I need a digital camera reccomendation

[gsellis]

I will defend Bill at PC Mag a little here. He did not say don't get a high MP camera. He said he has a friend who does amazing things with a 2MP camera and a good one at that (optical stabilization does not degrade the image by using real estate on the chip that could be used for photo quality.) If you re-read it, you will see that his tips include nothing about what resolution you buy. His tips are good shooting technique, which is what his friend does so well with even with a 2MP camera.

And yes, technique can make up for technology gaps, but it takes LOTS of practice. Get the 5MP camera.

 

[John P]

Dude, bite the bullet and go digital SLR. If you are going to spend the bucks on a serious printer like the I9900 go for it. I was in a similar situation - wanting a smaller camera than my Olympus C4000 - so I bought a Canon S400. The S400 simply won't do what I need it to, take good pics at my kids basketball, baseball, and soccer games.

I invested in a Canon Digital Rebel and an F1.8 50mm lens for basketball games. I already had a decent F4.0 Tamron 28-200mm for baseball and soccer. I bought a Creative Muvo2 for the 4gb CF.

I am giddy with my purchases and am pretty much set for any event. So, I have to carry a camera bag around, no biggie. I bought a nice Lowepro bag just big enough to fit the digital rebel and a digital camcorder in. Even with the smaller digital cameras you need to carry some sort of bag or have a weighted brick in your pocket.

Anyway, do some studying up before you drop the cash. Read through some digital photography forums like this:

Steves Digicams Forums

Good luck!!

 

[Metron]

Sick,

I agree with John... go SLR. You state that you're doing professional work... go for the Canon Digital Rebel.

I like SLR for that fact that it's WYSIWYG. My previous digital camera was an Olympus D-620, which was an early, decent digital SLR. Unfortunately, the D-620 suffered from significant shutter lag.

I'm not a pro though, so I can't really justify the cost. You can get a good CPA though, and write it off as a business expense! (I think you can write off up to $10,000 in equipment if you know the right form to use)

Good luck,
Metron

 

[oldfart]

There are options in between DSLR and a P&S as well. The "Prosumer" cameras are very nice as well. They are smaller and lighter than DSLR, as well as less expensive when you consider lens costs. My Minolta DiMAGE A1 (5 MP) is awesome. It has more features than many DSLRs. It has a 28 - 200mm lens with image stabilization, mechanical zoom, live histogram, most every setting available via a dial or button, fast AF, auto switching LCD/EVF, great RAW shooting performance. Lots more, just a nice camera. The DiMAGE A2 (8 MP) is the new model that replaces the A1.

Michael Reichmann is a very well respected photographer who runs the popular site
The Luminous Landscape. He reviewed the crop of new 8 MP Prosimers and liked the Minolta A2 so much that he bought one for himeself. Here is his Minolta A2 review
A2 on Location
Seville Fair
Bullfight

But again, the OP is looking for a 5 - 6 MP pocket sized P&S. The A1/2 is not as big as a DSLR, but you would need BIG pckets to fit it in. It is also very advanced, not really a P&S camera either.

 

[SickBeast]

I read the review of the Minolta "prosumer" camera and came away very impressed. There was one caveat that I noticed in the article though; the author seems to believe that the new 8MP cameras do not produce the same quality output as the current 5MP cameras. He said something about more noise on the 8MP ones but didn't really elaborate.

He then stated that the 5MP cameras aren't really good enough for 13X19, and that the 8MP would handle it with ease.

In any event, you guys are starting to convince me on the D-SLR thing. I still think that if I wait maybe even 6 months I will be able to have most if not all of the features of current D-SLRs in a pocket-sized camera. On top of that, I think that a 6MP camera would definately suffice. I honestly think I would like the 6MP Minolta G600 that I was reccomended on Steve's forums for a few reasons:

-it's cheaper
-it's smaller
-it has a metal body

 

[RussianSoldier]

I tried out a Canon Digital Rebel, and I very much liked it. At 6.3 megapixels and $1200 I hope to oneday get my own...

 

[oldfart]

I learned that there is no perfect camera. They all have their ups and downs. You have to decide what you need. I wound up with the Minolta A1 for "serious" shots and got a Canon S400 Elph for a bang around tiny camera. I love the A1, but even it is too big for always having it handy. The DSLR would be even worse. If you do go DSLR. look at the Nikon D70 as well as the Canon DRebel. As far as the 8 MP cameras having worse image quality than the 5 MP cameras, I wouldn't be so sure. From what I've seen the noise level of the Minolta A1 and A2 are similar. You cant go very high in the ISO range without a noticeable noise issue with any non DSLR. That is where DSLR shines with the large sensor. It depends on what you shoot. Do you shoot a lot of low light ISO 400 or above shots? If not, its not a big deal. A 6 MP compact camera has an even smaller sensor and I would think it would be worse.

All in all, you seem to be doing your homework. The G600 sounds like it suits YOUR needs, which is all that really matters.

 

[tart666]

as a side note: if you end up skimpin on the camera, you can use some intelligent interpolaters to make your 13x19 look good...

Just see what some people are saying about Genuine Fractals:

It?s given me a way to produce 16" x 20" and larger reproductions of my pro-sumer digital photographs

 

[SickBeast]

Originally posted by: oldfart
All in all, you seem to be doing your homework. The G600 sounds like it suits YOUR needs, which is all that really matters.

Thanks very much, oldfart, you've been very helpful.

 

[SickBeast]

Originally posted by: tart666
as a side note: if you end up skimpin on the camera, you can use some intelligent interpolaters to make your 13x19 look good...

Just see what some people are saying about Genuine Fractals:

It?s given me a way to produce 16" x 20" and larger reproductions of my pro-sumer digital photographs

Intersting. Software that can magically make something out of nothing. I'm sorry but you'll have to excuse my skepticism. I guess I can always try it out and compare my results to a normally resampled image. :beer:

 

[TerryMathews]

Originally posted by: SickBeast

Originally posted by: tart666
as a side note: if you end up skimpin on the camera, you can use some intelligent interpolaters to make your 13x19 look good...

Just see what some people are saying about Genuine Fractals:

It?s given me a way to produce 16" x 20" and larger reproductions of my pro-sumer digital photographs

Intersting. Software that can magically make something out of nothing. I'm sorry but you'll have to excuse my skepticism. I guess I can always try it out and compare my results to a normally resampled image. :beer:

3 things
1 - your attitude is a little hard to believe. you come in here and ask a question, but yet everytime someone points something out to you, if it's not what you wanted to hear you dismiss it out of hand

2 - you ignored it before but I'll say it again. don't get hung up on megapixel count. it's important, but SNR is important too. a 6MP sensor is no good if it introduces an above-average level of noise into the photo. I've got a 1.3MP digicam (Kodak DC260 1536x1024 res) that takes pictures that rival 2MP cams simply because it was top of the line when I bought it and being top of the line had a top of the line sensor. meaning low noise.

3 - most companies that are selling the modern equivelant of mineral tonic don't offer free trials. also, there is no reason to believe that bicubic interpolation is the be all and end all of image enhancement. if the fractal part of the name refers to how the image is resampled, it would introduce some randomness and give the picture more of a film grain look. i plan on checking it out.

 

[oldfart]

I have also heard VERY good things about GF and would not dismiss it. That being said, I've owned 1, 1.3, 2, 4, 5 MP cameras. The low res cameras cant hold a candle to the 4 and 5 MP that I own now. The level of detail and sharpness is much better. They also have much more room for cropping.