Tell Me About Your Digital Camera

[liriodendron]

So I'm thinking about buying a digital camera (a topic about which I know absolutely nothing). What do you like about your digital camera? What do you dislike? What else should I consider before I run off to the store and plunk down my hard-earned money? Inquiring minds want to know.

[Thomas Scheuzger]

What's your budget, and what do you want to be able to do with it? Are you thinking point and shoot or DSLR (exchangeable lenses)?

[gailkate]

And do you want to do video, because then you have to worry about HD, or so I read yesterday. (I was dawdling and had to read everything in the paper.)

We got a 5 (megapixel?) several years ago and felt quite cutting-edge. Now that's a step up from a Brownie. We also have a 2 whatever, that I got with some other purchase, and I'm waiting for it to become a collector's item.

The thing I do know is that you want to be able to read all the tiny stuff - whether icons, letters or numbers. The obsession with making things small is in direct opposition to our aging populace. Sometimes I need a magnifying glass and my reading glasses to make out the print on stuff designed by 15-yr-olds.

Uh-oh. Am I ever sounding like an old codger.

[liriodendron]

I haven't the foggiest what a reasonable budget would be. Can you get something decent for less than $500?

I don't want video. We've never owned a video camera. I did NOT want to be one of those parents watching my children's lives unfold through the lens of a video camera. (Too many bad childhood memories of my father with an 8mm camera and floodlights, I think. What child wants to wait until the camera equipment is set up to be able to open their Christmas presents?)

Point and shoot? DSLR? Gack!!! I have no clue, though I can't really imagine carrying around and switching a bunch of lenses. (More bad childhood memories. The man had two closets full of camera equipment all in lovely leather cases.) But I do want a viewfinder. That's one thing people have told me - don't get a camera with just a screen - it's too hard to compose your shot and you can't see what you're doing if there's a glare on the screen.

I want to be able to take decent (sharp) shots of whatever catches my attention. Right now I'm visiting my sister in Denver. She lives in a neighborhood full of beautiful old houses. I'd love to stroll through her neighborhood taking photos of every darn one of them. I suppose I'd also like some zoom capability, to be able to zero in on specific architectural features or blooms in the gardens.

I hear you with reading the tiny stuff, gk. Though I don't want a camera so big that I can't stick it in my purse.

[booklady]

Lirio, I was a latecomer to digital photography and really didn't have a clue what to get. This was shortly before I went to Hibbing last year. A guy at Best Buy sold me a beautiful camera that could do all kinds of stuff (I didn't have a clue, but was kind of intimidated by this young kid who rattled off specs and features like I ought to know about them ) for about $500 all told. When I got it home, it was too much technology for my computer. (I didn't know it then, but there was a way I could have used it.) I took it back.

Then I went to the Ritz Camera store in Falmouth. The guy was instructive and patient without being condescening. He sold me a wonderful little Nikon Coolpix L-10 for about $120, plus just a bit more for rechargeable batteries and charger, the memory card, and a case. It can take photos under different conditons (that you can set very easily). It self-focuses, has several different flash control settings (these can be important), has a self-timer and tripod mount opening, and has a zoom selection. It's really easy. All the photos I've posted here were taken with it.

I figured when I decided on it that if and when I needed something more sophisticated, this little model would have helped me get started for not much money. I also was not tempted to spend a lot on insurance against loss or droppage ( ) because it just didn't cost me that much to begin with. I have not wanted to take any photo that it wasn't capable of taking, even to zooming in, from the crowd, on my son's face at his graduation.

[booklady]

P.S. My camera has a screen and not a view finder and I haven't minded. Frame the shot as best you can (usually glare isn't a problem). You can always crop the shot on your computer when you upload your photos.

[Thomas Scheuzger]

For less than $500, I would go with the Canon G9. My wife has two versions earlier, the G6 (MY first digital, which she has now "inherited"), and she loves it. Comes with a viewfinder, 3" screen, RAW capability (even if that means nothing to you now, you'll most likely appreciate it later), 12 Megapixels, blah, blah, blah.

I wouldn't steer you wrong. Seems you mentioned a while back wanting to take some nice pictures...
;D

Here's a fairly in depth review with online merchants listed at the bottom of the review. Even if you only read the conclusion, it's worth it.

www.dpreview.com/reviews/canong9/

[slb2]

Here's the camera I have for work. It was less than $400 and has 5.1 megapixels.

A note about megapixels:

Do more Megapixels translate into better photo quality?

No. Despite what the sales person at the electronics store may have told you, more pixels does NOT mean better photo quality. Increasing the Megapixels (resolution) of the camera merely increases the size of the photo. This means that you can make larger prints, or crop a large area without losing too much detail. Since even a 4 Megapixel camera can make a nice 8 x 10 inch print, there's no need to spend more money on an 8 or 10 Megapixel camera.

Believe it or not, high resolution cameras may even have worse photo quality than their lower resolution counterparts. The more pixels on a camera's sensor, the more tightly packed together they are. That means more noise, less sensitivity, and potentially more purple fringing.

So don't be fooled by the Megapixel myth!


Like books, I use the screen although it does have a viewfinder. I take video often; I like that feature a lot. I love seeing my children in motion as they've grown; we've used video since 1992. Different cameras, though.

I prefered photography bd. (before digital) When it was manual, I could manipulate the results, now I have a harder time doing that. I'm not as tech saavy as I'd like.

[Trusty]

Aug 3, 2008 15:08:28 GMT -5 Thomas Scheuzger said:

.....RAW capability (even if that means nothing to you now, you'll most likely appreciate it later).....

