Digital Cameras

[Peacefrog]

Hi all,
Don't know if I'm posting this in the correct place, but I need some advice . I'm looking to buy my first digital camera for my upcoming trip to WDW. I'm pretty technologically challenged. I'm looking for a middle of the road camera to take pics of the kids and family etc. For those of you who have one, what kind do you have and what are the pros and cons of it. Also, what kinds of things should I be looking for when shopping for one. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

 

[durangojim]

Its sad that people are willing to give up superior quality images from a film camera, to get the instant gratification of a digital, where the colour balance is wrong and the highlights washed out.

Then you dont print half the pictures youve taken anyway!

Just think how many rolls of film you could have processed printed and burnt to CD buy not buying that digital camera.

I'm pretty sure my Canon 5D will beat the pants off any 35mm film camera:lol:

 

[Gorjus]

To help in your purchase, here are some questions:

There are 3 camera styles, which one fits your desire?
1. Slim, in your pocket camera
2. SLR (think professional looking camera) - big, requires a camera bag
3. In between: looks kind of like an SLR, but is smaller and would fit in a purse, but not your pocket.


How important is zoom in your life?
1. the slim cameras only have up to 3x or 4x optical zoom
2. the SLR has as big as you want since you have to buy the lens separate
3. the medium camera can get you a 10-12x optical zoom


Megapixels
All cameras come with increasingly large megapixels. You do not want less than 4 or 5, however, 8, 10, 13, and more megapixels is overkill. I'm a professional photographer who often has to blow up photos to poster size prints. I have a 6.3 megapixel camera and it works fine. The file size of each photo is HUGE (taking up space on your computer and card). In fact the pro lab I use said don't go higher; it won't get me any better photos.

Memory Cards
As mentioned before, go big. Get at least a 1gig card. 2 gig or 2 1 gig cards would be great.

Also, get a separate memory card reader (a little plastic piece attached to a USB cord). It is INFINITELY better and faster to put the card in the reader and plug that into your computer than to attach the camera to the computer. The computer will simply recognize the reader as another drive on your computer. This beats the computer trying to find the software that goes with your camera.

Printers
Printing off your home printer still isn't where it should be technology wise. It is fine in a pinch, but uses sooo much ink that I tend to avoid it. First of all, I simply store the photos on my computer and set my pictures as the screen saver. I find I look at my photos a whole lot more this way than if they were in an album. And if I do find any that I want to share or hang on the wall, I use a photolab for that (Walgreens, CVS, Walmart, etc all work fine). They are cheaper and they don't use ink jet.

I hope this helps.

gorjus

 

[Nut4Disney]

I have a Sony Cybershot 5.0 (I think it's a 5.0 pixel). I love it. I find that the batteries hold a charge pretty long. I also keep an extra set already charged in case they run out on me. In addition, in a pinch you can also use standard AA batteries. I think it takes great pics, and I did alot of research before buying this camera. Just my 2 cents.

 

[parker kim]

We have the Kodak easy share cx6330 it a couple years old now but it real easy and I beleave its one of the cheeper ones but for general picture take it works great.

 

[HoneyMnShawnee]

I have a Fuji S9000.. Not an SLR but looks like it.. 9 mega pixels (which is way more than anyone would every need by the way).. Pumbas Nakasak is correct about 35mm being a higher quality picture.. However, I am the biggest fan of digital there is.. I do print my pictures and make albums.. It's just nice knowing that your pictures had turned out right away rather than waiting for the film to get developed to see that your picture from that special once in a lifetime event is ruined because the flash didn't go off :brick:

 

[Pumbas Nakasak]

Its sad that people are willing to give up superior quality images from a film camera, to get the instant gratification of a digital, where the colour balance is wrong and the highlights washed out.

Then you dont print half the pictures youve taken anyway!

Just think how many rolls of film you could have processed printed and burnt to CD buy not buying that digital camera.

I'm pretty sure my Canon 5D will beat the pants off any 35mm film camera:lol:

Well the Nikon D1, D1H and D100 I used o have for work couldnt come close to the quality through the same lenses as my Nikon F90. Digital you need to be within a 1/3 of a stop to get good exposure, with Fujipro film I could get a quality print even at two stops out.

Having said that Im a hypocrite, I used my D70s this summer and left the 90 at home

 

[meryll83]

I have an Olympus mju mini, I love it! It's small, bright, does photos and video and you can do all the usual stuff like change the image quality, take black & white or sepia pics etc. It also has special preprogrammed settings you can use for taking pictures indoors, of fireworks, of yourself, of food, all sorts, really easy to use, you just pick the options from a menu. It can be as simple as you like, or you can use these preprogrammed options to try different effects.

Last time we went to WDW we just used it as normal, I forgot all about the fireworks setting. So next year, I'm hoping to take some good ones using this.

 

[frankd1962]

I work in the Home Electronics department at a major Department store and used to be the manager of the 1-hour photo before they closed (and moved me to electronics) so I can give you some advice on this. But first I will say I am a Kodak fan from way back.

For those who find the whole thing overwhelming I always suggest to them to get a copy of Consumers Report so they can see what is out there, what features are available and waht price ranges there are. Once that is figured out what you're looking for, go to the store near you that has the cameras you'll be interested in.

I usually steer people away from the cameras without a viewfinder in them because the screen (if used all the time) will eat up batteries like crazy. The screen is great when you have to hold the camera way out for a shot or setting up a self timer picture but anything else just makes the battery companies happy.

