New Camera advice ?

[Bok]

I know some of you out there must know a lot about cameras... Paratima ?

I'm looking to get a new digital camera sometime soon. Mostly it'll be for shooting pictures /video of my son playing ice hockey.

Looking for good optical zoom capability - 12x at least. 8MP or more. Anything else to look for ? Any recommendations ?

I've looked at http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...75040&csid=_27 and http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...4&Sku=O83-1228

I'd love this but it costs a bit too much.... Full HD video is tempting though...

[gopher_yarrowzoo]

Yes a Large value of Optical Zoom is a must, Me personally I'd go with the Olympus only because that's what I got.

If your thinking of shooting movies I'd work out how much movie space you can get on the camera, Sure shooting at 1280x720p sounds nice but do we really need it HD, 640x480 is much better and closer to normal TV resolution, unless you've gone ALL HD and it's Mov vs AVI as MJPEG now
MJPEG is good but it can suffer from "artifacting" this is totally due to the compression and well generally your not meant to notice it unless it's heavily compressing and you will notice it also MOV that's going Mpeg-4 again this can look crap depends on the codec hardwired inside.
What ever camera you get take it to manual when ever possible, so you can set the picture size as generally it Will default to the largest possible picture ,sure crystal clear pictures but at a price uses more memory, although that shouldn't be a problem...
I do find my Olympus very easy to use menu wise as it's fairly easy to navigate. The boss has a canon and it's not so clear to me mind you only used it a few times but good camera. Oh and I'd say they both take pretty good action shots, just don't even attempt to use "fulltime AutoFocus" on those it won't work..

[Digital Parasite]

I have a Canon SX-10 (a model higher than the SX200 you linked). Mine is not expensive, and it has 20x zoom, optical stabilization (a must), and it has a dedicated video record button and uses MPEG4 compression so produces very good quality video and you can store a lot.

You can see a review here:
http://www.imaging-resource.com/PROD...IS/SX10ISA.HTM

I love it, and bringing it to Disney with me tomorrow. I had a Canon S2IS before this one (older generation of the same line) and was very happy with it. I can't comment on the Olympus but the SX10 is great, has a fast Digic IV processor so can take fast pics of kids, and the stabilized stereo video is so great that I don't even bother using my camcorder any more.

So the tradeoff between the SX10 and the SX200 seems to be 10MP vs 12MP (not a big difference in real life), 20x zoom vs 12x zoom, and SD video vs HD video. It all depends on what is more important to you. I was very happy with 12x zoom on my previous camera, can't live without long zoom now, and I love my 20x zoom even more.

[Bok]

awesome. Thanks for that..looks perfect!

[Angus]

So much so, I just bought one for my upcoming Europe Vacation I

31 days - Switzerland, Austria, Northern Italy, French Riviera, then back to Zurich by car. Then a flight to Hamburg and driving to Gdansk/Gdynia area of Poland for a couple of birthdays, and a wedding. Days of partying..

[IronBits]

You are either very brave or crazy, to be traveling outside of the US.
Enjoy your vacation.

[Bok]

Nice Angus. Camera is great - I love it!

Enjoy Europe!

[Digital Parasite]

Nice Angus. Camera is great - I love it!

So what did you and Angus end up getting?

IronBits, why is he brave travelling outside the US? Most of the world lives outside the US, so we have to travel outside it every day.

[gopher_yarrowzoo]

IB I can't believe you said that, that's it your not going to be including on the card list this year....
Scots and proud of it, your family were from europe at some point maybe.

[Bok]

So what did you and Angus end up getting?

IronBits, why is he brave travelling outside the US? Most of the world lives outside the US, so we have to travel outside it every day.

The Canon Powershot SX10 IS



Bok

[Shish]

It's all right guys....think the heat may have im (IB) frazzled or summat He does live down the hot end you know

[Angus]

OK - I'm sorry I mentioned it! Didn't mean to get the old guy all stirred up

[gopher_yarrowzoo]

Lol!

