Digital Camera suggestion for Hiking ?
Euh
pictures. Any suggestions ?
Euh
Jeté tu m'as, une chance qu'on s'a!
Ken
4ax.com:
> Looking for somethingi n the range of 500 $ for good landscape
> pictures. Any suggestions ?
"Good" means different things to different people. If you're talking about
enlargements or publishing in magazines, you need high resolution and
probably filter and manual exposure capabilities.
If you just want to post snapshots on your web site, get something small
that you can clip to your backpack straps. That way, you can take photos
without taking off your backpack.
If you plan to take 100 pictures a day, good battery life is a good idea.
Ken
Gary S.
>Looking for somethingi n the range of 500 $ for good landscape
>pictures. Any suggestions ?
>
Digital photography is a very fast-changing market right now.
What cost $500 a year ago now goes for $300. What now sells for $500
does amazingly more stuff than the one a year ago.
Get current information on what is available, and shop aggressively on
prices. Many computer stores sell digital cameras as well.
See the newsgroup: rec.photo.technique.nature and similar groups
Also, Outdoor Photographer magazine has useful articles. There are
other magazines specializing in digital photography.
For a hiking camera, some features to consider:
Weight of the camera plus auxiliary storage
power consumption, you carry the spare batteries
weather resistance (you should still get a waterproof case)
If you make large prints, lens quality
With some, like the Canon EOS Digital, interchangable lenses from
their film camera line
For a serious photographer, go for one with more adjustments and more
megapixels. For others, keep it simple.
Happy trails,
Gary (net.yogi.bear)
------------------------------------------------
at the 51st percentile of ursine intelligence
Gary D. Schwartz, Needham, MA, USA
Please reply to: garyDOTschwartzATpoboxDOTcom
Florian
-Florian
Stargazing.com
Aushiker
Would also highly recommend this website. Based on this and feedback
at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BackpackGearTest/ (check the archives
for the discussion) I went with the Canon IVUS (Elph?) in the USA.
I like it because of its metal case and at the time lightweight. You
can find a review on it at the website suggested by Florian.
Regards
Andrew Priest
On Fri, 10 Jan 2003 17:45:29 -0800, "Florian" <Flo...@newsguy.com>
wrote:
>Euh, i found this site really helpful when i was shopping for a digital camera a couple years ago...
>
> http://www.dpreview.com/
>
Aushiker: Hiking in Western Australia - A comprehensive
resource on bushwalking, hiking and tramping in
Western Australia.
Evan Hanson
Pentax has just introduced a new 3mp digicam that will fit in an
Altoids tin.
bbense+alt.rec....@telemark.stanford.edu
In article <0m9u1vsniuipm83sn...@4ax.com>,
Euh <lol...@ican.net> wrote:
>Looking for somethingi n the range of 500 $ for good landscape
>pictures. Any suggestions ?
>
>
_ I think you will be less than happy with a digital camera for
"good landscape pictures". I own a Nixon CoolPix 880 and while I
really like it for most things, it falls short of a film camera
for landscape pictures. It just doesn't capture the range of
colors very well in at typical sunrise/sunset picture.
_ Of course, if you don't get up before dawn to take
your landscape pictures you may be perfectly happy
with a digital camera. Also, there is supposed to be
some new technology out very soon that will have a
much higher dynamic range than current CCD's. A
higher resolution than 3megapixels might help as well.
_ If you're going for multiday trips look for something
that takes AA batteries.
_ Booker C. Bense
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blazer
17:03:01 GMT:
>Pentax has just introduced a new 3mp digicam that will fit in an
>Altoids tin.
Heh. You can tell this is a hiking group. I buy Altoids for the tin,
and give the contents away. :)
Anyway, here are a few more tips for the OP:
Pay attention to the type and expense of the memory card and a reader
for it. I personally prefer the old SmartMedia cards, still used by
some Fuji and Olympus cameras. I don't care for SmartDigital cards and
the Sony sticks because they include DRM technology and I just refuse
to encourage DRM (note also that Sony just came out with a new version
of their memory stick that their older cameras can't use). If you're
planning to get a PDA or other device that uses memory cards, it makes
sense to get a camera that uses the same card. This way you can also
share images between camera and PDA, and/or use the PDA to copy really
important images to a backup card.
