camera recs?

[jaina]

Alas, our camera has gone to the Great Electronics Pile in the sky-- it did not survive its fateful fall to a freezing Philadephia sidewalk. :( And we definitely need to buy a new one before we go to New Zealand in six weeks!

So I thought I would ask you, dear flist, if anyone has any camera recommendations. We would really like something that can take good pics under convention conditions (most of our hall costume D*C pics turned out grainy and not-great quality). Bonus points for something that's small and not insanely expensive.

Comments

[slyvermont.livejournal.com]

I can't recommend a camera, but I can recommend my favorite camera review site: http://www.imaging-resource.com/. It's very detailed, and I've used it every time I've bought a camera. Look under "Dave's picks" to see what he recommends for various camera needs.

[brightcupenny.livejournal.com]

Thanks! That's really useful!

[tristmasjedi.livejournal.com]

I'm very happy with my Canon Powershot -- mine's a more expensive model (it was my outrageous treat to myself last year, before I knew I'd be buying a pricey laptop too), but there are more reasonably-priced cameras in the same line, and AFAIK the differences are in the lenses and available shooting modes, not in the processor or sensor array. A friend of mine and her family use some of the point-and-shoots in the Powershot line and seem to get good results.

[jfk06.livejournal.com]

I'll second that! I have a Powershot SD1000 (Elph) which I got based on friends recommendations and I love it :-) Small, good picture quality, neat features.

[brightcupenny.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[brightcupenny.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[qui-gon-d.livejournal.com]

The Canon SD880 would be a good choice. Sean and your Mom have had very good results with their Canons, the SD880 is quite small, and Newegg has it for $246 (total price -- that's not *insanely* expensive).

[brightcupenny.livejournal.com]

Thanks Dad!

[benaequee.livejournal.com]

You cannot go wrong with a Canon! The powershot line is great for size and takes awesome photos! I just gave mine to my parents and it was 3 years old. Now I have the Rebel XS (SLR camera). Check out my C4 album, all those photos were taken with the Canon Powershot SD700is :D They are great at indoors, outdoors, night, day, flash, no flash, zoom, and extreme closeups (like 1" away from the item!). Oh and my little icon was taken with that camera too :-D

http://imageevent.com/benaequee/starwars/celebration4

[brightcupenny.livejournal.com]

Cool, thanks!

[pinkrouge.livejournal.com]

Canon Powershot A720 IS Under or around $200, I love it, takes great quality photos. The only drawback IMO is the viewer is stationary, it doesn't flip out and twist around like the PowerShot A90 did. ETA: also it only takes 2 AA batteries, so they run out a lot faster than a 4AA battery camera. They wanted to make it smaller and lighter. But you sacrifice battery lasting-ness. :)

[brightcupenny.livejournal.com]

Thanks, and thanks for the info about batteries too!

[pinkrouge.livejournal.com]

LOL ICON!!!!

I see I typed the first message a bit wrong, the camera is Powershot A720IS and my old one was A95, not A90. The A95 was totally stellar, but the screen is now way too small by current standards.

[brightcupenny.livejournal.com]

LOL, glad the icon amuses. :) I am having wayyyyy too much fun with all the 'shopped FIERCE HAT icons everyone has now.

[hlynn.livejournal.com]

Basically, I'd recommend figuring out how much you want to spend first, then look at what's available in your price range. Canon is a good brand (my Canon A95 is still running great after four years of abuse). I'd recommend the A590, since it's been getting good reviews and is selling for around $110.

[brightcupenny.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[collamalleen.livejournal.com]

We've been quite happy our Nikon Coolpix. It's a few years old now, but we got my sister one last summer for graduation and she's been happy with it. We also have a Nikon D40x (DSLR) which we are extremely happy with. It's the Coolpix that travels with us. Any of our FB photos that were shot while travelling were taken with the Coolpix. It has no viewfinder, but a great (huge!) LCD screen. There are a range of models/prices.

