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Camera?

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mjacks

mjacks

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I couldn't find a good camera thread here in the hardware section. Does anyone have any recommendations or warnings? I am thinking about getting a Canon SD550 ultra compact camera for use while on the bike. My huge Olympus E-10 just isn't very good for lugging out when ever I want to snap a quick pic.
 
Just bought the (ultra compact) Canon SD400 about 2 months ago. Did not even get to read the manual before taking it on a 6000 mile ride. I just set it on auto. The 600 pictures I took came out great. Love the small size. The battery life was also very good.

I would recommended it. Just get a good case for it.

Later,

Mark
 
I ended up getting a Kodak Easy Share CX6330. It came with a docking/printing station. Can't remember how much $$ it was, but I'm a notoriously cheap ***. It has impressed me with the pictures it takes, except for really low light pics. Takes pretty good video too. Plus, it's palm sized, at least in my palms......
 
mjacks said:
I couldn't find a good camera thread here in the hardware section. Does anyone have any recommendations or warnings? I am thinking about getting a Canon SD550 ultra compact camera for use while on the bike. My huge Olympus E-10 just isn't very good for lugging out when ever I want to snap a quick pic.
Click to expand...

That's the one, Mike. I've got a full-pimp digital SLR, have been taking photos for more than 40 years, give seminars occasionally, yadda yadda. I bought the predecessor SD500 earlier this year, just leave it set on Auto. The big advantage is the big megapixel chip allows you to shoot in the general direction of what you want a photo of, then you have enough definition to crop even a very small portion and still end up with a great photo.

I used to recommend Photoshop Elements as a great amateur digital darkroom, for about a hundred bucks, but have converted to Google's Picasa. Download it for free, spend 15 minutes learning how to use it, it catalogs all the photos on your hard drive, and you can crop and enhance like a pro without a single lesson. The "I'm feeling lucky" button will fix almost any photo to your satisfaction.

Dell had the SD550 for cheap a day or so ago. Get a gigabyte card elsewhere, do a google.

Sony, Nikon, Minolta, Olympus...all of them...make fabulous itty cameras with 7 megapixels and up. You can't go wrong. Just get the one that feels best. My huge digital SLR, a pro level camera, is a great paperweight.
 
Mark G said:
That's the one, Mike. I've got a full-pimp digital SLR, have been taking photos for more than 40 years, give seminars occasionally, yadda yadda. I bought the predecessor SD500 earlier this year, just leave it set on Auto. The big advantage is the big megapixel chip allows you to shoot in the general direction of what you want a photo of, then you have enough definition to crop even a very small portion and still end up with a great photo.

I used to recommend Photoshop Elements as a great amateur digital darkroom, for about a hundred bucks, but have converted to Google's Picasa. Download it for free, spend 15 minutes learning how to use it, it catalogs all the photos on your hard drive, and you can crop and enhance like a pro without a single lesson. The "I'm feeling lucky" button will fix almost any photo to your satisfaction.

Dell had the SD550 for cheap a day or so ago. Get a gigabyte card elsewhere, do a google.

Sony, Nikon, Minolta, Olympus...all of them...make fabulous itty cameras with 7 megapixels and up. You can't go wrong. Just get the one that feels best. My huge digital SLR, a pro level camera, is a great paperweight.
Click to expand...

I went through this a few months ago, wanting a new camera. My old digital is a pathetic 1.3 mpix and my old SLR, well, it's old and uses film. I have an Olympus Stylus point and shoot 35mm that's good, too, but I wanted digital. So, I shopped, figured I wanted minimum 3.0 mpix. Settled on a Vivitar 5.0 mpix and it shoots GREAT shots and decent video clips. It's small, too. It was sitting right next to an IDENTICAL camera except for the model and brand name. That one was a Pentax and I guess you pay 30 bucks more for the name cause there wasn't a thing different from the Vivitar, same camera. I paid something like $170 for it at Wallyworld and got a 512mb card with it for thirty something. It's a little hard on batteries, but only takes two double As. Seems to do pretty well except that shooting video eats 'em up pretty quick. But, I don't have to buy and develop film for really decent quality shots and the photos are instant. I can carry it out of the way on my belt and don't have a friggin' huge camera bag choking me. I also like the fact that this digital actually shoots decent action pix. My other one was way too slow for that and didn't have an optical zoom.
 
