what makes a digital camera good?

[Aganack1]

I've been looking at buying a camera...fuji finepix 3800 is there a better camera out there and why... what are some things I should look for. is there any advantages in the different media card types. anything else you thing would be useful for me to know.. and any good reviews.

 

[aka1nas]

The FAQ on digicams should be up very soon.

 

[Bleep]

I think that there are a some drawbacks to a Digital Camera but some advantages also.
Disadvantages----If you want to have decent pix you must have a really good printer, Good software is also a must, most of the software that comes with the camera is not very good. Good paper to print on is also very expensive.

Advantages-- A lot of pix can be taken without a boatload of film. The ability to view your picture right away to see if you need to take it over again If you make slideshows on vcd they are really great if the people interested have a dvd player.

I use both but prefer my film camera, I can always scan in the pix if I want to burn a vcd.
The camera you are looking at is a very good one.
Bleep.

 

[Gstanfor]

what makes a digital camera good?

Just like film cameras, the most important part of any digital camera is its lens. Without a lens there is no image for the rest of the camera to work on.

It doesn't matter if the camera is capable of all sorts of wonderful image processing/enhancement tricks or not - if it does not have a decent lens system everything will look crappy. Unless you are willing to pay serious money for a camera, the lens on a digital camera is not interchangeable - you are stuck with it for the life of the camera.

After the lens quality I would suggest that the quality of the exposure algorithm the camera uses, the flash capabilities, the image resolution and the storage medium employed are the most important features to consider.

Greg

 

[nortexoid]

the lens and the CCD (or whatever it's called? - great credibility)...the CCD is the sensor that's actually capturing the light/image when you take a picture...

i'd stay away from digital cameras that are non-big-name-camera brands...like samsung for instance...a good electronics company, but not a good digital camera maker...

don't look at mega pixels too much...in fact, it's even a poorer rating of a cameras "perforamance"/quality than MHz is for CPU performance.

EDIT:

i forgot to mention that optical zoom is far better than digital zoom - digital zoom just blows up the image on the CCD after it's been taken and causes it to look pixelated (just like blowing it up on the computer in software)...

 

[azkiwi]

consider what you actually want to do with it.

macro?
printing?
web images?
commercial?

the function will determine many of the desired features..

If you are going tro primarily display images on screen a 4MP camera is wasted on you. If you want to take pictures of race cars a camera with a 3X optical zoom will not do. Does it need to fit in your pocket? Do you want interchangeable lenses...and on.

As said above, get a digicam from a known camera maker, not a known computer maker. Poor lens = poor picture. Also, there are several good digicam sites - why not look where everything is on-topic?

 

[pdo]

scrape up some more pennies and get the Fuji S602 for $500 clams. This is one kick ass camera that you can grow with once you learn the advance feature.

 

[Beau]

CCD type & size, lens, and customizablility.

If I were you, I'd wait for a month or two for the new Foveon CCD's to hit mainstream (Fuji just licensed them). It's a new triple layer ccd that virtually triples image quality. Check it out.

 

[Slogun]

This is the quintessential place for info on digital cameras.

Digital vs film cameras? A matter of taste.

For me, it's digital all the way. I can't be bothered with film.

I have a great photo printer (Canon S900), but 99% of my picture viewing in this day and age is done via the computer.

 

[Slogun]

Hey Beau, nice photos. Those were taken with that Nikon you're selling?

I noticed your air show pix. Funny , I was on that B-17? bomber (nine-o-nine) when it was out here in New York a couple months ago.

 

[Beau]

Originally posted by: Slogun
Hey Beau, nice photos. Those were taken with that Nikon you're selling?

I noticed your air show pix. Funny , I was on that B-17? bomber (nine-o-nine) when it was out here in New York a couple months ago.

Yeah, all those pics were taken with the D1 that I'm selling.