My two cents on digital cameras

[BikeFan]

WillCAD:
Some comments and questions; first, thanks for starting this topic. It's a great idea.
Second, what photo editor do you use? (Haven't read all the thread yet, so maybe you mentioned it already; if so, sorry).
Finally, I found your advice re getting several smaller memory cards instead of a single large one to be interesting, but I'm not sure I agree. Is sudden failure of digital media really that much of an issue (outside of user error, which is impossible to predict)? Do you think this outweighs the 'hassle factor' of dealing with several smaller cards? I've got a 512MB card for my Canon S400, and I just love the fact I can off-load the card before vacation and not have to worry about changing it/clearing it/etc. at all during my trip. But of course if that card were to fail . . ., well, no more pictures!

 

[Dznefreek]

I don't know about WillCAD, but I use

Adobe Photoshop 7
Adobe Photoshop Elements 2.0
Jasc Paint Shop Pro 9
Arcsoft PhotoStudio

 

[BeadyLady]

Snapfish and Mpix consistantly get the best reviews.

There is a long review and comparison done recently at macworld online under features called "turn pixels into prints".

and I read MacWorld - missed this one and didn't I use Shutterfly today. I should do the same with others to see the difference myself.
For the whatever - I now use the Panasonic Lumix FX20 - reals great for a person who used to use the old 35m camera and got sucked into the smaller cameras. I like the feel of the weight but no longer remember all of the f-stops and light fixings.

 

[purplern]

I absolutely LOVE this thread!! Willcad you are the man!!!! Because of this thread I have been playing with my camera! I found soo many things it can do that I didnt know or didnt know what a difference it would make!!! I figured out how to take a picture in the dark!!! I took one in my hallway that was pitch black and as plain as day you can see my dog lying there!!! Now I HAVE to go back to WL to get the lobby pictures!!!!!!!!!!!!

THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Kelly Grannell]

I use Photoshop Elements 2 and Photoshop CS2

 

[WillCAD]

WillCAD:
Some comments and questions; first, thanks for starting this topic. It's a great idea.
Second, what photo editor do you use? (Haven't read all the thread yet, so maybe you mentioned it already; if so, sorry).
Finally, I found your advice re getting several smaller memory cards instead of a single large one to be interesting, but I'm not sure I agree. Is sudden failure of digital media really that much of an issue (outside of user error, which is impossible to predict)? Do you think this outweighs the 'hassle factor' of dealing with several smaller cards? I've got a 512MB card for my Canon S400, and I just love the fact I can off-load the card before vacation and not have to worry about changing it/clearing it/etc. at all during my trip. But of course if that card were to fail . . ., well, no more pictures!

I use Corel PhotoPaint as my photo editor; it is one of the components of the CorelkDraw grasphics suite and is basically Corel's product designed to do what Photoshop does (though I think the interface is way easier for novices to understand).

As to digital media, sudden failure is not the real issue, although it certainly does happen, every day, to lots and lots of people. The real issues are the external problems: water, impacts, camera error, camera loss, camera theft, accidental erasure of all pics because the operator pressed the wrong button, accidental formatting of the card because the operator pressed the wrong button, magnetic fields from electrical devices causing data disruption, and the old stand-by of bad sectors.

It's not so much that a media card is an unreliable device as it is that the field environment in which they are used is dangerous and can damage them - or cause them to be lost.

Even if the cards were 100% reliable, which they are not, there is still the very real possibility of the operator pressing a button (or actually, a sequence of buttons) that causes him to erase all the pics on the card accidentally. This is the number one danger to digital pics and happens with alarming frequency.

The number two danger is a broken camera damaging the card or damaging the data (pics) on the card. Drop your camera on concrete or into a fountain, and you might just find that along with your $300 Kodak you have lost all the pics on the card.

And number three is simple loss of the camera. Let's face it, cameras get left behind in restaurants, on walls and planters, on benches and tables, every day, and they also get stolen every day. And as goes your camera, so goes your memory card - and all the pics on it.

As to the "hassle" factor, I don't consider carrying a 1"x1"x1/8" wafer, which weighs about the same as my house key,around all day in my pocket, to be any form of "hassle", or "bother" or "trouble" at all. But then again, I have never complained about the "hassle" of carrying both a room key card AND a park pass card at the same time instead of having them both on one card - Oh! The Humanity! Those cards are so heavy, and I thought vacation was supposed to be fun... well, you get the idea.

When you look objectively at this issue, the probablility that SOMETHING will eventually happen to your camera, whether it's caused by you, another vacationer, a sneak thief, or the Great Spirit, is almost 100%. Everybody eventually has something go wrong, and all you need to ask yourself is, "When it goes horribly, horribly wrong, would I rather lose ALL of my pics, or SOME of my pics?"

I choose "Some." I have multiple cards and am happier for it.

 

[Ouimzie]

What is the cheapest place to have a cd back-up of your digital photos around WDW? Thanks.

 

[Lewisc]

I didn't read the entire thread but for both digital and film cameras make sure you know how to turn your flash off. You want to get the light from the fireworks and scenery, you don't want to be using the flash to wash out the lights. The flash isn't powerful enough for more than 6-10 feet anyway.

