Help...

[Looby Loo]

I want to purchase a new camera for my next, not yet booked, trip to the Mouse. However, I am a nightmare when it comes down to technology and a complete camera novice. Want a good one that can takes pictures from a distance away, one that takes excellent nightshots like at Spectromagic. One that prevents "user error" would be good too

I don't mind "clumpy" and am looking to spend no more than £400.00. Am planning on taking a photography course too!

I have had a look at some of the photos here and I am in complete awe!

Any recommendations for what I should look for would be great!

This is the kind of ones I have been looking at ....

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NEW-OLYMPUS-S...ryZ31388QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

[Master Mason]

Since your looking at DSLRs

You should look at
Cannon Rebel XT or XTI
Pentax K100D
The Oympus your all ready looking at
Samsun (they market I think pentax under their name in the UK)
Nikon D40 (personally I would never buy this one as I don't like the absence of a focus moter, but it is their entry level camera)
Sony A100 Might be over your price limit, not sure

Look at cost, go and play with them to see which one feels better. All will take good photos, but there is a learning curve with them. Also remember that it is a system, you will most likely need more than one lens to be able to take all the pictures your looking for.

Please ask more if you have specific questions, there are folks that have all of the above cameras.

 

[Master Mason]

One other note, be very careful buying cameras on ebay, lots of scammers out there, get it from a reputable dealer, well worth the extra few bucks to be secure in your purchase.

 

[Looby Loo]

Thanks Master Mason for your quick response! To be honest I don't know what I am looking for , I can only tell you what I would like to be able to take pictures of in the hope that there is someone out there that can tell me what to ask for/look for??

When at Disney last year all my Spectromagic pictures came out black with just bright blobs where the lights were - no clear picture of the floats themselves, even though I was quite close! I would post them but as they didn't resemble anything I deleted them

All my "animal shots" were dots on a landscape I am big on animals and nature and would love to have pictures that resembled something that I took in the first place

Plus I have a big family and there are normally many family shots too..

I know that I have a steep learning curve but I am willing to learn and then post here for the feedback

And thanks for the heads up on eBay! Not a fan of it myself either due to the reasons you mentioned! Never bought anything on it more than a £15...

 

[Looby Loo]

Oh and motion pictures that don't come out in a blur! Sorry for the "lay persons" terms!

 

[JLKennedy]

Try Kodak's Easyshare. At Best Buy it runs 199.99, it has 10.2 megapixels and has options for fireworks, etc. Great camera...you can even video with it. I bought one for Father's Day from the kids....best camera ever! Has a 10x zoom also! It is the best camera money can offer...if you're not looking to spend a lot!

 

[Master Mason]

Oh and motion pictures that don't come out in a blur! Sorry for the "lay persons" terms!

dSLR's will not do video, you'll need a separate video camara for that.

As for what to look for.

First you have to decide if a dSLR is what you want, you have to be willing to lug it around, and like I said you will need at least 2 lenses to cover things so you have to be willing to work with that.

All of the cameras I have listed are fully capable. They will all take great pictures. The Sony and Pentax ones have built in Image Stablization, which will help you to reduce camera shake, this lets you take picture with longer focal lenths or longer shutter times and still hand hold it. It won't stop your subject from moving though.

The biggest factor is which one feels comfortable to you, each one has a different feel, some like the smaller XT or 40X others find it isn't comfortable. Also they have different controls, you can learn what ever controls are on any camera, but some will seam more intutative to you, and that is personal.

My suggestion is go to a good camera store, play with some of them, then come back and ask specific questions you might have. But don't just purchase whatever they are trying to push that day, infact my suggestion would be not to purchase on your first trip, give yourself some time to think.

 

[ukcatfan]

Try Kodak's Easyshare. At Best Buy it runs 199.99, it has 10.2 megapixels and has options for fireworks, etc. Great camera...you can even video with it. I bought one for Father's Day from the kids....best camera ever! Has a 10x zoom also! It is the best camera money can offer...if you're not looking to spend a lot!

