Digital Camera Questions..... About This Page:

[LizardCop]

I've received a number of questions about digital cameras over the past few days. I can only speak of what I use and what I like and dislike, and I haven't really checked out other brands/models..

So...............

Those of you who have recently been to the world, and have posted great pictures (which is everyone that's been there in the past year or five), how about letting the others know what kind of camera or cameras you used, how you like it, strong points and weaknesses....

I use an Olympus C-750UZ as my primary digital camera. It is a 4 MP camera with a 10X optical zoom. I do not use the digital zoom feature and have disabled it.

I really like this camera, but then I have been taking photos for over 40 years and shoot thousands of pictures a year. I like to long zoom as I tend to take a lot of wildlife and landscape/scenery types of pictures.

The biggest complaint from new users to this camera and similar types is blurred pictures. Sometimes it's from a lack of focus lock and sometimes it's from camera movement at slow shutter speeds and long zoom lengths. Having learned to use my body as a tripod, I dont have this problem often...

My biggest complaint (as is the biggest from fellow users) is the low light focus. It is almost non-existant if "quickness" is needed. As you noticed in my latest trip report, there is a lack of group shots, and that is the main reason why. This camera, and other C-7xxUZ cameras, required a high contrast vertical line to focus properly. When taking group shots in low light, it is hard... I have learned to compensate some, but not completely...

I also have an older Olympus C-720UZ (3MP and 8X Zoom) and an Olympus D-40 (4MP, 3X Zoom) that I use often... Both have the same low light focus issue...

Jan, DW, uses a Canon A85 and likes it. It, too, has some low light focus issues, but at least it has a built-in infra-red focus assist light for close in work... She also occasionally uses a Samsung, but she's already left for work and I don't remember the model number on it. Of the two, she prefers the Canon.

We've seen some great pictures from many of you, so please share you camera type and your likes/dislikes...

Cheryl, Marnie, Melissa, Robin?????

Oh... And Tara??? (Lady Tara can explain about keeping rechargable batteries instead of throwing them out)

[Colexis Mom]

I have a Nikon Coolpix 4300 (which they no longer make, I think it's been replaced with the 4200 or a similar model).

It's 4.0 MP and I love it! It's fairly easy to use and you can take better pictures after you read the manual

The only drawback I see is that there's a long lapse between shots (a couple of seconds) so it's hard to get pictures back to back. I also always have the monitor on, so it sucks up the battery pretty quick (but I have two that I alternate between). You can also take short movies on it as well.

I'd recommend it! DH is saving his money for the Canon one that's now down to $900

[Tara O'Hara]

[ QUOTE ]
Oh... And Tara??? (Lady Tara can explain about keeping rechargable batteries instead of throwing them out)


[/ QUOTE ] Don't throw out rechargable batteries! Hint: If they look rechargable, they probably are!!

[chezp]

I use the Sony DSC P8, which is 3.0 megapixel. I find it very easy to use - I know it does a lot more than I use it for, but I just can't be bothered to find out, as it seems to give me great photos. I got some lovely shots this time around through not using the flash, which seems to be a particular strength of this camera. As for weaknesses, the second gap in between pressing the button and it actually taking the photo and how long the flash can take to recharge - and that's not a battery issue.

It's a very easy to use camera and I'd definitely recommend it.

[disneyprincess]

I have a Canon Power Shot A60. I like it but its only a 2.0 mega pixels. I am now finding that when I print pictures even though they are only 4x6 they don't come out as clear as I would like. I think this is because of the low pixel count??? When I purchased the camera they (the salespeople) told me that the pictures would print out good. Of course only a 4x6 size which is fine.

Could it be the printer??? The printer is a Canon also and it is for printing pictures. I purposly picked this one for the reason of printing pictures. Now I'm not so sure about it.

Gina

[CRCrazy]

I also have the Sony DSC-P8, the same model as Chez - and I love it! It takes beautiful photos, but I'm not the best photographer - John has an older model Cybershot - but he still gets better pictures than mine - since he IS a wonderful photographer.

