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Serate
Member
08-21-2001
| Thursday, April 10, 2008 - 1:18 pm
OK so I'm slinking in here asking mercy from all you photography gods and goddesses. I am not worthy to be in here with all this great knowledge. When it comes to cameras I point and shoot. So one would think it would be easy to go buy a camera. But I'm soooooooooooo confused. I did read through this thread, and I'm a tad bit more confused. I don't want the most expensive camera out there, but then again I don't need to look at only the cheapest. [thank you stimulus package!] I know a few things that we want. Right now we have a Fuji FinePix S3100. It was given to us 4 years ago. I should be ashamed to say that I know almost nothing about it and haven't utilized too many of the features but have taken some pretty good pictures with it. It's not working correctly and with a NASCAR race coming up it's time for a new one. I do know we want at least a 6x optical zoom and a view finder as the lcd monitors are crappy in the sunshine. I am amazed at how good of pictures I took with our Sony whatever we used to have [it had a floppy disc not a memory card, something the VA gave hubby when he was going to school] when all I could do was hold the camera up shoot and pray. But I would like a little more control than a guess shot. What I don't know is what brands are decent [amateur wise] and what aren't as good. Also are there any other features I need to look for? Whatever camera we end up getting, I am going to try and read the manual this time. *L* The one that came with our Fuji confused the heck outta me at the time, but makes a little more sense now. Alot of good it does me since the camera is kaput. I want to learn how to use this next one, not just use it. IF that makes sense. Thanks! T
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Julieboo
Member
02-05-2002
| Friday, April 11, 2008 - 3:17 pm
One that I'd recommend (mainly cuz you talk about nascar and sounds like zoom would be good) is the canon sx 100. Here's a few links reviewing it: http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/canon/powershot_sx100-review/index.shtml http://reviews.cnet.com/digital-cameras/canon-powershot-sx100-is/4505-6501_7-32471277.html?tag=prod.txt.1 http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canonsx100is/page16.asp Another one to look at is the Panasonic TZ3. You can get reviews of that via the links above... I am not an expert, but I did a lot of research for my last camera...
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Jimmer
Moderator
08-30-2000
| Friday, April 11, 2008 - 6:00 pm
How about the Canon Powershot S5 IS? Review of S5 IS at DP Review
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Eeyoreslament
Member
07-20-2003
| Saturday, April 12, 2008 - 1:57 pm
Hey Jimmer or Bob, do you guys know a lot about DNG?? Would you guys suggest that I convert all of my files to DNG right away, before archiving them?
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Jimmer
Moderator
08-30-2000
| Saturday, April 12, 2008 - 2:26 pm
I assume you are shooting raw? I'm not sure about DNG - yet. I like the concept (an open format) but I wish a few more companies would come on line to support it. Do you have any other applications that you use (for viewing or cataloguing) and can they read DNG format? Speaking personally, I haven't converted my files to DNG at this point.
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Eeyoreslament
Member
07-20-2003
| Saturday, April 12, 2008 - 2:43 pm
I'm using Photoshop (CS3) on both my PC and my MacBook, and possibly Aperture on my Mac. I'm a stickler for lots of little details, so now that I'm seriously taking up photography as a hobby, I want to make sure I do everything right in importing/archiving the first time around, rather than having to go back and recatalogue and convert later on down the road. So right now, I'm doing a bunch of research, and started reading a bit more about the DNG format. It SOUNDS pretty good, so I'm wondering, "Why WOULDN'T we all convert to it!?" So there must be some sort of catch....or at least that's how I think. LOL Yeah I notice both Canon and Nikon haven't signed on for it, methinks because they'd rather continue to be proprietary. But then I figure, if I have to do everything in Photoshop anyways.....then I wonder what the downsides are to converting....
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Jimmer
Moderator
08-30-2000
| Saturday, April 12, 2008 - 7:29 pm
The only downside is if the conversion isn't perfect and you lose some information in the original file. Of course, you can embed the original when you convert but the slight downside to that is it will make the file larger. The plus to converting is that you don't have to worry about sidecar xmp files any more and chances are that there will always be a converter available to convert the files in the future. I use CS3 and Bridge for all my work and I use a little program called ThumbsPlus for cataloguing.
