Digital Cameras (PSR)

[KQ]

(Possibly Skiing Related )

http://www.powershot.com/powershot2/...s/prod_img.jpg

Tell me everything you know about those pocket sized (or credit card sized) digital cameras.

What do you like/dislike about the one you own?

Would you purchase the same again or go with a different one?

Did you get the weather resistant version?

Best prices you've ever seen?

Pixels?

Help a girl out here!!!

[Viva]

Mixed reviews at: www.camerareview.com

More stuff here: http://www.pcphotoreview.com/Above,3...4_3098crx.aspx

[Benny Profane]

I have a Powershot S110 that I purchased from Dell (keep an eye out on that site - no tax or shipping a lot of the time) last year. It's probably 2 or 3 "generations" behind the one you have pictured, and is only 2 mega pixel, but works just fine for smallish prints and computer size images. It seems that 3 mega pixel is about standard these days, and 5 mega pixel cameras are very affordable. Used it all last year in Colorado - it was always with me in a case in a fanny pack, and survived quite nicely. I bought it for the size (I carry it on road bike trips, hikes) and I'm pretty happy with it. Love the battery charger. Could use some more zoom, and the shutter response is slow, but I hear that this has been improved. These things are evolving at a real fast rate, and the prices are dropping, too. I recommend Canon highly.

Good site: http://www.dpreview.com/

[brownmonkey]

I can't say enough praise about the Canon Digital Elph (known as the Ixus in Europe). I've had two Elph cameras (the two and then the three megapixel), and convinced two of my friends to get them also.

Cold weather eats up the batteries quite quick (after about 100 shots or so), but that is the case for any digital camera.

The size is just perfect for a ski jacket pocket, and I've been really pleased with the quality of the pictures. I believe the current camera is a 4 megapixel version.

The number of megapixels relates to the size of the final image - ie the more megapixels, the larger the picture. However all cameras are not the same!, and often the lens quality has more impact on total picture quality than just the pixels alone. All I'd say in summary is see some samples, read some reviews (the DPReview site already recommended is excellent), and then make a choice on which you prefer based on picture quality & features.

[FreakofSnow]

I can almost guarantee that you find THE CHEAPEST pricest for digis and other related items right here:

http://www2.buydig.com/shop/home.aspx

[Mcwop]

For Pricing go to CNET . When you look up a camera you can view all internet prices, and shipping rates.

My wife has the Canon Canon SD200 Digital Elph . It is very good. You can view some pictures that I took at J-Hole with it HERE.

I just bought the Minolta Dimage Xt . You can view some pictures that I took with it HERE .

These cameras are great if your desire is to have a camera that:
-fits in pants or ski jacket pocket
-is easy to use
-quick (the Minolta Xt is very fast to start up and snap first pic)
-Takes solid picture (but you give up some pic quality)

Let me know if you have other questions.

[xboat]

i've gotta give the thumbs up for the canon powershot S400 digital elph. i'm still trying to figure everything out and it may be more than what you need, but so far it's been one badass little camera. can't wait to take skiing pics with it. it says it will do continous shooting at 2.5 frames a second, but i haven't figured out how to get it to shoot that fast.

http://www.powershot.com/powershot2/...s/prod_img.jpg

[jibij]

i've got an s230 that is awesome! it's by far the least expensive of the 3 digi cams i own and probably the one i use the most. it's portability/quality are unbeatable. if they could somehow cram a 10X optical zoom into it, it'd be the perfect ski camera.

[Buzzworthy]

I have the Canon Powershot A70. $250 price point, 3.2 MegaPixels, contious shooting mode and 11 others including vid.

I dig it. I have seen a lot of Maggots with the A70 or S400.

2 cents worth.

[ArmchairExtreme]

I use a really little one by fujifilm. It's an f401. 2.1mp, but takes a really nice picture and has great, natural color.

http://a1672.g.akamai.net/7/1672/116.../541243259.jpg

I bought an xtra 64 mb chip and I can take and store about 100-200 really nice resolution pics. All my reports and photos I've posted last season were taken with it. It's dead simple to use, the controls are totally intuitive. It's very tough, small and light. Bout the size of a pack of smokes. weighs maybe 4oz. Docking cradle recharges the batt ,which never seems to get low, and downloads the pics to your pc without having to connect any plugs or wires.

