My two cents on digital cameras

[Mortlives]

One tip I haven't seen yet is to take pictures with your new camera before you go on vacation and download them to a computer, test print them, etc, at all resolutions so you know what works. DS had a new camera for our last trip, and set it up so his memory card (256MB) would hold over a thousand pictures. Can we see what's coming? He used maybe a quarter of those pictures, and they're useless for printing, or even computer wallpaper because they're so grainy.

Kungaloosh,
Morticia.

 

[88Keys]

Digital camera flashes are one of the achilles heels of the technology. Unless you spend a considerable amount of money, most consmer-based digital cameras are going to have slow flashes, which is excruciating at times.

Have to agree with the Canon Elph series - GREAT little cameras.

 

[AndyMcV]

Hi Gang

We bought a Kodak EasyShare DX4330 (3 megapixel) camera for our trip in 2003. Nice camera and gets great day shots. One thing I must say (unless I'm a total digital camera loser) is that the night/dark shots with lights turn out awful. The lights always seem to "streak". Our pictures of the MK nighttime parade are brutal. I also took a couple of shots inside the Pirates of the Carribean and the lanterns all have streaks of light.

I asked a friend about it and he said that with digital cameras they usually don't take good night shots with lights because (unless they are a high end camera) they aren't fast enough to capture the lights before the camera closes the lens.

When we go back in June I'm going to take our regular camera for the night shots.

Any comments anyone.

 

[robmary]

We are looking for a decent digital camera in the less than $400 range. We have kind of narrowed it down to 2 models - the Fuji Finepix E550 and the Kodak Easyshare DX7590. I have read a couple reviews on these and they sound like they are of similar quality. The biggest negative comment we have read is that they have a tendancy to show significant "noise" and distortion when using the default ISO modes, unless pictures are taken in bright light. We also read where the flash on the Fuji model is not of the best quality and easily broken.

Does anyone have experience with these cameras? Is "noise" (graininess) a problem? Is the lag between snapping the shutter and the picture being captured an issue? Any other known problems with these cameras? Any thoughts on other camera choices in this price range?

Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated!

 

[BethC1952]

NJDisneymom:

You didn't say where you are in NJ, but most community colleges have photography courses for very reasonable prices. I know that here in Monmouth County Brookdale College offers them occasionally. We also have a local arts center which will be offering some photography classes.

Beth

 

[kmadams]

can anyone recommend WHERE/HOW to learn more about photography??? DH bought me a Canon Powershot G6 (7 megapixel) for Xmas and still don't have a clue how to use it well, even after reading the manual. I don't want to use it on auto our entire vacation but every time I try to play with it I end up with terrible pictures.

As for learning more - one of my favorite books is "How to photograph your family." Can't remember the author but he also has another book called "How to photograph your life." Either one is a great book, fun and easy to read, lots of pictures.

 

[kmadams]

I have a Kodak EasyShare 7440, and while outside pics come out great, the ones that I take inside are incredibly dark and grainy.

Is there some sort of setting that I should fiddle with?

Or is there an external flash that I should have?

When I try to brighten them on my PC, they lose quality.

Thanks!

So you've discovered the limits to Point and Shoot cameras!
I have a Nikon Coolpix which works great when the light is great. But to use the flash (very short range) or to take any indoor type pictures with no flash (too slow shutter speed = blur) they just don't work well. I now am the proud owner of a Nikon D70 and was able to capture some great pictures of Wishes!

 

[dpuck1998]

Why, what difference does it make? I do mine in my PC all of the time - no issues.

I sell HW and have taken many courses on the operation of digital cameras and this has never been a suggestion...so I am curious as to why you say that?

It's not an "issue" but its not necessary. It's just a like a floppy disk, it just needs to be formatted once to use it and most come preformatted. It will delete all you photos from the disc, but so will just deleting the files or "cutting" them and pasting them to your hard drive.

 

[safetymom]

If you format on the computer and aren't using the same format as the card you can render the card useless. The difference between Fat 16 and Fat 32. That is why you should format the card in the computer unless you know what you are doing.

 

[wilwij104]

I want to chime in on this as well.

I can not emphasize enough to delete (or format) the memory card IN the camera. Deleting or formatting from a card reader or PC can render the card useless. (Sorry Safetymom, I was typing as your post went up, great explaination).

Also, a large optical zoom is great, but once you get out to roughly 4X, camera shake will play a big part in the results. I have a Panasonic FZ-15 w/12X optical zoom and image stabilization and I still have some camera shake with stabilization on, so be careful with a long optical zoom. A long zoom is fun though !

NJDisneymom-The Canon G6 that you have is one heck of a camera. The pictures that come out of that camera are amazing.

Ron

 

[dpuck1998]

I want to chime in on this as well.

I can not emphasize enough to delete (or format) the memory card IN the camera. Deleting or formatting from a card reader or PC can render the card useless. (Sorry Safetymom, I was typing as your post went up, great explaination).

