New Digital Camera!

[2-8-2]

After browsing around for a bit, I bought a new digital camera tonight. My Canon PowerShot A10 (1.3 MP) was outdated, and not good for railfanning and layout photos. Perhaps my new camera isn't top of the line, but I'm happy with it:

Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-H1
- 5.1 MP
- 12X Optical Zoom w/ image stabilization
- 2.5" LCD screen (this thing is HUGE!)
- Electronic viewfinder
- Full manual controls
- Uses AA batteries (I hate those stupid new camera batteries)
- Variety of lenses available, including telephoto, wide-angle, and close-up
- Nice software and tutorial package
- It just "feels" right. It's kind of bulky compared to other brands of this type

Tech wise, it seems like a solid purchase. It has ups and downs compared to other cameras in its class. What sold me was the price. I have a friend who used to work at h h gregg, and he phoned in a favor for me. This is about a $400 camera, and I picked it up for a little over $300. Can't beat that. I can't wait to go take some pictures with it!

 

[Hodgy]

sony cam

good choice I have an older model Mavica and I love it. Good luck and look forward to pics

 

[doctorwayne]

Wow!:thumb: :thumb: Looks like a really good camera, and at a good price, too. The option of interchangeable lenses is a real plus, as is the manual override. I have been using my daughters cheapie Kodak, which allowed at least a partial manual option, but not much else. My kids bought me a better Kodak for my birthday, but I've been too busy to even try it out, let alone read the manual. I understand that Kodaks are real battery drainers, so I'm getting an AC adapter for it, as its main use will be in the layout room, where there are tons of outlets available.
I looked at digital camera bodies only, that accept regular 35mm lenses, as I have some pretty good film camera equipment, but they're way out of the range of what I would spend. My main hope was to be able to use a custom made pinhole attachment, which offers unbelievable depth of field, at f78.
I hope you realize that that camera will show up every flaw on your recently received Geep, so I hope that you can get some satifaction from the painter. Other than the custom lettering, that paint job, done well, should have been under a hundred bucks, and even less for multiple units.
Looking forward to seeing some pictures from the new camera, hopefully of a new and improved paint job.

Wayne

 

[hminky]

Rather than using a pinhole device look into Helicon Focus software. It will solve all depth of field problems with a digital camera. Pinholes produce a fuzzy focus.

It is about eight feet from the cactus to the tunnel portal and this was done just messing around with the Helicon.

Just a thought
Harold

 

[doctorwayne]

Harold, you're right about the pinhole giving a slightly fuzzy focus. If I can talk my daughter into scanning some negatives and slides, I'll post a few shots, mostly b&w, shot on a diorama many years ago. One of the shots, if I recall correctly, was taken with the camera lense touching a power pole. The crossarms, insulators and wire are all in focus, as is the end of a train, about 6' from the camera. I'd say the picture was more grainy than fuzzy, but I may have been pushing the ASA on the film too. I hope that I'm not too disappointed when I finally dig out the pictures.
The software that you speak of: is this for the computer when retrieving the pictures from the camera, or is it something that's installed right on the camera? I generally don't have too much problem with depth-of-field, unless part of the subject is very close to the lense, throwing off, I suppose, the camera's ability to adjust to the disparity.

Wayne

 

[kf4jqd]

I also have a Sony Digital Camera, MVC-FD100. It's a 1.2MP camera. I found the photo editing software plays an important role. I use Micrografx. What I do is save the picture as a TIFF on the harddrive. The pictures I use on my website and post here, I use JPEG format. Look at all of my pictures on The Gauge. They are taken by this camera. They were edited by Micrografx software.:thumb:

Andy

 

[brakie]

2-8-2,That is a super nice camera and I know it will take excellant pictures..My camera is a Kodak Easy Share C340 5.1 with 34mm-102mm zoom and 3x optical.
This is the pictures this camera takes..I know yours will do better.:thumb:

 

[abutt]

2-8-2.. Looks like a great camera. I have an Olympus 3000 which was my first, and is my only digital camera. I can go from full program to complete manual operation. So it gives the best of both worlds.

It took me awhile, but one thing important I learned about these digis -- is batteries!!!

The Olympus also uses conventional AA batteries...and here's the rub: The are more varieties in batteries than I ever knew possible. After much research (and a son who's a big-shot salesman in the electronics field) I found the PowerEx batteries, made by MaHa Energy Corp, USA. They make a 2300mAh AA NiMH battery that just seems to go on forever in my camera. In fact, I think they now have a 2800mAh. I also use their charger, a C204W. I bought 2 sets of four batteries, and have never had to resort to an AC unit since.

Allan