Digital Camera question and opinons

[RandyCustomShop]

I'm trying to figure out which camera to get, but not sure how much zoom I'm gonna need to be able to see the clocks at the end of the track. I'd basically be even with the Tree in the stands... PLUS...you never know if you might see something walking by and need a good ZOOM poon

Also, any opinions in general on camera's would be helpful. Basically I want it to have some decent video capabilities (at LEAST 15 second clips) Doesn't have to be VGA quality, but clear enough to get a good idea of what's going on. And at least 3 mega pixels. I'm basically looking at Canon, Fuji, Nikon, and Olympus.

[Orlando_87GN]

I have owned nothing but Fuji digital cameras. Haven't owned a 3 megapixel yet, but off all the ones I have had they were all exceptional and all Fuji's...

Hope that helps powersix ...

[Benny]

Are you talking about Digital Film cameras? I've got a sony trv-25. It's small and the zoom is supposedly 120x which is just about good for anything. Never go by a camera's digital zoom. That's a resampling zoom that looks horiffic. Just go by it's optical zoom. Get a minidv and you should be ok. Stick with the bigger companies.

If you're talking still image camera's, there aren't many digital camera's that have a zoom worth a poop. Better off with a film camera for serious zoom. Best ones are from canon or olympus. Fuji's seem to be pretty good too. Don't get anything less than 3 megapxels though. Try going to megapixel.net and rooting though the reviews. I've got an olympus 3030 which is pretty old and big by today's standards, but I took a few pictures at englishtown and I can show you some pictures I took that day when I get home tonight (3x optical zoom). The et's showed up pretty nicely, car included.

MiniDV camera's take pictures too but they are much less high quality than a dedicated picture cam. One last thing. Buy at least a 128 meg memory card and a reader for the computer. Best money you'll ever spend.

<small>[ May 22, 2003, 06:18 PM: Message edited by: Benny ]</small>

[slow 86 gn]

I have a Sony FD-95 2.1 mega pixel. 10x optical 2x digital lens 39mm to 390 Anything 2 mega pixel and above, will get you a good 8 x 10 pic. A friend has a newer Sony and he has 5 mega pixels. Until you zoom in close or blow up beyond 8 x 10 the pictures look the same. This camera uses a floppy or memory stick. For me the camera has been great. From the drag strip, boat races, mountain bike races, super cross or just a picture of a bug for my buddys kid. The camera has worked excellent for the last three years no problem. usa

[RandyCustomShop]

Thanks for the replies, keep em' coming

Mike, the Fuji's do look pretty good. A friend of mine has a 3800, I haven't gotten to see it except for in the store yet...Also looking at the S602Z. What kind of zoom you got on your camera's, and can you read the clocks at the end of the track?

Benny, yes a digital camera (not digital film camera) is what I'm looking for. I've looked in a few magazines at reviews and also dpreview.com is very extensive. Also Consumer Reports for what that is worth... They did rate the Canon G3 and Fuji 3800 very well. Olympus also ranked very good. So you're saying that your Olympus has a 3x optical zoom and you can see the clocks pretty good? Sccwweeet. If you could send me a couple of those pix that would be great. I'm definitely gonna get more memory...I'm not even paying attention to what the camera's come with..except for type of memory...I have heard mixed things about Smartmedia...almost like they are gonna kinda skip over it and use xD memory. Another thing was microdrives...but I don't think I need to worry about those.

Slow86: I agree you don't need too much more than a 2.1 MP, which was why I wasn't planning on going over 3 really...since I don't need to spend the extra money on something I'm not gonna use. 10x optical on your Sony sounds very nice. That must get the clocks without any problem. I have a question maybe you could help me with regarding the digital zoom...If you are recording are you able to use the optical then digital zoom combined or just optical? I'm not sure exactly how that works... I know optical is the choice over digital...and then you get into interpolation and crap like that...

Thanks again for the help!

BTW...I've narrowed it down to just 8 cameras dunno

Canon Powershot A70, G3
FujiFilm Finepix 3800, S602Z
Nikon Coolpix 3100
Olympus C730UZ, C740UZ, D560 Zoom

[slow 86 gn]

I think the digital part is always on, and you can zoom in and out with the 10x optical.

[RandyCustomShop]

Can you zoom while shooting video?

[Benny]

On mine you can turn off the digital zoom. And yes watching video you can zoom, but it's not going to be dramatic.

[slow 86 gn]

I can shoot mpeg movies and yes you can zoom in and out.

[NCBuickGN]

The new Pentax Optio 550 is a thoroughly excellent unit.

10 min. movie capable, 5X optical zoom, 20X total with digital zoom, 5 megapixels...around 600.00 or less.

Plus, the legendary Pentax build-quality...highest in Customer Satisfaction for most of last 5 decades. yup

[Turbo_Tim]

that sounds like all the camera you will ever need!

Whatever camera you get, get a good program to enhance the quality of underexposed pictures. I'v got Microsofts Picture It, and it was the best money I ever spent. You can paint, change tint, brighten, sharpen or blurr, change contrast, etc. You will be able to save pictures that you would otherwise delete.

[brandon87gta]

I'll back Turbo_Tim up on the Microsoft Picture It program. yup

It's a very nice program, comparable to Photoshop, but much easier to use and alot cheap $$$.

Brandon

[RandyCustomShop]

I am definitely going to check out the 550. More and more camera's are getting crossed off the list... uzi I think I had a feeling that they would be further along in the development at this point... dunno

I am also getting the feeling that the software will be mandatory...Thanks for the tip

The reason I had asked about the zooming while doing video is believe it or not, some Canon's DON'T zoom at all while in video mode...what good is that??