Thread: camera advice

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I have been looking at costco the last few weeks and think that the canon rebel t5 is about my skill level I am not a pro like jerry I just need something that is easy to use. I have an olympus 4000 4 pix that I bought about 20 yrs ago and had so much trouble trying to use it I just put it on the on the shelf and now I find out there are now more chips for this camera. So I think this camera will do a good job it is an 18 pixtel my old olympus is a 4 pix, Any one want to buy a camera CHEAP. any input will welcomed ....ted

Ted, like you I'm not a camera guy. I found a deal on one of the Kodak point and shoot types and have never looked back. I really like the zoom function and the fact that I don't need to fiddle with knobs and switches with these fat fingers!

I have put up plenty of pics and even had guys tell me it does a good job.. and it was NOT an expensive over the top deal. If your sharing pics over the computer, most every monitor will show the colors close enough but they will all be just a tad different!

Hope that helps.. let us know how you make out.

Ted, I've got a Canon EOS 60D with 18-200 zoom that takes great pictures, but more and more I'm finding that it's simply too big to lug around comfortably. Unless you're into creative photography, where you're going to be really USING the features of the camera, aperture priority, shutter priority, timed exposures, etc, etc, and carrying around different lenses and accessories a point & shoot camera is more than enough, and the beauty of them is that many of them are small enough to drop in a pocket and forget about. Especially when traveling by air taking the big, bulky SLR is a pain - don't want to put it in a checked bag as it might disappear, or get trashed when the bag gets launched into the hold and it takes up a lot of room if you're trying to go carry-on only.

My "other" camera is a SONY Cyber-shot. I generally keep it set at a 4:3 ratio, VGA resolution which works for e-mails and posting on the forum without any image reduction, and unless you're going to edit your images to bring out a lug-nut to 8x10 it works just fine. Mine is several years old, only 12.2MP, and the one they're selling today at Costco for $650 is 20.2MP, so you can do the lug-nut to poster size shots if you want to, you just don't normally NEED that resolution. Another good one in that same size is the NIKON CoolPix S6900 at 16MP for less than $200. Just my $0.02, and I'm not a pro either....

What you need depends on how fancy you want to get. Many years ago, I had a 35mm SLR with a big flash unit, telephoto lens and all, but I just don't like lugging around something that large anymore.

All I want these days is a camera with a decent zoom that's easy to carry. I looked at so many camera reviews that my head was swimming.

I settled for this Sony that has a 20X optical zoom and it's small enough to fit in my pocket. Technology changes so fast these days that it's a lot like computers - 4 to 5 years and your equipment is way out of date. Some small cameras have up to 30X zoom, GPS and the ability to e-mail photos.

http://www.amazon.com/Sony-WX350-Dig...ds=sony+camera

So I've got a new line for my sig---------Professional lugnut to 8x10 ---------


All right------over the years, being around a lot of THE photogs for magazines, etc, with mouth drooling amounts of film , and having various 35mm for slides(cheapest way to do color and project on walls(much bigger lugnuts in 8 ceiling x 12 foot walls))


We had a Sony that used 3 1/2 discs that was bulky and only had capacity for a few pics-got Robin an Olymist that would fit in her purse, used xd chips, had a telephoto lens-worked very good , but on the road trips the battery would not make it thru the day (she averaged a pic per mile (ppm) so I found a new battery for backup at a battery/tire store in Oklahoma------well after the first day--the charger was ac powered, so I had to buy an inverter charger for the truck------then since we had that covered I bought a third battery because thru the senic west still couldn't keep up---(batteries were about 70-80 dollaries IIRC) found out charger was from China and didn't have capacity to keep up with mule team driving Innois farm boy so bought another inverter from NAPA store so a warrantee could be honored back home--------was happy for a few miles---------got to thinking, if I was going to get ME a camera what should I get. Came up with the idea that when at Yellow Stone and Old Faithful I'd simply see what all the Chinese were using---------CANON----------and they also had lenses that they were switching between them for shots and some of them looked like CANNONS-------or at least four deuce mortars----------


Roger-take a look at the 28-135 zoom lense-----can take a full pic of a car from center of street without distorsion and enogh tello for mountains and UFO's in the sky. I agree those other lenses get bilky and heavy plus you also then are carrying the shorter one also--------


Also my Canon is an earlier EOS50D , doesn't do video, take Compact Flash cards, and does do 6.3 frames per second for action type shots-----love it!!!!!!!!!!!

