Camera Questions

[disneygang]

We are not pros at photography, but would like to take the best possible pictures for our childrens first Disney trip.

We are looking for any suggestions concerning cameras (point and shoot w/zoom) and film speed. We will bring mostly daytime film and add some for night shots.

Leaving on the 31st and looking for the best choices.

Any one with an opinion about the Olympus Stylus Epic Zoom 170 QD CG 35mm Camera please add comments.
Thanks,

 

[alloyd1170]

Have you thought about a digital camera? I dont think Ill ever go back to film. You dont need to worry about the security machines ruining your film. The biggest plus for me is that I can instantly see the picture I took, and if its not good, I can delete it and reshoot it again. The prices have come way down and memory cards can hold a hundred or so photos, depending on the memory. The only thing you would need to lug is a memory card (which is alreay in the camera) and charger, not rolls upon rolls of film. A 3 mpg is sufficent for enlarging photos to 8 x 10. It used to be hard to print out your pictures, but now Wlamart, and other drug stores have the machines where all you do is stick in the memory card, select which pictures you want to print, and voila, you have your pictures! No waiting for days to get them back, or paying a bunch for 1 hour. Also, no negatives to have piling up everywhere. What I do, is transfer them to my computer, use them as a slide show screen saver, and keep a backup on cd rom in my safe I have 2+ yrs of baby photos on 1 cd that still had room for more). You can easily email them to friends and family too. If you still want film, there is a Kodak camera I believe that allows you to preview the photos you take, and only print the ones you like. Problem is that I think you have to decide if you want it or not before taking the next shot, and it still chews up film. On a digital camera, when you delete pics you dont want, it frees up space. Hope this helps!

alison

 

[LuvindisCruiser]

I also have a digital camera and I love it !! I would never go back to APS or 35mm. I e-mail pictures all the time !! I even have the coolest background on my computer of our 3 yr. olds (at the time) in front of the Mickey head flowers at Disneyland. It is the best picture and I see it everyday on my computer. There is just so much you can do with digitals. And I don't have to worry about wasting film anymore. I just click away as many pictures as I want and pick a good one later, and erase the rest !! Digital is the way to go !! I develop mine at Sam's Club, they are about .18 a picture, and you can make them bigger, smaller, add words, or frames and borders, too Cool !!

 

[Amirah95]

Go Sony digital!

 

[Memaw2Wm]

not having to worry about the airport scanners and my film is great, plus you can do so much more with digital images ... take all the photos you want, but only print the best of the best ... crop, enlarge, remove red-eye. Email or post on the web. LOVE digital!

 

[disneygang]

I feel the passion flowing through the posts. I really love the digital flexibilty and I know the pics are beautiful. But, this is the first time for the children in Disney and we want to keep the potential problems to a minimum.

What do I watch for in airports? Is it the magnetized equipment?

Can the printed pictures from digital thru Sam's and other commercial places really be as good as regular film development? It is important for us to keep a photo album for the kids to browse. These will also be recruiting pics for a family trip in "06.

Thanks for the input. I am sure if digital is not in now, it won't be long before I get one. I am not as dumb as I sound, just moving into the digital age slowly.

I did just buy a Sony Handycam DVD-R. Any opinions on this purchase.

Tks,
ºoº

 

[Amirah95]

We carry on our digital equipment onto the airplane. I don't shop at Sam's but I know at Costco (here in NJ it's 17 cents per picture) we can get our pictures developed. Walmart has a machine that does this too. All you need to do is take the memory card and stick in the the computer and Voila! All your pictures come up and you can pick and choose which ones you want developed. Simple! We only get like 2 or 3 pictures developed into 8x10 because we burn our pictures on CDs and keep them in our library. When company comes over we pop it into our computer and they can view them from there.

Anything Sony I am for so good deal on the Handycam!

 

[montblanc]

"Can the printed pictures from digital thru Sam's and other commercial places really be as good as regular film development?"

