After seeing all the great pics on here, I thought i would ask for some suggestions as to which digital camera to purchase. This year at carlisle i was wishing i had one and vowed not to be without one next year. Any suggestions?? mainly looking for point and shoot types

 

CANON 850 IS.....SWEET

 

I went with the Olympus OM820 for my Mom for Christmas. It's 10MP for around $220. The main features I was looking for her (as she was going on a cruise) was a) easy to use b) good resolution c) very small size & weight and d) largest possible screen size. With a couple of memory chips and an extra battery, it was about $290 from Adorama.

 

Personally, when it comes to point & shoots (P&S) digital cameras, I like Casio Exilim series (don't laugh at the Casio name). Most of them have features you won't find in other P&S brands, like full user settings of aperature, shutter speed, etc. Also, Casio's AVI video format means I can take a 640x480 VGA + Mono sound video clip up to 2 hours on a 4 gig card. Great for track events etc that you want to record with just a simple $250 P&S.

I have a Z-850 (8.1 MP), that is about 1.5 years old. I think its been superseded by something better by now.

 

Most of the latest generation point and shoot cameras are really pretty good. Most offer at least 6-7 mp resolution, 3x optical zooms, and decent sized LCD's. For what you're looking for, any of the leading brands...Sony, Canon, Nikon, etc....will do just fine.

Most come with a basic editing program, which you should learn to use so you can tweak your photos. The ability to crop, adjust color saturation, and exposure levels can make your photos appear much more vibrant.

You should also be aware of the fact that a good photographer can take great shots with almost any camera, while a poor photographer can produce garbage with even the most sophisticated gear. Knowing the basics of good composition and exposure will do more to improve your photos than any camera can. Go to your local library and take out some books about photography, or join a local camera club, and you'll be starting on the right path.

 

I just bought an Olympus Stylus 750. 7.1MP, picture stabilization and 5X digital zoom. Will fit in your pocket and takes great pictures. It is very easy to use as I am not an electronic genius. Camera, case and 1GB card was $222 shipped from Amazon.com.

 

You can find some reliable camera reviews on this site:

http://www.dpreview.com

 

Took these with a Nikon 4600

 

Here's what a Nikon D70 SLR and a little bit of studying photography did for me... I have two lenses, the 18-70mm unit and a nice Nikon Nikkor 70 - 300mm and a cheapo tripod. I only do post-processing in Irfanview, a free program that lets you crop and adjust contrast/brightness levels, as well as a few other things. I'm not a big fan of photoshopping pictures until they're somethin they're not. I also learned a lot from the photography site, www.fredmiranda.com. Here are some of my favorites:



My old Volvo:




Dad's Z:


Photo of my truck that made the cover of the September / October issue of Vintage Truck Magazine:


Time Elapse fun... bonus points if you know where this was taken:


Check out the clarity... sprinkler:


Silverado... a good example of depth of field:


www.dpreview.com is a good site to get information on new products, equipment, etc. I used it a few years back to decide on the D70. It was a great starter SLR for me, and it's still effective in getting quality photos. Some of today's DSLRs are amazing, though.

If you're looking for something you can pocket easily and just point-and-shoot at parties, etc., an SLR probably isn't the right answer. I love mine though, and I'll walk around car shows with it all the time! I will say that the point and shoot cameras aren't going to be as good as a true digital SLR, though...

The biggest thing is understanding your equipment. My first shots with the Nikon D70 were terrible. Once I figured out how to use it and understood aperture, depth of field, exposure times, levels, etc., I was able to control the camera effectively.

Betting this will be in OT soon!

 

If your shooting blue, there is something about the Olympus D535,
It seems to burn intense blue into the pic.
I was turned onto it by a tech at my Dealer.

 

I really like Canon, I have a Digital Rebel XTi and a point and shoot SD1000.

 

excellent advice

 

Canon PowerShot A620.

 

Since you're looking for a point-n-shoot, consider a Canon A720. Available at Costco for $220. Pocketable, image stabilization, great image quality, easy to use. Makes great photos...

No need to spend any more until your needs develop in the future. And by then, you'll have a better idea on direction of a more sophisticated camera - which will be cheaper then...

Brad
My photos: www.citysnaps.net

 

Front curtain flash I think thats the only time I can think of to use that feature.

 

Fuji makes good cameras for the kind of situations where you are at a corporate party, and you want to take photos of people singing/shaking hands/celebrating someones birthday. I.e. indoors and in the dark.

Canon S5 Powershot IS is great for zoo trips, because it has 12x zoom. Its also a great all round camera but its more bulky than most.

The new Canon G9 is a great camera if you are thinking of going semi-pro or if you are pretty serious in the hobby.

Generally speaking Nikon's point and shoots fail to impress me. They are okay but you're better off getting something else, imho.

 

Most of today's point-and-shoot digital cameras will do a great job in daylight. One thing to check for is the presence of an optical viewfinder in addition to the LCD screen. If you're used to using a 35 mm film SLR, you may prefer an optical viewfinder in a digital camera.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of situations where a point-and-shoot digital camera just doesn't cut it. One is flash photography. The built-in flashes on these cameras lack sufficient power to be effective over distances longer than a few feet. They're also very close to the lens, resulting in red eye. For truly good flash photography, you need to use off-the-camera or bounce flash, features not available on point-and-shoots.

Burst rate is another consideration. Most point-and-shoots have a delay from when you push the shutter button until when it picture is actually snapped. In an action scene, this makes it impossible to get the shot you want since the lag time can be a second or two. It also makes it impossible to get quick multiple exposures in succession.

Finally, there's the matter of interchangable lenses. No point-and-shoot can accommodate them. Using just the built-in lens substantially limits your field of view. If you go with point-and shoot, be sure to get one with a wide zoom ratio.

Before you buy a point-and shoot, I suggest at least looking at a digital SLR. These cameras circumvent all of the limitations of point-and-shoots; not only that, but they're now quite affordable. Nikon, Canon, and Olympus make excellent D-SLRs that are worth checking out. You can start small (with just one "all-purpose" zoom lens and use just the camera's built-in flash) and add more lenses and separate shoe-mounted flash later. One great example is the Nikon D40; you can buy it with a Nikkor 18-55mm zoom lens for under $500.

 

I suggest whatever you choose that it has the capability to shoot in RAW MODE. This allows you to adjust color temp, and exposure BEFORE converting your files to a jpeg.

Canon 5D and 30D are very affordable now. You may even be able to still find a Canon 20D for around 850.00 for the body and a good quality 28-75 Tameron lens for around 400.00

 

 

My most recent camera of choice.