My two cents on digital cameras

[oogieboogie]

Slight change of focus- I've been using digital cameras for a long time and I'm relatively happy with my photos. But I've never found a software program that I like for organizing and printing them. Photoshop is too complicated- I just want to do a little cropping, slight adjustments, and print and album. Other, more "user-friendly" programs like Microsoft Picture It limit my options too much for how I want to print pictures.

What programs do you folks use, what have you found to be the best? I really don't want to send anything out to a commercial service when I've got all the equipment I need at home.

Thanks!

I've been using Paintshop and PhotoPlus. One great thing about PhotoPlus is it looks like the interface of Paintshop or Photoshop, but it's free. Truly free. You can get it at www.freeserifsoftware.com.

I've been using PhotoPlus for about a year now and I'm very happy with it.

 

[dBugged]

Slight change of focus- I've been using digital cameras for a long time and I'm relatively happy with my photos. But I've never found a software program that I like for organizing and printing them. Photoshop is too complicated- I just want to do a little cropping, slight adjustments, and print and album. Other, more "user-friendly" programs like Microsoft Picture It limit my options too much for how I want to print pictures.

What programs do you folks use, what have you found to be the best? I really don't want to send anything out to a commercial service when I've got all the equipment I need at home.

Thanks!

My favorite is Adobe Photoshop CS, however most people who don't want to spend a small fortune may find either Photoshop Elements (my wife loves this one and it has an image viewer/organizer built in) or Jasc/Corel's Paint Shop Pro to be good solutions for a fair price (under $100). Elements does have a nice subset of the full Photoshop featureset, however it provides a lot of help and wizards to make the process pretty painless. They even have a pretty nice image correction viewer that will allow you to make several types of adjustments just by moving some sliders around. If you ask me, I love the full Photoshop and wouldn't trade it for anything. If you ask my wife she'd say elements, hands down. She found Paint Shop Pro to be a little daunting and confusing and slugglish for some image manipulation.

For image organizing and viewing I like ACDSee. It allows you to look at what you have and does have some basic image correction stuff built in that works well in a pinch. You can also use Adobe Photoshop Album or Jasc's Photo Album.

All of these software packages have free demos to try. I'd recommend snagging a few of them and giving them a whirl. After messing with them a bit, you'll know which one is just right for you.

 

[Synonymous]

Thanks for all the suggestions! I'll try some of these out with the photos from our next trip.

 

[jenr812]

What a great thread! Very good advice OP! I still have to finish reading

 

[kat6994]

I'm posting so I can find this thread when my boss isn't walking by my desk.

 

[mommystieg]

This thread is great--we just took the digital dive and have just barely begun to play with my camera (Kodak DX7440). To those who asked about transfering pix to CD at WDW--someone told me it cost about $12 and I think it can take 20-30 minutes. Keep the info coming...

 

[WillCAD]

For image organizing and viewing I like ACDSee. It allows you to look at what you have and does have some basic image correction stuff built in that works well in a pinch. You can also use Adobe Photoshop Album or Jasc's Photo Album.

All of these software packages have free demos to try. I'd recommend snagging a few of them and giving them a whirl. After messing with them a bit, you'll know which one is just right for you.

Thanks for the heads up Rob. I downloaded the free trial of ACDsee and I like it, so I might just buy it.

 

[Kasmir]

This is a great thread!

 

[RobinMarie]

Thanks for all the tips!

 

[Steamboat_willie_2]

A word of caution about using the viewfinder to frame your photol

You need to know if you are viewing a "through the lens" image in your viewfinder. I sold my first digital cam because i didn't like adjusting for the fact the the lens captured a different image than the viewfinder. Teh image on your LCD screen is probably showing what the lens is seeing.

My cam now gives me the same image through the viewfinder and looing on the screen.

 

[Ducky4Disney]

I love-love-LOVE my digital camera and I love even more that other people are taking time to learn and experiemtn with their digital camera too!

Someone mentioned practicing with their camera before they go on vacation - great idea! Here is a great way to practice:

Set up a nice still life with some natural light. Like a small table with a plant and a lamp on it near a window. If you have a tripod, great use it, if not you can either hand hold it, or prop it up on another table or something. Take pics of your still life on all the different settings. Try every button there is! Auto with a flash, auto without a flash, turn the flash intensity up and down, change the white balance (white balance is SOOO important), turn the exposure up and down... so on and so forth.

