Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I'm looking for a bit of advice from any of you who know a thing or two about photography / digital cameras.
I'm going on vacation in a couple of weeks and plan to take lots of pictures, both day and night, urban, suburban and rural, shots of the sea, etc, etc. I have an old Kodak Easyshare, but it takes horrible night pictures and the picture quality isn't that great, unless you have a perfectly sunny day.
What I want is a digital camera that meets the following criteria:
- Takes good night shots, particularly skyline shots (bolded because this is probably the most crucial)
- Is portable
- Has a decent batter life
- Is relatively easy to use for an amateur like me
- Is at least 9 Mega Pixels
- Is affordable, but reliable at the same time
Can any of you recommend a particular make or model, i.e. a camera that has served you well?
Well, that depends on a few factors (with price being the most important). Are you looking for a point-and-shoot or DSLR?
These days, so long as you stick to a known brand name, you really can't go wrong. Digital cameras have come a long way in the past few years, especially those priced toward the lower end of the spectrum. My wife has a six-month old Canon IS790 (10 megapixel point-and-shoot) that you can likely find for under $150 these days. For the price, the image quality is astounding. Night shots are fantastic with this little camera.
If you're looking at a DSLR, Nikons and Canons start at around $500 for the body and a 18-55mm kit lens. In the end, both Nikon and Canon are about the same in terms of image quality. However, the entry level Nikons lack an autofocus motor in the body, which may or may not be an problem for you. Personally, I have a Nikon D40x, and have not found this to be an issue.
If you're looking for unbiased (although lengthy) reviews, be sure to visit dpreview.com. You'll find a wealth of information there.
When I bought my camera I waffled back and forth between a point and shoot, super zoom point and shoot and a DSLR and decided on a Panasonic DMC-FZ28. It covers my needs very well and has plenty of options for manual settings, good image stabilization and auto focus tracking and is fairly easy to use.
I don't take many night shots so I can't speak to its capabilities in that realm all that well. I have used the flash at night and it takes good pictures with it as well as having a decent range. The lens housing is threaded so it can accept adapters for filters and so forth. It comes with a rechargeable battery and charger and I've found battery life to be very good. I've only charged it a couple of times in over a month and have taken over 500 pictures with it overall, not bad considering I walk around with it on for 5-10 minutes at a time and use the LCD most of the time.
Part of what factored into my decision was price and how I use it. A DSLR was beyond what I needed for the kind of shooting I do but the super zoom fit well for what I use it for and I don't find a need for a tripod for the most part even at full zoom.
I visited the following site frequently for camera information in the weeks leading up to purchasing mine. Get past the somewhat silly name and they link to a bunch of useful information. I waffled back and forth between the one I bought and the Canon SX10 IS but found a very good deal for the Panasonic.
What's your budget? "Affordable" means different things to different people.
I don't have any specific recommendations but I can tell you what to look out for in your search. If you're going to be taking cityscapes, you'll want something that goes pretty wide but with minimal barrel distortion. For long exposures at night, you want something that has minimal noise at long exposures. Since you want it to be portable, I wouldn't recommend a DSLR.
First go to dpreview.com's feature search to narrow down the technical aspects of what you want (format, megapixels, zoom, etc): Buying Guide: Features Search: Digital Photography Review (http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/compare.asp - broken link) - so pick "compact" for format because you want something portable, pick "< 24mm" or "28mm" for Zoom wide because you want a wide angle for cityscapes. I would also recommend getting something with an uncompressed format - even if you don't use it now, you do in the future, it's a good option to have. Also select something with a long min shutter.
With the results from that, check out from in depth reviews of each camera. Dpreview.com has some but also a good one is: Digital Cameras - Over 500 digital cameras reviews! - so with this, you're looking for things like having good image quality especially at night, low barrel distortion, low noise, etc.
I'm looking for a bit of advice from any of you who know a thing or two about photography / digital cameras.
I'm going on vacation in a couple of weeks and plan to take lots of pictures, both day and night, urban, suburban and rural, shots of the sea, etc, etc. I have an old Kodak Easyshare, but it takes horrible night pictures and the picture quality isn't that great, unless you have a perfectly sunny day.
What I want is a digital camera that meets the following criteria:
- Takes good night shots, particularly skyline shots (bolded because this is probably the most crucial)
- Is portable
- Has a decent batter life
- Is relatively easy to use for an amateur like me
- Is at least 9 Mega Pixels
- Is affordable, but reliable at the same time
Can any of you recommend a particular make or model, i.e. a camera that has served you well?
Thanks!
Are you making prints or just using it for webshots. And if prints how big? Makes a difference.
Thanks for all of your advice -- I'm going to check out the links you provided and do some more research.
We were in Best Buy earlier and this model interested me a lot:
Sony - Cyber-shot 9.1-Megapixel Digital Camera - Black - DSC-H50/B (http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8757268&type=product&id=12026507 03335 - broken link)
As for "affordable", I really don't want to break the bank and spend more than $400, to be honest. I'm a novice @ photography and just want a camera that is semi-decent and an improvement on our little Kodak Easyshare that is rather dated and limited when it comes to night shots & wide panorama shots.
However, since someone mentioned DSLR cameras, this one interests me a lot and it's affordable:
If you're open to DSLRs then I would definitely go with one - I just wouldn't really call them portable. In terms of novice cameras, DSLRs are the biggest option. But they will handle long exposures better and have bigger sensors meaning better image quality.
