Digital Cameras

[Shaftywon]

May you all have a Blessed Christmas and New Year! I am looking at purchasing a Digital Camera for when we travel and was wondering what some of you pack along on your travels. My wife and I are tired of poor quality pics when we go through Virginia,NC and the Smokey Mountains. A Compact unit that does this beauty justice that won't break our budget would be ideal.I know many of you live out west and have huge mountain ranges to film and would probably know what takes the best vista shots. Thanks

[simoncharles]

Stephen,

I am no expert, but am very pleased with this one I have just purchased.

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/specs/Canon/canon_sd870is.asp

Simon

[jkersh1]

I don't think you can go wrong with any of the current crop of compact digitals from a brand you know. I've used a Samsung for four years and about 100k miles of bouncing around in tankbags including two trips to Alaska. The flash crapped out about a year ago, but I suspect that fault is in the bulb. My wife uses a Panasonic, and the kids each has oriental brand. They're all are pretty much the same.

None of the compacts are going to give you the wide angle shots you can get if you have a camera body that will take different lenses.

I personally wouldn't get too hung up on the number of megapixels. Unless you're planning to make blown up prints you don't need them.

Things I'd look for are a rechargeable battery with charger, but also the ability to use AA if you're in the boonies and the battery dies, or you don't want to carry the charger.

[Beamerdude]

I've had good luck with Sony camera's. I have a small digital I leave on the bike.
Going to mount a camcorder next spring.

[simoncharles]

Lot of truth about what John says about AA batteries, although the solution to that is to carry a spare rechargeable one.

Even so, you should get at least 250 shots with one recharge.

One of the reasons I purchased the Canon was for it´s good wide angle capabilities, not so frecuent on point and shoot dig-cams.

[LAF]

I use an Olympus SP-500UZ. It has made many trips on my smooth running, vibration free Harley's. It has also traveled well on the LT a few times.

Batteries 2700 mAh rechargeable AA. Not cheap but will really go the distance. Also as mentioned the ability to use AA from anywhere is a plus if you need them.

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0508/05082908oly_sp500uz.asp

[Metzen]

Stephen,

Stick with well known names such as Canon or Nikon. I'm an avid amateur and have used Canon equipment for the past 35 years. Spend the extra money and it will definitely be worth your while. I reluctantly made the switch to digital two years ago and have never regretted it or looked back on my film cameras. I travel with an EOS 1D Mark III and a couple of lenses. A bit bulky, but the LT has tons of room. You needn't spend so much, but an entry level Canon DSLR with an extra lens, can be had for around $700 and will give you phenomenal pictures.

Have a Joyous Christmas and a prosperous new year.

[c00k1e]

I use an SD card memory vid cam. Mounted on r/h spare mirror mount for vibe free filming.
When I get back I take freeze frames of the best bits of the trip.
They cost about $100 from Aldi and use up a 2gb card in 2hrs. With no moving parts, batts can last twice as long. Use AA rechargables

[rattler50]

I carry a Kodak M753 with a 2 gig card. Takes great pix at 7.0 megapixels and will do a 45 minute video as well. I paid $129 at Target and now they have an 8.0 for the same price. It's about the size of a pack of cigarettes. Fits right in you pocket and I even made a video once by putting it in my helmet................. :)

[motorman587]

I don't think you can go wrong with any of the current crop of compact digitals from a brand you know. I've used a Samsung for four years and about 100k miles of bouncing around in tankbags including two trips to Alaska. The flash crapped out about a year ago, but I suspect that fault is in the bulb. My wife uses a Panasonic, and the kids each has oriental brand. They're all are pretty much the same.

None of the compacts are going to give you the wide angle shots you can get if you have a camera body that will take different lenses.

I personally wouldn't get too hung up on the number of megapixels. Unless you're planning to make blown up prints you don't need them.

Things I'd look for are a rechargeable battery with charger, but also the ability to use AA if you're in the boonies and the battery dies, or you don't want to carry the charger.

My travels to Alaska I had a digital mounted on the bike, drop it at about 70 mph, still worked until half of the trip it then went south. Found a radio shack in Alaska and found another digital camera for the rest of the trip. Both worked fine, was not worried about megapixels. I agree on the AA batteries and charger.

[rdwalker]

Basically, I agree with previous posters.

To give you food for thought in an organized manner, here is what I have found after several month's search this past spring, in preparation for an exotic overseas moto trip.

