Author |
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Buttercup
Member
09-10-2000
| Monday, April 10, 2006 - 10:57 am
I am hoping somebody can give me some advice regarding digital cameras. There are three main things that I am looking for: 1. Excellent pictures without too much effort 2. Great video quality 3. Small I know that the higher the megapixels the better the picture, but I have no clue what to look for when it comes to video quality 
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Jimmer
Moderator
08-30-2000
| Monday, April 10, 2006 - 11:18 am
Buttercup, I know you mentioned this to me in the Questions and Answers thread. I know a lot about digital photography (or at least I should, cause it's my job) but oddly enough I don't know that much about specific non-professional camera models. I will give you a few tips though that might help. One thing that I can suggest is stick with big well-known brand names (e.g. Canon, Nikon, Sony, etc.). Also, don't be too obsessed with the number of megapixels vs. other features that are important to you. Anything over 4 megapixels will give you great prints up to 8 x 10. Go to a store and try the camera out for yourself to see how it feels to you. Be very very careful about buying over the Internet or by phone. If the deal sounds too good to be true – it is and you will be ripped off. I'm sure some other people here can give you specifics about their cameras and which ones they like. Let us know if you have any questions.
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Rabbit
Animoderator
08-12-2001
| Monday, April 10, 2006 - 11:18 am
Hi Butter, I have ordered a trick little niche camera/camcorder. It is supposed to arrive Thursday and I'll let you know if it is as good as the manufacturer says it is. It is extremely small for a camcorder, 6 ounces. Stores everything on SD cards including movies, No video tape. It is supposed to take fairly good video (Mpeg4), not as good as a minidv camcorder but vastly better than the video on a regular digital camera. It is supposed to take good stills, 4.2mp. You can take a still while you are recording a video. 6x optical zoom, 12 digital. While the video quality is not supposed to be as good as my JVC minidv camcorder. The ability to take little videos, pulling the SD card out of the camera and plugging it into the computer to edit video and email movies is a cool concept. I suspect if it works as good as it is supposed to I will use it 4 times to everytime I pull out the tape camcorder, and its 6x optical zoom and 5mp for stills is better than my current HP digital camera for stills. I am planning on this little hybrid being my carry it with me unit for both functions.
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Jimmer
Moderator
08-30-2000
| Monday, April 10, 2006 - 11:23 am
Gosh I wish that I had done something similar Rabbit. I have a nice expensive camcorder. It is digital but it records to tape. The problem is that it is a nuisance to bring along and transferring stuff off of the tape and onto DVD is time consuming to say the least. Plus it is just for personal use as videography isn't my business. It would have been much better for me to get a decent point and shoot digital with a good movie feature.
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Rabbit
Animoderator
08-12-2001
| Monday, April 10, 2006 - 11:24 am
These tapeless camcorders can be bought very cheap, but the Sanyo I ordered is a huge jump in specs (the optical zoom, Frames per second on video, CCD sensor quality) and twice the price of these cheaper models, but it is still cheap for a camcorder. $350 from Amazon.
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Rabbit
Animoderator
08-12-2001
| Monday, April 10, 2006 - 11:55 am

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Maris
Member
03-28-2002
| Monday, April 10, 2006 - 12:06 pm
I just bought the Canon Powershot S212. Very happy with it and I got the best price at Dell
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Buttercup
Member
09-10-2000
| Monday, April 10, 2006 - 12:44 pm
Jimmer, Rabbit and Maris--thanks so much for your input. We do have a Panasonic digital camcorder, but it's too much for me to schlep around on a daily basis. I like to take pictures and video "on the fly" when Butterbaby and I are traveling, or just out and about at a park. I've been using a Canon PowerShot S400, but the video resolution is very poor. My husband thinks that the recordings of his baby girl's "history" ought to be better, and whom am I to argue The two small cameras that have caught my interest so far are the Canon PowerShot S80 and the Sony Cyber Shot DSC-M2. Of course, now I am curious about Rabbit's new Sanyo purchase as well! Rabbit, please let me know how you like it--I assume you may use it a lot this coming weekend as it is the bunnies' holiday 
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Wargod
Moderator
07-16-2001
| Monday, April 10, 2006 - 1:19 pm
I have a Sony Cybershot DSC-P73...I love it! I can choose anywhere from 1 to 4.1 megapixels. For family get togethers where I know I'll be taking a lot of pictures that I'll later email to family, I use 1 megapixel and can store a couple hundren pics on my memory card. If I'm taking pics I know I'll want to print out, specially if I want the 8x10's, I use 4.1 megapixels. I can also take video. I have the 256 mb memory card so I can get, actually I'm not sure, lol. I don't do a lot of video, mostly cuz I'm not techie enough to fiddle with it when it's done. But it is nice to have when I want or need it. I did take videos when the kids were playing little league and Darren had to work, instead of the whole game though I'd do the important Caleb/Dakota parts. We have a Sony camcorder and I can count on three fingers how often we've used it (and bought it shortly after Caleb was born!) They were a wee bit bigger then and required lugging it, the tapes, the cords, the battery, and tripod around so we weren't too likely to take it anywhere. Now though with the smaller digital camera, and knowing I don't have to lug around a bunch of stuff or worry about transferring video to tape or dvd and not worrying about getting a bunch of rolls of film developed I take my camera everywhere. It's just so much easier to grab, take pics or video and download. Another nice thing about them Butter, especially with the little ones, they're freaking fun, lol! The kids see the camera come out and they're all poses. Family fun at it's best. My nieces come over and the girls play dress up and take pics. Family parties are great cuz the kids all get together to pose, serious pics, goofy ones whatever, then they get to gather around and look back through the pics that were taken. My sis just got one of the tiny camcorders that does the still pics, I can't tell you what kind, but it's a pretty nifty little machine. Far superior to mine in both still and video pics and has left me drooling for an upgrade, lol.
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Juju2bigdog
Member
10-27-2000
| Monday, April 10, 2006 - 1:33 pm
Rabbit, you dumb bunny! That is a shaver, not a camera! Be careful getting it near your tail and nether regions.