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Serate
Member
08-21-2001
| Sunday, April 13, 2008 - 1:40 pm
Julie and Jimmer thank's for the suggestions! We're on our way shopping in a few minutes. Thanks again! T
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Serate
Member
08-21-2001
| Monday, April 14, 2008 - 6:05 am
Yesterday we went to 7 places and THINK we have it narrowed down to 2 cameras. The Canon PowerShot A720 IS and the Canon PowerShot S5 IS. We found a decent deal on the S5 so there's less than $100 difference between the two. So now it comes down to the desire to finally have a camera small enough to throw in my purse [the A720] and in our opinion be it right or be it wrong a much better camera [the S5]. The A720 has the same zoom we have now but double the megapixels and also has OIS so it should be better quality pictures. I think. *L* And it's sooooooooooooooo much lighter than the S5. Hubby tried to attribute the anti theft devices to the weight of the S5 even tho I showed him online the weights of both cameras - A720 is 8.6 oz with batteries vs. 20.2 oz with batteries for the S5. Until we went to America's and they have less anti theft protection devices, plus the sales lady actually took the device off for us. Guess it was worth all sales pitch from somebody who didn't know much and was working for a commission - she conveniently couldn't figure out how to take the anti theft devices off of any camera less than $400 and said that she wouldn't recommend them anyway. But the S5 would be even better quality pictures. I think. So we still don't know which we are going to get. I've gotta go get some shoes today so might check out what's at the mall too.
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Jimmer
Moderator
08-30-2000
| Monday, April 14, 2008 - 6:51 am
Which camera you buy depends on your priorities. I think the S5 has the potential to produce significantly better results but the question is whether it is worth the effort for you to get those results. For example, the S5 is a lot bigger and bulkier to carry around. The other thing that people don't like to hear (because it is more work, more money and more of a nuisance) is IMO the single best way to elevate your indoor photography to a completely different level is by using an external flash and bouncing the light off of a ceiling or wall. However, that means you have to spend money on the flash and go through the hassle of putting it on the camera. Plus you need a camera that has a hotshoe and accepts an external flash (like the S5). Are the results, worth the inconvenience? I can't answer that one for you. By the way, with both of these cameras, you're going to have to buy a good battery charger and high-powered rechargeable batteries. That will be essential.
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Serate
Member
08-21-2001
| Monday, April 14, 2008 - 7:21 am
I think the S5 has the potential to produce significantly better results but the question is whether it is worth the effort for you to get those results. Yep that's what we are trying to decide. We're used to bulkier because our Fuji is almost as big as the S5. And before that we had a Sony Mavica, not as heavy but it was pretty big. Sometimes I want the convenience of the smaller camera, which looks to be tons better than what we have now. Hubby is kinda stuck on the longer zoom but is ultimately leaving it up to me since I talk 99.9% of the pictures. [We didn't have to decide what we wanted the previous 2 cameras as the Mavica was given to hubby by the VA back in 2000 when he was in college and taking Photoshop and Quark(?) or something. The Fuji was a wedding gift to us in 2004.] The other thing that people don't like to hear .... Actually what you said - that I understood *L* - makes me lean toward the S5. Indoor pics are where our past 2 cameras failed us. Hubby's grandma's 90th birthday is coming up in August, and will probably be the last time the whole family is together, so I'd like to be able to take some decent family pictures. Not expecting to be able to take professional pics, but if I can take better than what I do now I'll be more than happy. Plus this time around I want to learn to use the camera's features and if eventually I can do more with the S5 it might be the way to go. By the way, with both of these cameras, you're going to have to buy a good battery charger and high-powered rechargeable batteries. That will be essential. We have one for the Fuji - and have Titanium batteries on hand when we go out just in case - but it's probably time for a new one. Thanks for this tip tho. While we know about it now, when we got our Fuji we had no idea about needing a good charger and after tons of regualr batteries in a short tome we got a cheap charger one at wally world and learned our lesson about good quality battery chargers almost as fast as learning about needing rechargable batteries. If we had known about it back then we'd have saved alot of $ and missed less pictures. Thanks for the input. I really appreciate it.
