Need a Digital Camera

**Studley 2436** · 25th October 2008, 10:25 PM

The big issue with compacts is small sensor size and small lens size. The smaller the lens diameter and the shorter it's focal length the lower the quality of light it can transmit to a sensor or piece of film.

The lens length does not change if you use a smaller sensor. Some people think it does in part due to the advertising saying 35 mm equivalent. This is talking about the field of view and not the length of the lens.

For example a "normal" lens that gives a view similar to the human eyes view is 50 mm on a 35 mm camera. On a Medium format camera the normal lens is 80 mm on Nikon's DX sensors it is 33 mm although this is usually averaged to 35 mm as you can buy 35 mm lenses. Compact cameras are all over the place but they do use some very small sensors. The Olympus recommended above is reasonable for a Compact camera.

Another thing that causes problems on small sensors is "dark noise". Noise produced by the current that runs through the sensor itself. The more pixels you have and the smaller the sensor the more of a problem this is. Witness that Nikon came out with the D3 with a 24 x 35 mm sensor and a mere 12 megapixels! People who have used it say it is very "clean". Lovely clear images. Pixels are not everything according to people in the know. Nikon seems to have backed this up. After all they made the D2X with 12 MP and that was a 17 x 24 mm sensor. 408 mm2. The 35 mm sensor is 864 mm2. more than double. They could have put 24 MP on it if they chose but did not. It seems they don't see as much gain in the pixels as they did in other things they got by using bigger pixels.

Either way much of it comes down to the nut behind the camera. Sarah Moon was famous for the effect she got using crummy gear. If you want a camera to carry with you there are stacks of good compacts. If you want a bit more quality in your images then there are lots of good DSLR cameras at pretty reasonable prices. Canon Nikon is a Holden Ford argument. I like Nikon more as it is more of an engineering driven firm than Canon, but then I have been using their stuff for 10 years now after leaving Canon and been very happy with their stuff.

Studley

**Calm** · 26th November 2008, 06:48 PM

Thanks for all the help and info given here.

Today i got sick of waiting so went to solve the problem.

Allan from Wallan gave me a recomendation/advice (i think he wants to charge me $100 for advice - see other thread) so off i went to get the kodak 180 whatever (lost the bit of paper he gave me) with panoramic option, edit on camera and take photo from movie/video and yes you guessed it the salesman at 3 different stores knew exactly what i wanted but no didnt have that model in stock

So

David cracked them and got the Canon on special that i had been leaning towards originally

Here it is photo and all.- if someone can tell me how to fix the writing on the box let me know.

$248 plus $25 for a 2 whatsername card. no i dont want extended warranty or tripod or fries and everything else they tried to up sell/value add. - bloody salesmen grrrrrrrrr

Cheers

**Papa** · 26th November 2008, 07:22 PM

like:

**Studley 2436** · 26th November 2008, 07:23 PM

*L* nice one Calm. If you have photoshop you can mirror the image. Canon might have included something in it so you can edit your photos. Have a look and see what you can find.

Studley

**Calm** · 26th November 2008, 07:34 PM

Originally Posted by Papa

like:

Thanks smart a#$$e

Bloody technology is past me - mental note need 6yo to teach me.

Cheers

**Allan at Wallan** · 26th November 2008, 08:11 PM

Crikey David!

$248.00 plus $25.00 and you didn't get fries.

They have been selling that model camera in the
Wallan take-away shop for $32.25 and that includes
fries, pancakes with maple syrup, one slice of pizza
and a free ride home in the local police car.

Hope you work it all out.

Allan

**Delicious** · 4th December 2008, 01:08 PM

Originally Posted by Calm

Hi i dont have a camera and dont take many photos.
When i want to put a photo on this forum i spend 1/2 an hour hunting through first one daughters room (21yo) with no result so then the other daughters room (18yo) then ring them to find they have their cameras with them. So i wait until they get home, then the battery is flat, then they take off again before they download them onto the computer for me.
So i need a camera - i could also take it to work in in the truck with me, use it for photos for the forum - not really a happy snapper but maybe i might if i had one.
I was thinking of this
Canon PowerShot SD790 / IXUS 90 Digital Camera on ebay for $255
the 21 yo has a earlier model and it seems to do the job.
I have a leaning towards Canon
It needs to be able to carry in my pocket or on the motorbike hence the flat style.
HELP please all you guru's out there. I was thinking of under $500
Thanks in advance
Cheers

As mentioned, I agree that Dpreview and Steves-Digicams are the TOP WEBSITES ON THE INTERNET for unbiased camera reviews. One other great source for reviews: Consumer Reports magazine. CR is an American publication that's been around for decades. They test everything under the sun: cars, cameras, refrigerators, ice cream, vacum cleaners, microwave ovens, washers and dryers, you name it. Best of all, they don't have any advertising in their magazine. None! They accept no money for advertising. People lie, companies lie, but I feel pretty confident in saying that Consumer Reports magazine does not lie about the products they test. The only knock on CR is that they are not full time, hard core photographers. So what, I say. To some people that won't matter one bit.

You can, and should, use Amazon.com to get a few reviews. But you can throw out the reviews that start out with, "I've had this camera for one week and I think this camera...."

One week or anything around one week is not a long enough time to evaluate a camera, or anything else for that matter. Also, you never know the level of expertise the Amazon reviewer has. The reviewer might be a retard or a rocket scientist, or somewhere in between. Usually you'll run into all three over at Amazon.

And don't forget about Newegg.com for camera reviews, and reviews on computer gear, too. Newegg is worth bookmarking to your favorites.

For what you want to use the camera for, you don't have to worry about a digital cameras intricacies that some people mentioned in this thread. They come built out of the box to handle almost anything. Just find a good point and shoot digital camera, buy it, and start shooting.

One thing I never overlook is tech support. Nikon's tech support, based on 5 or 6 calls I made to them a year ago, was pretty good but not great, though of course, that was a year ago.

Canon's tech support, based on 20-30 calls I've made to them in the last year, was fantastic. They know their cameras inside and out. They speak good english, and the hold time was acceptable, generally around a minute or so. They will answer stupid questions like, "How do I turn my camera on?" without batting an eye, or putting you down.

Here in the U.S any call made to Canon is routed to Virginia. Virginia is a state in the U.S. My calls to Nikon were routed to Canada.

Always, always, always check the stores return policy before you pay for the camera, especially if you buy it online. New York City has a bunch of online camera dealers that should be avoided because some of them are not authorized dealers.

Lets say I want to buy a Nikon camera online from someone, no matter what state they're in (be it New York or California). I always call the camera dealer up on the phone and ask them, ARE YOU AN AUTHORIZED NIKON DEALER??????????

If they're not an authorized dealer, the manufacturers warranty is no good! Which means you have no warranty. You always want a warranty for your camera, should it fail or freeze up.

Thread: Need a Digital Camera

Thread Tools

Search Thread

Decision made

Similar Threads

New Digital Camera

New Digital Camera

Which Digital Still Camera?

Which Digital camera.

Tags for this Thread

Posting Permissions