I believe that you should use the same criteria in your search, even though you may find something else as a result.

1. Must be point-and-shoot format. This is the most convenient size for casual photography on the go. I travel with a guy who uses a pro-format Nikon DSLR. By the time he pulls it out of tank bag, sets it up, etc., it takes so much time that we often just skip on using it.

1a. Big plus for being able to operate it with one hand - including turning it on! Nothing as annoying as having to take both gloves off to do a quick capture.

2. Must be below $300 - this way if it gets dropped and destroyed... oh, well.

3. One of my most important criteria: must have an optical viewfinder (in addition to the LCD). I cannot believe that anyone takes pictures in bright sunlight using the LCD - at least, I cannot. Somehow, I'd like to be able to see the picture I am taking! Very few P&S's have a viewfinder; this requirement cut the field to just a few models.

4. My number 2 pet peeve: short shutter lag (button press to shot take). I have had too many pictures taken well after the object of interest was long gone! I perused www.dpreviews.com, and several months worth of reviews in various magazines, but found that either this very spec is not posted or it is not right anyway.

5. Ability to operate on AA batteries. I find that at home my rechargeables are always down when I need the camera, so I am always fumbling for the charger. On the road, I have so many electronic toys, that I do not want to carry an extra charger. AA's are handy and you can always buy them for spares. Currently, by the way, I use Lithium AA batteries (non-rechargeable), leftover from my GPS V stash (i.e., old!) - and they last an unbelievable amount of time.

6. SD cards as storage medium. This way I can share the cards between my PDA, cameras, mini video cam, etc. And, SD's are available everywhere, if I need extras.

7. Decent zoom - obviously, we are talking P&S here, expectations must be realistic. I find that from 5x up is fine. Optical zoom, of course; so-called "digital" is a BS marketing spec.

8. Nice-to-have: image stabilization - especially if you intend to use that long zoom in less-than-bright lighting. Optical stabilization is rumored as best, I don't know if that is true.

9. Finally, resolution. Not as important as the advertisers and vendors would want you to believe. Anything from 5M pixels up will let you do full-page enlargement. Higher pixel counts are impressive (and useful for very detailed large enlargements), but the penalty is in file size and storage time. When posting pictures on-line or pasting into documents or web pages, you will find yourself re-editing shots to drop resolution to a much lower value. Same with sending the pictures to friends: if you send them files bigger than 1MB, they'll hate you for clogging their mailboxes. In other words, don't get hung up on resolution - any modern camera is adequate in that respect.

Based on these, I bought the Canon PowerShot A710 IS. I is not as tiny as some more sexy models, but still quite manageable. I like it very much - it did a great job this year. FWIW, it has all above features, including 6x zoom, and 7.1Mpx resolution.

Hope this helps.

[kdog]

4. My number 2 pet peeve: short shutter lag (button press to shot take). I have had too many pictures taken well after the object of interest was long gone! I perused www.dpreviews.com, and several months worth of reviews in various magazines, but found that either this very spec is not posted or it is not right anyway.

You may find this link useful then: http://www.cameras.co.uk/html/shutter-lag-comparisons.cfm?sort=ShutterLag

It looks like some of the Sonys (but not all!) are the winners in the shutter lag category. However, this chart misses many cameras. The last time I checked, one of the Kodak's had the fastest shutter speed -- under 0.1s, but for some reason that model isn't mentioned now. I wish *somebody* would put together a more comprehensive listing. Still, this is a great start.

[LAF]

Basically, I agree with previous posters.

To give you food for thought in an organized manner, here is what I have found after several month's search this past spring, in preparation for an exotic overseas moto trip.

I believe that you should use the same criteria in your search, even though you may find something else as a result.

1. Must be point-and-shoot format. This is the most convenient size for casual photography on the go. I travel with a guy who uses a pro-format Nikon DSLR. By the time he pulls it out of tank bag, sets it up, etc., it takes so much time that we often just skip on using it.

1a. Big plus for being able to operate it with one hand - including turning it on! Nothing as annoying as having to take both gloves off to do a quick capture.

2. Must be below $300 - this way if it gets dropped and destroyed... oh, well.

3. One of my most important criteria: must have an optical viewfinder (in addition to the LCD). I cannot believe that anyone takes pictures in bright sunlight using the LCD - at least, I cannot. Somehow, I'd like to be able to see the picture I am taking! Very few P&S's have a viewfinder; this requirement cut the field to just a few models.

