Need expert digital advice

[Mellie2162]

Im sure this has been asked, but I never seem to have luck with searching so I will ask again. Those of you who have digital cameras, what do you have and what do you like/dislike about it? We want to get one for our trip to the World in May, but we don't really want to get something very expensive or that will be a pain to carry around the parks. Any advice?

 

[Marimar]

I have a Canon 20D and love it, but it isn't for everyone

Having said that...you may want to post to the Photography forums as well.

 

[salmoneous]

Bit of advice #1 - Don't stress about it too much. There's a ton of great cameras out there and almost anything from the major manufactures will allow you to nice pictures from the park.

Bit of advice #2 - Get a camera that runs on AA batteries. Normally, you want to run the thing off rechargeables (add in the cost of AA-rechargeables and charger to your budget). But when your batteries die in the park, and you can just buy replacements at any shop, you'll really be glad you got something that doesn't require proprietary batteries.

Bit of advice #3 - Get a mini-tripod.

Bit of advice #4 - The difference in pictures between a good camera and a great camera will be pretty small. The difference in pictures between those taken by somebody who reads the manual, a book or two, and takes time to experiment with all the features before going to the park, and pictures taken by somebody who just takes it out of the box and starts shooting is *huge*.

PS - For what's its worth, I bought a Canon A520 specifically to start taking picutres at Disney, and think it's just about perfect. For me at least.

 

[MUcrick]

I ecoh salmoneous' comments ... good advice. I would also recommend that you not purchase 1 large memory card (e.g. a 1 GB card) but instead get multiple cards of smaller size (e.g., get four 256MB cards). It may cost a few dollars more to go this route but you risk losing a lot of pictures if for some reason the card goes bad.

As far as a camera is concerned, we just purchased a Canon A620 for my wife. She LOVES it!

mucrick

 

[Tina1]

I love my Fuji FinePix. I like the batteries that charge inside the camera, I've never had a problem with the batteries going low. Just plug in when your at the hotel. I've had the kind you have to use AAA for and can't stand the added expence. The FinePix F450 is so simple to use a child would'nt have a problem with it. Walmart.com had them on sale last time I looked. Tina

 

[MareSINY]

I purchased a Casio Exilim 750 specifically for my last trip to Disney in September. It took amazing pictures and it is small enough to fit in my pocket.

I don't agree with the poster who said to get a camera with AA batteries. I brought my charger with me and I just sat it on the charger each night when I returned from the parks. I've never had a problem with my battery dying, and this isn't my first digital with rechargeable batteries. My first digital (Olympus, can't remember the model at the moment) used either rechargeable or AA batteries, that's always an option if you are worried about your batteries dying.

 

[S. C.]

Bit of advice #1 - Don't stress about it too much. There's a ton of great cameras out there and almost anything from the major manufactures will allow you to nice pictures from the park.

Bit of advice #2 - Get a camera that runs on AA batteries. Normally, you want to run the thing off rechargeables (add in the cost of AA-rechargeables and charger to your budget). But when your batteries die in the park, and you can just buy replacements at any shop, you'll really be glad you got something that doesn't require proprietary batteries.

Bit of advice #3 - Get a mini-tripod.

Bit of advice #4 - The difference in pictures between a good camera and a great camera will be pretty small. The difference in pictures between those taken by somebody who reads the manual, a book or two, and takes time to experiment with all the features before going to the park, and pictures taken by somebody who just takes it out of the box and starts shooting is *huge*.

PS - For what's its worth, I bought a Canon A520 specifically to start taking picutres at Disney, and think it's just about perfect. For me at least.

I just bought my DD 31yrs old the Cannon Powershot A510 for christmas It should be perfect for her. If i was in the market for a new digital i would go with the cannon powershot A610.

For reviews of all cameras go to stevesdigicams.com.

Also something i just learned is not all digital cameras has sound with their movie features. I got lucky when i bought mine a few yrs ago that it has sound. I just figured they all did.

Go to the store and see how the camera and buttons feel to you. ITA most of the digitals take good pics, find one with the features that are important to you.

I also use rechargeable AA batteries. Our last trip to WDW I had forgotten one day to make sure they were charged, It was nice to be able to buy batteries at a cart in WDW. I was glad that my camera uses AA.

 

[NashvilleTrio]

We've owned a couple of digital cameras and currently have a Canon PowerShow A70. It is small, but has a nice size screen. The on screen menus are easy to use and the camera takes good pictures. I think it can be picked up for less than $150 now.

We carry our digital camera in our backpack along with a water proof bag (the kind people use for proteting valuables on canoe trips, etc). Helps keep it safe in case of a heavy down pour, or from Splash Mt/Kali River.

