PEAX Equipment

Digi cameras

Moosie

Grand poopa
Joined
Dec 9, 2000
Messages
17,666
Location
Boise, Idaho
Alot of you guys are talking about them... WHat kind do you have and Why ? I'm looking for a new one in the Next 6 months or so,...
 
Well the wife bought me mine for Xmas last year and love it.It is a Sony DSC-P71 with 3.2 megapixels,6 power with digital zoom.It was top of the line when she got it but now Im thinking it is middle of the road but it works great for me.I bought a tri pod for it to go in the pack and I have a few memory stix,probably more than I will ever need.
 
What are you budgeting for Moosie? I know Elkgunner is looking at the Canon Rebel (D10) and asked a few questions about the new Sony F828, two of the hotest new cameras on the market. They retail for about $1000.

The Canon A70 or A80's are compact lower end cameras, but have many options the more expensive ones have. I was shopping around for an A70 today for the wife, but everyone is sold out of them.

I settled for the Nikon Coolpix 3100. Most everyone is selling them for $299. Throw in a few more bones (like $100) for larger memory cards, charger, rechargeable batteries, and a case. I think I spent close to $450 today on getting her everything she needs for the camera. It is a 3mp cam and something she can use to get started with. My F707 seems intimidating to her, and I am hoping this will help her out.

Take a look at the Sony P72, another compact lower end cam.

Lots of cameras out there, many options. Take a look at www.dpreview.com for different camera reviews. It is a very helpful site minus all the huggers on there.

Gotta go, I have to play with the wife's new camera
biggrin.gif
 
Heck I am almost ashamed to name the one I got. But my purpose was to get a cheap one in order to see what they are all about and then upgrade once I learn what I actually need and will use.

It was a Vivitran model at Wally World.
wink.gif
 
A word on memory stix...from what I have seen, the most you are going to get from any NIB camera is a 8-16mb stick. Do yourself a favor and purchase at the very minimum a 128mb stick...a 256 would be even better. This gives you the opportunity to shoot the camera at it's maximum resolution and get plenty of pics. You'll be able to print your photos without worries there will be pixelation.
 
Nut

No shame, those pics you have posted are very nice. Keep shooting!!!
 
Hey Nut, that's the same one I have!! It does what I want it too....take some quick pictures to put up on the internet for all the yahoo's here to see without waiting for film to develop and to see what all the hype about them was. They are pretty cool and I think now I wouldn't mind upgrading to one for around $300 or so.
 
We just bought a Pentax Optio 555 two days ago. I haven't had much time to mess wit it yet, but I did quite a bit of research. BTW, the site Ovis mentioned has some good camera reviews.

The features I was most interested in were a high optical zoom (for wildlife shots), a built-in flash, and as many megapixels as I could afford (for printing out enlargements). I also prefered the SD memory cards, which the Pentax uses. If I could afford it I would have bought the Canon D10 or D300, but they're definately not good cameras for those who just want to snap shots for the internet. If that's what you will use it for primarily, and you only want 4x6 or 5x7 prints, 3 megapixels will be plenty.

I also learned a lot about storage media while I was researching. I found out that all discs are not created equally, and you need to know what you're buying, even within a single manufacturer. As Ovis mentioned, buy the largest card or stick you can, so you can take your photos at high resolution.

Here's a good website to help you learn all you need to know when choosing a digital. It also helps to look at reviews on sites like Amazon for specific models, once you narrow your choice down.
http://www.shortcourses.com/choosing/contents.htm

Oak
 
I have a Fujifilm 2600. I also bought mine at Wally World. It didn't have a memory card with it. It said on the box contains memory card. I took it back, showed it to them, they gave me a new memory card. Two weeks later I found the orignal memory card between the split seats of the truck. Apparently when I opened the box it fell out. I went back and told them what happened. They said because it was electronic they could not take it back. Just KEEP IT.I have never had to use the other card. I have taken 40+ pictures on the one card with great resolution.
 
Moosie, there is 3 you need to look at. I have been researching the hell out of them and going and looking and playing with them.
The best on the market right now for hunters and wildlife is,
The panansonic DCM-fz10. It has a 12X OPTICAL zoom, Leica lense, and most of all IMAGE stablization. 4.0MP the downside is the size is almost as big as an SLR. the lense is huge and gathers lots of light for clear pics while under high zoom.
2, olympus C750. This has a 10X optical zoom and a real compact unit. however it does not have imige stabalizer so a tripod would be handy for wildlife shots.
3, the panasonic dcm-fz1 it has all the specs as the fz-10 but only 2.0 mp. it is a smaller camera than the fz10 too. if you dont plan on blowing up lots of 8x10's this is the camera.
Whatever you do disregard digital zoom specs and only go off of optical zoom. Digital zoom is a marketing scam and thats it. the second you go into digital zoom you pics go grainy. For guys like us you want a good power optical zoom. I tried all the high zoom cameras while holding free-hand under full zoom and the panasonics ruled. I turned off the image stabalizer on them and tried again and the pictures went fuzzy like the other cameras.
I know Deerking just bought the DCM-FZ10, and is selling the oly he used for wildlife pics. Maybe you want to buy his old one.
If you want to get one for wildlife make sure is doesnt have one of those peanut lenses!! get one with a lense at least the size of a quarter. Light gathering is important with pics because it lowers the shutter time allowing for less tripod use.