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Rabbit
Animoderator
08-12-2001
| Monday, April 10, 2006 - 1:44 pm
But that is what I was going to photograph. Darn these multifunction thingy widgets. Hmmm, could use a little trim I guess.
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Buttercup
Member
09-10-2000
| Tuesday, April 11, 2006 - 6:16 pm
Thanks, War! I agree that it's fun and probably will be more so as time goes on--Butterbaby already says "cheese!" as soon as she sees the camera. Of course, by the time I get it ready she's already off running Rabbit... ...I'm just sayin'
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Buttercup
Member
09-10-2000
| Tuesday, April 18, 2006 - 5:45 pm
Rabbit, did you get to try out your new camera? If so, how do you like it?
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Maris
Member
03-28-2002
| Thursday, April 20, 2006 - 1:08 am
an example of photos taken with my canon powershot. First time using it so it will give indication of how easy it was:

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Maris
Member
03-28-2002
| Thursday, April 20, 2006 - 1:32 am

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Maris
Member
03-28-2002
| Thursday, April 20, 2006 - 1:33 am

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Jimmer
Moderator
08-30-2000
| Thursday, April 20, 2006 - 5:54 am
They are getting pretty easy to work with. That was one of the challenges that the camera companies faced. I still think that the digital era means that there will be millions of "lost" images. 
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Spygirl
Board Administrator
04-23-2001
| Thursday, April 20, 2006 - 8:33 am
Wow, Maris! Those pictures are great quality - particularly the last one.
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Maris
Member
03-28-2002
| Thursday, April 20, 2006 - 9:11 am
Every single picture came out great and I never used the flash. I tended not to use the auto setting but manual. What was great was that within the manual setting you could set the photo to sunny, cloudy, tungsten, fluorescent, every possible option. It was just that easy. The photos from the museum were just incredible and as close to reality as actually being there.
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Rabbit
Animoderator
08-12-2001
| Thursday, April 20, 2006 - 9:13 am
Okay, I got my camera and I have used it. I'll write up a report later. Today is a tight schedule, as I will be at the dentist half the day. Having my two front teeth faced in gold with diamonds.
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Wargod
Moderator
07-16-2001
| Thursday, April 20, 2006 - 9:31 am
Maris, those pics are terrific! They are so sharp and clear.
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Jan
Moderator
08-01-2000
| Thursday, April 20, 2006 - 9:43 am
Wow Mr Hare, won't you be the bling master 
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Jimmer
Moderator
08-30-2000
| Thursday, April 20, 2006 - 3:11 pm
Wow .... I'm tempted to ask for a picture (but then again, maybe not .... )
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Juju2bigdog
Member
10-27-2000
| Thursday, April 20, 2006 - 6:06 pm
Maris, I just went to do some research on your camera, and I can't find a Canon Powershot S212 model.
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Julieboo
Member
02-05-2002
| Thursday, April 20, 2006 - 6:07 pm
JUJU: That's cuz it is the S2 IS model (i, not 1) Link to DC Resource Review <fixed link>
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Buttercup
Member
09-10-2000
| Thursday, April 20, 2006 - 8:28 pm
Great photos, Maris! I am leaning towards another Canon at this point--there are just so many models. At least I know I want a small one that takes great video 
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Rabbit
Animoderator
08-12-2001
| Friday, April 21, 2006 - 9:52 am
Okay here is my review on the Sanyo Tapeless Camcorder/Digital Cameras. I’ll start with the things that refer to both the low-end and then the high-end model. They look almost identical and function the same. The camcorder/camera is really small, smaller than I was expecting even from the picture. 