Digital Cameras

[kbasa]

I'm sort of randomly looking for a new digital camera. I'm looking for an ability to control various aspects of the exposure (if you can call it that). I'm looking for control over depth of field and shutter speed, but want something fairly small. I think something along the lines of 4Mpixels will get the job done and should keep me from outgrowing it.

I know fish has a nifty Canon that does all that stuff, but I'm curious about whether other folks have any other suggestions. If there's one thing that makes riding fun, it's taking a whole pile of pictures and then sharing them.

[fish]

Canon Powershot S400 Digital ELPH.

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/CanonS400/Images/frontview-001.jpg

Read a detailed review here. (http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canons400/)

[Beemn]

Check out this Sony...I'm very happy with it and it's easy enough for my children to use. Actually it's probably the other way around...they're very happy with it and it's easy enough for me to use!!!:bliss Also Steve's digicam has good reviews on all makes of cameras.

http://www.steves-digicams.com/2001_reviews/s85.html

[Scootertrash]

Check out an Olympus C-4000 zoom, 4.0 megapixels...

http://www.olympusamerica.com/cpg_section/cpg_product_lobbypage.asp?l=1&p=16&bc=2&product=869

[Visian]

Dave -- I don't know how spendy you want to get, but they just dropped the price on the 5 megapixel Nikon 5700, which has a very nice 8X zoom lens. Read a review (http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikoncp5700/)

Also, www.cnet.com is a great place to do a comparo... as is www.dpreview.com (who nailed fish when he tried to link an image.

You might also want to check out the new Nikon SQ... very cool enclosure, and packs small in the tankbag. It is said to be available in late spring. Read a quick overview here. (http://www.dpreview.com/news/0302/03021805cpsqpreview.asp)

Just two of many options. Canon Powershots are cool, too.

Ian

[kbasa]

Ian! :wave Glad to see you back!

I'm thinking somewhere between $350 and $500 is probably sufficient. I'm really looking for an ability to have as much control over the picture as I did on my ME Super Pentax.

Thanks!

[NikonJeff]

A nice middle of the road camera is the Canon A70 (3.2MP camera with 3x zoom - lots of control). I shoot weddings and other events on the weekends with a Nikon D1x and an assortment of other attachments.

I played with the Canon and it takes nice photos, small in size - uses "AA" batteries and Compact Flash Memory cards. THey can be had on sale at Office Max, Staples, Dell and others for $250-300.00. It also does Mpeg movies as well...

Hope that helps!

[abmwrider]

I use a Nikon Collpix 4500, it's relatively small and has more features and options then I know what to do with. You can take a 35 second video with sound, has a cool panoramic mode that will allow you to shoot as many pictures as you can fit on your media and put them all together. It will even lets you "look through" part of your previous picture so you can overlap them correctly. Nikon usually runs a $100 rebate on them so you can probably get it in the $500 range. in any case, www.dpreview.com will tell you what you want to know about any of the cameras you are interested in.

[PineGreen]

Just recently saw on tv that Kodak has come out with a disposable digital camera. Anyone know anything about it??

[kbasa]

Originally posted by B52G
Just recently saw on tv that Kodak has come out with a disposable digital camera. Anyone know anything about it??

It's actually a regular disposable film camera that includes transfer of your images to a CD in the purchase price.

dave

[Magic_Rat]

I go for Canon and Nikon in Digital Cameras. The 5 megapixel Nikon 5700 is pretty sweet. :)

I'm still using my 3.5 year old Canon Powershot S10 2.1 megapixel camera and it's good enough to keep me from buying another one (for now).

[LTrider]

Ditto on the Olympus C-4000. Compact, easy to use, manual over-rides.

[BMWRider]

Dave,
I'm quite happy with my Sony DSC-S85 (since discontinued): 4 megapixels, totally auto or totally manual, depending upon your skill and mood. You might still find a few new ones out there for a steal.

[kbasa]

Thanks to everybody! I've been looking at the Canon S50, but it's nice to know what everyone is happy with. Wanting is not the same as having, you know.

:thumb

[RedBeem]

I've got a Canon and it's fantastic. The new A70 looks to be a great value.