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Landileigh
Member
07-29-2002
| Monday, April 14, 2008 - 10:13 am
serate, i'd go for the A720. you stick it in your purse and you end up taking a hell of a lot more pictures because it is right with you and it turns on easy and you enjoy it more. i have the one right below that and love love love love love it! it is in my purse right now.
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Eeyoreslament
Member
07-20-2003
| Monday, April 14, 2008 - 10:43 am
I have to agree with Landi about the portability of a camera, and the effect it has on the number of pictures you end up taking. If you have to lug your whole KIT out, to get good pictures, you aren't likely to take it to a party, or something casual and spontaneous. Sure, it's always nice to have the big fancy camera, if you are at a child's recital, or whatever, but for a night on the town, or something where you MIGHT like to take a picture or two, but want to focus more on the "experience" of the event, a big camera is annoying. I think there are a lot of tiny cameras that are being made with TONS of the manual features, and at least you can take those to an office party or something like that. I find that when I take my BIG camera to events, I often get weird looks, like, I'm more interested in taking pictures than the actual event itself. For example, my friend from work played a gig in a bar on his birthday (he's in a band), and so a ton of us from work decided to go, and I thought it would be a cool idea to bring out the big cam. But EVERYONE commented on the fact that I brought such a fancy camera, and it was somewhat intrusive to the flow of the night. With the big SLRs, you're often playing around with settings, etc, and it detracts from the rest of the evening, the chatting with friends, and the spontaneous pictures you can take. It's very hard to socialize with the big camera. It sounds weird, but I really didn't realize it until I got my big one, and suddenly I really valued my little compact pocket-sized camera. Nobody notices when you pull out the mini-cam to snap a quick pic. As for indoor flash work, in the last 6 months, I've learned SOOOO much about photography, and I am learning tricks of having a point&shoot (P&S). I've put a bit of regular office tape over my flash, to sort of diffuse the flash a bit. As a result, my subjects don't have the obnoxious white shine on the front of their faces, and their shadows behind them aren't so harsh. As well, I've learned to sort of manipulate my own P&S camera's manual settings to do the job of an SLR, without being so obtrusive in social situations. I advocate both cameras for different reasons, but I REAAAALLLLY stress knowing what MOST of your photo events will be, and then buying a camera that will suit most of those events. If you're a spontaneous shooter, who wants to capture lots of things while still being able to enjoy the events, I'd stick with a small cam.
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Jimmer
Moderator
08-30-2000
| Monday, April 14, 2008 - 11:05 am
Sure. It all depends on what you want to produce with the camera, how important quality is to you and whether or not it is worth the inconvenience. It's also all relative. After carting around my SLR with huge heavy pro lenses, a flash bracket, reflectors and larger lights, being able to attach a smaller reasonably good quality lens to it for casual photos makes it feel almost like a point and shoot to me! You get used to it. I also agree that you will get more "looks" with an SLR and I think that SLR owners are sometimes treated unfairly as a result. The larger point and shoots may get you looks as well but it is still a point and shoot and not all that uncommon. It is a very personal choice. If money was no object then I would seriously recommend getting both a small camera for carrying around all the time and a bigger one for better quality when the mood is right for that. I've got lots of big camera equipment but I just bought a little point and shoot myself. I love the little camera and it does great for what it is for but I still can't get great results in any low light situations with it. I get okay results but not what I'm used to. I'm spoiled I guess.
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Julieboo
Member
02-05-2002
| Monday, April 14, 2008 - 11:16 am
I'd also give the sx100 another look. Has a lot of zoom in a size near the 720... THe S5 is a nice camera, but has a lot of options, would you use them???