The major advantage to me is that with digital I find out if I took a good picture, and only have to develop those I want in a hard copy format.

Good luck.

 

[iliketoby]

What I like:

Cropping (or, the ability to fake decent photography). If there is too much sky or you didn't center everything, you can use your computer to edit out all the stuff you don't want. It is easy and helpful for scrapbookers. And it saves you the time of having to get everything "just right" when you snap the picture -- although I see lots of people who still take forever to snap it.

Printing pictures at home (or, You can save time and money for the low, low price of $399.99). Had to shell out for a new printer, but it beats standing at the kiosk in the grocery store.

No film to hang onto (or, in my case, lose).

Simplicity (or, I can use it even though I refuse to read an owner's manual). It's point and shoot!

Deleting (or, taking dodo-head pictures and not suffering the consequences). Sometimes I'll take a pic of my hand or the inside of my pocket. Since it can be deleted, I don't have to pay to develop it!

Beautiful pictures that I can keep on CDs instead of in shoeboxes.

It fits nicely in my pocket.

What I don't like:

The initial cash for the "extras". First there was the new printer. Then, to get a card (a tiny little thing about the size of a postage stamp, but thicker) that holds 500 pictures, I had to shell out a bunch of cash. But it beats having to remember where I put all those tiny cards.

Since I'm not willing to spend time reading the owner's manual (it's a book!), I know there are a million things that camera will do that I'll never use.

 

[S. C.]

One more thing i thought of. Some digitals only have digital zoom, If zoom is important to you than make sure you have optical zoom.

 

[Got Quattro?]

Bit of advice
Bit of advice #2 - Get a camera that runs on AA batteries. Normally, you want to run the thing off rechargeables (add in the cost of AA-rechargeables and charger to your budget). But when your batteries die in the park, and you can just buy replacements at any shop, you'll really be glad you got something that doesn't require proprietary batteries.

.

Do not listen to this guy. AA bateries are an expansive pain in the rear. Any decent digital cam with rechargable LITHIUM ION batts will more than outlast 1 day in a park.

 

[elizke]

You can always buy an extra proprietary battery and keep it in the bag just incase.

E.

 

[jackmac]

The biggest problem with digital pictures is that they stay in the camera. For that reason I bought the Kodak Z740. It has a 10x optical zoom, a 30x digital and best of all you can get the printer dock with it and you have a 1 step photo lab. The camera takes great pictures, the poster that said to read the book is right. The battery life is good, I always carry a spare battery pack anyway. All in all I'm very pleased with the camera.

 

[S. C.]

Do not listen to this guy. AA bateries are an expansive pain in the rear. Any decent digital cam with rechargable LITHIUM ION batts will more than outlast 1 day in a park.

I believe the point the poster was making is to use the rechargable AA batteries but also pointing out if for some reason you forgot to charge your batteries that it is nice to be able to buy AA's if needed.

My AA rechargables will stay charged all day, One time i had forgot to charge them and was glad to buy AA's in the park since we were going to a character meal and i wanted to take lots of pics there plus a few short movies. Worked great for me.

 

[JeanJoe]

We've had 2 of the tiny Canon Elph's (S100 and S400), after previously having 35mm point and shoots. I believe these were ~1 and 4 megapixel digital cameras respectively.

Likes:
- compared to a film camera, the freedom to take 100's of pictures, not worrying about the cost of developing and printing film to find most of the pictures stunk. Don't like the picture? Delete it!
- tiny camera, easily fits in a shirt or pants pocket
- not too expensive

Dislikes:
- slow to focus or flash recharge, so you frequently "miss" the shot, especially of fast moving toddlers and kids
- not that great in low-light without flash

===

Then, we got a SLR, Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT (8 megapixel, I believe), including an image-stabilized zoom lens, and a 50mm "portrait" lens. This is my first SLR (although I played with my dad's, decades ago).

Likes:
- WOW. The quality of the pictures is stunning. Image stabilized and set to higher sensitivty (say, ISO 800 or 1600), night-time fireworks shots were awesome. Shots inside IASW were great as well (without needing flash).
- playing / pretending to be a "real" photographer. Messing with blurring out the background by using a lower f/ stop. Freezing action with a fast shutter speed, vs. getting a nice blur. Using a decent telephoto lens to catch the picture of the gecko sitting on top of the fence or other animals in Animal Kingdom.
- Start-up time from off to ready to shoot a picture is well under a second, so you could capture those fleeting facial expressions that were always missed with the digital point and shoot, or shooting 4 frames a second as the kid slid down the playground slide

Dislikes:
- cost. Body and default lens will put you back $1,000. The fancy lenses we got, although well worth it, were a lot extra.
- weight / bulk. Going around the park with a moderate sized camera bag that screamed "steal me, I'm expensive", or worrying about the camera getting bashed in the crowds, was a bit of a distraction too.