Sorry, but I won't touch that bold statement with a ten foot pole

Kevin

 

[handicap18]

When at Disney last year all my Spectromagic pictures came out black with just bright blobs where the lights were - no clear picture of the floats themselves, even though I was quite close! I would post them but as they didn't resemble anything I deleted them

All my "animal shots" were dots on a landscape I am big on animals and nature and would love to have pictures that resembled something that I took in the first place

Plus I have a big family and there are normally many family shots too..

I know that I have a steep learning curve but I am willing to learn and then post here for the feedback

Spectromagic is one of if not the hardest show/subject to photograph at Disney. You can get usable images with any camera and a decent flash, however, the flash will wash out many if not most of the lights on the floats.

If you are serious about the dSLR, then do plan on learning a lot. There is a pretty big learning curve for a dSLR. There is a lot of termonlolgy to learn. You should know how various settings (such as shutter speed, f/stops {aka Apeture} and ISO {aka film speed} work together based on aviable light. This isn't an impossible feat, but does need attention. I'm not trying to scear you off or anything, just want to be sure you know before you get into it.

For Disney, many people go with 3 lenses for their camera. A kit/general purpose/walk-around lens that varies in zoom ranger starting around 18 or 24mm and zooming up to anywhere from 55 to 200mm. There are a large number of these lenses varying in zoom length and price. Another lens people bring is a telephoto zoom lens which generally goes from about 70mm to 300mm. Many like this lens for Animal Kingdom. A 3rd popular lens is a prime lens like the 50mm. No zoom, but what it offers is a VERY wide aperture and is typically inexpensive (some where around $100, but can be more depending on how wide it goes). Popular here is the 50mm f/1.8 for Canon and Nikon and 50mm f/1.4 for Pentax. This lens is used where flash photography isn't an option (indoor rides) or not feasable (Spectromagic). Most entry level or kit level zoom lenses don't really go very wide (think of the pupils of your eye, indoors it opens wide, outside it gets very small). With a 50mm f/1.8 lens (f/1.8 is very wide) on a dSLR you can get high ISO's and pretty clean images without a flash. The digital sensor on a dSLR is bigger than that of a point and shoot camera. Giving more space to capture light and giving high ISO's (800 & 1600 or higher) better quality while sometimes having less megapixels.

In the end it really depends on how much you want to spend and how "into" photography you want to get. You can get started with a dSLR with a few lenses for just under $1000 or you can spend literally tens of thousands on body and lenses and flash units. Knowlegde and technique can take you a long way with just a small investment though.

 

[Looby Loo]

Thanks again Master Mason! And fantastic advise! Although I didn't expect anything else, this "board" was bound to give sound advise

BTW when I said motion pictures not being blurry I meant me taking still shots of things that are moving (I have a seperate camcorder for filming) sorry for not being clear but I think you answered that question anyway??

 

[Master Mason]

Thanks again Master Mason! And fantastic advise! Although I didn't expect anything else, this "board" was bound to give sound advise

BTW when I said motion pictures not being blurry I meant me taking still shots of things that are moving (I have a seperate camcorder for filming) sorry for not being clear but I think you answered that question anyway??

Motion Blur is what your refering to.

A proper exposure is composed of a combination of Shutter speed, Apeture (the size of the opening of the lens) and ISO (which is basically film speed) when one part of the equation changes something else much change to keep the proper exposure. So if you have your apeture open as far as it will go, and the ISO as high as the camera allows, the shutter speed will start slowing down. If the shutter is open long enough for the subject to move you will get motion blur. Camera shake can also cause the same thing.

so to counter that, you need a camera that can use higher ISO, or a lens that opens wider to get the shot without the blur.

sometimes the blur is a good thing, such as pictures of moving water, or to show action in a sports photo, or a panning shot.

 

[dburg30]

re: ebay. It's like anything else, if it appears too good to be true it probably is.

I have had 1 problem buying on ebay, when someone sent me something that wasnt advertised. I followed the ebay rules, filed a claim and within just a week or 2, I had my money back for the item.

Other then that I look at the reputation a LOT. I know everyone has to start at zero on ebay. I just wont take the chance on a HIGH priced item (unless I can get it for a really low price) with someone with a low rep. Even with ebay or my CC company backing me if I really dont get what was advertised.

I've bought and sold lots of stuff, of course bought more then I sell and love it. Anymore it's getting hard to find decent deals, but it's still good IMO so long as you use a little common sense.