Learn to use night mode/night flash/slow sync flash. You can use it to take a picture of a person with a night, castle for example, background. It'll shoot the flash to capture the person but leave the lens open to get light from the background as well.

 

[WillCAD]

What is the cheapest place to have a cd back-up of your digital photos around WDW? Thanks.

On-site, you can have it done at the camera shops in all 4 theme parks for about $12 per CD (limit 120 pics per CD).

If you have a car and can go off-site, any of the Walgreens stores in the area will burn your pics to CD for $2.99 per CD, for as many as the CD will hold.

 

[mattr555]

I would reccomend uploading your photos to an online photo service like Flickr.com. This way you always have full size master copies of your images stored somewhere apart from your home. CDs arent that reliable in the long term so a more secure long term storage option is a good idea.

The photos can also be made available to friends and family without you needing to print or post them.

 

[purplern]

Just Bumping up

 

[asaj]

I highly recommend Adobe Photoshop Elements 3.0 as both an organizer and editor.

Also, I just started using www.phanfare.com to make my pictures available to family members in other states, and I like it a lot as well. Little more expensive ($55/year) then some alternatives, but the interface, lack of ads, features, and customer service make it worth it, highly recommended.

I also agree with a previous poster, take your pictures in color, and convert them to sepia, B&W, etc later, using an editor.

Andy

 

[tn_disney_addict]

I disagree!

Sure, having 2 or 3 or 4 memory cards to keep track of makes it more likely that you will lose one than if you have only one and keep it in the camera at all times, but having multiple cards is insurance against:

-Dropping the camera
-Losing the camera
-Having the camera stolen
-Having the camera itself delete your pics without you pressing the delete buttons
-Having the camera short out due to rain or water rides and scramble the pics
-Finding out your memory card has developed bad sectors

These things happen. Some people may never have any of them happen, some people may have all of them happen; it's impossible to predict, which means it's only prudent to take some reasonable precautions to protect your pics in case one or more of these things does happen to you. Having multiple memory cards simply means that if one of those disasters does befall you, you will only lose part of your pics, not all.

And frankly, despite the small size of a memory card, I am no more likely to lose one than I am likely to lose a $50 bill. Sure, it could happen, but since my memory cards each cost $50, I treat them like $50 bills - VERY carefully!

Ahhhh...where were you in Sept 03 when DH and I took DD to Disney for our first 'us only' Disney Trip. I had a Sony that wrote to mini cd's and, YEP, you guessed it...the disc corrupted . Many hours of trying " disk recovery" programs and eventually mailing it off with $100 to a place in CA that was "sure" they could fix it.....NOT....I learned not to put all my "eggs" in one "basket". I still use a large card, but now I download every time we go to the room.

 

[ldibo]

Ok, so I broke down and bought a new digital camera for Disney. I bought a Canon S2 IS. My critera was a good zoom (12x), able to do fireworks pictures and indoor sports pictures (my daughter does Tae Kwon Do). Well I tried it on fireworks the other night. Check them out here http://www.picturetrail.com/ldibo under the Summer 2005 album. Tonight I'll be trying it out on the Tae Kwon Do pictures. What do you think? Does it pass the test to take fireworks pictures at Disney? Oh yeah, I was about 2 miles away from the fireworks.

Lynn

 

[Kelly Grannell]

I can see that you're not using tripod for the fireworks. You'd really need that.

 

[tomerin]

we are looking to buy a new digital camera. we do enjoy taking pictures, we average almost 1,000 pictures on any given WDW vacation, what i need is a camera that is especially good in darker or low light situations, nightime park pictures are always disappointing.

would like to keep the price under 400 dollars. have a fuji finepix 2.3 megapixel which we love but this last vacation my DW dropped the camera and broke the camera case where the batteries go. works fine when taped shut but after awhile the tape loses its tackiness and the cover comes loose.

leaning twords the fuji finepix s5100


thanks

 

[ldibo]

Does anyone know anything about Lexar SD cards working with Canons? I thought I heard about it somewhere that they didn't work well with them. I need to purchase a couple of more cards and I found them on sale so I was wondering what people knew. Thanks.

Lynn

 

[mello]

I think those pics are great!

Ok, so I broke down and bought a new digital camera for Disney. I bought a Canon S2 IS. My critera was a good zoom (12x), able to do fireworks pictures and indoor sports pictures (my daughter does Tae Kwon Do). Well I tried it on fireworks the other night. Check them out here http://www.picturetrail.com/ldibo under the Summer 2005 album. Tonight I'll be trying it out on the Tae Kwon Do pictures. What do you think? Does it pass the test to take fireworks pictures at Disney? Oh yeah, I was about 2 miles away from the fireworks.

Lynn

 

[Kelly Grannell]

Lexar medias are having problems with Canon cameras, mostly the ones that uses DIGIC II processor. I've experienced the problems with both my cameras which utilizes DIGIC I and DIGIC II processors.

Now I only use Sandisk Ultra II cards for all three Canon cameras (2 using DIGIC I and 1 using DIGIC II)

 

[fightinfire21]

Anyone have one of these. I am probably going to purchase a digital camera at the end of this week so I can get it to use on our trip at the End of September so if anyone has used one and likes or hates it or even if anyone has a better recommendation it would all be appriciated