4 inches tall by 2 inches wide by 1 inch thick. It is about the size of a cigarette pack when closed. The rechargeable, memory free batteries are cheap, you can get 2 high-capacity ones on ebay for about 12 bucks with shipping. They charge in 90 minutes and last about an hour shooting movies. The are tiny and easy to carry spares. This camcorder/still camera is point and shoot to the extreme. You hold it in your right hand and with your thumb you can instantly control the zoom. Start and stop video and shoot still pictures. You can effortlessly shoot stills while you are recording a video. This is a one handed camera. You hold it in your right hand (fortunately, though left handed I am fairly ambidextrous). It is extremely lightweight (6 ounces) and the controls for all basic operation are lined up for simple control with the slightest movement of your thumb. It has a built-in flash that can be set to manual or auto light sensing. Auto or manual focus for both video and stills. When set-up for auto-focus auto-flash auto white balance you are ready to be Quick Draw McGraw for taking quick videos and snap shots. These are the default settings, you only need to access the menu when you want to get fancy. Load the camera with a one or two gig SD card and you can take still/pictures until the cows come home. What this camera is best for: Great Stills, even 4 mega pixels on the low-end model is overkill for most amateur applications as most people don’t have a printer or monitor capable of displaying that many pixels anyway. You might as while set a lower setting as your default to take up less space on your computer and not have to shrink pictures as much to email or post. The 6X optical zoom and 12X digital of the low-end model is better than found on most digital cameras. Quick Videos - Easily transferred to your computer. This is where this camera rocks. It vastly outperforms the video function found on most still cameras, it is a camcorder that can take good stills, not the other way around. Most of my usage is to take email-able or web-postable small video clips. So I am actually turning the capture resolution down below its best to keep the clip size smaller. If I were shooting videos to keep I would turn it up to its highest quality and them burn then to DVD. The software for doing that is included if you have a computer with a DVD burner. The high and the low end models. I bought the low-end 4 mega-pixels versus 6 for stills (I don’t even set it for doing 4 so having 6 wouldn’t even come in to play.) As for videos, I don’t intend to burn to DVD. I like short little video clips of projects and events that I can send to people or save for reference. But the high-end model shoots to 720 lines of resolution which is better than many tape mini-dvs. That is more resolution than the standard non-HDTV can even display. The low-end model shoots 640. The highend has a 10x optical zoom instead of a 6X. For really good quality quick videos to burn to DVD, I would have bought the high-end but it didn't match my intended useage and I have a high-end minidv camcorder anyway (that I doubt I'll ever drag out anymore, maybe I should have gone for the highend and given that one away to PB ... hmmm..) The lowend model I paid a bit less than $300 with extra batteries and a 1 gig SD card. The high end model I think I could find for about $600 and about $50 more for extra batteries and SD card.
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Juju2bigdog
Member
10-27-2000
| Friday, April 21, 2006 - 11:25 am
Thanks, Julieboo! And you want to know something funny? That is the same camera we just bought for Bigdog! And we got it at Dell. Hahahaha!!! Excellent review, Hare.
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Maris
Member
03-28-2002
| Friday, April 21, 2006 - 11:42 am
I didnt pay anywhere near $499. I think Dell charged me something around $340
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Jimmer
Moderator
08-30-2000
| Friday, April 21, 2006 - 12:47 pm
Nice review Mr. Rabbit. The only concern I would have about shooting stills at significantly less than 4 megapixels is if you want to print. But having said that, I agree that the whole megapixel thing is vastly over-hyped by camera companies trying to get people to upgrade for more money.
The Megapixel Myth I don't always agree with everything this guy says, but this is a pretty good article.
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Juju2bigdog
Member
10-27-2000
| Friday, April 21, 2006 - 9:24 pm
Thanks for posting that link, Jimmer. Excellent article. I have long thought that 3 Mp is "good enough" for my purposes as a rank amateur, but I couldn't have articulated why.
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Buttercup
Member
09-10-2000
| Tuesday, April 25, 2006 - 12:07 pm
Rabbit, thanks for the very thorough review! I finally found a physical store that actually had one of the Sanyo models and got to check it out. It's sooo tiny! Like you said, the photo doesn't really show how small it really is. The Sanyo HD is one of my final two choices, but unfortunately there isn't a store around that carries it--it seems I can only get it online. The same goes for my other choice Like Jimmer suggested, I really would like to try out and feel the cameras for myself before I make a final decision. Now how exactly am I supposed to do that without having to order both?! I thought the internet was supposed to make life easier, not more difficult 
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