quote:

Originally posted by Tooner:

quote:

Originally posted by nato:
a link to my gallery if anyone is interested

1. What camera are you using?
2. Looks like you have some $$$ in studio lighting.
3. How come the girl never smiles?

1. digital rebel (until my next wedding books...then I'm buying a 20d)
2. not a ton....I have a few strobes and then I have some cheapo sears worklights (for now...intending on buying an alienbee setup once I start making a little more)

3. who cares...

quote:

Originally posted by JustAFan:
Here's a great series of articles about some common digital camera problems and what to do to correct them. (Last week in the Packers mini-camp thread it was mentioned that some of the cameras can have color correction problems.)

http://msn-cnet.com.com/4520-10168_7-6229995-1.html?par...ag=msn_home>1=6556

I've been a longtime user of the 2.1 million mega-pixel Sony CD-200 which I will now give to my 15 year old since the kids surprised me with a new Nikon Z5 for Father's Day. Can't wait to try it.

Anyone have any digital picture taking tips of their own?

2.1 MILLION mega-pixels...wow I didn't realize how outdated my 3.0 mega-pixel camera has become.

quote:

Originally posted by bigdoggyjude:

2.1 MILLION mega-pixels...wow I didn't realize how outdated my 3.0 mega-pixel camera has become.

LOL. I guess that is gramatically incorrect, since the word mexa-pixels means "millions of pixels". But not as bad as incorrectly identifying the manufacturer of my gift as Nikon instead of Konica.

Ha! And my wife claims I never pay attention...

http://www.pbase.com/

For anyone interested, this is a link to a fantastic collection of images from pros and amatuers from around the world. Their Search Engine is amazing.
Prices for maintaining galleries are worth it, but you can blow through millions of beautiful images for free.

quote:

Originally posted by PackerFanFan:
http://www.pbase.com/

For anyone interested, this is a link to a fantastic collection of images from pros and amatuers from around the world. Their Search Engine is amazing.
Prices for maintaining galleries are worth it, but you can blow through millions of beautiful images for free.

Nice link, and a new avatar for MN Cheese:
http://www.pbase.com/rsw760/image/32324482/small

quote:

Originally posted by Iceman:
I just spent several months analyzing (or over-analyzing, as my wife would say) a digital camera purchase, so I can chime in a few more things.

I ended up choosing the Canon S1 IS with 10x zoom.

1. Now that I have it, I can't see how I lived without big optical zoom. Its fantastic, but make sure it has image stabilization or it won't be as useful.

I don't know how often Iceman shows up around here, but if anyone can help, please do. Tooner????????//

My Kodak digital has finally worn out. It will cost $219 to get repaired so I was out looking today at new ones.

My Kodak had only 2.x MP and like a 2X zoptical zoom

I am looking at:

Canon Powershot A520 (4MP 4x optical zoom $200)
Canon Powershot A610 (5MP 4x optical zoom $300)
Nikon S4 (6MP 10x optical zoom $400)

My question is, is it worth the $100 difference for the jump from 4x zoom in canon to the 10x in Nikon?

Or the $100 difference between the two Canon's? The A610 also has the flip out LCD display/viewfinder.

Appreciate any help

Hey Hauser!
I just bought a Canon SD450 for Buffy. Strictly looking for a small point and shoot. Haven't gotten it yet, but if you're looking in retail stores, you may want to explore online. Ours was $50 cheaper on Amazon than the cheapest retailer (Walmart). In fact, a quick check on Amazon has the A520 for $174.94 w/free standard shipping.
Anyone have opinions on the SD450?

quote:

Originally posted by Smedley:
Hey Hauser!
I just bought a Canon SD450 for Buffy. Strictly looking for a small point and shoot. Haven't gotten it yet, but if you're looking in retail stores, you may want to explore online. Ours was $50 cheaper on Amazon than the cheapest retailer (Walmart). In fact, a quick check on Amazon has the A520 for $174.94 w/free standard shipping.
Anyone have opinions on the SD450?

Thanks Smedley, I see the A610 is $269.94 vs the $299 in the store. However, I have a coupon for 10% off at Best Buy so that would make it $270 and if I get it at Ritz Camera, it would be $300 with a $30 gift card. I will keep looking around online (WalMart, etc.)