Also, a large optical zoom is great, but once you get out to roughly 4X, camera shake will play a big part in the results. I have a Panasonic FZ-15 w/12X optical zoom and image stabilization and I still have some camera shake with stabilization on, so be careful with a long optical zoom. A long zoom is fun though !

NJDisneymom-The Canon G6 that you have is one heck of a camera. The pictures that come out of that camera are amazing.

Ron

Deleting should not render your card useless, but formatting may. However, I do agree that you are always better off plugging into your computer via USB directly to the camera.

 

[SuperGurl]

I just bought a Fujifilm S5100. Is anyone else familiar with this model? I'd love some feedback here because I'm totally lost trying to understand all the features on this thing. The manual is not much help.

I did buy a great book I want to recommend on here. It's called How to Do Everything with Digital Photography by Dave Huss.

It's really overwhelming for a novice like me, but he talks a lot about how to use the different features on your camera. It is a terrific book and it's not the author's fault I'm confused

Are you talking about the Fugi FinePix s5100? If so, I just recently bought one too. The manual that came with it can be really overwhelming because of all the information in it. I found a few sites that helped me to understand the features alot better and then I just started playing around with it.

http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/fuji/finepix_s5100-review/

http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/S5100/S51A.HTM

http://www.megapixel.net/reviews/fuji-s5100/s5100-gen.php

 

[wilwij104]

Deleting should not render your card useless, but formatting may. However, I do agree that you are always better off plugging into your computer via USB directly to the camera.

I have actually lost (2) Sandisk Ultra II 512MB cards by deleting from my card reader. It somehow corrupted the cards, and I could not get them operational after that. The first card I thought was defective, but when it happened a second time, I stopped deleting from the card reader/PC altogether.

I now download all my cards to a PSD (after which I format in camera--I find that formatting every time is quicker, I'm lazy ), then download to PC, then archive.

Ron

 

[SuperGurl]

Could someone explain about the zoom. Optical zoom? Digital zoom? I'm really confused. What does that mean? I LOVE the zoom on my regular (film) camera but my digital doesn't zoom anywhere near as large. when I do use the digital camera zoom, the pix seem blurry. HELP!

Here's a link that explain Digital and Optical zoom and the differences between the two:
http://www.photoxels.com/article_zoom.html
http://tranchant.plus.com/photography/dzoom

 

[jjbblue99]

can anyone recommend WHERE/HOW to learn more about photography???QUOTE]

Try these sites I've found some good info here:
http://www.imaging-resource.com
http://www.steves-digicams.com

Jackie

 

[Steamboat_willie_2]

If you think you are taking a pic that you might want to enlarge...be sure and take the photo in a high quality mode. I was able to enlarge a travel pic to 16x20 with no noticeable loss in qaulity.

Of course you wil be be able to store fewer pics on your memory card this way.

 

[Marseeya]

Are you talking about the Fugi FinePix s5100? If so, I just recently bought one too. The manual that came with it can be really overwhelming because of all the information in it. I found a few sites that helped me to understand the features alot better and then I just started playing around with it.

http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/fuji/finepix_s5100-review/

http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/S5100/S51A.HTM

http://www.megapixel.net/reviews/fuji-s5100/s5100-gen.php

Thanks for the links. Yes, that's the camera I've got too. How are you doing with it? It's the first camera I've ever had that had so many features and I really want to learn how to utilize them all.

 

[bytheblood]

It's not an "issue" but its not necessary. It's just a like a floppy disk, it just needs to be formatted once to use it and most come preformatted. It will delete all you photos from the disc, but so will just deleting the files or "cutting" them and pasting them to your hard drive.

My PC has a 6-in-1 built in reader, makes no difference. The PC gives me the option to delete or not. I have never used a computer that has not provided me that option. In addition, I back-up, trash and reinstall my PC every 4 - 5 months, never have to reformat anything (other than the PC of course ). Maybe these suggestions are geared more for people who are not computer savvy or people who are not using newer technology!

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Just a side note:
I would not use a bunch of little memory cards, but instead one or two larger cards. This is more a matter of preference, not sound advice for being a smarter digital user.....imo, it is much easier to place one card in the camera, take your pictures and remove it when you get home. Can't lose a memory card if you don't take it out of the camera. Cannot "accidentally" delete the pictures if you do not select "delete" and "yes."

 

[Ronda93]

I agree with format in the camera, but I've always been wary of using the USB cable to transfer. USB ports carry power to the devices hooked up to them and the camera cost me more than the computer ; )

I've used a CF reader for all my transfers and usually delete from there, too. No problems.

ETA: what a cool thread.

 

[Ronda93]

My tip. When faced with shrinking storage on your cards, sacrifice compression before pixels... most cameras I've handled have three size settings and three compression settings.

If you're running out of room and want to start getting smaller files, switch to a higher (smaller file) compression (fine, normal, basic on mine).

Sacrifice pixels (size) only as a last resort.