Digital camera - Page 3 - XDTalk Forums - Your HS2000/SA-XD Information Source!

Krackels · 05-01-2007, 06:48 PM

I have an Olympus Sp-310. It's 7.1 megapixels but I picked it up at Comp USA on clearance for around $125 last year.

Look around there's plenty of deals. I'd strongly recommend that you get a camera that uses regular type batteries and not a proprietary battery pack.

In addition you might want to check Techbargains.com occasionally and slickdeals.net sometimes you can find some really good deals.

If you plan on using it a lot or often when you're not where it's convient to plug it in. I'd recommend that you purchase a good battery charger.
http://www.imaging-resource.com/ACC1.HTM
They're worth their weight in gold and you don't ever have to worry about leaving batteries in too long or if they're fully charged when you remove them.

This was a photo I took today and uploaded it directly to the gallery. http://www.xdtalk.com/gallery/showph...to=857&cat=500

Try clicking on the photo to get the super huge photo.

Mercmar · 05-01-2007, 07:10 PM

Unless you want your flash pics limited to about 20', get SOMETHING with a hotshoe!

jednp · 05-01-2007, 08:25 PM

One more thing to pay attention to, optical zoom. Don't worry about what the digital zoom is. You don't get quality pictures with digital zoom. On average most cameras will give 3-6x optical. Mine has 3x. There are some that do have 10-12x as well.

I also second the need to have a hot shoe or at least the ability to hook one up so you can use an external flash. I can't remember for sure, but I thin I recall some canon cameras having the ability to hook up an external flash. You may not think you'd need it, but trust me.. you might. And you are only going to get about 20 ft out of the flash on the camera.. if it's even that far. The flash I have for my nikon D70 for instance, I think it will reach out to about 175 ft. You're not likely to get that with the external flashes made for some of these smaler cameras.. but you will definitely get more than 20 ft out of it.

So if you decide you would eventually want to get an external flash.. see if the camera you are buying has one as an accessory. My fuji didn't, and to be honest.. the day we were out hiking there were a few times when I could have used a more powerful flash, because the flash made no difference with the picture due to it being just slightly too far away. Next trip I'm taking my good camera so I have my big flash to reach out there.

Just something to think about. I know some smaller cameras can accept an external flash.. they have a bracket that mounts to the camera and holds the flash either above or off to the side.. not directly onto the camera like the bigger cameras.. but still just as effective. Having a flash like that also helps reduce red-eye too.

A lot of people don't realize, but you can use flash in daylight. It fills in shadows.

Here are two pictures, same setting, same distance. First one is without flash, second one is with flash. It was a sunny day and it was in a sunny spot. My fiance just had her back to the sun. I took the first picture, then figured I needed to use flash. The 2nd picture came out much better. Some cameras have settings to actually fill in mostly the shadows but leave the normal parts that aren't dark alone. That's kind of how my big camera is, but it's a lot higher quality then these little cameras.

without flash

with flash

jednp · 05-01-2007, 08:36 PM

Also you should know, that megapixel isn't EVERYTHING. Smaller cameras have smaller image sensors. You can have an 8 megapixel small point n shoot camera, vs a 8 megapixel digital SLR and the SLR will put it to shame because its image sensor is bigger. You can only cram so much onto the sensor before it gets too cluttered. The size of each pixel on the sensor of the SLR allows it to pick up more detail.

There are many 7.1 or 7.3 I think cameras out there. They would do anything you wanted to do more than likely. I am very happy with my 6.3 megapixel camera. It takes really good pictures for what it is.

And back to the issue of flash. The external flash canon makes for some of its smaller cameras has a range of 23 ft. not as far as I thought. I really think the flashes on most cameras only are really effective at about 15 ft and less. So to truly be able to have a flash that can reach out there, you would have to go with a camera that has a hotshoe built right onto it. But then you're looking at spending at LEAST $100 on a flash.. mine cost me almost $400. But remember, most cameras with a hot shoe are SLR cameras, and they are much higher in price.

So the more I sit and think about it, I believe for the price you want, you're going to just have to stick with the flash that's on your camera. The only times I've wished I had my big flash was when we were at the zoo or out hiking, things like that where I needed to take a longer distance picture but needed more light in it. Fro the vast majority of pictures people take, you are close up anyways. But in the event your flash isn't lighting the picture up quite good enough, just raise the ISO speed to a higher number. Quite often I've had to go up to 1600 and sacrafice picture quality, in order to at least get a picture. even professionals have to do this sometimes if it means having a picture or not having a picture.

kendal · 05-01-2007, 09:13 PM

Samsung 10.1MP Digital Camera, Digimax

http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/produ...cemldffidfno.0

$150 After Rebate from Sears. This is a nice camera my mom had one until it got stolen. I am going to get her another as a replacement for Mothers day and I intend to pick one up for myself as well. Took great pics. and had a larger than average sensor. I shoot a Canon 5d and white lenses for my business and have no problem carrying this one around as a point and shoot. Only thing is it takes regular AA batteries, this is an issue to some but I don’t see it as a problem.