So I usually recommend to newbies either of the Kodak camera bundles. The C-310 buundle has a C-310 camera and printer dock. It has 4.0 megapixels, 5x digital zoom and 16 meg of internal memory. The printer dock will print pictures as large as 4x6 and other smaller sizes. It will aslo recharge the rechargeable battery that comes with the printer dock. The dock has the capiablity to print from other cameras via a cable and the other camera is Picbridge compatible.

The C-340 is a 5 MP camrea with a 3x optical and 5x digital zoom (optical is the best), 16 mg of internal memory and preprogrammed settings for different photo conditon (Baby-for active kids [flash and quicker aperture setting], fireworks [no flash & slow aperture] and a few others). It has a transfer dock that will download to your computer with a push of a button. It also comes with rechargeable battery.

For a trip, I would pick up the accessories pack that is offered that is a camera bag with a zippered bottom to hold a plug-in charger with two rechargeable batteries. Also a couple SD memory cards (or one big Gig card) for the pictures.

I have myself a Kodak Z700 with transfer dock. I've tried many of the features and very pleased with it since it is my first digital camera. For getting pictures, I uploaded my pictures to Kodak Easyshare Gallery to share with my friends and then ordered prints from there. They (at 7/06) costed 15 cents for 4x6 and could be sent to a local store or to my home. The pictures looked great and the fireworks were fantastic with the setting in the camera.

I hope I helped and you find the right camera for your needs.

 

[Master Yoda]

To help in your purchase, here are some questions:
.....
I hope this helps.

gorjus

Absolutely great advice.

A few things I would add

Get your hands on as many cameras as you can. A place like Circuit City or Best Buy is great for this. The feel and use of a camera can drasticly effect your opinion of a camera. If the controls are hard to use or the camera feels uncomfortable you won't like it.

Continuous shooting/burst shooting is a very useful feature that many people ignore. This enables you to hold the button down and take multiple pictures. Most cameras will have a rate like 1-3 shots per second and most will have a limit of how many pictures can be shot with each burst. Where you will use this feature is taking pictures of live fast moving action. You can hold the button down snap a several pictures and delete what you don't want.

Image stabilization is a feature that is starting to appear on more and more cameras. What this does is eliminates or reduces blurry images brought about my movement of the camera. This feature is pretty much a must have on the mega zoom cameras. (ie 10x 12x)

This album will show you examples of both continuous shooting and in images 41-45 show the effects of image stabilization. Those pictures were taken without a tri-pod at 12x zoom of an object (the space shuttle) moving faster than the speed of sound. The camera I am using is a Panasonic dmz-fz30.

Buy your camera on line but be careful of where you buy. If you decide on a camera and 10 sites have it for $300 and a few have it for $200 look out. Bestcameraprices.com and all it's mirror sites are famous for this and should be avoided at all costs. I have dealt with B&H photo which has very good prices and service and they also don't gouge you on the price of accessories. By buying on line you can save a god bit of money not to mention not having to pay sales tax.

This is a great site for camera reviews by both professionals and average consumers. The also have a glossary of photographic technical terms so you will know what things like SLR,ISO and noise actually mean.

 

[ZipaDeeDooDad]

I am not sure if this is appropriate or not but here is a link to a web site that have very good, very thorough reviews of digital cameras

http://www.steves-digicams.com/hardware_reviews.html

He reviews everything from basic point and shoot to professional level DSLR.

I have a older canon Elf point and shoot and a couple of Nikon DSLR's. When I bought the Canon a couple of years ago I tested quite a few models and found the Canon to be superior in the areas that mattered to me most (speed of focus, shutter lag, image quality). However, this technology changes so quickly that my information may be way out of date.

 

[Gorjus]

Master Yoda, good advice about handling as many cameras as possible. And then, perhaps purchase online.

But one more point I forgot:

If the sales person starts talking to you about how your still camera can take video, tell him/her to please stop. You don't buy a still camera because it can take low quality video and you don't buy a video camera because it can take low quality stills.

 

[Master Yoda]

Master Yoda, good advice about handling as many cameras as possible. And then, perhaps purchase online.

But one more point I forgot:

If the sales person starts talking to you about how your still camera can take video, tell him/her to please stop. You don't buy a still camera because it can take low quality video and you don't buy a video camera because it can take low quality stills.

Very true but is a nice feature to have. It is nothing that I would use for production but I have used the video feature a few times.

 

[Peacefrog]

Wow! Thanks so much for all the great advice. Yoda, awesome pics of the shuttle. Very clear. And thanks for links to the reviews. I really appreciate it. It looks like I have my work cut out for me.

 

[3fordisney]

Here's my 2cents: We have a Cannon and a Sony digital camera. We got the Sony first and didn't like it. It had a huge delay between the time you press the button and the picture is actually taken. It had mini discs and was bulky. So we decided to go with a Cannon Powershot and love it!! It is smaller and takes pictures like a regular 35 mm camera. Hope this helps!



Oh wow! My 100th post!! Yeah!!!

 

[Master Yoda]

Wow! Thanks so much for all the great advice. Yoda, awesome pics of the shuttle. Very clear. And thanks for links to the reviews. I really appreciate it. It looks like I have my work cut out for me.

Yeah it can be a lot of work but a few hours of research will be much better than spending $500 on a camera that you don't like. If you have any friends that already have cameras see if you can borrow them for an afternoon and play around with them. A salesman at my office had the Masonic FZ-20 (the predecessor to the FZ-30 I purchased) and using it on a Disney trip really effected my decision.

Set yourself an overall budget subtract out about $100 for a memory card and rechargeable batteries with extras and look around that dollar criteria.

Have fun shopping and let us know which one you decide on.