A really good bargain here too:
http://www.ritzcamera.com/webapp/wcs...4&cmCat=SEARCH

[trainnvain]

Originally posted by xboat
i've gotta give the thumbs up for the canon powershot S400 digital elph. i'm still trying to figure everything out and it may be more than what you need, but so far it's been one badass little camera. can't wait to take skiing pics with it. it says it will do continous shooting at 2.5 frames a second, but i haven't figured out how to get it to shoot that fast.

Page 57 in the manual.

[xboat]

Originally posted by trainnvain
Page 57 in the manual.

really?

so last night i'm reading the manual again and do everything it says, no flash, LCD screen turned off, HS continous shooting....all tha jazz. if i held the shutter button down it took about 1 pic every second max. you got one? help me out dood.

[Chronic]

I just bought a dig a few months ago - here are my thoughts on camera features:

megapixels - probably want at least 3mg, 4mg is better if you think you might enlarge any photos.

card memory - most cameras come with a pretty small memory card. I think you would want a minimum of 64mg, more if you are going to be on a trip away from a computer for any length of time.

zoom - look at optical zoom rather than digital zoom. This is a luxury, but could be important depending on what you use the camera for. Generally, the better the zoom, the bulkier/more expensive the camera.

battery life - dig cams tend to suck batteries pretty quick, especially in cold. Get rechargables.

weather-proofing - if you're going to be using it out in the snow and outdoors a lot, I would strongly consider it - especially in the soggy PNW. But if you're careful with the camera and make sure it doesn't get wet, you can probably go without.

Picture quality - I'm no pro, so I looked at reviews and reputation - Canon has very good reviews/reputation. The CDNet reviews are helpful - but you're the internet queen, so I doubt you'll have any problem finding sites.

I wound up with an Olympus C-750 for my trip to Africa last month, and the pictures are incredible. It might be bigger than what you're looking for - probably twice as big as the Elph.

Overall, I think you have to decide what you're likely to use the camera for, what situations you'll be in, how important the various features are, and then you can choose the best camera.

[Mcwop]

Here is a site where you can view sample pictures by camera.

[KQ]

Thanks for the help!!!

Hey Chronic - you should post some of those pics you took in Africa. Not quite ski related but I'm sure they are just as cool as ski porn.

[cj001f]

Originally posted by Chronic
card memory - most cameras come with a pretty small memory card. I think you would want a minimum of 64mg, more if you are going to be on a trip away from a computer for any length of time.

Buy the biggest you can get - then you never have to change them. I just returned from a 2 week trip, and shooting my 4MP @ max res (only way to go) - filled up a 256MB card, and half filled another 128Mb card - and I probably should have taken more pictures. 256Mb SD cards are less than $75 in some stores, and 512Mb are comparable on a $/Mb ratio.

For cameras I have a slightly larger Kodak DX6440 which I'm fairly happy with - but the battery compartment door is cheesy.

[trainnvain]

Originally posted by xboat
really?

so last night i'm reading the manual again and do everything it says, no flash, LCD screen turned off, HS continous shooting....all tha jazz. if i held the shutter button down it took about 1 pic every second max. you got one? help me out dood.

I dunno, I thought maybe you lost the manual or something (I would do). I was reading the manual at work. It's the cam for the website, I'll ask Todd when he come back, he's the only one who really uses it.

EDIT: Look down three posts to Snowdogs post

[13]

Originally posted by jibij
i've got an s230 that is awesome! it's by far the least expensive of the 3 digi cams i own and probably the one i use the most. it's portability/quality are unbeatable. if they could somehow cram a 10X optical zoom into it, it'd be the perfect ski camera.

My sentiments exactly. I've got the same cam.

[fez]

What is a good ~3 mpxl weatherproof digi cam?

My wife says i cant have one until i find a weather proof one (she knows me too well sometimes).

[Snow Dog]

Originally posted by xboat
really?

so last night i'm reading the manual again and do everything it says, no flash, LCD screen turned off, HS continous shooting....all tha jazz. if i held the shutter button down it took about 1 pic every second max. you got one? help me out dood.

