What kind of digital cameras are you guys using

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TooManyIdeas
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What kind of digital cameras are you guys using

#1

Post by TooManyIdeas »

I can't help but notice my pics look like crap incomparison to some of the other posts. I'm using a 2001 sony camcorder with a digital camera feature (something like 1.3 mp) It has no flash either which leaves me having to lighten the photos before I post.
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Nissan_Ranger
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fujifilm digicam

#2

Post by Nissan_Ranger »

I use a Fujifilm FinePix S6000 with a 1 gig card in it. It works GREAT!
Maybe try putting really bright light on your subject when you take a still pic with that camera of yours. Underexposing costs a LOT of detail...

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N_R
The old 'six gun' was as popular as the cell phone in its time and just as annoying when it went off in the Theater.
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TruckA
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#3

Post by TruckA »

Canon A70 with 3.2 megapixels, 3x optical zoom and 6x digital zoom, it was bought in Spring 2004. I've enjoyed it alot, but its starting to have a few bugs. It takes panoramas plus video with audio as well which is nice

David
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asavage
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#4

Post by asavage »

I am not by any stretch a photographer and get bored fast when discussing exposure times, aperture settings, film speed.

Having said that, I've gone through more digital cameras than I though possible. At least seven in seven years.

My first was a $700 Ricoh RDC5300, 1999, 1.3MP. Ate batteries for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and midnight snack. Maybe ten shots per set of NiMH, without flash. I bought three sets (12) of NiMH and a fast charger and always kept eight batteries in the case.

It took quite good pictures, does date-stamping. Ridiculously hard to use though. And heavy. And serial cable transfer only with very balky transfer software, no industry std support and no tech supt. It was stolen in 2001.

I bought a replacement, a newer-model RDC5310 off eBay for $75 :shock: I kept it all this time, and only four months ago gave it to Maggie in Carlton, Ore and now she gives it a workout -- it's still a very good camera for a 1.3MP, very good for closeup work, not bad for larger stuff. But still hard to operate. Used SmartMedia (remember that?). The serial transfer junk would only work in Windoze, which irked me, since I had to use my W95c porn box to transfer pics to the server. Blech.

I've gone through several Olympus D-450 and D-550s, which I eventually sold (all of them) to my boss. They all took pics too blue, or had long startup/boot times, or overly sensitive shutoff switches, or no date-stamping (ROM differences, BION!). One of them worked pretty well, the rest didn't. Used SD media, IIRC.

Had one cheap Canon in there that was very blue and also wouldn't focus under 4', which is 90%+ of what I do. It was with me only breifly, and that's the one I used for all those 720 SD viton lines pictures (and why they're so fuzzy & blue). They all use AA NiMH batteries and battery life is good.

Am now using an Olympus SP-350 (Costco, $230 in 2006), 8.0MP (you read that right). It will not date-stamp :( It has two Macro settings, only one of which works and that one (Super Macro) is for under 8" and won't fire the flash, so I have to use separate lighting to use it. The std Macro setting is supposed to be for 3' down to 8" but will not auto-focus in that range in that setting no matter what. You can see the AF go right by the correct setting.

The MF is only accessible if you go off Auto on the mode selector, and then you have to adjust everything manually, which I have not the patience for, so I just don't use that setting, even though I would sometimes kill for it.

Takes xD media, I have 1GiB in it, have never taken more than 50 pics with it, and it slows down considerably the more pics you take, beware!

Battery life is stellar: dozens of flash pics, no problem. Huge LCD monitor, 2" horizontal which doesn't sound like much but is huge, and bright. You could watch a movie on this monitor. Controls layout is not bad. AF spot likes to move on its own (though it will show you what it's focusing on) and that's somewhat annoying when you are trying for a macro shot down in a well of parts: it wants to focus on a vertical edge with high contrast, rather than where you want it, and keeps shifting it around. Annoying.

Batteries are weird and unavailable in my county, period: CR-V3, Walgrens in the next county has them for about $10 ea, in two packs. Last batch I bought online, for a bit less than that. I go through about one battery per month or so. I miss rechargeables in this camera. This is the first camera I've owned where I actually use the USB cable, as it works as well as a media reader finally. Transfer is plenty fast. However, it does not seem to use power from the USB cable when doing a transfer, which I found out unexpectedly and expensively when I left it doing a transfer for a couple of hours (it finished in minutes, but I had left the bldg.). Battery died prematurely after that. Flush $10.