Just my $.02. Good luck

jednp · 05-01-2007, 09:42 PM

Remember as well, the higher the megapixel, the larger the file size. Be prepared to either purchase an external hard drive for photo storage, or keep them all on discs. 8 mp and up can take up hard drive space pretty quick if you take a lot of pictures.

Personally, I don't see the need for a 10 mp in a non-slr camera. you just don't get the benefits out of having that many megapixel on such a small image sensor. that many megapixel really accells in the digital SLR cameras though.

I think you will be perfectly fine with any camera in the 7-8 megapixel range.

dhindo · 05-02-2007, 11:56 AM

This is what I use,just apoint and shoot...

Pics taken with and with out a tripod..

For my application,its more than enough..

jednp · 05-02-2007, 12:12 PM

remember to take into account that the biggest factor into what makes any picture turn out right... is the LIGHT. Now I know with digital, below a certain megapixel you get crappy images.. but anything 6 mp and up is going to give you pretty good results. Most people only print 4x6 pictures anyways.. it's not like we all go out and print 8x10's of all photos we take.

My point is, that you can take any camera for the most part and make it look like it's an expensive one by the quality of the picture it takes.. simply by understanding light. Maybe you take a picture during a different time of day... or maybe you use filters to manipulate the light. Maybe you use fill flash to fill in shadows on photos of people.

You can have the best, or cheapest camera in the world... neither guarantees you good image results if you don't understand how to properly take a picture and understand light.

I've seen photos taken with disposable cameras, that you would swear were done with a high end camera. The only reason they turned out like they did, was the person understood how to use light to their advantage. Learn some of the secrets, and you will be even more happy with whatever camera you buy.

05-01-2007, 06:48 PM	#21
Krackels XDTalk 15K Member Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Southeastern PA Posts: 19,030 Blog Entries: 5	I have an Olympus Sp-310. It's 7.1 megapixels but I picked it up at Comp USA on clearance for around $125 last year. Look around there's plenty of deals. I'd strongly recommend that you get a camera that uses regular type batteries and not a proprietary battery pack. In addition you might want to check Techbargains.com occasionally and slickdeals.net sometimes you can find some really good deals. If you plan on using it a lot or often when you're not where it's convient to plug it in. I'd recommend that you purchase a good battery charger. http://www.imaging-resource.com/ACC1.HTM They're worth their weight in gold and you don't ever have to worry about leaving batteries in too long or if they're fully charged when you remove them. This was a photo I took today and uploaded it directly to the gallery. http://www.xdtalk.com/gallery/showph...to=857&cat=500 Try clicking on the photo to get the super huge photo. __________________ "Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." --Benjamin Franklin America's Third Parties --- Duping the Foolish and Idealistic since 1832. PA Roll Call .................... My Blog Last edited by Krackels; 05-01-2007 at 07:00 PM.

05-01-2007, 09:13 PM	#25
kendal XDTalk Newbie Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 13	Samsung 10.1MP Digital Camera, Digimax http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/produ...cemldffidfno.0 $150 After Rebate from Sears. This is a nice camera my mom had one until it got stolen. I am going to get her another as a replacement for Mothers day and I intend to pick one up for myself as well. Took great pics. and had a larger than average sensor. I shoot a Canon 5d and white lenses for my business and have no problem carrying this one around as a point and shoot. Only thing is it takes regular AA batteries, this is an issue to some but I don’t see it as a problem. Just my $.02. Good luck Last edited by kendal; 05-02-2007 at 06:51 AM.

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05-01-2007, 07:10 PM	#22
Mercmar XDTalk 1K Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 1,761	Unless you want your flash pics limited to about 20', get SOMETHING with a hotshoe!