Download those pics to your computer and look at them over noticing the differences between shots. Most cameras record the setting used to take the pic, so you will know which picture had the exposure up or down. You will learn a lot by doing this! "Huh, all my pics come out blurry like this one without the flash, but this one is great - with the flash on!". Or, "My pics are always overexposed, but this one with the exposure turned down by 1/3 is great!". More than anything, you'll find yourself saying - "So THAT'S what that does!" or "I didn't know you could even DO that!".

Do this indoors, outdoors, in lots of light, at ngiht time... whatever. BUT SHOOT, SHOOT, SHOOT! There is no commitment to develop like with film cameras - it costs nothing to experiment with your digital camera!

I have a Canon Powershot G2 that is a great workhorse of a camera. I know every button on that baby, I always have it in Program mode, and I always know where my settings are. I have also invested in a lens adapter and I have a wide angle/macro lens, and a telephotot lens - plus a circular polarizer and a UV filter. Not to mention my latest addition, the Canon 420Ex speedlite external flash. Now that I think of it, it might by time to move up in cameras! I've got my eye on the Canon Pro1S -

Let's keep this going!

D4D

PS - to all of those wil Canon cameras, here is a good forum for information!
Photography on the Net

 

[wilwij104]

Slight change of focus- I've been using digital cameras for a long time and I'm relatively happy with my photos. But I've never found a software program that I like for organizing and printing them. Photoshop is too complicated- I just want to do a little cropping, slight adjustments, and print and album. Other, more "user-friendly" programs like Microsoft Picture It limit my options too much for how I want to print pictures.

What programs do you folks use, what have you found to be the best? I really don't want to send anything out to a commercial service when I've got all the equipment I need at home.

Thanks!

Synonymous,

Try Picasa (Picasa.com). It is great organizer/photo processing software. It is made by Google and it is free. It reminds me of iPhoto. It has a great layout and is very useful.

For all my major post processing (when Picasa is not enough), I use Paint SHop Pro.

Ron

 

[Toni300z]

I have a questions????

I currently have a Sony Cybershot 4.0 mp camera. I love it, except for one thing...the flash. Before Disney, I want to buy a new camera that doesnt take so long for the flash to get re-ready between shots. Is there such a thing? Taking pictures of my kids, its impossible to get good shots of them sitting still while waiting a minute for the flash to get ready again.

Oh MY Gosh, I have the same problem. For ony to be so popular, it is a major problem. Some aree not familiar with this problem and as soon as I push the button and they see the flash,m they walk off. I have the Sony DCS 72. I was at Disney last week and my 72 died on me. I went to Best Buy on Orange Trail, and bought the new SONY w5. Not only a bigger screen but its takes pictures MUCH quicker thant the DCS line of camera.

Cant wait til the SONY DSC H1 comes out in June.
I think its 7 MP with 12 Optical Zoom. Its an SLR type. WEhatever that means, either way I am snatching it up.

 

[WillCAD]

Oh MY Gosh, I have the same problem. For ony to be so popular, it is a major problem. Some aree not familiar with this problem and as soon as I push the button and they see the flash,m they walk off. I have the Sony DCS 72. I was at Disney last week and my 72 died on me. I went to Best Buy on Orange Trail, and bought the new SONY w5. Not only a bigger screen but its takes pictures MUCH quicker thant the DCS line of camera.

Cant wait til the SONY DSC H1 comes out in June.
I think its 7 MP with 12 Optical Zoom. Its an SLR type. WEhatever that means, either way I am snatching it up.

I found a review of it:
http://www.dpreview.com/news/0502/05021913sony_dsch1.asp

Looks like a nice camera.

 

[Maleficent2]

Fuji Finepix E550 and the Kodak Easyshare DX7590

If it were me I'd go with the Fuji

I have the Fuji Finepix A210 and it takes incredible pics do a search of my name and look at some of my pics on the Flower and Garden Board

here is a link to one

http://130.94.75.33/showthread.php?t=650654

 

[BVC4us]

This is a great thread. I have a Canon S400 and absolutely love it. I am interested in getting a camera with a longer optical zoom. I have my eye on the Panasonic DMC-FZ5. Wilwij104, how do you like that camera? Are the pictures sharp? For the most part does the zoom work well? Thanks in advance for any responses.

