Looking to buy a digital camera

Squidbait

Recovering ALCO-holic
OK, 2 problems with that camera:

1) it's a fixed-focus lens. That means that it won't focus on anything specifically, it just hopes that what you're shooting is 3' or more in front of you. OK for travel snapshots, but not what you're trying to do;

2) No macro mode. You want to photograph stuff close-up. So you need a close-up (macro) feature.

Next time, instead of jumping the gun, if you see a camera you're interested in, throw it out here for comments, or check one of the review sites.

Hopefully you didn't pay too much for it. OTOH, it'd be a good camera to throw in your pocket if you got travelling or whatever.
 

Biased turkey

Active Member
rsn48 thank you ( merci ) for the detailed info ( I like the analogy ) about the digital camera and model railroading .
I have an humble Canon Powershot A 530. 5 Mpixels is Ok for me, I like it.
It has a manual exposure control, a close-up ( macro ) option
The most important point ( imho ) it to read and read again the manual. ( RTFM )
A link to my gallery pics, so CAS will have an idea about what that camera can do.
http://www.the-gauge.com/gallery/browseimages.php?c=108&userid=
Some member of The Gauge noticed by viewing the Mikado pic that the bell is missing, so it's a good sign at least about the resolution :)
P.S. I have no financial incentive for pimping Canon cameras, but the way I understand it is that Canon produces the majority of CCD for most of the other digital cameras manufacturers.
 

CAS

Member
OK, 2 problems with that camera:

1) it's a fixed-focus lens. That means that it won't focus on anything specifically, it just hopes that what you're shooting is 3' or more in front of you. OK for travel snapshots, but not what you're trying to do;

2) No macro mode. You want to photograph stuff close-up. So you need a close-up (macro) feature.
Squidbait, which camera is this? No, i didn't pay that much at all.

Biased turkey, i check your photo gallery link. I really like the resolution on the close ups. Thats what im looking for.

CAS
 

Squidbait

Recovering ALCO-holic
CAS, I was talking about the one you bought, not the ones you're looking at. Those two are fine, especially if they're in your budget. You can save some $$$ and for your purposes, not notice much difference by going with the 4MP versions of those cameras.
 

Biased turkey

Active Member
Just for the history, it was about 1 year ago and I was shopping for a printer as a Motherday present ( My great mom is 86, she has a computer running Linux ) and I saw an add under the printer " If you buy a digital camera over ( Canadian ) $ 200.00 you get a free HP Deskjet printer." So I got the Canon A 530. and a printer too.
 

rsn48

Member
For newbies, here is an excellent site for a short but very effective tutorial and it happens to hit what I talked about in my long missive post above, F stops and ISO. Go to the site and have some fun with it, but watch the picture as you input changes to the f stop and ISO; this site is great to simplify something that stumps newbies. Remember when you look through you SLR or DSLR, your looking through a lens thats "wide open;" you won't see the results of selecting an f stop of 2.8 versus 22, for example; both will look the same when view through your view finder. It isn't until the shot is in process (being taken) that the camera stops down the lens to 22, takes the shot, then opens wide again.

http://dryreading.com/camera/

Cheers one and all and today is Easter so hope yours is good and safe.
 

rsn48

Member
CAS, you learned a photography lesson that we also learn in model railroading, most often you get what you pay for. Here is a camera on Ebay, being sold by a store, that will do everything you want and is digital; it is the camera I own. The Canon Digital Rebel (also called the 300D in Europe) was originally $1000, put has dropped in price dramatically since newer digital Rebels have come out; you'll be happy and initially intimidated by this camera.

This camera will allow you to go in any direction you wish with photography, layout and model shots to begin with, rail fanning shots latter on, and any other type of photography direction you might go. For example, after standing around waiting for that train to come while rail fanning, you might decide to start photographing some of the wild life you see, birds, coyotes, bears, snakes, what have you. While rail fanning you might get into landscape photography; any direction you wish to go, this camera will take you:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Canon-EOS-Digit...QQihZ013QQcategoryZ107908QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I suspect the cameras for sale here might be gone, but keep looking for the above camera as it will re-appear as stores are trying to get rid of old stock. I failed to mention that the lens that comes with the camera will do just about everything you need it to do for your requirements.

Here is an incomplete list of lens the camera will take, with reviews of each lens offered. Scroll down past the Nikon lens. Canon has the most lens to offer of any camera manufacture.

http://www.photozone.de/8Reviews/index.html
 

Biased turkey

Active Member
rsn48 said:
C The Canon Digital Rebel (also called the 300D in Europe) was originally $1000, put has dropped in price dramatically since newer digital Rebels have come out; you'll be happy and initially intimidated by this camera.
I'm already intimidated by the price lol :)
But as you mention ,You get what you pay for.
 

Squidbait

Recovering ALCO-holic
Biased turkey said:
I'm already intimidated by the price lol :)
But as you mention ,You get what yo pay for.

Up to a point. But really, for what most people are doing, their needs can be well met by a $200 point-and-shoot. Unless you're trying to print to 8x10 or larger, or shooting in low light a lot, or shooting lots of fast-moving subjects, the extra cost of a DSLR isn't really justifiable.
 

CAS

Member
Thanks for everyone's advice with my choice of digital camera. I had gone with the Canon Powershot A530.

Bought it off e-bay. Bad mistake, problems with the seller :curse: . He described it as new, never opened. Guess what, the box was opened, batteries were dead, smudges on monitor. But still got it for a price alot lower then alot of places had it for.

CAS
 

rogerw

Active Member
ok i ordered a canon power shot a570 IS today from newegg.com.
$241 shipped to house with a 2gig sd card(free). It had very good reviews and I will post some pics when it shows up , maybe friday or monday.
 
Top