Yes, although you must have a decent camera. I use a Nikon Coolpix 4300 and the prints I make myself are indistinguishable from lab prints. A nice feature about digital is you can literally take hundreds of photographs and print only the ones you wish to. Digital cameras are also extremely easy to use (I just turn it on and then shoot). All prints fade after time and negatives can be scratched or otherwise damaged, with digital "film" you can make new prints any time (be sure to back up your photographs).

Film is on the way out already and major manufacturers are ending production lines, here is one example:

"Nikon to increase digital production, exit film. To quote Mr Kimura, "There is still the matter of timing, but eventually we will have to dissolve this business... ...there really is no region in the world where you can do good business in compact film cameras anymore."

"I did just buy a Sony Handycam DVD-R. Any opinions on this purchase."

I do not know about this model and I guess you have to judge the results by the output but I was unhappy with my Hitachi DVD camcorder. The quality is not that good and I find the Mini DV Camcorders to be a better deal. I can only record 17 minutes in "fine" mode and the battery lasts less than an hour. My Mini DV battery lasts three hours and the tapes hold 60 minutes, they are much cheaper than the DVD's as well. Also if you are not technically inclined the DVD recorders are trickier. The DVD has to be finalized by your camcorder and it won't work in all DVD players.

 

[DisneyPete]

After lugging a Nikon 35MM SLR around WDW when my son was 1 yr old we knew e had to get something else. Everytime you would bend down to see him, the camera would swing down and almost knock his noodle.

So, I went out and found the Canon Elph 35 mm. It is all stainless steel so it is solid but it only about the size of deck of cards. It also comes in digital and I am thinking of getting one of those too. The pictures are great, it has a 3 times zoom, and was pretty reasonable. Plus it has withstood 3 more trips with what are now 3 kids.

 

[pyrxtc]

I am on the opposite side of the fence on this one. I will always have my film camera. Digital is okay for unimportant events but for experiences like the first trip to Disney, I would stick to film. Thisay you have the negatives. Yes, they can be scratched but so can't CD's. If you want pictures to e-mail, you can invest in a good scanner (as I did) and they come out great. You can scan them at 300% and print out beautiful 8x10's. Also you can upload them to anwhere like snapfish or ofoto and get prints from them for fairly cheap to. Then instead of e-mailing tons of pics you can just send them a link top your site. Also, to go along with your photo album, you could consider having an album printed for you. Ofoto will do a book up to 80 double sided pages with your choice of covers, hard bound, and you can put whayever pics where you want with title or story type text so when the kids are looking thru, there is no chance of pics falling out and getting ruined. It can get costly but the books start at $30.

The reasons I stay with film is the slowness of digital. I find that even with nicer digitals, the time it takes just to turn on is too long and picture opportunity's may be over. Also once you've taken a picture, you have to hold really still til it appears on your screen or your pic will be blurry. That means no chance on action shots! Forget about getting that pic of your kids face upon first meeting Mickey. by the time you turn on your camera it will be over. Because your camera will shut itself off after you not touching the buttons constantly. Plus the quick drain of batteries will run out just when you think you might get a good shot on time. Also do't touch your pics too soon or get them the tiniest bit moist (watch out for muggy days) or the pics are ruined. Photo paper can get expensive if you want your pics to last but they still won't last as long as real pics. digital = 50 years and film = 100 yrs. So they won't be passed down generation to generation. Even Cd's will someday be a thing of the past like 8-track tapes. Not many people have those anymore. Plus not everyone does computers, I still prefer to get a real pic that i can get in the mail and frame or stick in my wallet without the ink ruining another picture because of temperature or other accidents.

Really think about what your needs are and if you vote film, than use the money to get a scanner and you can put what pics you want on the comp. Also if you send your film to Snapfish, they will send you back prints plus have your pics online too.

 

[turnlisa]

I am also a digital fan -- and I was definitely a hold out for film! It took a lot for me to buy my digital camera and I can't imagine going back.