05-01-2007, 08:25 PM	#23
jednp XDTalk 4K Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Omaha, NE Posts: 4,691	One more thing to pay attention to, optical zoom. Don't worry about what the digital zoom is. You don't get quality pictures with digital zoom. On average most cameras will give 3-6x optical. Mine has 3x. There are some that do have 10-12x as well. I also second the need to have a hot shoe or at least the ability to hook one up so you can use an external flash. I can't remember for sure, but I thin I recall some canon cameras having the ability to hook up an external flash. You may not think you'd need it, but trust me.. you might. And you are only going to get about 20 ft out of the flash on the camera.. if it's even that far. The flash I have for my nikon D70 for instance, I think it will reach out to about 175 ft. You're not likely to get that with the external flashes made for some of these smaler cameras.. but you will definitely get more than 20 ft out of it. So if you decide you would eventually want to get an external flash.. see if the camera you are buying has one as an accessory. My fuji didn't, and to be honest.. the day we were out hiking there were a few times when I could have used a more powerful flash, because the flash made no difference with the picture due to it being just slightly too far away. Next trip I'm taking my good camera so I have my big flash to reach out there. Just something to think about. I know some smaller cameras can accept an external flash.. they have a bracket that mounts to the camera and holds the flash either above or off to the side.. not directly onto the camera like the bigger cameras.. but still just as effective. Having a flash like that also helps reduce red-eye too. A lot of people don't realize, but you can use flash in daylight. It fills in shadows. Here are two pictures, same setting, same distance. First one is without flash, second one is with flash. It was a sunny day and it was in a sunny spot. My fiance just had her back to the sun. I took the first picture, then figured I needed to use flash. The 2nd picture came out much better. Some cameras have settings to actually fill in mostly the shadows but leave the normal parts that aren't dark alone. That's kind of how my big camera is, but it's a lot higher quality then these little cameras. without flash with flash

05-01-2007, 08:36 PM	#24
jednp XDTalk 4K Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Omaha, NE Posts: 4,691	Also you should know, that megapixel isn't EVERYTHING. Smaller cameras have smaller image sensors. You can have an 8 megapixel small point n shoot camera, vs a 8 megapixel digital SLR and the SLR will put it to shame because its image sensor is bigger. You can only cram so much onto the sensor before it gets too cluttered. The size of each pixel on the sensor of the SLR allows it to pick up more detail. There are many 7.1 or 7.3 I think cameras out there. They would do anything you wanted to do more than likely. I am very happy with my 6.3 megapixel camera. It takes really good pictures for what it is. And back to the issue of flash. The external flash canon makes for some of its smaller cameras has a range of 23 ft. not as far as I thought. I really think the flashes on most cameras only are really effective at about 15 ft and less. So to truly be able to have a flash that can reach out there, you would have to go with a camera that has a hotshoe built right onto it. But then you're looking at spending at LEAST $100 on a flash.. mine cost me almost $400. But remember, most cameras with a hot shoe are SLR cameras, and they are much higher in price. So the more I sit and think about it, I believe for the price you want, you're going to just have to stick with the flash that's on your camera. The only times I've wished I had my big flash was when we were at the zoo or out hiking, things like that where I needed to take a longer distance picture but needed more light in it. Fro the vast majority of pictures people take, you are close up anyways. But in the event your flash isn't lighting the picture up quite good enough, just raise the ISO speed to a higher number. Quite often I've had to go up to 1600 and sacrafice picture quality, in order to at least get a picture. even professionals have to do this sometimes if it means having a picture or not having a picture.

05-01-2007, 09:42 PM	#26
jednp XDTalk 4K Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Omaha, NE Posts: 4,691	Remember as well, the higher the megapixel, the larger the file size. Be prepared to either purchase an external hard drive for photo storage, or keep them all on discs. 8 mp and up can take up hard drive space pretty quick if you take a lot of pictures. Personally, I don't see the need for a 10 mp in a non-slr camera. you just don't get the benefits out of having that many megapixel on such a small image sensor. that many megapixel really accells in the digital SLR cameras though. I think you will be perfectly fine with any camera in the 7-8 megapixel range.

05-02-2007, 11:56 AM	#27
dhindo XDTalk 100 Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 231	This is what I use,just apoint and shoot... Pics taken with and with out a tripod.. For my application,its more than enough..

05-02-2007, 12:12 PM	#28
jednp XDTalk 4K Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Omaha, NE Posts: 4,691	remember to take into account that the biggest factor into what makes any picture turn out right... is the LIGHT. Now I know with digital, below a certain megapixel you get crappy images.. but anything 6 mp and up is going to give you pretty good results. Most people only print 4x6 pictures anyways.. it's not like we all go out and print 8x10's of all photos we take. My point is, that you can take any camera for the most part and make it look like it's an expensive one by the quality of the picture it takes.. simply by understanding light. Maybe you take a picture during a different time of day... or maybe you use filters to manipulate the light. Maybe you use fill flash to fill in shadows on photos of people. You can have the best, or cheapest camera in the world... neither guarantees you good image results if you don't understand how to properly take a picture and understand light. I've seen photos taken with disposable cameras, that you would swear were done with a high end camera. The only reason they turned out like they did, was the person understood how to use light to their advantage. Learn some of the secrets, and you will be even more happy with whatever camera you buy.