4. My number 2 pet peeve: short shutter lag (button press to shot take). I have had too many pictures taken well after the object of interest was long gone! I perused www.dpreviews.com, and several months worth of reviews in various magazines, but found that either this very spec is not posted or it is not right anyway.

5. Ability to operate on AA batteries. I find that at home my rechargeables are always down when I need the camera, so I am always fumbling for the charger. On the road, I have so many electronic toys, that I do not want to carry an extra charger. AA's are handy and you can always buy them for spares. Currently, by the way, I use Lithium AA batteries (non-rechargeable), leftover from my GPS V stash (i.e., old!) - and they last an unbelievable amount of time.

6. SD cards as storage medium. This way I can share the cards between my PDA, cameras, mini video cam, etc. And, SD's are available everywhere, if I need extras.

7. Decent zoom - obviously, we are talking P&S here, expectations must be realistic. I find that from 5x up is fine. Optical zoom, of course; so-called "digital" is a BS marketing spec.

8. Nice-to-have: image stabilization - especially if you intend to use that long zoom in less-than-bright lighting. Optical stabilization is rumored as best, I don't know if that is true.

9. Finally, resolution. Not as important as the advertisers and vendors would want you to believe. Anything from 5M pixels up will let you do full-page enlargement. Higher pixel counts are impressive (and useful for very detailed large enlargements), but the penalty is in file size and storage time. When posting pictures on-line or pasting into documents or web pages, you will find yourself re-editing shots to drop resolution to a much lower value. Same with sending the pictures to friends: if you send them files bigger than 1MB, they'll hate you for clogging their mailboxes. In other words, don't get hung up on resolution - any modern camera is adequate in that respect.

Based on these, I bought the Canon PowerShot A710 IS. I is not as tiny as some more sexy models, but still quite manageable. I like it very much - it did a great job this year. FWIW, it has all above features, including 6x zoom, and 7.1Mpx resolution.

Hope this helps.

Well put together and a great way to break it down.

I agree with all on what you said except the 300.00 cap I spent just a bit more, but it was 2 years ago when this model was new.

I also agree on the full body 35mm digitals. I was riding behind a guy snapping him riding with this one and got some pretty cool shots, all one hand operation. He was carting what a previous poster mentioned and then some. He was not going to pull his camera up to his eye, off the neck strap and point and shoot, no way. We had to stop for him to get it out.

I also agree on the view finder and the LCD, although as I said, the LCD will give nice point and shoot one hand so I wanted both, but a bigger LCD without having a huge camera around my neck swaying back and forth riding, and to give me quick framing of the shot.

I also wanted ergonomics for one hand gripping and shooting, so a small boxy cigarette size camera was not going to do it.

On the NIMS yes they are always dead because they need to be run and run hard. If you pull them from a fresh charge, especially these 2700's they run forever. If they sit they are dead. I have a charger running for 4 at all times on the bike when I am going on a trip, and with the four in the camera, have never missed a shot from no juice.

Visiting Best Buy or Circuit City for a few hours will give you a good idea. There are a million choices out there, so no shortage of ones that will call your name :)

[cuffer101]

My better half uses a Kodak EasyShare V803, very nice small camera. Should see some of the shots she takes at 70 mph from the back of the bike. No blurring, shaking or anything. Chuck

[simoncharles]

It is amazing how much information there is on YouTube about digital cameras.

This one is quite good http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=cameralabs

[Hackercraft792]

I agree with the previous post. We have the Kodak easyshare. Very user friendly, telephoto and wide angle and the SD slot accepts a 4 meg card will give you a 2 hour movie at 8 mp.

http://digitalcameras.kodak.com/

[beartooth]

I have had a Canon S-70 for several years; fits in a shirt pocket, wide angle and tele zoom. It has less tele capability than an SLR but thats about the only drawback. Rechargeable but takes a ton of pictures on one charge, 2 GB memory card, etc. Couldn't even fill the card with 3 weeks in New Zealand. My professional buddies (newspaper photogs) use Nikon because that's what they had lenses for but confessed that they would switch to Canon if starting from scratch.

Agree with the point and shoot; no need for SLR unless you want to drag all the gear in a backpack sized case. My Canon @ 7mp is as sharp as my son's Nikon SLR and the auto exposure is right on 99% of the time.

Good luck in your search.