I've noticed the same thing as Cheryl - that it takes even better pictures with the flash off most of the time - and now that I've finally figured out how to fix the settings - I don't have the problem with blurring that I used to have.

I just love Sony products! - and this camera is nice and little, but still fits nicely in your hand - so you can put it in your pocket to carry it!

[WillCAD]

I have a Fuji Finepix S602 Zoom, 3.1 megapixel camera with 6x optical zoom. It takes both Compact Flash and Smart Media cards, though I only use the CF.

It takes great pics in low light, focuses pretty well, and has no shutter lag.

It takes 4-AA batteries, so I have two sets of rechargables, but I have yet to run a set of batteries down completely, even on a heavy day of picture taking with lots of flash at WDW. It's an efficient little camera.

The camera saves its pics as JPG files only, which is fine with me since that's the format I prefer. Each pic at 3.1megapixel/normal quality is 500K-600K, so I can fit nearly 250 pics on a single 128mb CF card. I've never taken more than 100 or so pics in a heavy day at WDW, so I've never needed my spare card.

My only real complaint is that when taking wide-angle pics it has noticable barrel distortion, which is the photographic term for staight lines (like buildings) curving around the edges or the pic due to the curvature of the lens.

One other drawback is that the hot shoe on top of the camera is trigger only, meaning it won't talk to an external flash unit to control exposure. This makes it a pain to use external flashes because I'd have to set exposure manually, which I'm not skilled enough to do.



The S602 has been discontinued and replaced with the S7000, which is almost identical except that it takes CF and XD cards instead of CF and SM cards.

[luvnwdwgal]

Thanks for starting this thread Bill! I don't have a digital camera.....yet. I'm hoping to get one before our trip in September, and I have no idea what to look for.

[debsta922]

I have the Canon Rebel Digital which I love. I was reluctant to buy a digital camera because I loved my Rebel film camera (the photo's all came out great), and I did not want to give up using my different lenses. I absolutely love this camera. The only drawback is that there are so many features and things to learn. I usually keep it in auto mode vs manual especially when speed is important, because I haven't taken the time to learn every thing yet. A great feature is that it has 6.3 megapixels (but uses up a lot of space on your computer. One tip I picked up in a user guide book was to buy a compactflash card reader to download your pictures, otherwise it takes forever. Dh has a Kodak easyshare, which also takes great pictures (3.0 megapixels) and is very user friendly.

[RobinKay6573]

I just purchased a Digital camera in mid December. I got a Kodak Easyshare CX 7530 5.0 MP and I LOVE IT! At first it took me a while to get use to ajusting to the light and it can be a bit of a pain BUT the trade offs are worth it!

1) No film to buy so I don't have to worry about "wasting" film on photos that might not come out. For example I took MANY photos I wouldn't have other wise bothered with using my SLR. Digital media cards are expensive BUT you can use them over and over again. I purchased two 256 MP cards and it was plenty for my trip althought if I had been at Disney any longer I probably would have needed another card.

2) The camera I purchased automanticly ajusts to shaking hands. I got some great nighttime photos that would have been blury (even using a tripod) with my SLR and think of the film I would have wasted! I have to be careful adjusting the camera if taking photos of people at night the flash on the camera is VERY bright and tends to flood the subject with light which whites it out!

3) My camera recycles quickly but some don't. It is slower then my SLR so I had a bit of trouble taking photos during the parades.

4) One thing I LOVE is that you don't have to look into the view finder to take a photo. You can use the screen. I got a few really good photos of the castle holding the camera above my head and using the video screen to take the photo. Be aware though using the camera this way will run the batteries down VERY quickly.

5) Buy rechargeable batteries and a charger. I bought a charger and 8 batteries at Sam's Club for under $20. Mark all the batteries so you know what ones are drained and what ones are still good or store then in differant locations. Remember when you go on vacation don't forget the charger!