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Serate
Member
08-21-2001
| Monday, April 14, 2008 - 12:14 pm
Julie the only reason the sx100 isn't an option is it doesn't have a electronic viewfinder. MOST important in the brilliant sunlight during the races at Kansas. I was all set for it until I realized it didn't have the EVF. As far as the S5's options, I'm not even sure what all the options mean let alone if I'd use them. But no matter what the camera we get I'm going to learn to use the thing, not just use it. In trying to figure out what is wrong with our Fuji, I've found out so many features that it has that I had no idea existed. [At the time we got it my mom had just died and I was in a brain fog and all I cared about was taking pictures of my bonus kids and my kitty.] I'm used to lugging a bigger camera around so that's not a problem really. Hubby is so stuck on the 12x zoom vs the 6x zoom. Guess he thinks he needs to be able to see if Tony Stewart has anything in his teeth while we are sitting in the grandstands. I went into a camera store that as near the mall and I might as well been in America's cuz the salesman was only interested in how much I could spend before talking to me about cameras. I told him which cameras we had looked at, and the two we were favoring, and while he had both of them he pulled out a more expensive camera and was pushing it on me. Our 2 main priorities are EVF and at least 6 zoom. This one had 15 zoom but no EVF. I don't care how good the lcd screens have become, I don't want to be stuck in the sunlight not being able to see what I'm taking having spent over $500 on a camera! [Which does remind me of the option I know we would use on the S5 - being able to move the lcd screen and angle it so we can hold it over our heads at the races and still see what we are taking a picture of.] I really appreciate all the comments and suggestions. Going to have hubby read all your replies when he gets home, then we'll decide what we are going to get, hopefully. I'm really leaning towards the A720 but I'll let him decide. If he's really set on the larger zoom we'll get that one, and maybe I'll ask for a smaller one for our anniversary in August if I still want one. I just want to get one by this weekend or sooner so I have at least a week if not more to play with it and figure it out. Thanks again! T
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Eeyoreslament
Member
07-20-2003
| Monday, April 14, 2008 - 4:27 pm
Another question for you Serate: Are you ALLOWED to bring bigger cameras into official NASCAR events? Lots of professional sporting events and concerts do not allow SLR cameras, and some don't let in any cameras (if they bother to search you). You should check into whether you would be able to even BRING IN the bigger camera, or whether it would be confiscated at the gates. I know at my local NHL games, they search your bags for cameras and alcohol. My pocket cam is fine because it fits my my bum pocket, but I could never fit my Nikon D80 anywhere to smuggle it in....
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Eeyoreslament
Member
07-20-2003
| Monday, April 14, 2008 - 4:32 pm
Yeah Jimmer! Why do we get "looks" all the time!!! No fair!! I wish I could carry my SLR everywhere, but it really is the social thing, that people look at you funny, and as if you are some paprazzi or something. Like anyone with an SLR doing street photography IMMEDIATELY must be up to no good. :-( In my class, we had a "field trip" where we went to this local market, and I had to miss the group trip because I had a midterm that afternoon. So I went to the market another day by myself, and I got a lot of weird looks. I would have felt so much more comfortable with other people carrying big cameras!
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Serate
Member
08-21-2001
| Monday, April 14, 2008 - 8:42 pm
Eeyore yep I can take the S5 in. It's not much bigger than what we had the last time we went to KS - just alot heavier. And it's pretty much the same size as the camera - again alot heavier - than my brother's that we took to KY Speedway. They just don't allow video cameras to be taken in. Depends on what gate you go in, who's at the gate, and if you are attractive or not to them if you get searched. I've always had the camera out of the bag and all the zippers open on the bag and they usually just wave me through w/o looking. We're no closer to deciding - we went and looked at gutter stuff tonight. C'mon hubby get your priorities straight! Yes the gutter fell off so we took it all the way off yesterday, but the race is in less than 2 weeks!!!!!!!!!!!!! *L* I've decided that if he hasn't made his mind up by Saturday when he leaves for the Harley stop for work I'll head to my brother's and pick his camera up and that's what we'll take. I'll just have him take his zoom lens off so I don't have to lug the huge bag around. Funny about the "looks" you get cuz when I see somebody with a big camera I start looking around to see what they are taking pictures of. I've never thought to "look" at the person carrying the camera!