Bruce :)

[markc]

One thing to think of also is how big, and how nimble, your hands are. There are some models out there which are tiny to the point of being singularities but I would never be able to use them because, especially if my hands are at all cold, I couldn't use the controls. We have two cameras, a Canon Powershot S1 and a Pentax K10D. The Canon has the nice feature that the viewscreen can flip and can actually be close (and turned off) saving much power. It was bought in 2004 and we have been quite pleased with it. The problem with shutter lag is very common to all P&S cameras and has to do with how everything gets fit in such a small space. DSLR's do take up more room but the gain in capture speed and image quality is considerable. For any compact camera I would agree with getting one that uses AA batteries and I would also get one with some form of image stabilization, especially if you plan to try shots while riding.

[bob_menton]

Most of my scenery shots are taken at relatively wide angle. But every now and then I like to be able to zoom in, big time, like to get details of the gargoyles on the roof of the Biltmore mansion. So I bought a Panasonic DMC-TZ1. It's the only point-and-shoot camera I could find with a 10:1 OPTICAL zoom and image stabilization. Why put up with only 3:1 or 4:1 optical zoom? I love it.

- Bob

[beartooth]

Bob,

You might want to check this out before using too much digital zoom.
http://www.photoxels.com/article-optical-digital-zoom.html

Bruce :bmw:

[bob_menton]

Please read my post again, Bruce - the 10x zoom on my Panasonic camera is all OPTICAL zoom. There is also digital zoom that will take you out to 30x or 40x - but I just ignore that. 10:1 OPTICAL zoom, with image stabilization, in a relatively small point-and-shoot camera.

- Bob

[beartooth]

Sorry, Bob I was too quick reading and typing. The reviews are generally good on your camera. Everything has it's pluses and minuses. The biggest problem for me since switching to digital is dealing with the shutter lag; holding partial shutter to pre-focus seems to speed things considerably. With 4 grandsons under the age of 4 they can be very quick for some of my photo attempts

My friend, Jim, a newspaper photographer set me up with his Nikon while he and his family were hauling a freshly cut Christmas tree through the woods.
I agreed to take their Christmas card picture. You can't miss with a camera like that, the shutter burst speed is something like 5 frames a second. Its like shooting a machine gun, one of the frames is just what you wanted. Hard to justify the $5,000 cost for us non-pros.

Take care and happy holidays.

Bruce :)

[rmg08057]

Bruce

Isn't a partial answer to shutter lag to use faster SD cards? I know that using an Extreme III from Sandisk on a new Panasonic, the pictures were taken continuously, click-click-click one after the other. I know they have the new Ducati-branded V4 cards now for professionals which have even better performance.

I know this because I am currently working on contract at Sandisk.

[DavidTaylor]

Bruce

Isn't a partial answer to shutter lag to use faster SD cards? I know that using an Extreme III from Sandisk on a new Panasonic, the pictures were taken continuously, click-click-click one after the other. I know they have the new Ducati-branded V4 cards now for professionals which have even better performance.

I know this because I am currently working on contract at Sandisk.

As I understand it shutter lag has nothing to do with the storage card. My Canon 20D fires instantly regardless of what card is in there, or even if there is one in it at all (doens't save the pics but can shoot). The gating item for continuous shooting is how fast it can transfer from the internal mempry store to the memory card. If you're taking a single photo at the shutter lags when you press the button that's completely in the camera's control.

[parishollow]

10 times optical zoom and 28mm wide angle. That's a 28-280 in a compact with stabilization. I like it.
I had the Lumix FX01. Liked the size and it had 28mm with 3.5 times optical zoom.

[Colyn]

It is my humble opinion that some posters here are confusing shutter lag with FPS capability. FPS is 100% a camera feature ... the latest Canon 1D MKIII can shoot 10.5 frames / second and uses two processors to manage the burst and buffer transfer to the card.

The high transfer capablities of the Extreme III card is not useable by all cameras. When you buy a digital camera you should look for the BURST feature ... many of the point and shoot cameras will fool you by displaying the processing on the LCD and make you think it cannot shoot again ... just go through the motions and you will be surprised how many shots some of these small units can actually do in a series of shutter presses.

[Colyn]

10 times optical zoom and 28mm wide angle. That's a 28-280 in a compact with stabilization. I like it.
I had the Lumix FX01. Liked the size and it had 28mm with 3.5 times optical zoom.


Look at the Kodak Z812 also ... better lense with wider optical range and it includes IS ... but for me the biggest advantage of the Kodak is the ergonomics and price.

