What camera do you have?

[dragonrage]

I am at the shorter end of the stick when it comes to cameras, just wanted to know what camera do you use or you recommend. I recently bought a panasonic TZ3 lumix and enjoying it. Although I am still camera shy it is becoming increasingly fun to take picturess and mess around with the camera.


What camera do you use?

What camera would you recommend, and why?

What do you mainly use if for?

Just wanted to know what you all think, since i know a lot of you guys take alot of pics (/me looks at complich8)

[Board of Command]

Camera: Fuji Finepix F10

What I recommend:
Canon Powershot A-series
Canon Powershot SD-series
Fuji Finepix "real" F-series (two-digit number after the F, not 3)

What I use it for: taking pictures of random stuff; don't really have a specific use

And no, I don't take pictures often at all.

[Kraco]

I had a Canon Ixus v2 I bought years ago. But this summer it suddenly ceased to function. So, now I have no camera until I buy a new one. And despite the fate of the old one I'm seriously considering another Ixus. Unless I get a Powershot for more power. But Ixus is nice because cameras of that style fit nicely into a pocket, and thus it would increase the chances I actually carry the camera with me.

Uh... I guess it goes without saying now that what I could personally recommend are Canons.

I took pictures mainly of the nature. I pretty much dislike taking pics of people, which is essentially why maybe only 5% if even that of my pictures feature persons as the main subjects.

[Iridani]

Unfortunately at the moment my digital camera... if you can call it that... is a dinky little "free" thing from that promotion Dove was doing a while back.

It only holds 18 shots... seems to get less clarity the more you use it and you don't even get the previews. Least it's something for the time being.

[saman]

i used to have a fuji a410 or something, which was a piece of crap, and then it broke, so i'm cameraless at the moment. as for recommendations, out of what's on the market right now, the canon sd1000 is supposed to take phenomenal pictures, and the sony cybershot dscw80 is apparently also very good.

[Spiegel]

I use a cellphone camera... yeah, that is all I got. It is bad resolution, but I am not too worried right now. I will eventually get a real Digital Camera.

[IFHTT]

Nikon Coolpix P-something... 5 megapixel. A couple years old, but it does its job.

I'll agree with BoC Canon A series are pretty nice.

I use mine for taking pictures...

[masamuneehs]

Mine:
Canon Powershot A460
Specs: 5MPX, 4x Optical Zoom.

I like it because it's easy and quick, small enough to bring with me (even though it's a bit fat compared to many cameras out there) and IT HAS AN OPTICAL VIEWFINDER!
Seriously, I despise LCD screens so much... and it's getting harder and harder to find digital cameras that have the optical viewfinder on the back.

I recommend Nikons and Canons as brands, but there's also a very good Panasonic out there now (yes, like the TV brand) that has a very compact 10x Optical Zoom. I know that you can always zoom in on things later on if you have lots of megapixels, but I just like using the zoom myself (i am a bit old fashioned).

I just got it recently, took some pictures when I went to Mexico, and just for if I'm bored or if there's a party or something I want to bring it to.

[Ryllharu]

I've got a Canon Powershot A570. It was a little more expensive than what I wanted, but my old HP camera was a battery eating piece of shit. I don't use it that much right now, but I've been practicing with macro shots and playing with the shutter speeds. I've got a couple standard film cameras too, one with a fisheye lens just for fun photos, and a crappy underwater one I got for $10.

I would recommend most Nikon and Canon models that are around $200 if you're not willing to bump up to a full DSLR. There's a couple of reasons why.

- Olympus cameras take great pictures, but most of their models do not take standard SD cards. It's key to have a camera that uses SD cards because just about everything takes SD cards, but not Sony MemorySticks or other proprietary format devices.

- If you don't have a DSLR, make sure you get a camera with digital image stabilization. Also called anti-shake. My hands occasionally get the shakes, and nothing is worse on the quality of an image. It costs a bit more to get this feature, but it's totally worth it. I haven't taken such clear digital photos in years.

- Tying in with the last one, again, if it's not an SLR, make sure you can completely support its full weight and operate it with one hand. You'll be using the other to stabilize the camera. You'll take much better pictures, when you can do that.

- If you really want to get the full benefits of a camera, make sure it has functions that let you manually change the shutter speed, aperture, and other camera terms I can't recall. All those cool night shots with streaked headlights? Not possible with a full auto camera. The easier it is to edit these things, the more fun you can have with your camera.

-Like masa said, Make sure it has an optical viewfinder!

- AA batteries are a big plus, you can find Lithium batteries almost anywhere these days, and nobody likes looking for strange battery types. Again, a problem I've only encountered on older, lower end Olympus cameras, (I really like their DSLRs though).

[Board of Command]

Another thing I'd like to add: digital cameras today are a lot like CPUs from around 2001. Most uninformed people just go for higher megapixels and don't really care about the rest. What's really important is the quality of the sensor, not the resolution of the shots. Even if it's a 10 MP camera, you'll still get 10 MP of crap if the sensor sucks. Read lots of reviews when looking for cameras. There's a reason why cameras appear to be "dirt cheap" while other cameras with the same resolution cost $150 more. Image quality. For a compact camera, you're really not doing any professional work that requires high resolutions. Anything beyond 5 or 6 MP is overkill for your everyday picture. Go for cameras with good image quality, not high resolution.

My Fuji F10 goes up to 6 MP, but I only set it at 3 MP since I really don't gain from higher resolutions. It has awesome image quality, low noise at high ISO (i.e. usually no need for image stabilization) and great battery life (but not AA batteries )

[dragonrage]

Thanks everyone. This has been most education and well interesting.

The one i have does have stability control (its a god send)

10x optical zoom plus addition digital zoom

shutter control

lots of different modes.

macro and well this is even a simple mode for people like me.

Never thought it would be this fun


Also bought a 2 gig memory card and well i set it and 7megapixel don't really know what the difference is but i am hoping that it helps when i am photo shopping some of them.

[darkshadow]

Another thing I'd like to add: digital cameras today are a lot like CPUs from around 2001. Most uninformed people just go for higher megapixels and don't really care about the rest. What's really important is the quality of the sensor, not the resolution of the shots. Even if it's a 10 MP camera, you'll still get 10 MP of crap if the sensor sucks. Read lots of reviews when looking for cameras. There's a reason why cameras appear to be "dirt cheap" while other cameras with the same resolution cost $150 more. Image quality. For a compact camera, you're really not doing any professional work that requires high resolutions. Anything beyond 5 or 6 MP is overkill for your everyday picture. Go for cameras with good image quality, not high resolution.

My Fuji F10 goes up to 6 MP, but I only set it at 3 MP since I really don't gain from higher resolutions. It has awesome image quality, low noise at high ISO (i.e. usually no need for image stabilization) and great battery life (but not AA batteries )

QFT, it's amazing how ppl get suckered in by OMGZ 11MP!!1
ugh...