HERE's a pretty good article about it.

[Gracie]

My digital camera languishes in the store somewhere, unpurchased, pining for me.....

[gailkate]

Re. megapixels. I don't know what they're recommending now, but Ebay used to say 2 was plenty for posting with an ad - more and you run into the complications slb2 referred to.

And looking at ads yesterday - Best Buy, Ritz, a couple of others, our Olympus (for which we paid nearly $600) can be had now for $179. So, yeah, don't spend a lot for features you won't use. (I don't think I could take a pic without the viewfinder.)

Here's a lily at my house.



Oops. That was before I rotated it. but I think it's ok for trying to capture the color and remembering what it looks like as I move things around this fall.

[joew]

I don't have a digital camera, and I'll avoid it as long as I can. I just feel overwhelmed by everything having to do with digital electronics. So when I go to Québec next week, I'll take along the analog camera I bought on my visit to Japan in 1975.

I just realized that this means none of you will be able to see any of my pictures. That's regrettable. Maybe I'll spring for something cheap but reliable within the next two or three years.

[booklady]

Joe, if you bought a scanner you could scan prints of your best photos. Will you be able to post from Quebec?

gk, what a lovely shot! The color is gorgeous!

[doctork]

I know next to nothing about cameras, but I asked a friend to help me buy a digital camera before my 2003 trip to Afghanistan - all the bells and whistles needed for $300. After the trip, my kids took over the camera and used it, me being not much of a photographer.

Christmas 2006 I bought my daughter a really nice digital camera for $200, even more bells and whistles than the one I bought in 2003.

This year, for $150 I bought a new one for the return to Afghanistan. Took me half the trip just to figure out how to use it, though eventually I got the hang of it.

And joew, when I used the old-fashioned Kodak disposable cameras (because in 2003 Afghanistan authorities might seize your camera and you don't want it to be the $300 one), I just had the film developed on disc as well as prints. Then you can post them on prairieCHATTER!

[joew]

Aug 4, 2008 9:34:55 GMT -5 booklady said:

Joe, if you bought a scanner you could scan prints of your best photos. Will you be able to post from Quebec?…

The printer/fax machine/copier which my computer can't get through to is also a scanner. If I could get the connection to work (the wires — excuse me, cables — are there) and taught myself how to scan things, create the files, and upload them, I could indeed let folks see them. Maybe I should work on that instead of getting a digital camera. Less expensive, don'cha know. Good suggestion.

I don't expect to be able to post from Québec. I won't have a laptop with me, and even if I did, I have no idea how to get onto the internet and be recognized except through the system here in the cellar.

So there will be a period of three days or so when I'll be maintaining internet silence.

[slb2]

docK's idea is probably the best route to go for the immediate, joew. Have the photos copied onto a disc and you can download them to your desktop and share them with us.

I'd love to visit Québec! Speak some French there for me, une petite, svp?

[joew]

Aug 4, 2008 12:25:13 GMT -5 @slb2 said:

docK's idea is probably the best route to go for the immediate, joew. Have the photos copied onto a disc and you can download them to your desktop and share them with us.

I'd love to visit Québec! Speak some French there for me, une petite, svp?

I was pretty good in French 50 years ago. I haven't used it much since then. But someone on another site gave a bit of good advice: when first encountering someone try speaking French; if they think their English is better than my French they'll switch, but they'll appreciate my attempt to use their language. (Something similar would happen to me in Germany when I tried to speak German.)

Alors, oui, je parlerais français autant possible.

[gailkate]

Bon.

But isn't it supposed to be true that Quebec French is rather different from what we learned in school?

And to impose Internet silence on yourself - and us - seems extreme. Can't you pop into a library and send us updates? Good grief, man, we won't know if you've been kidnapped by separatists or even pressed into service by some deranged chef.

[joew]

I think the difference is comparable to that between British and American English. So I think if I manage to say anything, they'll understand me, and if they speak French to me, the reason I won't understand is than my French "ear" hasn't had enough practice recently.

If I popped into a library, I wouldn't know how to get prairieCHATTER to recognize me as joeW. Besides, I've got less than 48 hours there, and I don't really want to spend the time it takes me to wordsmith my posts to keep you updated. Take it for granted that I am having a wonderful time and wish you were there until I tell you differently upon my return home or you hear of the tourist from eastern Massachusetts who has disappeared in Québec.

But I do appreciate your concern and your eagerness to hear from me.

[gailkate]

Joe's driver waits patiently while he races from sight to sight.

[booklady]

Real men ride in buggies with pink wheels, evidently.

[liriodendron]

Aug 3, 2008 15:08:28 GMT -5 Thomas Scheuzger said:

I wouldn't steer you wrong. Seems you mentioned a while back wanting to take some nice pictures...;D

I sure hope not. I just bought one based on your recommendation. The battery is charging and the software has been installed. Let the confusion picture taking begin!

[booklady]

Now you need to set up an account at Photobucket.

Have fun with your new toy!

[liriodendron]

I'm thinking that will be the easy part. You have no idea how long it took me to attach the camera strap.

[booklady]

A librarian will have no trouble deciphering the literature.

[liriodendron]

I am totally loving this camera - not that I have even scratched the surface as far as what it can do.

[joew]

Since this is where we last talked about my trip to Québec, I'll mention here that I'm home,and I loved it. Details to follow, probably on a new thread, after I've had some shut-eye.

[booklady]

Welcome back, Joe.