I am going to buy a replacement for it soon, I think. The lack of working AF in Macro mode and no date stamping are the issues I'd like to resolve with a new camera. But of the bunch, this SP-350 has been the best.
Last edited by asavage 16 years ago, edited 1 time in total.
Regards,
Al S.

1982 Maxima diesel wagon, 2nd & 4th owner, 165k miles, rusty & burgundy/grey. Purchased 1996, SOLD 16Feb10
1983 Maxima diesel wagon, 199k miles, rusty, light yellow/light brown. SOLD 14Jul07
1981 720 SD22 (scrapped 04Sep07)
1983 Sentra CD17, 255k, bought 06Jul08, gave it away 22Jun10.
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TooManyIdeas
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#5

Post by TooManyIdeas »

Cool, are there any that I should stay away from?
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kassim503
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#6

Post by kassim503 »

I use the kodak easyshare v530 5.0 MP that seems to be a special edition from target. It seems to work good, I feel that the docking station and the easyshare software that comes with it is a little too complicated, and geared to make you buy prints of your pics off the internet. I mostly just use my computer as a database and I rarely get pictures printed. But I usually just use the card reader on the comp to view and copy photos off the camera
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philip
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Re: What kind of digital cameras are you guys using

#7

Post by philip »

...
Last edited by philip 16 years ago, edited 1 time in total.
-Philip
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asavage
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Re: What kind of digital cameras are you guys using

#8

Post by asavage »

philip wrote:You MUST shoot a clear photo. After that, the rest is done (as needed) with PhotoShop.
Adobe PhotoShop ain't cheap, unless you steal it.
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philip
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Re: What kind of digital cameras are you guys using

#9

Post by philip »

...
Last edited by philip 16 years ago, edited 2 times in total.
-Philip
Passed 08May2008
My friend, you are missed . . .

1982 Datsun 720KC SD-22

"Im slow and I'm ahead of you"
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asavage
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#10

Post by asavage »

If you have to buy corrective software to make your camera have decent color/luminosity balance, I'd rather spend the extra dough on a better camera in the first place.

While I do have PhotoShop, it's much easier to work with a camera that takes better pictures, and I can do most tweaking I need in $50 PMView Pro. Or maybe free IrfanView. PMV is not an editing program per se, but I can crop, copy/paste, rotate, lighten/darken, sharpen/filter and a lot of other stuff. Can't drop text on a pic though, and that's mainly what I use PS for.
Cheathu
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Re: What kind of digital cameras are you guys using

#11

Post by Cheathu »

TooManyIdeas wrote:I can't help but notice my pics look like crap incomparison to some of the other posts. I'm using a 2001 sony camcorder with a digital camera feature (something like 1.3 mp) car navigation system It has no flash either which leaves me having to lighten the photos before I post.
Recently got samsung Galaxy camera. It does has amazing features. You can upload pics instantly to facebook and other social sites
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asavage
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#12

Post by asavage »

I generally buy whatever camera Costco has on sale, every two years or so -- I'm overdue. I'm on my sixth or seventh digital camera, a Samsung TL110 that I think is three years old. I've never had it run out of juice, it recharges fast, and the Super Macro mode is better than the last two cams I've owned.

The autofocus on Macro is starting to go, just like on several previous cameras. Cleaning the lens helps, but in my experience it's a good indicator that it's time to buy another camera.

My iPhone 4 is supposed to have a "decent" camera, but while I use it when I'm in junkyards or in the field to send a quick pic back to the shop, I find it's a pretty trashy quality camera.

The Samsung's worst feature is that its CCD seems slow. The auto mode wants to use the flash most of the time, which gives a lot of glare-out on close shots, and if you override the flash and turn it off, you'd better have very steady hands or a tripod, or the result is much less than crisp.

It also uses a proprietary USB cable, which is always annoying when I travel (I have a large zip-lock bag for all our cords & adapters, and it's FULL!
Regards,
Al S.

1982 Maxima diesel wagon, 2nd & 4th owner, 165k miles, rusty & burgundy/grey. Purchased 1996, SOLD 16Feb10
1983 Maxima diesel wagon, 199k miles, rusty, light yellow/light brown. SOLD 14Jul07
1981 720 SD22 (scrapped 04Sep07)
1983 Sentra CD17, 255k, bought 06Jul08, gave it away 22Jun10.
plenzen
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#13

Post by plenzen »

Pretty much stick with Canon Power Shots but don't change them near as often as Al does. Every 4 - 5 I think. Had good luck with them so far.
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