Digital Camera Opinions Wanted

I am currently looking to buy a digital camera and figured that since there are quite a few Tiki Central members who work with cameras professionally or artistically I'd ask for opinions.

I'm looking for a camera that takes high quality pictures, can be adjusted for various situations (close ups, low light), has an AA battery option/power source, is reliable, and not too fragile. (I take good care of stuff, I just don't want somethin' that has to be handled like it's a glass Xmas ornament.)

Camera weight and compactness aren't really issues for me. Video features aren't important.

My main consideration is a camera for photographing artwork, interiors, architecture, etc. I'm not looking for a camera that's just for quick shots and snaps. The one I buy will be used for that, but the features I listed above are more important.

Also, I use an iMac and will most likely be stickin' with Macs...I don't know if that's an issue with different cameras.

So, if you have a camera that's been great for you or if you know about models/companies to avoid (and the reasons why) I'd really value your input. That and the current issue of Consumer Reports will hopefully save me hours of time at Best Circuit MartCo fiddlin' with display models.

Hey Woofmut, I just got a Nikon D-50 and it really is Nice. It fits your criteria all but the aa battery. It uses the nikon rechargable battery. I have only had it less that 2 weeks and I find it very easy to use. My old camera is a Nikon CoolPix 950 which I've had about 6 or 7 years and it was great. I am a Nikon fan and would start there before any other brand.
There are a couple sites that are great for camera reviews and news. The one I use the most is http://www.dpreview.com/ . and another great one is http://kenrockwell.com/tech/00-new-today.htm which I found from Silverline. He has the Nikon D-70. You can get it with a good lens for well under $1000( the D-50).
Hope this helps.

Working in a print shop and dealing with many different people with many different cameras, I can offer the following advice:

Get the best camera you are willing to pay for. Or, more specifically, set your budget then select a camera.

Which brand of camera, or SLR -vs- PointAndShoot, or anything else is going to be a matter of research on your part. I have seen some of the most amazing shots come out of little disposable cameras and some of the worst shots come out of $8,000 professional cameras. I can recommend the following options as comparison points:

The Zoom level. If most of your photography is going to be indoors, or close up subjects then you don't need to get a very high zoom level. If you are taking outdoor shots, or your typical shot is of a long distance you want the highest Optical Zoom you can find. Conversely, you are going to want a Macro or SuperMacro mode if you are going to be shooting extreme closeups.

Image Speed. This is the hardest feature to find on any camera. My little Cannon camera takes amazing shots, but the time between shots for the flash to recharge is about four seconds, more if the batteries are weak. That may not sound like much, but when trying to get pictures of a lovely hula maiden in action, it is an eternity!

Battery Life and or Battery Style. Custom batteries in a camera usually last a bit longer as they are designed specifically for the camera. But, there is a huge advantage to being able to plop in a standard AA battery when you have exhausted all of your other fully charged ones. No matter what kind of battery the camera uses, make sure it is removable and get two, three if you can afford it. The only thing worse than having a full memory card is having a dead battery.

Beyond that you are on your own. I do suggest going to your local Big-Box retailer and physically playing with the cameras. You can at least get a feel for the camera before you buy it.

I agree with all that Chip'n Andy said, except for going to the Big Box retailer. I did that and didn't get much help, only sales pressure for which ever camera I showed interest in. I went then to the local Camera shop and found a World of difference. The guy was very knowledgible on all the cameras and let me fire up and hold any one I wanted and offered true Help in making the decision. All that with No sales pressure. I ended up buying from him 1 because his prices wereas good as Local big box and 2 because he was local and explained to NOT fill out the warranty card for a week so that in case I wasn't happy, I could bring it back anbd exchange it for anything else I wanted. For that I paid the sales tax..Well worth it!

Just a small tip to add to those offered -- if you plan on taking a lot of pictures in low light settings (like, oh, say, tiki bars), make sure you get a camera with a nice wide lens on it.

On 2006-08-06 09:00, Benzart wrote:
... except for going to the Big Box retailer.