[Digital Parasite]

The Canon Powershot SX10 IS

I'm glad you like it. Our Disney vacation pics turned out great. I used some of the scene modes to take aquarium pics inside and some funky night shots as well.

[Paratima]

I actually did finally get back to Bok on this - was away for a while. The reviews say the SX-10 is about as good as you can get short of going to an entry-level DSLR. Thing is, the entry-level DSLR's are so cheap and so good that it's tough to recommend a P&S. I know this doesn't help the people who WANT a Point & Shoot, but it's a fact.

An interesting development, in fact, has been the ever-cheapening DSLR's. None of the companies wants to bring out anything good enough to compete with their own DSLR's and in fact, have taken some brilliant P&S cameras off the market for just that reason.

An excellent example is the Sony DSC-R1. It's a P&S with a DSLR-sized sensor at 10 megapixels. Combined with its 24-120mm Zeiss lens, it makes photographs that are crisp and beautiful. I LOVE the 24mm wide end and at 120mm, the long end is great for portraits. I nabbed one early and it's good enough to be backup for my big guns (and a LOT lighter!). Specs are HERE. However, as soon as Sony brought out their first DSLR, the A-100, DSC-R1's disappeared off shelves - *poof* GONE!

As good as the R1 is, I'd still like a more pocketable P&S with superior image quality (not negotiable), reasonably fast operation and low noise. Any of the larger camera companies could build one, but I'm not holding my breath! For now, the Canon SX-10 and G-10 and maybe the Panasonic LX3 are about the best things going.

For anyone who's interested, here's a short list to check out, depending on your needs:
Canon G10 & SX10 & SX110
Panasonic DMC-LX3
Olympus SP-590UZ and Pen EP-1
Sony DSC-HX1
Nikon Coolpix P6000

Understand that this list is biased to MY preferences, which tend toward SLR-like controls and image quality over cost and size. For review sites, I recommend:
DP Review HERE
Steve's Digicams HERE
Imaging Resource HERE
You can find more at DP Review under About - Links
Enjoy!

[Angus]

What brand/ model of NiMh batteries and charger would you more experienced camera folks recommend for the SX 10? It needs 4 AA size, and I'm not about to pack a carton of throw-aways all over Europe. It probably needs 2400mAh minimum for decent life.

Maha/Powerex look good...

I've got about 1 or 2 days left to order online if I can't find decent quality locally.

[gopher_yarrowzoo]

Yeah 2400mAh sounds about right it all depends on how much your going to shoot really also those quick chargers you get for fast charging they are okay used once or twice but you may start to feel it's not holding as well later on easiest way is to work out what the charge rate would need to be to overnight recharge them say 8-10 hrs recharge maybe more.

I'm lucky in away I got a very nice Olympus that well got taken off the shelf as soon as their new shiny one came out, uses it's own battery pack and the charger for it is tiny...

[Digital Parasite]

What brand/ model of NiMh batteries and charger would you more experienced camera folks recommend for the SX 10? It needs 4 AA size, and I'm not about to pack a carton of throw-aways all over Europe. It probably needs 2400mAh minimum for decent life.

Maha/Powerex look good...

I have tried many brands, the Powerex I was looking forward too but wasn't very impressed with. The self-discharge a lot faster than other brands I have tried. So they just sit around never used. This was a few years ago, maybe things have improved?

The ones I have been most impressed with actually are Duracell NiMH, I have 2650 mAh and they work great. If you don't use the batteries very much, getting the lower pre-charged 2000 mAh ones are great for holding their charge. And they are not expensive either.

Jeff.

[Shish]

I tried the Lithiums in my Cannon but they cost an arm and leg and aren't much better than the NimH 2400's. They're cheap enough to have a few spare packs handy. Charge is normally 10 hours or 18 for a slow one at man. recc. rates.

[Paratima]

Here ya are. LINKY Go nuts!

Any NIMH battery marked "Low Discharge" is what you want. I've had good luck with Imedions and Delkins, better than PowerX, I think, although they're all pretty good. These are the new wave batteries and are almost as good as alkalines for holding a charge. Sanyo Eneloops are good, too.