[kmEatr]

I have a Caon S230 digital Elphp 3.2 mp. I have had this camera since Christmas and it has been great. The size of a credit card, body made out of metal, and only weighs as much as half a penut butter and jam sandwich. It's been across Canada, dropped, and it's taken about 1800 pics and 30 mpeg movies with sound.

For the buck it has the best features.

Hope this helps.....

[solarbean]

I did a great deal of research last year prior to buying mine, and I settled in on the Canon G2. It is a 4 megapixel camera (which is all you will need to get great enlargements up to 8x10). It has a number of features that I use regularly:

Rotatable/flip-out display
Fully Auto to Fully Manual Exposure (and everything in between)
Auto focus and Manual Focus
Exposure Bracketing
Hot-shoe for external flash
Preset and customizable white balance (VERY IMPORTANT!!!)
Built-in flash
Many different image resolution and compression settings (including raw)
Comes with Rechargeable battery / recharger
Uses compact flash memory
Makes Movies
Slide-show mode for showing pics on the TV to family and friends
Excellent Canon G2 support forum (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/viewboard.php?BoardID=29)

I won't get into the details, but the first 6 items in the above list have served me extensively in getting great pictures. My father-in-law had one of those walmart cheapo digicams that cost about 200-ish and it takes crappy pics, has no flash hot-shoe, and has few manual overrides to fix exposure issues.

I have found that I am a much better photographer with this digital camera than with my 35mm Nikon film camera. With the digicam, I take a shot in automatic mode then preview it. If it is not a great pic, I simply delete it and try again using manual overrides if necessary.

Regarding the number of pixels (i.e. ... 4 megapixel, 5 megapixel), here is how to determine what you need: A museum quality photo has 300 dots-per-inch, but to the human eye, 150 pixels-per-inch is just as good. Anything less than that will begin to reveal graininess. So to get a nice 8 x 10 print of an image, the size would need to be at least 1200 x 1500 pixels (1200 x 1500 = 1.8 Megapixels), but preferably 2400 x 3500 pixels (2400 x 3500= 7.2 Megapixels). As you see, 4 megapixels falls in between. I have printed an 8x10 and it came out absolutely gorgeous. It is important to bear in mind that the larger the image file, the more cumbersome they are to work with. Large images are memory intensive, take up a lot of disk space, can't really be shown on the web or emailed, and can't be fully viewed on a display.

I added a Lensmate (http://www.lensmateonline.com/G2start.html) (lens cover tube) and a Canon Speedlite 420ex flash to my G2.

Here you can see me talking a pic with the G2 (look in the reflection) http://members.bellatlantic.net/~vze2bm2j/Music/GuitarGallery/dy38/dy38_back.jpg

[Visian]

Originally posted by solarbean
I did a great deal of research last year prior to buying mine, and I settled in on the Canon G2.

You made an excellent choice. These are also called Powershots, which is what I had pointed Dave to above.

The image quality is quite impressive on these, and the overall quality of build, the software, etc. is at the top.

Canon vs. Nikon is one of those religious issues... and I have always leaned toward Nikon. Right now I am trying to decide whether to go for one of those 5700s, which with price drops and rebates, has reached the $700s level, or to spring the big bucks for the D1 (and use all my Nikon lenses).

My dilemma is that the "point and shoot" variety of camera are so much easier to deal with while touring on a motorcycle...

When I rode to Alaska in 1998, I took an early model Kodak digital (the first <$1000 megapixel camera) and my Nikon SLR w/ 5 lenses. I shot one roll of film the entire trip and god knows how many megs of digipics because the SLR was such a pain to get out and get set up.

What to do? What to do???

Ian

[solarbean]

My friend has one of those Nikon D1's. They cost about $5000, but man-o-man what a camera. They are built like brick shutzpah-houses. Very good image quality. I believe the CCD is larger on them and that helps with pixel clarity.

[BMWDEAN]

My Nikon D1x is fabulous, but pricey and heavy. Love the beast. It can do far more with photographs than that of which I am capable.

For a smaller camera that fits in a tank bag I use the now-discontinued Nikon Coolpix 990, which does a great job once I learned to use rechargeable nickel-metal hydride battries in it.

Today, however, there are dozens of fine digital cameras on the market from several good manufacturers, including Nikon, Canon, and others. The micro-cameras from Casio even look interesting. Don't go less than 3 megapixels, better yet more than 4.