The Elph uses Compact Flash cards which come in different "speeds" (different update rates). The continuous shooting rate is limited by the CF write speed. The cheapest cards are standard speed (1x) and the more expensive cards are 12 times faster (12x) and up. If the card isn't labeled then it's slow speed.

[Unorthodox]

I have the same camera as ArmchairExtreme. It is a great little camera that has taken a beating and kept going. The battery is easily recharged and never seems to get low like he said.

The only major drawback is that it is only 2.11 megapixels, but for what I used it for that is more then sufficient. You can find some great deals on it as well, as I got mine for under $200. I have a 128 mb card and my picture options are almost limitless.

Additionally, you can take 90 second clips of video with sound. Pretty solid little camera in my opinion.

[xboat]

train & snow dog -

yeah, that's what i was thinking but i figured that with all the extras shut off you wouldn't need a whole lot. figures....more cash. i did buy a 256mb compact flash card for it and it doesn't have a speed on it. more cash to spend.....

so last night i was doing some laundry and hearing this THUMP, THUMP from the dryer. was thinking "wtf, there's only a couple pairs of jeans and shit in there??" go down an check around for contraband in the dryer....nothing. it comes to me later in the night, my spare camera battery!!!! fack! go down there to find it in the pocket of jeans with a 1/2 pack of trident stuck to it, no....melted to it. luckily i had the little piece of plastic battery protector thingy on it

slapped it in the charger and hesitantly into the camera. all is well

[Eldo]

Originally posted by xboat
really?

so last night i'm reading the manual again and do everything it says, no flash, LCD screen turned off, HS continous shooting....all tha jazz. if i held the shutter button down it took about 1 pic every second max. you got one? help me out dood.

Were you doing this test indoors? If so then this advice could apply. If you were testing the camera outdoors in bright light, then ignore my long winded response.

When you are taking pix in a low light situation the camera will have to choose a slow shutter speed in order to get a good exposure. Indoors that could mean like half a second shutter speed. Of course that will limit how many pix you can take in a second. And most digi cameras have a much reduced top FPS as soon as the shutter speed gets slower than about 1/250 sec, which would be the case indoors all the time. Basically, your camera's top FPS is based on shooting pix outdoors during the daytime.

The speed of your compact flash card doesn't have any effect on FPS. When you take a series of photos the camera first loads the pix into a memory buffer and not the memory card. Whether you have the cheapest card or an expensive 12x speed card makes no difference for FPS. It can make a difference when the camera then writes photos from the buffer to the card, freeing up buffer space and allowing you to take another series of photos sooner. But only a few of the highest end consumer digital cameras have a fast enough internal write speed to overwhelm a regular card. For most users those fast cards are not worth the money. Pro SLR digi cams benefit from fast cards because their internal write speeds are a lot higher than consumer cameras.

A faster card can help is if your camera digi cam takes large (640x480) video. Some new cameras write vid directly to the card and allow you to keep shooting a movie until the card is full. That is usually only possible with a fast card. Other cameras limit the length of a vid clip, and that means they first load it to the buffer, so again a faster card will make no difference.

[seldon]

Originally posted by xboat
i've gotta give the thumbs up for the canon powershot S400 digital elph. i'm still trying to figure everything out and it may be more than what you need, but so far it's been one badass little camera. can't wait to take skiing pics with it. it says it will do continous shooting at 2.5 frames a second, but i haven't figured out how to get it to shoot that fast.

http://www.powershot.com/powershot2/...s/prod_img.jpg

hear hear! I have one of these beasties, and its a great camera. Much faster response than the earlier models, 4megapixel, and a perfect size for a jacket... its small enough that you stand less of a chance of destroying it (although, theoretically it could save your life, like the guy last winter at jackson who's avy beacon died in an avalanche but saved him... and thus he couldn't find his buddy). Its a great camera. I haven't taken it skiing yet, b/c i haven't gone up yet this winter.... (disclaimer).... but its shweet

[StormRider]

I’ve got the Canon Power Shot S30. It’s much like the Elph s230: 3x zoom, 2 continuous shooting modes, a bunch of shooting modes (landscapes, portraits, action…), & video. PLUS it can be fully manual so you can control everything and compose more customized photos and learn more about taking photos. It’s a little bigger than the s230 but I like having the added features.

I used steves-digicams.com , dpreview.com and imaging-resource.com for most of my research – and I did a LOT!