 

[ukcatfan]

For a large zoom camera, you might want to wait a little for Canon's S1 IS replacement. It is supposed to be out very soon.

I looked at the Panasonics before I bought my S1. The main reasons I like the Canon more is because they use AA batteries and CF memory. The movie mode on the Canon is also one of the best on any digital cam. The Panasonic I looked at did not seem to focus as well and had no manual focus. I also liked the the way the Canon fit in my hands compared to the Panasonic.

It is all a matter of your personal opinion. I suggest going to a store and using them a little before making your decision. I would have the Panasonic right now if I had not.

 

[wilwij104]

This is a great thread. I have a Canon S400 and absolutely love it. I am interested in getting a camera with a longer optical zoom. I have my eye on the Panasonic DMC-FZ5. Wilwij104, how do you like that camera? Are the pictures sharp? For the most part does the zoom work well? Thanks in advance for any responses.

BVC4us,

I actually have the FZ15, not the FZ5 (close, but not the same). I read the new FZ5 review at DPReview, and they gave it a "Highly Recommended".

My FZ15 is incredible. The pictures are razor sharp and the zoom is downright fun. I had an Olympus C750 with a 10X optical zoom, but I continued to get blurry shots handheld (the Oly's lense does not have image stabilization). My FZ15 has an image stabilized lense (Leica!), so I can go out to 12X and still get a good shot.
Where the zoom really helped on my last trip to WDW was Animal Kingdom. All the pictures I took of the animals looked as though I was right next to them.

The FZ5 is a new camera and I have not seen one myself, but everyone who has one has nothing but great things to say about it.

Ron

 

[wilwij104]

For a large zoom camera, you might want to wait a little for Canon's S1 IS replacement. It is supposed to be out very soon.

I looked at the Panasonics before I bought my S1. The main reasons I like the Canon more is because they use AA batteries and CF memory. The movie mode on the Canon is also one of the best on any digital cam. The Panasonic I looked at did not seem to focus as well and had no manual focus. I also liked the the way the Canon fit in my hands compared to the Panasonic.

It is all a matter of your personal opinion. I suggest going to a store and using them a little before making your decision. I would have the Panasonic right now if I had not.

ukcatfan,

My Panasonic FZ15 does indeed have manual focus and I can obtain tack sharp focus whether manually or automatic.
The Panasonic does have a proprietary battery. I wish it did use AA batteries, but this is the only issue I see as a negative in my opinion.
I am a Canon fan as well (I want to get the new SD500 ELPH), but the Panasonic cannot be beat (right now) in the long zoom department (other than DSLR of course).

Ron

 

[ukcatfan]

ukcatfan,

My Panasonic FZ15 does indeed have manual focus and I can obtain tack sharp focus whether manually or automatic.
The Panasonic does have a proprietary battery. I wish it did use AA batteries, but this is the only issue I see as a negative in my opinion.
I am a Canon fan as well (I want to get the new SD500 ELPH), but the Panasonic cannot be beat (right now) in the long zoom department (other than DSLR of course).

Ron

I should have clarified more. You are in a different price category than I was. I was looking at the FZ3. The FZ15 with an extra battery and memory would have been over $200 more than I paid for my S1. The FZ3 would have cost me about $150 more than the S1. It is really nice being able to re-use memory and batteries!

The FZ3 has a different lens (not as good) than the nicer Panasonics. The Canon lens did seem a little better, but both were completely acceptable. It does not have a manual focus that I could find and if I remember correctly, the reviews made mention of it also. I also really did not like the form factor. The FZ15 did feel better than the FZ3, but not as nice as the Canon.

I have only had it for about three weeks now and I am very satisfied so far. Now if I could just be able to make some time to go use it in the field. I have more pictures of my house and neighborhood than I ever needed. Unfortunately, our next trip to WDW is not planned until fall. Being only three hours away, it kills us to have to wait that long!