In the end, on days when we had grandparents to help, the big SLR camera (we've named the camera Mongo) came along to the parks. When it was just DW and I chasing the kids, it was the point and shoot(s).


Other tips:
- bring an extra battery (we never needed it, but for peace of mind...)
- large memory card (never worry about running out of space)


Bottom line:
- get ANY digital camera rather than using a film camera; simply shooting hundreds of pictures makes it SO much more likely you'll get more memorable shots (yes, the "real" photographers will say that quality will be higher with film, but... we're talking about getting nice vacation memories, not shooting shots that you can blow up to poster size and submit to National Geographic)

Hope that helps.

Those of you who have digital cameras, what do you have and what do you like/dislike about it? We want to get one for our trip to the World in May, but we don't really want to get something very expensive or that will be a pain to carry around the parks. Any advice?

 

[Adrienne]

I have a Kodak DX 4350 which is almost 2 years old now. 5Mp and takes great photos. definitely take lots of mem cards with you. we have one 64mb one 256mb and two 512mb card, plus the camera has 32mb onboard.

Adrienne

 

[goofie4goofy]

I have a Sony cybershot zeiss lens (glass) 7.2 meg. I love love love this camera. It has everything. It is very easy to use, has auto focus..also I have never had a problem with the flash recharging...very quick and red eye reduction. It also takes videos. The settings are easy to change and they do it all from fireworks to the spots on a lady bug. The photos are postcard quality. The battery does not die out because even if you leave it on the camera will automatically shut itself off. I also love the fact that besides the screen on the back, it has a viewfinder (like a regualr 35mm) when it is very sunny out you can't see the screen, so it is very imortant to also have a viewfinder on your digital as well. Also a glass lens will give you sharper crisper photos. It zooms in sharp and takes great zoomed in pics. This camera is small, but not tiny. I always pack the cord charger and charge it every night when on vacation. When at home the charger is hooked into our computer. So all you have to do is put the camera onto the cradle and your photos come up on the computer. I also have a 1gig memory stick which holds ooodles of pictures. I also have a sony picture station, which I have hooked up to my sony Wega. I can look at the pictures on my HD tv and then print out the ones I want on the pic station (which is the size of a small toaster) right from the tv. I also burn my photos onto a disk besides storing them into my laptop. I just take the stick out of the camera and put it in the laptop...and there they are I can also crop and adjust. I can also print pics directly from my laptop to the pic station. I can also make notes and albums and postcards in the computer then print.

Gotta love technology!

Pros: Great high quality pics, easy to view and print, long battery life, ability to make and burn videos, easy to use, ability to be creative.

Cons: None

 

[Mellie2162]

Well You guys are just a wealth of information. Thank you so much for all of the tips and advice. I will be sure to let you know what we end up with. All of you pointed out a lot of things that I would have never thought of. Thanks again.

 

[JerseyJ]

I have a Sony cybershot zeiss lens (glass) 7.2 meg. I love love love this camera. It has everything. It is very easy to use, has auto focus..also I have never had a problem with the flash recharging...very quick and red eye reduction. It also takes videos. The settings are easy to change and they do it all from fireworks to the spots on a lady bug. The photos are postcard quality. The battery does not die out because even if you leave it on the camera will automatically shut itself off. I also love the fact that besides the screen on the back, it has a viewfinder (like a regualr 35mm) when it is very sunny out you can't see the screen, so it is very imortant to also have a viewfinder on your digital as well. Also a glass lens will give you sharper crisper photos. It zooms in sharp and takes great zoomed in pics. This camera is small, but not tiny. I always pack the cord charger and charge it every night when on vacation. When at home the charger is hooked into our computer. So all you have to do is put the camera onto the cradle and your photos come up on the computer. I also have a 1gig memory stick which holds ooodles of pictures. I also have a sony picture station, which I have hooked up to my sony Wega. I can look at the pictures on my HD tv and then print out the ones I want on the pic station (which is the size of a small toaster) right from the tv. I also burn my photos onto a disk besides storing them into my laptop. I just take the stick out of the camera and put it in the laptop...and there they are I can also crop and adjust. I can also print pics directly from my laptop to the pic station. I can also make notes and albums and postcards in the computer then print.

Gotta love technology!

Pros: Great high quality pics, easy to view and print, long battery life, ability to make and burn videos, easy to use, ability to be creative.

Cons: None

Thanks for all the great info. Just got this camera & we're still in the learning phase but love it so far.