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Eeyoreslament
Member
07-20-2003
| Tuesday, April 15, 2008 - 12:32 am
Nah, it's not like they're looking at ME, per se, but I feel like they are judging me, and trying to see if what I'm photographing is ACCEPTABLE. Like....am I a perv taking a pic of an unsuspecting girl, (even though I'm female too), or if I'm taking a pic of a kid, or something that is deemed as "private". Kids at playgrounds make for WONDERFUL pictures, but it certainly isn't easy to go to a park and take pics of kids. Even when you do approach a parent and say you're a photo student, and that you're willing to show and share ALL pics, and that you will NOT be putting these on the internet, etc. you still don't get a lot of cooperation. And understandably so. It's just hard, even for street photography, because like you say, people always want to know what you're photographing, and it FEELS like there is a judgment attached to it. Like, you BETTER be taking pics of something "acceptable". I dunno, maybe it's because I'm a relatively new amateur photographer, that I haven't gotten used to just unabashedly taking photos anywhere and everywhere.
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Serate
Member
08-21-2001
| Monday, April 21, 2008 - 9:40 am
OK so we have a camera. It's a Fuji please don't beat me with a wet noodle! but the price was right. Met my dad and brother halfway so I could give them some stuff I had for them, and I could get a monitor [for the laptop that Jack broke the screen on] and borrow my brother's camera since my hubby couldn't make up his mind. So when I met them instead of handing me his camera my brother handed me the new camera and said happy birthday. [Only a few months late but hey I wasn't expecting a present from them so wooo hooo!] So while I would have rather had one of the Cannons, this one will do. It's out of the box and that's about it. Hopefully I'll have time later today to mess with it. It's about the same size as our old camera, but weighs a little more which isn't a bad thing as it fits in my hand alot better than the old camera. Don't think the pictures will be as good as if we had gotten one of the Cannons, but for the most part we were happy with our old camera so the pictures from this one should be equal or better I'd hope. We have 30 days [from Friday] to take it back so we'll use it this weekend and see what we think. Thanks to everybody for your input - I really appreciated it! Eventually I still want a smaller camera but for now free is better! T ETA it's a Fugi FinePix S1000 FD
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Serate
Member
08-21-2001
| Monday, April 21, 2008 - 9:46 am
It's just hard, even for street photography, because like you say, people always want to know what you're photographing, and it FEELS like there is a judgment attached to it. Like, you BETTER be taking pics of something "acceptable". I think you're right, it's just because you are new to it and you are self concious. Me, if I see somebody taking pictures I look to see what picture I missed or what the photographer thinks is interesting, but I would never think the picture being taken wasn't acceptable. How am I to know why you are taking pictures? Who knows what assignment you have? Yes there are probably those who are very critical but pbbbbbbt on them! Also just wanted to let you know I love looking at the pictures you have posted. You are lucky to live in such a beautiful area. T
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Jimmer
Moderator
08-30-2000
| Monday, April 21, 2008 - 10:08 am
That's great Serate. What model Fuji is it?
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Landileigh
Member
07-29-2002
| Monday, April 21, 2008 - 11:14 am
WOW! that's some camera!
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Serate
Member
08-21-2001
| Monday, April 21, 2008 - 12:08 pm
Jimmer it's a Fuji FinePix S1000fd. I couldn't find an actual review of it since it was just released this month, but the one thing I think I'm worried about is in the link I provided it states Sadly given the strength of the zoom lens, there's no mechanical image stabilization, with the FinePix S1000fd offering only the ability to boost sensitivity to (hopefully) gain a high enough shutter speed to prevent blur at the expense of image noise. Since I have no idea what this means, I don't know if I need to be worried about it or not. *L* I now have the strap and lens cap attached, and battery and memory card in. But when I turned it on there were so many options on the screen I decided maybe I should start reading the manual before I go any farther. And since I'm baking cookies for our DAV meeting tonight, and doing laundry, and running reports, I'm thinking it might be better to wait until after the meeting tonight when the hubby and the dog are in bed and I can get more than a minute or two at a time to read.
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