Note: Get a charger that has a slow charge feature. Fast charging overheats the batteries and burns them out young.

A photographer these days lives or dies by his/her batteries. I always have several boxes (4/box) of AA's and AAA's with me, besides my camera batteries. Before a big shoot, I'll have a marathon session making sure everything's charged.

[Shish]

Yeah, right on Paratima. I built my own charger unit to do the recomended by the manufacturer 18 hr charge rate for 2400-2650 low discharge NimH. Takes up to 20 batteries and does auto select/regulated charge with a low pulse charge type. Will even do regular 1.5v batteries as it can do a very low pulse type charge and monitors battery heat for safety to avoid the cells venting which is what kills them. Not too difficult to build from scratch and I believe there are some kits available from Tandy or somebody. Built it originally to do lithiums and packs but added the NimH and normals later on and it saves a fortune for cameras as most of the point and shoots use lithium disposables or NimH. My big Cannon has a built in pack but I do a lot of flash work and test shots so PandS is very handy but the Cannon has massive definition for big prints and just 2 quick change lenses cover most everything from Macro to fast sports stuff and long distance tele wildlife shots. Cost a bomb but shopping around and doing your research, even for a Pand S, can save you a mint and going for previous gen or refurb even means near up to date and decent models are good prices.

[Paratima]

Built your own charger! I'm impressed!

Hmmmm. Also wondering why I didn't think of that. I'd love to be able to throw 20 NIMH AA's in and hit the button. That would be intensely cool. Thanks for the idea!

Know what you mean about the big batteries. I've got a 1Ds2 and a 1D2 that back up each other depending on the assignment. Fortunately, they use the same motherly huge batteries. I have several spares.

Sure beats the snot out of the age of film, though! I've still got half a dozen different sized coolers I used for hauling film, depending on the assignment. And the wait to find out if you got all the shots, Ay yi yi! Even with a truckload of batteries needing service, I still like digital better.

[gopher_yarrowzoo]

Yeah that true but there are fewer places that process film and only 1 if it's kodachrome (i think that's how you spell it).

[Shish]

Kodachrome and Ektachrome is off the market now, far as I remember. I still use an aging Ricoh slr sometimes for long exposure stuff and very fast multi frame action cos it can beat a digi hands down on speed even with the power wind on time per frame. Has continuous wind without framing, just limited to no view cos the mirror stays flipped but the Cannon beats it out for high detail poster size blowups and close in macro stuff as well as possibly a lot I aint thought of in a while. I can still do my own processing and have done for years so i ain't in any hurry to part with the Ricoh. Not as good as a Hasselblad but more useful still. Not a pro, never have been but cameras are handy tools for many trades. I was also, by the way, an electronics engineer and a radio ham and pro wireless engineer/operator and still hold special research licensing. Once a Ham (some mates are gonna cut me for using that term but hey I'm too old to worry nowadays) always a ham and if you can't buy what you need, you better be able to build it, especially when you're in the middle of some ocean and something stops working and all you have is an RS catalogue and bin of parts/spares/scroungey stuff . Anyway, my bro' is still trying to get my Brownie off me and the Kodak bellows with the Leica lenses but he's got no chance. Always some stock in the top of my fridge, usually 400-600 asa and B&W for moody stuff which is near impossible with a digi and some infra red as well I think is in there somewhere, very handy stuff for an engineer. Lucky for me, some of my mates and ex colleagues work in the testing industry and keep very large freezers of good film stock of various types (free stuff is always better than buying innint?). Oh, and battery chargers are very easy to make, just some holders from Tandy or wherever, few bits of wire, timing circuit (ready built if you want) and a constant or pulse charge circuit can be either capacitor or resistor combination based as well as some more scaleable ready made circuit boards and a power source to step down the mains (mini transformer). Plenty kits and bits around and a beginners type job if you shop at Tandy/Maplin or a lot of the big outfits like RS. Circuits on either dead bug (legs in the air and wired) system or pegboard, whatever and designs available across the hobby market electronics mags (now available on line amostly) with backorder copies via internetty.