About taking action shots, on the camera we purchased (Kodak EasyShare 3.1), there is a sports feature which allows you to get action shots. We took pictures of my oldest DS playing volleyball and they turned out great. The camera is easy to turn on, you can put it in various modes and the pictures are incredible. When I am done for the day, I download them to my machine and then upload them to the Kodak site through CostCo. I can then get the pictures developed and easily share them online. The clarity is amazing and I have been nothing but impressed. This camera is for beginners in the digital realm. Definitely a great buy!

 

[montblanc]

Good commentary by the film enthusiast...

Some observations:

Negatives are probably more durable than digital media but are also more susceptable to being lost. You can lose a negative in a fire, it can be misplaced, etc. I store my digital pictures on my hard drive and on two backup DVD's of which one is stored offsite.

Scanning pictures is extremely resource intensive especially for 8 x10's, with digital there is no need to scan.

Digital can be slower but it also depends on the camera, some can fire off six shots in one second. You also forget that with digital I have the freedom to shoot far more pictures and I have a great deal more flexibility in cropping, adjusting etc. With negatives you pretty much get what they print for you.

You can adjust the shutoff time on cameras. Your point on battery life is a good one though but battery life is improving. If you use rechargeables you can have 3 sets at the ready.

Photo paper is really essential if you want a decent print. Many new Epson and HP papers and inks are now smudge proof (some are actually water proof!). Both companies produce new archival quality paper that I think is rated up to 200 years and they continue to improve it. I think its a bit presumptious to think that digital print life is fixed, they are getting better every day.

Your contention about obsolence is relevant. This is the one possible problem of digital media. Consumer have to be vigilant about keeping information on currently used media. But...your CD or DVD may be obsolete? No problem, you will have years to transfer to another format and today one DVD can easily hold over 4,000 pictures (New Blu-Ray up to 10x that much) so spending $1 every 10-15 years to update where they are stored isn't cost prohibitive by any means.

Action Photographs? Not a problem, I have done many of these, you just need a quicker camera.

I work quite extensively with digital media and have used scanners in the past. I really don't recommend them, they are incredibily slow (if you want true photographic resolution) and it adds a lot of work to the entire process. Then there is the cost factor. I can take practically unlimited photographs without worrying about money, and print them for less than film (as you pay for film and negatives each time).

The only time I would now use a film camera is for composed photographs where I need very high quality for larger pictures. Shots taken with a top of the line Leica Lens/Camera possess a quality still not matched by digital, but digital is closing in fast even on this high end. Many studio photographers now use 25mp digital backs on their large format cameras and I think that says something.

 

[bytheblood]

We take our Nikon digital and Nikon 35mm SLR. We take both because I am a big scrapbooker. Digital is easier, but sometimes you can get the better zoom photos with an SLR. I am very against point and shoot, so I won't go there.

I mostly like my SLR for the parades. I can take continuous pictures of the parades as they are in motion and do not have to wait on the delay my digital camera has.

Anyway, that is JMO.

Have a great time taking pictures.

 

[montblanc]

"The reasons I stay with film is the slowness of digital."

Try a Nikon D70, it is instantaneous.

"Because your camera will shut itself off after you not touching the buttons constantly."

Depends on the camera, mine stays always on.

"Plus the quick drain of batteries will run out just when you think you might get a good shot on time."

I usually get about 800 shots before I have to recharge.

"Also do't touch your pics too soon or get them the tiniest bit moist (watch out for muggy days) or the pics are ruined. Photo paper can get expensive if you want your pics to last but they still won't last as long as real pics. digital = 50 years and film = 100 yrs."

That depends on the paper you use, some digital papers are smudge proof and dry instantly. As for how long they last before they begin to fade, that varies. Film is not 100 years unless you are talking about black/white, most film paper starts losing color after 20-25 years, digital ranges from a year to 50 years or more.

Overall though a film SLR still takes better quality pictures than a digital SLR which would need around 20 megapixels to equal a 35mm camera.

 

[BevS97]

The ability to take 900 shots and only print the best 100 far out weighs any of the disadvantages listed by the film user - by a decent camera and you should have no lag - carry spare batterys - you need to do that for film cameras too - and get the prints printed professionaly and they will last as long as 35mm.