6) Buy the extended warrenty! Since cameras are little computers you can never be too careful. Most of these extended warrenties will cover anything including dropping the camera or getting it wet.

It took my a while to find the right camera for me but I am happy with my purchase. It is a nice camera. I will still keep and use my SLR though.

[Lynne O.]

[ QUOTE ]
Thanks for starting this thread Bill! I don't have a digital camera.....yet. I'm hoping to get one before our trip in September, and I have no idea what to look for.

[/ QUOTE ]

Ditto...I have no idea what to look for either..and do not know the "camera lingo"..could some of you provide an insight to that...for example what are "mega pixels" and what number mega pixels would be good to look for when purchasing a camera. Also..same goes for optical zoom. What's the highest you can get right now. Lastly, what would one need to spend to get a good digital camera that takes up close shots, can handle low light and take vivid pictures. I keep reading the packaging info, and have no idea what they are talking about.

[WillCAD]

Digital images are actually a mosaic of colored squares (just like a tile mosaic). Each square is called a Picture Element, or pixel for short.

Of course, the more pixels in an image, the finer details it will be able to pick up. Image resulution, or the number of pixels that make up an image, is measured by counting the number of pixels across times the number of pixels down. An imag 1024x768 pixels = 786,432 pixels. One million pixels is a megapixel, so an image 1024x768 is about 0.7 megapixels.

My camera takes pictures 2048x1536 pixels, which equals 3,145,728 pixels, or 3.1 megapixels.
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Optical zoom, simply put, is how much the actual lens of the camera can zoom. Digital zoom is where the camera's computer enlarges the image by adding fake pixels; this process is called 'interpolation'. Interpolating a picture is much better done by a dedicated image program like Photoshop than in a camera, so I use only the optical zoom in my camera, never the digital zoom. If I want to blow a picture up later, I do it with Photoshop.

Most digital cameras on the market today have 3x to 6x optical zooms (meaning they enlarge things 3 to 6 times). There are cameras on the market which enlarge things as much as 10x, which is a pretty long zoom.

But be warned: the longer a camera's zoom, the more chance that whan you zoom out fully for a wide angle shot the picture will distort. This is called 'barrel distortion', and it is most noticable in pics with lots of straight lines at the outer edges, like pics of buildings. Barrel distortion makes the straight lines at the outer edges bend toward the center, rather like a fish-eye effect, so you should look over any camera you intend to buy carefully if it has an optical zoom greater than 6x.

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Boy, this is a book; sorry, I didn't intend to go ranting so much!

[crystalloubear]

I have a Sony Cybershot DSC-P71. I got it a few years ago. It has 3.2 megapixels, rechargeable batteries, a memory stick, optical and digital zoom. My only real complaint is that it is bigger than I like a camera to be. My regular film camera is a Canon Elph which is really small.

[disneyknut]

I've got a Canon Power shot G6.. 7.1 mega pixels... (DH HAD to get this one!!) takes wonderful photos but I'm still learning all of the buttons so I'm sure I could do better...

[elbug10]

Great thread! I finally broke down and bought a digital camera New Year's Day. QVC had a good today's special value on a Kodak EasyShare; I think it's similar to the one you have, Robin. 5.O MP and 2.8 optical zoom, I think. Plus it came with the dock and rechargable batteries (which I will be sure not to throw away!) Can't wait to get it and play with it.

My regular camera is a Fuji 140mm zoom, which takes wonderful outdoor pictures, but indoor pics don't always come out well. I take a lot of pics of celebrities and I like the idea that with a digital camera you know right away if the picture came out. Last year at Super Soap Weekend I took 8 rolls of film and got about 1 & 1/2 rolls of decent shots; the rest were all blurred or dark. This year, none of my night pictures of the Osbourne lights or at Pop Century came out well. I like the idea of being able to delete the pictures you don't want. Oh, and I'll FINALLY be able to post some pictures here! Yay!