[Colyn]

May you all have a Blessed Christmas and New Year! I am looking at purchasing a Digital Camera for when we travel and was wondering what some of you pack along on your travels. My wife and I are tired of poor quality pics when we go through Virginia,NC and the Smokey Mountains. A Compact unit that does this beauty justice that won't break our budget would be ideal.I know many of you live out west and have huge mountain ranges to film and would probably know what takes the best vista shots. Thanks

I will strongly suggest the Kodak Z812 ... I use the older Z612 extensively in my Shooting from the Saddle series and the results are great ... here are two shots ... the first one done with a Canon EOS 400D that costs around 5x what the Kodak costs.

http://www.tripwired.co.za/JCS_Bucket/TW_Shots/ShootFromSaddle/Stonebutt-2007/002_MG_7272.jpg

The next shot is a similiar shot and was done with the Kodak ...

http://www.tripwired.co.za/JCS_Bucket/Timeshots/Landscapes/100_1587_jcs01.jpg

Both shots have been done at around 140km/h from the saddle of the LT.

[Colyn]

Here is a selection of shots done with the Kodak Z612.


http://www.tripwired.co.za/JCS_Bucket/Timeshots/Landscapes/100_1632_jcs01.jpg

http://www.tripwired.co.za/JCS_Bucket/Timeshots/Landscapes/100_1636_jcs01.jpg

http://www.tripwired.co.za/JCS_Bucket/Timeshots/Landscapes/100_1643_jcs01.jpg

http://www.tripwired.co.za/JCS_Bucket/Timeshots/Landscapes/100_1648_jcs01.jpg

http://www.tripwired.co.za/JCS_Bucket/Timeshots/Landscapes/100_1650_jcs01.jpg

[Colyn]

Here is a selection done with the Canon EOS 400D and a very expensive lens.

http://www.tripwired.co.za/JCS_Bucket/TW_Shots/ShootFromSaddle/CanonF00/sfs_Eshowe_00e.jpg

http://www.tripwired.co.za/JCS_Bucket/TW_Shots/ShootFromSaddle/CanonF00/sfs_Eshowe_00f.jpg

http://www.tripwired.co.za/JCS_Bucket/TW_Shots/ShootFromSaddle/CanonF00/sfs_Eshowe_00g.jpg

http://www.tripwired.co.za/JCS_Bucket/TW_Shots/ShootFromSaddle/CanonF00/sfs_Eshowe_00h.jpg

http://www.tripwired.co.za/JCS_Bucket/TW_Shots/ShootFromSaddle/CanonF00/sfs_Eshowe_00i.jpg

[bonafidebob]

I am no expert, but am very pleased with this one I have just purchased.
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/specs/Canon/canon_sd870is.asp

I'm with Simon. I asked the same thing in this thread: Shooting while Riding on K-Bikes (http://www.k-bikes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=11913), and then did a bunch of research and settled on the Canon 870.

I was specifically looking for a camera to use with my helmet and gloves on, and possibly while moving. The deciding points for me on this camera are the wide angle lens (28mm equivalent, most point and shoots only get to about 35mm equivalent) and very fast power on to take a picture time (less than 1 second.) It's reasonably easy to use with gloves. The power button could be bigger, but it's not close to anything else so you can just kind of mash at it and it'll come on.

The screen is huge and decent even in sunlight. With a helmet you're not going to be able to use an optical viewfinder anyway, so I don't mind that it doesn't have one. And it's nice and small, easily fits in my chest pocket where it's fast to get at.

I keep it clipped to my jacket with a retractable cord that's meant to hold a ID badge for work. This cord is strong enough to keep the camera from hitting the ground if I drop it, pulls out easily, and doesn't blow around when it's in my pocket. 450+ pictures on a 2G SD card is pretty nice too, and the video it shoots isn't bad at all.

[mefly2]

Olympus models have worked well for me as point and shoot models. AFIK Olympus pioneered the shell that slides over the taking lens ... very useful when repeatedly taking the camera out of a pocket; for SLR digital, I'm stuck with Nikon due to investment in lenses. Canon, Leitz, & Olymus are great slrs as well ... does anyone make a bad camera anymore? One last note is to determine if the optics are glass or plastic ... $.02 :dance:

[StillJustJerry]

I bought a Minolta X50 a couple years back. It has a lens cover which is the on/off switch. With one gloved hand I can turn it on and take a point and shoot picture. Most of the others I looked at had the on/off switch hidden inside a bunch of other controls.