It can also has a greater ability to capture colors.

I would recommend the Nikon D40 (Don't get the D40x. Your photos won't be any better and it costs an extra $150). It is $479 at Costco.com and includes a 2GB card which can hold 450 to 500 JPEG images or ~200 Raw. (If you do not plan to post process your photos, just shoot jpeg.) You can take macro shots by zooming all the way out and getting as close as the lens allows. If you can't get as close as you want, crop the images or get a dedicated macro lens later.

I would recommend finding a good camera shop and talk to them about how to take pictures. This may help you to decide what features are important to you. If they try to push a camera without finding out what photos you want to take, find a different shop.

Good luck
 
You guys have been great!

I really like the Powershot but I see a lot of reviews about 'artifacts'. After searching around trying to see if I could find a definition of artifacts I decided that I don't want to chance those for what I'm specifically doing with the camera.

I have found both the S800FD and the S9000 to be what I'm looking for. Now I'm going to head to the camera shop later this week to see if they have either of these and see them in action.

I have a Sony right now and it's pretty easy to work with. I was able to take pictures just by playing with the standard buttons right away. Are these two Fujis going to be as easy to work with or will they require some reading of the manual?

(I love the SLR cameras but that's beyond my afford ability range at this time. Someday I'll have a nice SLR)
 
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Can someone tell me, however, the advantage of having a camera that uses AA batteries instead of having an internal battery that I need to plug into the wall to be charged?

In my past experience (with bad cameras maybe?) that cameras using AA's end up needing battery changes almost constantly. How does a set of AA's hold up. I know I can get rechargeables blah blah blah .... I'm just curious.
 
I would also check out the Canon S5is as well as the Olympus SP560-uz, since those fuji's appeal to what you're looking for.
Using AA's instead of proprietary batteries gives you the ability to get batteries reguardless of where you are (mainly while traveling) all digitals will burn the batteries up some will go quicker than others. Pay attention to the Mah rating (higher ones last longer)
 
AA batteries are convenient, but Alkaline batteries are not the best to use in a camera. You will not get all of the life out of them. Lithium batteries are more expensive, but they will perform better in your camera. This is because as a lithium battery discharges, it maintains its output voltage until very near the end. Alkalines lose voltage as they discharge which can result in strange behavior or non-function even if the battery still has half of its charge.

Internal batteries are almost always lithium, which is great but you can't slap a couple of batteries in if you need to keep shooting.
 
IMO Just know that whatever you get that the higher the MP the more important it is to have a quality sensor, and you get what you pay for.

A cheap high MP camera will have a very noisy image. A lot of people say MP doesn't matter and I agree to a point. However I love being able to zoom way in on pictures on my computer and I can zoom in more with a higher MP. If you are only worried about print size images and posting on the internet then anything over 6mp is probably not needed and will only get more noisy as MP goes up with a cheap sensor. If you are going high MP wait until you can get a DLSR.
 
Personally I'm not a camera expert or a pro photographer, but I just got the new Cannon G9 and its amazing. I can't believe the photo quality I'm getting out of it... The G7 is cheaper and has all the same features mostly except for the RAW and maybe a couple others (not sure which) but you can go to youtube.com and watch reviews of the cameras you're interested in too... I found that helpfull.

HTH
 
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