<FONT COLOR="#800080" SIZE="1">[ 12-22-2003 06:25: Message edited by: schmalts ]</font>
 
Moosie,

It all depends on what you want to do with your pictures. My goal with Film cameras is to get one picture per roll, that I can englarge to 8x10. And many times that is the kids or a critter. The 3 and 4mp are just not adequate. The picture I sent you in the mail is a 3mp camera (Nikon), and it just is not crisp enough, even at 4x6.

If your goal is just to post picture on the Internet (which I would guess you would do with 90% of your shots), then anything over 1mp is adequate.

But, as much time as you are outside, if you were to ever slow down, and start looking at pictures, you would be able to get some "Art Quality" shots, and then you need the 5-6.3mp cameras.

By the way, there is nothing wrong with starting with a 1-2mp camera, getting the hang of it, and then upgrading. The kids will love having the 1mp camera, to take alll sorts of pictures...

And if you will hurry and buy the Digital Rebel, I'll borrow it.......
wink.gif
 
I've got a Sony that has 4X optical and 6X digital zoom. It's not a bad camera and does a good job for snapshot kinda things, but as Gunner stated for larger prints you need more than 4mp. The downside is it's kinda bulky. If I had to do over I'd have gotten and smaller one with the same mp and dealt with less zoom. The 256mb cards are definitely worth the ching.

Anyone have a digital SLR? I'd like a digital SLR as I'm not too confident in my photography skills yet and that slide film is pretty pricey. I'd like to get one that prints at least 8X10 close to film. I know that someone came out with a 14mp digital SLR, but it was about $14K out of my price range.
 
I use a digital SLR at work. Its the camedia e-10 , it doesnt impress me much.
You guys need to realize that MP is only half the battle to good 8X10 pics. I printed out some very nice 8X10's with my camera. You still need a good high end lense. I have a picture I took with my 3.2MP on best setting that i will email to anyone that wants to try to print out a 8x10, you may be surprised.
It seems to me that those compact cameras with 5+mp and that little dime sized lenses are kind of a joke. Kind of like buying a pair of 20X binos for 50$
MP is important but most point and shoot cameras dont have the lenses to make it any advantage. Something to keep in mind , Check out the PANASONIC....

<FONT COLOR="#800080" SIZE="1">[ 12-22-2003 07:30: Message edited by: schmalts ]</font>
 
1-ptr...

The Canon Digital Rebel SLR is under a Grand, but you can't find them in stock, at the Electronics stores. The Camera stores have them in stock, but want an extra $300, which would go a long way to a nice lens. BestBuy.com and the others all seem to have them on back order.

It will take 6.+ mp, and the quality is matching Film. And with the digital, you don't need two cameras, one for B&W and one for Color.

I know two Enthusiasts who made the switch to Digital this fall. One to the Digital Rebel, and one to the 10D Canon (its' bigger brother, magnesium case), and they are just sold.
 
MOOSIE --------->>> STILL
confused.gif
confused.gif


If I buy a Nice one.... Looks like I'll be giving up hunting to afford it
eek.gif
 
Uhhh Moosie.... Look in your freezer.... It looks about like mine, as in you DID give up hunting....
wink.gif


The nice thing about a nice camera, is that you don't have to spend all the $$$ on the Kidde Kandids photos over at the Mall, as you can do better pictures, that have more meaning. And with all the kids you are planning on having, you would actually save money.
cool.gif


It just depends on what you want to do with the pictures. If it is to look at them online, on a 17" screen, then your choices are easy.

Look at Ovis' pictures in his gallery, and then look at mine. His were with a 5mp and mine were with a 1mp. But if you remember looking at his printed out, there is NO comparison. (And as another note, Ovis does an awesome job on composition and lighting.)

Kind of like the 17 year old kid at the store will ask you.... "Sir, what do you plan on doing with your pictures?"
 
For online use, any reasonable camera available today will do fine. Web browsers, by definition, can display a maximum of 72 dpi, no more. So, it doesn't matter if you have a gigapixel camera that takes photos so realistic you'd swear you were actually sitting there...on the web, they'll look just like anyone else's.
biggrin.gif


Moosie, my opinion is speaking here, but unless you intend to be SERIOUS about your photography you'd be wasting your money to buy a high-end SLR-type digital camera. The price-to-performance ratio just isn't practical for the average, non-professional Joe. You will be just as happy with the current Coolpix model, one of the Sony's mentioned, or a few of the different Canon Powershot models. If you buy one of those and find it lacking, you can always step up later.

That's my $0.02, anyway.
rolleyes.gif
Go here for prices, reviews, comparisons, etc. Gunner's Digital Rebel goes for $788 with one retailer here.
 
GOHUNT Insider

Latest posts

Forum statistics

Threads
111,126
Messages
1,947,980
Members
35,034
Latest member
Waspocrew
Back
Top