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Mark G said:
That's the one, Mike. I've got a full-pimp digital SLR, have been taking photos for more than 40 years, give seminars occasionally, yadda yadda. I bought the predecessor SD500 earlier this year, just leave it set on Auto. The big advantage is the big megapixel chip allows you to shoot in the general direction of what you want a photo of, then you have enough definition to crop even a very small portion and still end up with a great photo.

I used to recommend Photoshop Elements as a great amateur digital darkroom, for about a hundred bucks, but have converted to Google's Picasa. Download it for free, spend 15 minutes learning how to use it, it catalogs all the photos on your hard drive, and you can crop and enhance like a pro without a single lesson. The "I'm feeling lucky" button will fix almost any photo to your satisfaction.

Dell had the SD550 for cheap a day or so ago. Get a gigabyte card elsewhere, do a google.

Sony, Nikon, Minolta, Olympus...all of them...make fabulous itty cameras with 7 megapixels and up. You can't go wrong. Just get the one that feels best. My huge digital SLR, a pro level camera, is a great paperweight.
Click to expand...

I have been reading about all the different cameras on cnet.com and on a few camera sites and they all love the SD550. So far I have found the camera for $387 which is a lot less than the local Circuit City and Best Buy.

I already have photoshop elements on my laptop and I have a full version of photoshop CS on my mac which is far more program than I will ever need or know how to use.
 
If you pay attention to the accessories, you can look for a digital that has a fairly inexpensive waterproof housing. There is an issue with size, however. The scuba housing will double the size of the camera. Many of the Canons and Olympuses (Olympii? :angel: ) have housings for around $100 (plus or minus).
 
That is a good idea. I haven't seen any of the waterproof housings in person so I don't know how much bulk it would add to the camera. If it added a bunch of size I would just assume leave the camera in the bag since I want something small enough to be able to slip in and out of my pocket when I want to take a quick shot.
 
I will never buy another Kodak again. Granted, they've probably come a long way since I bought my old DX3600. My main issue with it was that I paid big $$$ for more memory, but the rechargeable battery wouldn't even last long enough to fill the basic on-board memory. I sent it back to Kodak for repair and it came back worse than when I sent it in. As far as I can tell, Kodak is an amature in the digital camera business.
 
I had the same problem 2 months ago. Selling my E10 on ebay. Canon 10D I bought to replace it is incredible but still too big for the cycle. What is a cheap guy to do??? Ebay

I ended up w/ a refurbished Olympus D395 for $85. bought it from Olympus USA site and they had a bunch of them. 3MP w/ 3X digital lens. I was put off by the "digital" magnification until I printed the photos. They look great and camera is super small.
 
Note that many of the small cameras can take a little moisture. You might find it adequate to keep the camera in a dry bag (available at camping stores). My experience is that the Kodaks have (not to be rude, but) cheap optics. The Canons, Olympuses, and Nikons have better optics. The quality of the optics varies greatly between a manufacturers product lines, thus the vast differences in price.

Should you care about optics? Depends on the intended use of the camera. For pretty snapshots from motorcycle outings, I would guess you should care.

Beware of being tempted by massive megapixels. The optics matter more. My 5-megapixel canon has to shrink a shot to fit into an 8x10" photo. I have a gorgeous Olympus dye-sublimation printer and the results are stunning. Go for optics quality and the form factor (size) that suits your use.

A tiny camera you use all the time and take everywhere is better than a pro-sumer SLR digi-beast that stays home and never catches light.
 
The docking port thing is a bit weak anymore IMHO. My new computer has a multi-media front and I just pop the card out of the camera and plug it into the proper port and transfer the jpegs and vids right off it to the burner. It's ultra easy compared to using drivers and downloading from the camera or even to using that docking port thing. Want prints? Just print! I make few prints, though. I burn all my raw shots on CD and work with 'em from there.