[brightcupenny.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[rhynndavrie.livejournal.com]

Well we have a little Canon PowerShot SD1000 that I used for all of our pictures both at comic-con and for my trip to Belgium. They are at http://www.starfyreenchantment.com/CC08/CC08.html and http://www.starfyreenchantment.com/Belgium08/Belgium08.html Each pic is a link to a larger picture, comic-con pics have only been edited for size. Only the first 20 of the belgium pics can be clicked on to see the full image in all it's hugeness. It's still a work in progress getting them all uploaded. That should give you a fairly wide sampling of how it does under different situations. The one thing I will say about the little power shot is with the flash off it cycles from pic to pic very very fast which is extremely nice for hall pics as you are running from place to place.

On the other hand, I'm not particularly pleased with it's ability in lower light situations, namely panels at cons, so after a bit of research I think the next camera we are getting will be the Canon XSi. I just don't think the point and shoots have the image sensor needed to take a nice low light pic and the XSi has great reviews as a good entry level SLR.

I guess long story short, you can't do wrong with a canon or a nikon. =)

[brightcupenny.livejournal.com]

Boy, lots of recs for Canon! That's good to know about the low-light thing...because that has been a problem we've had with previous cameras.

[miana-dude.livejournal.com]

I'll back up the canon powershot crowd.


(and answer my email!) :-(

[brightcupenny.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

(I'm sorry! I was waiting for Rogue to give me an answer...)

[miana-dude.livejournal.com]

I'm hoping to start filming on Friday/Saturday/Sunday this week... so I need to know if I have actors...

Just let me know, k?

[brightcupenny.livejournal.com]

I am out of town all next weekend. :(

[miana-dude.livejournal.com]

Fuuuuuuuuuuuck. Are you free Wednesday, Friday, or next Monday?

[brightcupenny.livejournal.com]

I have class Mon and Wed night, and my flight leaves at 5pm Friday. :( :( :(

[miana-dude.livejournal.com]

Do you work in the mornings on any of those days?

[brightcupenny.livejournal.com]

Yeah, my job is pretty much a 9-5 (and I have to put in extra hours to make up for leaving early on Fri).

[miana-dude.livejournal.com]

... fuuuuck.

Would you guys be able to commit to the next few weekends, or should I just bug you guys on a later project?

[brightcupenny.livejournal.com]

Argh, yeah, I hate to have to bail on you, but looking at our calendar now, February has suddenly gotten really crunched for us, especially with all the prep for our big NZ trip at the beginning of March. :(

But please do bug us for later projects! (After March 20...*g*)

[raykel.livejournal.com]

The Nikon we bought to replace the camera we--ahem--DONATED to Disneyland is really nice. Very compact, and it has a lot of settings for different situations. I used "Museum" to take pictures of the girls' dance recital (no flash, using ambient light) and they turned out great. It's called, er, LC-18 or something like that.

[brightcupenny.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[anariazar-rel.livejournal.com]

Researching choices for a new digital SLR, it seems Canon has a very good reputation for it's cameras.

Oooo! New Zealand :) What sights are you seeing while over here?

[brightcupenny.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

We are doing 10 days over both islands...lots of LOTR sites but also general NZ awesomeness. Anything you think we should specifically see?

[hattermercury.livejournal.com]

our camera is also going the way of the dinosaur soon too. we'd like something that's powerful, but small enough to fit into a say...costume?

[brightcupenny.livejournal.com]

Exactly!

[econopodder.livejournal.com]

Several-year-old Canon PowerShot SD700 IS, here.

What I like:
* really small; can fit in a jacket pocket
* powerful zoom
* satisfying to hold
* (important!!) viewfinder as well as big back screen. (If you ever want to take pics outdoors, make sure you have a viewfinder! It's hard to see a screen in sunlight.

What I don't like:
* shadows in flash photos look harsh compared to flash photos taken by non-digital cameras. This may be artifact of the form factor, since tiny camera means flash must be suboptimally-close to the lens
* short battery life, esp. as camera has gotten older

Put it this way: next time I get a dig camera, it'll probably be a Canon again!

[brightcupenny.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Much useful info there. :)