Comin' down the pike...DIGITAL CAMERA? (Advice)

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I JERK OFF TO ARCTOPUS
Nov 8, 2001
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ok, so, I scored some birthday money, and I think I'm in the market for a digital camera.

I don't know much about digital cameras, which ones are quality, which features i actually need, et cetera. does anyone have any advice, or specific brands to suggest?

like, i need one with a flash, right? i would like it to be able to store a decent amount of pictures...i don't need movie-taking capability, but i guess it would be nice if it doesn't increase the cost too much. anyone?
 
Canon. Trust me. They are the leaders in Digital right now. The Powershot S45 or S50 are both considered Prosumer (Professional options with a consumer price), and the detail and colors are amazing. I have a Powershot S40, and It's been great. The S40, S45 are both 4MP, the S30 is a 3MP, and the S50 is a 5MP. All are a great buy, fully automatic, OR fully manual. you can set shutter speed, apature, exposure brightness settings... Its worth the money. Don't buy a cheap camera, you'll waste your money and be unhappy.

If Canon doesnt suit you, keep this in mind, buy the brand of camera from someone who has been making cameras all along! Nikon, Canon, Olympus... Stay away from Epson, HP, and even the lower end Sony cameras. Some of the High end Sonys are "ok", but still cant compare to the Higher end Canons, like the EOS 10D. Lok at a lot online, and d/l sample shots from the cameras to compare. A GREAT sight with a tin of reviews is http://www.steves-digicams.com/. Check them out, you'll find tons of info.

Good luck!
 
FalseTodd said:
Sony may be Johnny-come-latelies in the camera market, but you can't front on their decision to put Zeiss glass on their high-end cameras. Stuff is magical.
Click to expand...

This is true, but he's also looking for something in $200-$300 range. Sony has a few flaws (in my opinion) being they are more concerned with the front end optics, then the processor itself. It's like putting a Yugo engine in a Ferrari. It just doesn't make much sense. For what they charge for their high end cameras, you get such better quality from Canon, Nikon, or even Olympus for less money. What you seem to be paying for with a Sony camera, is the memory technology they use. Some cameras use the mini-CDr, or the momory stick, which looks like a great idea up front, but most of the industry adopted the Flash card memory, and sort of made it an industry standard. It just looks like Sony may end up being the Betamax, or the Divx of the Camera world.

I haven't seen much, or worked with much from Sony cameras, but I have seen how horrible the Epson cameras are. This is what lead me to do massive research before I bought my camera. That's all you really need to do. Really look at sample shots the manufacturer offers on the sites, and look for the color, and detail you want, and find something you are happy with! There's tons to choose from, and everyones going to have a different opinion on which is better.
 
this is great. some questions:

1. What's Zeiss glass?

2.If I have a choice, what kind of memory should I get? I don't know much about what "memory sticks" or "flash cards" and the like are--perhaps once I check out that site (thanks NovembersPaul) I will, but further illumination from you guys will help, too.

oh, also...what do 3MP, 4MP, 5MP mean?

also keep in mind I use a PC that was pretty good one year ago, so no Firewire or other Maccy things.
 
NP: Yeah, totally. I was just sayin the lenses are probably about the best you'll find on a DC. However, I come from a traditional film background where the camera body doesn't make the slightest difference in picture quality (except if it doesn't keep the shutter open for the appropriate amount of time) so you spend all your money on the glass...



ANYHOO.

Zeiss Glass = lens made by Carl Zeiss. Generally speaking, high-end German glassmakers make the best stuff there is. There's a lot of good japanese lens manufacturers, but Germany is really where it's at, and pretty much always has been. However this can be a secondary issue if the part of the camera that actually records the image is not as good as the lens. (You're only as good as your weakest link...)

2. I know very little about this. I'm guessing for you it won't be a big issue, since you'll probably just fill the thing up and then go straight into your computer, and never use, say, a DVD or TV that can read the memory card directly...

3. MP = Megapixels, which is essentially the amount of resolution in the camera. larger = better. Probably not as big an issue if you're just planning to put the photos on the interweb, but if you want to make big prints, you'll want a camera with higher resolutions available. I would say look for a 3-4MP camera given your price range. 5MP will be overkill prolly and will push the price up to $500-ish.

4. I think most of these cameras do USB 1.0/2.0 now don't they?
 
FalseTodd is right. German glass is king. Actually, the Germans pretty much engineer the best of everything. Top of the line quality.

I agree with you as well about the film camera. It's all about the glass. That is one draw back in Digital, as it does tend to depend on the cameras processor for color and detail, as much (if not more) then the glass. It sort of takes away the art of film Photography, and makes it so just about anyone who can read a manual can get very eye pleasing pictures. Actually, it kinda takes the fun out of film work. The plus side, you know instantly if the shot is what you wanted.

Flash memory is your "film". most cameras are USB, and you can buy an external flashcard reader for about $20 if you dont want to keep connecting your camera to the computer to dump the pictures down. (It drains the battery, and is a bit slower).

With a 4 megapixel camera, shooting at the highest jpeg quality, you will be able to bring those photos to just about anywhere they develop film these days (including Walmart, Jewel, Wolf camera...) and get beautiful, actual photo prints, up to 8x10, and you'll never be able to tell its digital.

I would get a 4 Megapixel camera, and a 256 meg Flashcard. At the highest quality setting, you'll get around 120 photos before you fill up the card.
 
my gf's parents just gave us one this weekend actually. this one :
http://www.steves-digicams.com/2003_reviews/stylus300.html

technically, i probably would've wanted to shop around more for at least a 4 mp one, but i'm certainly not one to shoot myself in the foot if they wanted to get her one. it's 3.2 mp, and has a lot of decent features, so it should be just fine for the next several years. and it's one less thing to buy.
 
I have two 1.3 MP olympus ones. One barely works (6 years old or so) but was reliable, and the other one fucked up very quickly.

I haven't looked at new ones since I don't have money to get one, but for memory, stay away from Smart Media. Compact Flash loks good, and has large storage capability. USB is also good, and some cams you cna hook upa a firewire drive and have a couple hundred gigs of storage :)
 
avi said:
I said fuck it and bought a Canon SD100 last night. gratuitous picture posting to follow soon!
Click to expand...

Nice choice! I love those Digital Elph's. The size is so amazingly small, and the photo quality it amazing.

sd100_front_blk.jpg
 
avi, that's the model i'm looking at right now. why did you specifically choose this one?

the 4 megapixel Canons are all about $400+ on that one site. how much worse is a 3.2 megapixel and will i totally regret buying it in two years?
 
yeah, the card it comes with is totally weak and only 16mb. I bought a 128 card (SecureDigital) when I got the camera, which I paid about $400 for at BestBuy. I know I could've shopped around, but I'm sick of that shit.

The reason I chose the Canon was because it just seemed better compared to the similar Olympus model. The Olympus has a weird sliding door mechanism for the lens that wasn't working very on the floor model. More moving parts = more things that could break.

I do believe that 3.2 is a-ok for 8x10 prints, right? I don't think you need 4+ unless you want to do huge prints or other crazy shit. for casual www posting, it's more than enough, that's for sure.

and yeah- the size and design of the canon is really nice and square, too. the interface on the back is good n simple.
 
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