Sounds pretty good but be careful about where you buy it. It may be $400 on that website but I've never heard of those sellers. Make sure you're buying from reliable sellers - if you've bought from them before and never had any problems then fair enough but I wouldn't slap $400 down on a website I've never heard of. It appears to be $500 on the reputable sites I know of: B&H and Adorama.
If you use ebay, maybe check that out and again, make sure you're buying from a reputable seller - I know there are check systems on ebay at least.
Those of us, who tout Nikon or Canon, do so because we've shot with them for a very long time, or we've recently purchased one, and like it. Then general consenus in a lot of photographic circles, is that these guys, are the 'big two'. Add in Olympus and Pentax, and you get four outstanding companies who have outstanding track records with their products.
I sell cameras for a living. I'm also a pro. I've been shooting with Nikons for over 30 years, and haven't had one let me down. So for me, I recommend Nikon, simply because I've had excellent reliability, and a long history with the product. Biased, maybe, but only because of what I know about the product from my years of owning and using them.
When I sell a camera I ask my customer the questions I need to in order to pair that customer with the best possible camera based upon their needs. I don't automatically say, "oh you have to buy a Nikon". Any camera sales person who does not ask questions as to needs/wants in a camera, is not doing their job.
So, BCreass my advice to you is this:
Go to a good camera store, and pick their brains. Tell them what you want and need, and see what they offer you. If you don't have a dedicated camera store, then hit your major retailers, and pick their brains.
If all else fails come on back here, and pick ours. We'll help you out.
Here's a quick list of recommendations from me:
Fuji: Z20. Under $175, hi res, pocket portable exceptional imagery. Fuji has some really outstanding cameras. They don't get near the respect they deserve.
Nikon: S60. 10 megger, 5 optical. A little more $$ but its one sweet camera.
Nikon: S560. A 10 megger, 5 optical, nice package. Oh, and its under $200.
Canon: SX110IS 9 mp, 10 optical zoom, and still a pocket portable package.
Panasonic: DMC-FZ28 Mentioned in a post above, one seriously good camera. Panasonic's been overlooked, and that's an injustice.
Olympus: Stylus 7000. Niiiice. 12 megger with a 7 optical zoom. Pretty sweet.
Olympus: FE 5010: Costs less, but has nice features. Like 12 megger, with a 5 optical.
And of course, Kodak. I sell a ton of em. Why? They have the price tag everyone wants. Unfortunately, I see the same customer about three years later, needing a new one, because their Kodak dies on them, and it costs more to fix than to replace. They do take great images, but they don't seem to hold up as well as the pricier models on the display bar.
Sony. Sorry, they don't get my vote. Why? Not so much the cameras themselves, they are really quite good, SONY. If you have to deal with them for a repair, they are HORRID. Believe it or not, I DO get asked, if the company is easy to deal with if you need a warranty repair.
Those of us, who tout Nikon or Canon, do so because we've shot with them for a very long time, or we've recently purchased one, and like it. Then general consenus in a lot of photographic circles, is that these guys, are the 'big two'. Add in Olympus and Pentax, and you get four outstanding companies who have outstanding track records with their products.
I sell cameras for a living. I'm also a pro. I've been shooting with Nikons for over 30 years, and haven't had one let me down. So for me, I recommend Nikon, simply because I've had excellent reliability, and a long history with the product. Biased, maybe, but only because of what I know about the product from my years of owning and using them.
When I sell a camera I ask my customer the questions I need to in order to pair that customer with the best possible camera based upon their needs. I don't automatically say, "oh you have to buy a Nikon". Any camera sales person who does not ask questions as to needs/wants in a camera, is not doing their job.
So, BCreass my advice to you is this:
Go to a good camera store, and pick their brains. Tell them what you want and need, and see what they offer you. If you don't have a dedicated camera store, then hit your major retailers, and pick their brains.
If all else fails come on back here, and pick ours. We'll help you out.
Here's a quick list of recommendations from me:
Fuji: Z20. Under $175, hi res, pocket portable exceptional imagery. Fuji has some really outstanding cameras. They don't get near the respect they deserve.
Nikon: S60. 10 megger, 5 optical. A little more $$ but its one sweet camera.
Nikon: S560. A 10 megger, 5 optical, nice package. Oh, and its under $200.
Canon: SX110IS 9 mp, 10 optical zoom, and still a pocket portable package.
Panasonic: DMC-FZ28 Mentioned in a post above, one seriously good camera. Panasonic's been overlooked, and that's an injustice.
Olympus: Stylus 7000. Niiiice. 12 megger with a 7 optical zoom. Pretty sweet.
Olympus: FE 5010: Costs less, but has nice features. Like 12 megger, with a 5 optical.
And of course, Kodak. I sell a ton of em. Why? They have the price tag everyone wants. Unfortunately, I see the same customer about three years later, needing a new one, because their Kodak dies on them, and it costs more to fix than to replace. They do take great images, but they don't seem to hold up as well as the pricier models on the display bar.
Sony. Sorry, they don't get my vote. Why? Not so much the cameras themselves, they are really quite good, SONY. If you have to deal with them for a repair, they are HORRID. Believe it or not, I DO get asked, if the company is easy to deal with if you need a warranty repair.
Well put. Amen.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