Sorry, I didn't mean to imply that the Big-Box places are the way to go, I just meant that they usually have a lot of cameras on display and you can usually play with them. Once you have found one or more that you are interetsed in, find it on-line or in a smaller place where you can ask the people questions. And, ask people who will probably know way more than the average retail-clerk at the Big-Box places.

Andy'n Chip, I didn't mean to bash the big box, it's just that I have had such bad experiences with them in the past. I admit while hunting for my new camera, I Did visit the local BB Stores and Did get to hold a few cameras, so it Was fruitful. I did a lot of research online prior to visiting local stores.
The nice thing about Digital SLR's is that with a couple lenses you can have the Long zoom for far-off to close shots and the Macro for those close-ups that you will need. You are not stuck with one lens so you have more freedom.
Good luck.

I subscribe to Kevin Kelly's Cool Tools newsletter, and earlier today I received the latest e-mail, where he highly recommends the Lumix TZ1 camera, claiming that it is currently the best general purpose digital camera to get. Thought I'd mention it , so you can check it out further. In summary, he really liked this camera for

• Optical 10x zoom, and it can still fit in your shirt/pants pocket
• very capable image stabilization
• fast Leica lens, with instant powerup
• does macro-closeups well
• reasonable price ($320 on amazon)
• likes it better than his previous Nikon 35mm because he can shoot in lower light, further, with less blur

Here is the amazon website, with additional reviews --- one reviewer says it has excellent battery life.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000EITTLE/ref=nosim/kkorg-20

I cannot personally vouch for the above camera - my personal camera is a Minolta Dimage Z1, which is two years old now, and is available at roughly the same price range as the above TZ1. I really like it - it also has a 10x optical zoom (a real plus) and I have taken great non-flash pictures in a low-light tiki bar interiors. I do like the styling of it, as it fits well in my hand for holding and carrying, but it is too large to fit into a shirtpocket. Mine runs on 4 AA batteries, and when I am travelling, I try to remember the recharge the batteries each night - and if I forgot, additional AA batteries are generally easy to purchase. There are newer Minolta Dimage models out there, so you may be able to get more more bang for the buck than was possible two years ago.

I'll try the new 'add images to post' feature, and include two non-flash photos I took in low-light conditions at the former Honolulu Restaurant. Other than lowering the resolution for reduced network bandwidth travel, no other software enhancement tools were used for these photos (although there is likely some histogram stretching software embdedded in the camera itself) I do remember using the optical zoom for the top picture, which helps greatly with photo composition.

Vern

I have another Lumix (the DMC-FZ5?), and it's been swell. I don't know how it compares to the Lumix camera in Vern's post, but it's too big for a pocket and it has a 12X optical zoom, but I think price-wise it was similar. Nice big Leica lens on it. It's got image stabilization, too, which works amazingly well in bright light, less so in dim light.

Vern, love those pics of the Honolulu! They'd be a great addition to the currently-picturless Critiki entry for the Honolulu (hint, hint :) ):

http://www.critiki.com/cgi-bin/location.cgi?loc_id=4

Thanks fer all the replies, folks! I knew this place was useful fer somethin'!

(Anyone else notice how that drink mixer in ikitnrev's photo above looks appropriately Moai like?)

My 2 cents on Brands for a point and shoot..

I like the new small canon cameras they seem to hold up well. I have a new Sony with a nice lens that shoots up to 7 mega pixels.

I would say out of all have tried I'd go with a Casio Exilm it has a lot of useful settings and a long battery life. They range in pixels from 5 to 8. (I have one of these too for work)

I also agree that you should go somewhere and actually hold the camera and "play" with it. after you go to a place you can always find one on line too if you want to shop more.

I have not dealt with Nikons but I know they make a great product.

If you want to talk SLRs then PM and and we'll go from there but I run with a Canon digital.

I took my mom to buy a new camera not long ago, and had I been buying, I would have come home with a Lumix model.

