Buying a New Digital Camera

[Mod_Man_Extreme]

Modman, it seems you really like to find old products, cling to them and distance yourself from whatever is released afterwards. I think you often narrow in on a single point or two that you can then use to justify you not having said new item. I'm not pitching anything to you, just an observation I guess I've noticed about your buy habits and view points on technology. I'm never one to go out and buy the newest item, but for something as simple as a phone or a camera I can recognize the advancements that have been made.

That said, though I don't plan on buying a point and shoot camera with a ridiculous resolution, thank you for the heads up. However, a film based camera is not practical for my purposes.

Nah don't worry about it. To be honest I love the convenience of digicams and digital tech, but also always enjoy tinkering with the simple more malleable analog side of things.

That having been said there actually are a lot of issues with the current crop of 10Mp+ point and shoot digicams that makes them a bit of a bitch to shoot with.

As for film though I tend to take a lot of shots of stuff I really want to hold on to with it as I can always go back to the negatives later and get another copy in higher resolution as monitors and computers evolve. I think of it as my "forever" cam for pics I really wanna hang onto later on down the line.

[fastbilly1]

For low end digital cameras I have been told to buy one of two:
Sub $200:
Fuji XP10 ~ $150
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/6 ... gital.html

I played with my brothers one of these yesterday and I highly recommend it. Waterproof to 10 feet, shock resistant, and takes very good photos. Yes it is 12 megapixels, when it doesnt need to be, but in full light it has little issue with noise in the photos. In lowlight, without the flash, it is spotty, and the digital zoom is terrible. But I recommend this one wholeheartedly. Best of all, smaller than a deck of cards and takes SD!

Sub $500:
Canon G11 ~$450
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/6 ... 2B001.html

The best point and shoot SLR you can buy currently. It is not a toy camera it is a real beast of a camera that can do most anything the big boys can but with only one lens. The best part is that you can buy an underwater housing for it for nothing (comparatively) and take it down 100 something feet. And it does fairly decent video. Heck its my next camera, unless I end up with my oldmans Lumix GH1 for an extended period of time.


As for the megapixel debate. Annie Leibovitz was once stated as saying that all you need is six megapixels. That with a six megapixel image you can print a billboard and it will look as good as a twelve megapixel image. The only reason you need greater than six is if you zoom in and crop (atleast in her eyes). The name may not strike any of you as noteworthy, but she is considered the greatest portrait photographer alive. Now obviously if you are doing wildlife photography or landscapes you might need more, but it is interesting to hear what the pros say.

And for the film vs digital debate, all I have to say is film is techincally only 12 megapixel. Where as Scanner Photography is 115:
http://golembewski.awardspace.com/photo ... index.html

And if you were wondering, I was a semiprofessional photographer back in the early 2000s and my little brother currently is one. He bought a G11 recently and Shutterbug confirmed that it was one of the best buys. And if you are ever thinking about buying a Camera of any kind, check to see what the people at B&H are saying about it. They havent steered my family wrong since we started using them back in 74.

[Octopod]

I recommend a Nikon Coolpix. I use the L16 and I think it was around $100 and it take pretty damn good pics. And they do use SD cards.

7.1 megapixels if that matters. I also use it sometimes to take really short video clips.

[CRTGAMER]

I recommend a Nikon Coolpix. I use the L16 and I think it was around $100 and it take pretty damn good pics. And they do use SD cards.

7.1 megapixels if that matters. I also use it sometimes to take really short video clips.

A good point, video clip quality. Who lugs around the separate camcorder anymore.

[fastbilly1]

A good point, video clip quality. Who lugs around the separate camcorder anymore.

Two that get lugged around by alot of people:
The more common - Flip Camera (HD):
http://www.theflip.com/en-us/Products/u ... 5wodSHTGZA

The uncommon - Go Pro:
http://www.goprocamera.com/

Having used both, I like the Go Pro more even though it is less practical. Mostly because the first ad I saw for it was someone turning it on then hitting it with a baseball bat. This should show durability:

[jeffro11]

Just bought this camera a few days ago.



It's pretty amazing. Autofocus/exposure lock, 720p video capabilities. Very nice camera. Cheap too.

[molotovwars]

Here is a link to the camera I have:


Anyways, yeah I'm probably not looking to one up this, just to have a few options.

Fastbilly, I am seriously considering that Fuji XP10. It fills a lot of gaps that are left my current camera. The size of course, but that would be solved by nearly any camera. The 5x optical is better than most in that price range, but its ability to be waterproof is what helps it stand out for me. I'm not necessarily in need of a water proof camera, but if I am traveling with two cameras it would be very clear when to use which when. I am also curious to shop outside of Canon. I love Canon, but I probably never would have looked a Fuji (and for no actual reason).

Now as far as the megapixels discussions we're having here, do any of usually shoot on the highest settings. I know I rarely do as I do not intend to print a lot of my pictures and don't need a huge 10MP file for a picture of a game I'm going to sell on eBay or of my friends and I at a bar.

When I travel I'll usually put it on the highest settings, but other than that it is rare.

I kind of understand the noise issue, but I'm curious, if you are taking pictures when the camera is not on the highest settings, are those issues still present? I guess if I'm taking pictures with a 12MP camera I'll need to buy some additional memory cards. I've gotten by quite well with one 4GB card (and maybe a 1GB somewhere). I've also got an SD "shell" that I could use with the 4GB microSD that I use for my nintendo DS.

Assuming I've just got the one 4GB memory card available, what would you recommend memory wise if I'm going to buy that Fuji camera?

[Octopod]

I take pics at the highest settings and then adjust with Paint if needed/wanted.

[fastbilly1]

If I am not mistaken the XP10 takes SDHC cards. So whatever card has a good read speed/fits your budget, would be ideal. Ive started not buying more than four (4) gig cards for still cameras so I dump and backup them fairly often. You can fit quite a bit of pictures on a four gig card.

I wasnt big on it being waterproof either, it was just a neat feature. It is just one less thing for you to worry about when traveling.

[Niode]

The most important thing to remember is higher megapixel count does not mean a better quality camera. It just means that your pictures are bigger. You could have 20 mega pixel camera, but if the sensor is crap at taking pictures then you're just going to have really big, albeit utterly crap quality photos.

Digital zoom should just be called digital crop and stretch because that's what it does. It doesn't zoom anything, it just crops your image down and then blows it up. Optical zoom is what you need.