Trying to find a camera!

[Katherine]

Ok I've looked at numerous sites for guides to cameras(none really helpful but...) and I think I know what I want to get either an Olympus Stylus Epic Zoom 80 or the Nikon Lite-Touch 120 ED. Does anyone know if these will give me good pictures and more importantly good night time pictures? Which is better? are there any other cameras that I should check out(nothing fancy just with fair zoom and good flash features)? Thanks for any comments!!

 

[DisneyPhD]

Hi I own a Olympus Stylus Epic 170 Deluxe. I think it is the same as the zoom 80, but has more zoom and a different kind of lense(harder to brake). It is a good camera for point and shot poeple. It takes great pictures and is small and compact. (I often have friends with much better manual cameras that feel my pictures are better.) Every once and a while one pictures ends up blury. Good features on it and a fast shutter speed. Night time picutres depends, with flash only up close, then they are somewhat washed out. With out flash you need to have a tripod to keep to still or suport it some other way. In genral we have better luck with our digtal for night time shots, and if they don't turn out we delate them.


For digtial cameras we have a Cannon Powershot s230. that we just love. Small, easy to use great pictures, fast shutter speed and turn on.

Good luck

 

[Katherine]

No offense but I don't like digital cameras. I like having the actual printed picture. I don't know it's just a petpeeve of mine.:animwink: Thanks for the info though!!

 

[PhotoDave219]

Nighttime pictures. If youre taking pictures of family, friends, its fine. It should be good to about 10 feet, but bear in mind it will keep you from having a pretty background unless you have a camera with a slow-sync flash feature on the camera. (See below)
Other than that, the most common mistake, misconception, whatever that people have about taking pictures at night is that the tiny flash on your camera will actually have some sort of effect on that thing 50 feet away - It wont, and the picture will not come out.

Overall taking nighttime shots is more about technique. To get around the interent problems of shutter speed, best advice for a pocket camera is to take night shots without a flash and high speed film. At somewhere like main street, you'll get good nighttime shots because its brightly lit. But somewhere over by Tomorrowland or Splash Mountain, where its darker, you'd have to hold the camera still because it would be a longer exposure.
(Idealy, people use tripods at night)

Personally, i'd go for the Nikon. I have a small olympus and its okay. Just too many things i dont like about it. Nikon has always had a great reputaion for making great cameras and is usually worth the money. Plus the metering system in the camera will generally give you a better nightime shot.

I know the Nikon LT130 has somethign called a slow sync flash and has the ability to turn the flash off at night. A slow synch flash (which i like) will take the picture, trigger the flash and give it that extra little bit of time to allow for a brighter background.

Hope that helps SOME. PM me if you have any more questions or need something explained in further detail.

 

[DisneyPhD]

Originally posted by Katherine
No offense but I don't like digital cameras. I like having the actual printed picture. I don't know it's just a petpeeve of mine.:animwink: Thanks for the info though!!

I feel the same way, why I have both a flim camera and digital. While I love flim, I do find myself taking more shots with the digital. It also depends on what kind of digital you have, the Nikon we had before this Cannon was terrrible, so much so they don't even sell it anymore. (I do hear Nikon does much better with flim cameras.) We sometimes print them ourselves, but often wait until we also have a roll of flim that needs developing and then get 20 or so shots done at walmart of the digital too.

 

[PhotoDave219]

Well, I've been a professional nikon digital user for almost 4 years now, Nikon film user for at least 15, and i've had no problems with anything at night. (And the turnover with the point and shoot digitals these days is so extreme, that within 6 months, very few manufactures are still selling that particular brand.)

My best night results still come on film.... and i'd never trust wal-mart to touch my film. Never.

Anyhone can take great pictures with any kind of camera, digital, film, disposable, P&S or full on SLR. A good photographer can use any and walk away happy. If people think that the brand of camera will fix their photo problems, then they're going to be unhappy with everything they choose.

 

[Katherine]

Thanks for all the help I was leaning toward the Nikon in the first place and now I'm sure that it's the right choice!! Thanks for all the help!:wave:

 

[DisneyPhD]

Originally posted by PhotoDave219
Well, I've been a professional nikon digital user for almost 4 years now, Nikon film user for at least 15, and i've had no problems with anything at night. (And the turnover with the point and shoot digitals these days is so extreme, that within 6 months, very few manufactures are still selling that particular brand.)

My best night results still come on film.... and i'd never trust wal-mart to touch my film. Never.

Anyhone can take great pictures with any kind of camera, digital, film, disposable, P&S or full on SLR. A good photographer can use any and walk away happy. If people think that the brand of camera will fix their photo problems, then they're going to be unhappy with everything they choose.

Well you know PhotoDave I am sure you know TONS more about photograpy then I do, but I must tell you when we got the Nikon Cool Pix 750 (for almost 400$) I was truley disapointed in it. (as a professional I am sure your camera cost a lot more then this, but it still is a large chunk of money for me) This camera was sooooo slow that we lost every good shot out there (when you have a 1 year old the photo opps go quick) I had thought it was a good name, can't go wrong! Boy was I wrong. I was just happy that the cost co I brought it from let me return it (even after many months of use.) I have noticed that they have different comprable cameras out now instead of it and the guy at the local camera shop near us really ragged on Nikon digital, saying that many of them had faults that they just couldn't fix. I woudn't want anyone else getting stuck with the same problems in the future. However Nikon does have a great repuation for flim cameras. When we got the new digital (canon powershot s230) we looked on line at many review sites before making our next choice. I recomend that to anyone looking for a new appliance. (I think it was dpreview.com but i can't remember.) We were really pleased with the next camera we got, after looking at the review out there and feel the research really paid off.


Good Luck Katherine

 

[PhotoDave219]

Yeah, i didnt liek it either when it first came out. I dont like any of the latest P&S digis on the market. Just too much technology, not enough photo.....