CompactFlash is larger than SmartMedia but IMO a bit more rugged. Also
IBM makes a microdrive (miniaturized HD) that fits in CompactFlash
slots. Their 1GB drive is down to about $300 now, and they're supposed
to come out with a 2 GB drive later this year. Rumors are that they're
working on a 5GB to be out by year's end. Personally I'd rather use an
all-solid-state drive but the microdrives are about half the price of
equivalent solid-state memory.
There's one line of thought that memory cards can be wiped or damaged
by a camera glitch which might be caused by dropping the camera or
zapping it with a little static electricity. Also if someone steals
your camera they also take all the images on it. Some people therfore
recommend going with many smaller cards rather than one large one.
Others claim that the more you handle the card (as when changing all
those cards out) the more likely you are to damage them, and suggest
getting one really big memory card that you can leave in the camera at
all times. I don't know which philosophy is right, but personally I
just feel better getting any ultra-important photos disconnected from
the camera's electronics until I can back the images up.
For future consideration, Archos now has a hard-drive based MP3 player
that includes slots, so you can copy your photos off certain card
types onto the 20 gig hard drive. I think it retails for around $400.
There are also several products made only to store memory cards, for
about $250. Last time I checked they had much smaller hard drives than
the Archos, though. Besides, if you're gonna drag one of these things
around you might as well have some tunez, too.
If you plan to do a lot of shooting, batteries are also important.
Some cameras use very expensive proprietary batteries that can only be
recharged with a 120 VAC socket, or if they're non-rechargeable might
be hard to find outside of a small city. Others use common AAA or AA
cells. Many of the latter can't use the full capacity of the battery
because the voltage sensors are optimized for NiMH and the lower
voltage of a slightly-drained alkaline fools the electronics into
thinking the battery is dead. NiCad's may not work at all, for the
same reason. Where cameras take standard battery sizes, NiMH seems to
be the battery most cameras are designed for. However, they only hold
a full charge for a month or so which gets to be a hassle.
Other things you may want to look at are whether the camera focuses
well in low-light (some cameras can even do flash-less night shots at
reasonably fast shutter speeds, though the image is black-and-white),
whether it accepts filters (the filter I need most often for outdoor
shots - a good polarizer - just can't be done after-the-fact on a
computer), and whether it has a tripod mount and a delay or remote
shutter release for macro shots where having your hand on the camera
may set up too much vibration for extreme close-ups. Also you might
want to look at what kind of interface is used to transfer images from
camera to your computer. I think most of the high-end cameras can be
connected directly via USB or firewire, but you never know.
I don't know about the latest designs, but all of the digital cameras
I've owned so far have a time-delay of a second or two between when
you hit the button and when the picture is taken. I've missed a lot of
good shots waiting for the damn camera to get around to snapping the
picture of moving wildlife (or people). If you're heavy on wildlife
photography I'd suggest a film camera instead.
Greg Smith
I recommend you take a look at the Canon A40. Street price around $250.
Only 2 Megapixel (1600x1200) but takes nice images and I've never needed
higher resolution and I have output on 8x10 photo paper that looks as
good as some 35mm images I have shot in the past. The A40 uses
CompactFlash and AA batteries (I use a single 128 mb CF card which
stores about 129 images). I refuse to buy any camera that uses a
proprietary battery or memory (Sony, "the king of proprietary," is
pretty much out).
The A40 has a nice "not-too-small, not-too-big" feel to it.
Nice optics...3x optical zoom. 7x digital zoom.
Parorama assist feature displays a slice of the previous image to help
you connect multiple photos with the supplied PhotoStich PC
software...awesome for panoramic shots!
I have found it focuses well in low light...it has a focus assist lamp
in the flash housing and an auto-selecting, three-zone focusing system
that works when the subject is in front of a low-contrast background.
It has multiple flash modes including slow-sync which gathers more
ambient light and supplements with the flash at the end of the exposure.
Makes for more-realistic outdoor night shots.
Macro works down to 6 inches or so plus it has the ability to accept
closeup and telephoto lenses that *bayonet* into the front of the lens
assembly. The bayonet mount is concealed by a cosmetic plastic ring
that you remove before mounting the accessory lens.