Thanks for the tip.

WalMart online has the A610 for $258, but I remember reading the thread a few weeks ago about items (electronics I think it was) that may be of lesser quality at discount stores.

Do you think that cameras are one of the items that are inspected in lots and stores like WalMart, Target, etc. gets the lower percentile inspected types while the camera stores get the 98-99% inspected items? Might I be further ahead just to pay a little more and get it at a camera store (Ritz Camera, Penn Camera, etc.)?

Also, Mrs Hauser was reading about some of the other cameras and liked the 'in camera' red-eye reduction that is exclusive to Nikon. Anyone have any opinions on Nikon vs Canon?

I would think that if the model reflects what the manufacturer sells mainstream, there should be no difference. If the model reflects something slightly altered for a specific retailer (and a different model name/number), than it's possible.
Speaking as a manufacturing engineer, I don't see a production facility altering it's inspection process to segregate lesser model quality for shipment elsewhere. The manufacturer is still going have to honor the same warranty on them regardless of where they go. JMO.

The megapixel myth.

He's got great info on his site about cameras as well.

Gee, when I saw the thread starter I thought FRZ unbanned JJS.

Good luck on your search Hauser.

quote:

Originally posted by Hauser:
My question is, is it worth the $100 difference for the jump from 4x zoom in canon to the 10x in Nikon?

If you have need for a longer zoom (racing or other sport pictures, wildlife, etc...), it would be well worth the extra $100.00 - assuming all other things are equal.

I haven't looked at any of these cameras, but I would assume the Nikon is physically larger. That would be a possible negative if you really wanted something compact.

Hauser, the $100 difference will be worth it but only on 2 conditions (1) You will use the zoom (2) the quality of the zoom.

I have a cheap digital camera for snapshots situations where I don't want to lug my good camera around. It works great but when I go to the maximum range of the optical zoom, the quality is lacking in the image. It would have been a waste of money if that's the reason why I bought that camera.

It also gets a little tricky. It takes extra effort to hold the camera still, slight movements are exaggerated when zooming and that also affects picture quality. When you get a camera, shoot at the maximum zoom with the camera on a tripod or a chair, anything stationary. Set the shutter on timer so that you're not holding the camera when it takes the picture. Then take some zoom shots with the camera in your hands. If you're not steady you will see the difference. Holding the camera still can be a challenge for some people and limit what they can do.

The "better" camera for $400, you may find that the image quality is not that great no matter what you do when zooming at the maximum capability of the camera. The image may just not be as crisp as you would like it to be or it may be just fine for what you're hoping for. You're going to be extremely disappointed if you're doing wildlife photography, esctatic if you get a decent shot of Brett Favre making the winning touchdown at the Ravens game next year.

And it always goes back to what I've said in other threads. Determine what you want the camera for and that will dictate the camera you need. You can get a great camera for $100 if all you're going to do is take head shots of family and friends at the park. If you're a person who takes a lot of pictures, memory is an issue and you will need to budget for extra memory cards. A 2M or 3M pixel camera is just fine if you're never going to make prints larger than 4 x 6. 8 x 10 and larger, you will want 5M or 6M. Pixel size has nothing to do with image quality, it has everything to do with how big you want to print the image.

Following up on Tooner's post... watch for the kind of zoom that you have. Most, if not all, of the point-and-shoots offer a certain amount of "optical zoom" and then usually a significantly longer "digital zoom". The digital zoom is basically worthless, as all it does is manipulate the pixels to give the appearence of a zoom (enlarging them, "interpolating" them, etc). You'll do far better getting as long an optical zoom as you need, and if you want to zoom in on something closer, do the cropping thing in your computer once you download the shot. The quality will be better than what you'd get with a "digital zoom."

Here's a link to a pretty good photo site pBase where you can type in a camera's name and it will show you pix that were taken with that particular camera. I particularly like what you see when you type S1IS in the search. There's some GREAT photos there!

quote:

Originally posted by pacfan:
Tooner, you are certainly a multi-talented guy. Excellent pictures!! They look like paintings.

Usually when art work is well done, I hear the paintings look like pictures.