We had a Kodak at work when I worked at the plant. Don't know how hard it was on batteries cause we didn't use it continuously or anything. It took good pix, though. It was an older camera, though. This Vivitar I bought is tiny by comparison, truly pocket size. I always bring a few ziplock baggies on the bike for protection if it gets rainy. They fold up a lot more compact than some scuba case or something. I take my old Olympus Stylus film camera when I'm out on the water or duck hunting or something. Still have a use for it cause it is water resistant. You can't dunk it, but a little rain won't hurt it like it will if it gets into a digital's inards.
 
I have a Canon G5 and although it takes great pictures with tons of control options, it's too big. I just bought a Canon SD300 (4mp) and it's just right for the bike. I keep it on a lanyard around my neck and stuffed in my shirt pocket. Easy to whip out and operate with my summer gloves on.
 
I have an older Nikon that has the swivel body - i.e., the body swivels in the middle so you can hold the camera way down low or way up over your head and swivel the screen so you can see what you're shooting. It's hard to appreciate how handy that is until you've used it. Some of the Canons have a swivel screen that flips out. When I upgrade, that's what I'll get.

Think about sitting on the bike, lifting the camera up so it clears the windshield, swiveling the screen down so you can compose the pic and then snapping the shot. Very handy, and allows you to be a little more creative in the angles of pics of bikes, etc.
 
You might want to checkout the Nikon Coolpics seies of cameras. I borrowed my sisters CoolPix 2100 for a recent trip. Fits nicely in the tank bag.
 
Speaking of waterproof cameras, I have been researching them for another hobby, kayak fishing, and I have heard many good reviews on the Pentax Optio WP. It's waterproof to 1.5 meters. A basic camera but it seems quite handy. If I get one I'll post a review.

TheSinistral
 
I had a bad experience with Vivitar. Don't remember which model, but it ate memory cards. They would not allow you to delete images so it became a one time use card. Sent it back to man. under warranty...came back and worked for one card then started doing the same thing again. Wrote it off to experience.

We use a couple of Nikon Coolpic at work, with swivel bodies. Very good optics and the swivel allows very interesting angles/Point of view shots. eats batteries with the display, though. The absolute best Macro (I frequently do extreme closeups and photomicrography) capabilities on the market.

Steve
 
Hmm, I've got two vivitars now and no problems. Had the one for quite a while. I love that new one, though. Great camera!

I hardly ever use the camera to erase the whole card. I'll erase errant shots, but I can erase the card in the computer's port. Take the card out of the camera, plug it into "f drive" port on the front of the computer. I explained that already, though. I do it after burning the shots off the card. Saves having to turn the camera on to do it.
 
No, the camera scewed up the card. I tried several different card readers on different computers. You could open the photos, but with just one or two photos disk read as full. Couldn't delete or add new photos. worked for 1 photo session after warranty work and then exact same problem. Even had someone else (computer and digital camera savvy) look at it, just so it wasn't me being a dufus.
This is just one camera so not statistically relevent to any one but me, but I will not buy another vivitar.

Steve
 
I've got a Canon S410, and a 350D (the Digital Rebel XT). The S410 is out here in Iraq with me, and has handled the weather great - from the cold rainy winter, to the 130F sandstorm windstorms of the summer.
 
:tab I've got the Canon A70, which has been superceded by the A75. It's only a 3mp camera but (in more capable hands) takes very decent shots. It has more features than I know what to do with, yet remains very easy to operate. Also pretty rugged; it's been dropped a few times and seems no worse for the wear, and it even survived my bike crash a while back. Battery life with re-chargeables is excellent. My only serious complaint is the small size of the view screen, which makes scrolling through the control menu almost impossible without putting on my strongest reading glasses. Maybe that's really more a complaint about my failing eyesight! The A75 has a larger viewscreen, so Canon has addressed that shortcoming with their current offering. More megapixels would be nice, but I don't honestly feel that I'm missing that much.

Good luck with your search!
 
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