Even if you were prepared to spend more, I'd still check this model out.
Good luck.
Greg
dugedug
in the small Lowe carry case....
"Greg Smith" <bad...@mindspring.com> wrote in message
news:MPG.188e457c...@news.newsguy.com...
Bigfoot
great outdoor shots. The panoramic feature is very cool.
In article <_T0V9.70$2r2....@news.uswest.net>, dro...@uswest.net
says...
Dennis Mullis
for a point 'n shoot. Next you will want a photo printer; try a HP 7350.
--
Dennis Mullis
"Bigfoot" <map...@mapson.com> wrote in message
news:MPG.1890f770c...@nntp.mindspring.com...
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Kevin Conklin
"Dennis Mullis" <dmul...@communicomm.com> wrote in message
news:3e2ff...@corp-goliath.newsgroups.com...
Chuck Forsberg WA7KGX
is useful for panaoramas. For example, a 15 pane
pana taken with a 2MP camera results in more than 20
megapixels.
Low light is often a problem, so a fast lens or
image stabilization help.
And then there is the Nikon Coolpix 2500. It fits
nicely in a pocket but needs a fair amount of light
to get a good picture. Anyone know of a pocket sized
tripod?
My "big" digital is the "UZI", Olympus C2100UZ with
10x optical zoom and image stabilization.
Thomas Canty
<c...@omen.com> wrote:
> Anyone know of a pocket sized tripod?
I always carry REI's Ultrapod II with me. I love it!
Chuck Forsberg WA7KGX
> On Thu, 23 Jan 2003 16:28:08 -0800, "Chuck Forsberg WA7KGX"
> <c...@omen.com> wrote:
>
>> Anyone know of a pocket sized tripod?
>
> I always carry REI's Ultrapod II with me. I love it!
I already have a similar "tripod". I want one with full legs
and a pan head so I can take a 360 degree pan. It should
be tall enough to have the camera at eye level. Maybe I'll
find a sling for my 8 pound "professional" tripod
but something lighter would be nice.
Gary S.
<c...@omen.com> wrote:
>On Sat, 25 Jan 2003 04:41:03 -0800, Thomas Canty wrote:
>
>> On Thu, 23 Jan 2003 16:28:08 -0800, "Chuck Forsberg WA7KGX"
>> <c...@omen.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Anyone know of a pocket sized tripod?
>>
>> I always carry REI's Ultrapod II with me. I love it!
>
>I already have a similar "tripod". I want one with full legs
>and a pan head so I can take a 360 degree pan. It should
>be tall enough to have the camera at eye level. Maybe I'll
>find a sling for my 8 pound "professional" tripod
>but something lighter would be nice.
>
Always a trade-off between weight and stability. There are the carbon
fiber models, with the bonus of lightening your wallet at the same
time.
Monopod might cover some uses with light weight.
Glen Bu
easy to remove and put back on.
"Chuck Forsberg WA7KGX" <c...@omen.com> wrote in message
news:pan.2003.01.27....@omen.com...
Gary S.
<Sallys...@aol.com> wrote:
>On Mon, 27 Jan 2003 15:28:56 GMT, Idontwantspam@net (Gary S.) wrote :
>
>>Always a trade-off between weight and stability. There are the carbon
>>fiber models, with the bonus of lightening your wallet at the same
>>time.
>>
>>Monopod might cover some uses with light weight.
>
>I agree, I have a nice Bogen mono I carry occasionally.
>
>Begs the question though ...
>is anyone making a {good} trek pole with a standard pod thread in the
>handle ? Sounds like a good option to me.
>
Many of the single poles with a wooden or cork knob on top have this,
and a few of the pairs.
Making your own, it's a 1/4-20 thread, but make sure it isn't too
long, and there is enough material around the screw to support to
camera.
I recently saw an interesting option in a hunting store: a set of
poles which come with a V-block that the two poles screw into, making
a stable shoulder bipod to rest a rifle or a lens into.
Greg Smith
Sallys...@aol.com says...
> I agree, I have a nice Bogen mono I carry occasionally.
>
> Begs the question though ...
> is anyone making a {good} trek pole with a standard pod thread in the
> handle ? Sounds like a good option to me.
>
atop the grip. Underneath is a threaded bolt and locking ring.