I do wish it had GPS in it for landscape/scenic stuff

Originally Posted by jerry clayton

Roger-take a look at the 28-135 zoom lense-----can take a full pic of a car from center of street without distorsion and enogh tello for mountains and UFO's in the sky. I agree those other lenses get bilky and heavy plus you also then are carrying the shorter one also--------

Thanks, but my 18-200 lens is only two ounces heavier than a 28-135mm, I've got tons better wide angle and at least 60% more reach with the one I use, and I very often find that I'm wanting to reach out farther than the 200mm gives me when shooting outdoors. If I were going to change lenses I'd probably lean towards something that's got a constant f-stop (like 2.8) across the entire range to enhance the light gathering, and likely push out to 300mm or so. But before I did that I'd probably look at shifting over to full frame digital, which is a whole new ball game.

Ha thank you for all the input sorry for the delay in replying had a medical scare with my wife almost lost her. but she is back home now. these posts have opened my eyes and changed my thinking a lot yesterday I went to best buy and talked to a young guy that seemed to know what he was talking about he showed me the nikon l840 it's a low end point and shoot 229.00 but he showed me a sony 5100 that I really like more money 599.00 but I am thinking that's the one is any one know anything about these cameras thank you .......ted

There are lots of magazines about digital cameras at the book stores-------Barnes and Noble, but they are in a stack to the right of the car, airplane/military, rifle and pistol pubs----------so widen your search------

best wishs for your wifes health

Just google Sony A5100 reviews and you'll get several to look at.

Sony Alpha A5000 Digital Camera Review - Reviewed.com Cameras

For me my first digital SLR was a Nikon d50. I still use it for forum pictures and truck repairs, because the mega pixels are lower, it doesn't take up a huge amount of hard drive storage space. My new d5200, could blow up an ant to a poster size, works great at processing speeds, and functions well with wideangle-zoom lens combos. I think I will try it on low resolution and see how big the files are. Both camera bodies I bought online at EvilBay for a huge discount from New York based camera stores.
Like everyone else said it just depends on how much detail, and photo setting choices you want. Some of the digital pocket cams are marvelous. Of my photography friends, half have cannons and swear by them the other half have Nikons. Both are excellent reliable and packed with features that you can grow into, in the mean time they also have auto modes where learning is not necessary and take great shots fast. The D5200 Nikon required me to by a D5200 for dummies book(great series of aftermarket manuals) to start to understand what I could do with the camera(more than I will ever need!).
Point and shoot cameras also are fantastic, but you might find your new cell phone can take just as good if not better pics now, without buying a camera at all. My Droid Turbo is great, and my wife's Iphone#whatever, is great too. So lots of choices along with a lot of less expensive cameras out there too. In general the more expensive, the better the optical clarity, better the warrantee, better tha battery life, and usage time. My 10 year old Nikon still has the original batteries that still hold full charges and last for about 500 full res pictures. The D5200, hasn't run out of juice to need recharging yet. Another thing to look at is the recharging time for full battery charge. Newer=faster these days. Hope some of this was helpful. Also hope your wife recovers to full health soon!

P.S. Also agree with Roger and Jerry that a combination lens that does both wide angle and zoom is a great choice, and tameron has very nice lens for all camera types for less cash than say Nikon's version of the same lens, and my new wide angle zoom which is something like 18-270mm, has a built in camera stabilizer for telefoto mode that will compensate for you moving while taking that shot of a jet busing by at 600mph!

Ted
from the review I read of the the alpha 5000(that Dave posted above), the the a5100 should be fantastic
"The A5000, for example, goes for right around $400 brand-new on Amazon but performed in our labs like a DSLR that costs at least twice as much. And with a rapidly improving mirrorless lens lineup from Sony, a beginner can get into the A5000 today and reliably grow their lens library as they improve as a photographer. It's a camera perfectly designed for people who are stepping up from a point-and-shoot or a smartphone, giving even novices a simple entry point into the world of interchangeable lens cameras."

The one thing I found out is, digital zoom is merely software blowing up the pic within the camera, optical zoom is actual zoom by lens and focusing. On cheaper camera's they shanghi you into thinking a digital zoom is going to do everything when in reality you could snap the pic and blow it up with image software and crop it and do the same basic thing.

The new breed of really small pocket cameras have 20-30X optical zoom, without the need for a huge lens. They no longer need additional digital zoom.