Need a digital camera

[Yzzim]

I need a digicam for work. We're gonna make a brag book showing the different jobs we do and sort of a before/after shot and also the work that goes into it. About 90% of the pictures taken with the camera will be indoor shots of rooms (floors, walls, ceilings, etc).

The pictures will be printed out, but they probably won't be bigger than 4x6 pictures.

I'm thinking something along the lines of a 3MP-4MP camera. I'd have a much better chance at getting the camera if it was under $200.

Suggestions?

 

[imported_Mike]

Canon A510

 

[Anubis]

get one that has a hotshoe for an external flash unit

 

[Ornery]

Go to your local camera shop, and snag a nice wide angle, fish eye or both for a 35mm camera. They'll have lots of good, cheap used stuff there since everybody is going digital. Your $200.00 will go a LOT farther there, than a cheap ass digital camera, that won't be able to do the job right.

 

[gscone]

Sony w1 on sale at newegg is a good deal. Canon S300 for me

 

[Anubis]

Originally posted by: Ornery
Go to your local camera shop, and snag a nice wide angle, fish eye or both for a 35mm camera. They'll have lots of good, cheap used stuff there since everybody is going digital. Your $200.00 will go a LOT farther there, than a cheap ass digital camera, that won't be able to do the job right.

yoru not gonna get a good WA lens and a camera for less then 200$ tho, unless its fully manual, and i take it the OP wont want that

 

[Ornery]

I'm betting somebody in the company already has an SLR. All they need is a proper lens. If you truly want what's best for the business, and save a few bucks, get a decent wide angle.

 

[Yzzim]

this is a small business....4 full-time employees 🙂

all I really need is a cheap digicam

 

[Ornery]

Your "Brag Book" ain't gonna be nuthin' to brag about if you're shooting with a "cheap digicam"... guaranteed!

 

[vi edit]

Don't be cheap...especially if these are to present to potential clients.

I've seen the Digital Rebel kits going for under $600 now. The 18-55 lens that comes with the kit combined with the manual settings would work perfect for what you want.

If you can't get the $$ scraped together, I'd look at buying a used G3 out of the FS/T forums for around $250.

 

[Ornery]

How to Photograph Interiors

• ...In addition to the most significant objects and details in the room, you'll usually want to use a wide-angle lens to take in as much of the room as possible. Most zoom point-and-shoot cameras have a maximum wide-angle setting of 35mm, and most point-and-shoot models without zoom have a lens that "sees" about 35mm or 38mm view. That's pretty good for indoor work, although this is a place where the user of a single lens reflex (SLR) has an advantage in that there are wide angle lenses of 28 and 24mm (or even wider) that allow the photographer to capture an even larger portion of the room.

Go Wide

• Fact 1: very few commercial clients are going to thank you for making their rooms look small. Fact 2: very few architects are going to accomodate your desire to knock down a wall so that you can get the entire room into a photo with a 50mm normal lens. Conclusion: you want some very wide angle lenses for architectural interiors.
  
  To take in most of a room from a doorway you need a 17mm or wider lens. For example, the first image below is taken with a 43mm lens on Mamiya 7 6x7 format camera. This is equivalent to a 21mm lens on a Nikon or Canon SLR. Much of the dining room is cut off. The lens was perfect for detail, such as the hot tub overlooking the ocean, but not always wide enough for an entire room at one sweep...

 

[ProviaFan]

Originally posted by: vi_edit
Don't be cheap...especially if these are to present to potential clients.

I've seen the Digital Rebel kits going for under $600 now. The 18-55 lens that comes with the kit combined with the manual settings would work perfect for what you want.

If you can't get the $$ scraped together, I'd look at buying a used G3 out of the FS/T forums for around $250.

I'd like to know if any of the places selling the DRebel for US$600 are reputable. B&H still shows that camera in the upper US$800 range, and any place that I've seen offering it for much less than that never is a place that I would expect to receive anything from for my money.

With that said, regardless of what camera you get, be sure to get a good tripod, as the built-in flashes on P&Ses and entry-level SLRs are neither positioned well nor powerful enough to be of any use, and your available light exposures are going to be blurry unless you have a way to keep the camera still.