Back in the day I had a Canon EOS with 75-300 and 28-200 lenses. When I went digital I got an Olympus with a 3x optical zoom, which was the equivalent of 35 to 105, I really missed the long zoom. So then I upgraded to an Olympus c700 with 10x optical zoom which I still use, even though it's only 2 megapixels. I have had great luck with the Olympus, but I don't think the brand is really important, mostly the features.

Warning: only optical zoom matters. Digital zoom is worthless, you are better off cropping and enlarging the picture in software.

Focusing and writing speed is an issue, as others have mentioned, depending on what you're doing with the camera. If you're taking scenic shots or portraits, your subject is not likely to move much, if you're taking wildlife or action shots, you want it to focus and write the picture as quick as possible. The more the megapixels the longer writing the photo to the memory card will take.

Also to consider is the type of memory card the camera takes. If you have any devices that use memory cards, smart digital, memory stick, etc., you might want to look at cameras that use that same format. If you get a camera with a different format or are not using any kinds of memory card currently, buying additional memory cards will be a necessary extra expense. The cards that come with the cameras usually only hold a few pictures.

Some cameras come with software and cradles to make them easy to use with the computer. If you're not all that computer literate this might appeal, but might also mean that the camera will lack advanced features.

Good luck and have fun!

Hopefully this thread will be of use to others doing some camera shopping. For that reason I'm adding the advice Kim, a local photographer acquaintance of mine, sent me...

First of all, here is the best website ever:

http://www.dpreview.com/

My own camera which I and my best pro photog buddy both own is:
Canon 20 D. It is a digital SLR. This means it can do everything an "analog" SLR can do: you can adjust EVERYTHING in other words. You can also just use the settings it has, on "auto". I take it to ALL the shows, parties, outdoor events, car shows, etc. that I go to. It's the size of a regular SLR. It's 8.1 megapixels. This means at the highest quality setting you can make prints of your shots very large, and they will look awesome. They just came out with the newest version of it, the 30 D. So it might be worth it to get that, as it's probably the same price about as the 20 D was last year.

Here are the sites to buy from:

http://beachcamera.com/shop/home.aspx
this is where i bought my camera "kit"
OR
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/
this is where I've bought other camera stuff.

You WANT to buy online, NOT at Circuit City or wherever. FOR REAL. You WILL get ripped off if you don't. Beach Camera is EXCELLENT. Great customer service, warrantees, etc. and great prices! I got my camera body, a 18-70 zoom lens, 1 gig memory card, battery pack, battery charger, case, and more for under $1500, which is what the body alone costs most places. Then I bought a very high end Canon 50mm lens for about $300 later on. It's super duper fast, f 1.4, so I don't use a flash at shows and get great shots without annoying the bands!

My suggestion to you is to read up on stuff at the first website link I sent ya. I'm so grateful to my friend who showed me that site. The BEST digital camera maker right now is Canon, followed by Nikon, then Olympus. Some of my friends swear by Nikon, I was an Olympus girl until I researched a lot and talked to my pro friend Rob Butler, and another pro guy that came to my school.
After reading stuff up, then go to Beachcamera. I found some deals that were "too good to be true" on a couple other sites, but if they seem that way then they are, usually. The one site was real shady, and I couldn't find any real contact info for them even. I know a lot of people have said that B&H and Beach are the best places to buy. They got it to me quick too.

I second the recommendation of BeachCamera.com

Here's a highly recommended review site. I've used them from time to time:
http://www.steves-digicams.com/

Not only do you get the objective pros and cons of each model, but they even post sample photos so you can see the quality of the image. A very thorough site.

Personally, I've always preferred Canons to Nikon, although I've used both. Now that everything is digital, I still think Canon has done a great job of combining user-friendliness with technical excellence. If I were to buy an SLR right now for your planned subjects and usage, this is what I'd go for:
http://www.steves-digicams.com/2005_reviews/rebelxt.html

Happy shooting!

[ Edited by: vintagegirl 2006-08-16 21:01 ]