Hello,

I'm looking to buy a digital camera. Now the camera will be used mainly for
advertising shots of kites (taken whilst flying) for selling on E-Bay and
suchlike.
Also, any recommendations of good digital cameras would be very
helpful. I'm just about to start researching the subject and looking to
spend approx. £100. One thing... I'd like good control over shutter speed
to enable taking pictures of lightning and other long exposure effects.
Any tips would be greatly appreciated as I'm at the stage of
putting "Digital Photography" into Copernic and diving in to the subject
headfirst. It looks like a long night ahead if I'm going to do the "legwork"
and end up with the right camera!

Les



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On Thu, 14 Aug 2003 22:49:31 +0100, "Les & Claire"
wrote:


Hello,

I'm looking to buy a digital camera. Now the camera will be used mainly for
advertising shots of kites (taken whilst flying) for selling on E-Bay and
suchlike.
Also, any recommendations of good digital cameras would be very
helpful. I'm just about to start researching the subject and looking to
spend approx. £100. One thing... I'd like good control over shutter speed
to enable taking pictures of lightning and other long exposure effects.
Any tips would be greatly appreciated as I'm at the stage of
putting "Digital Photography" into Copernic and diving in to the subject
headfirst. It looks like a long night ahead if I'm going to do the "legwork"
and end up with the right camera!


I've just bought a Sony DSC-U20 Cybershot 2MPixel for £150 but
exposure is fully automatic, though there are some manual focus
settings. The few cloud shots I have taken have come out well, even
with recent hazy skies but I don't have a hope of capturing lightning.
You need to factor in about £50 to £80 for extra memory cards as well
as the one they give you with the camera is usually inadequate.

I have a feeling you might be struggling to get anything half-decent
for £100, especially with manual exposure settings. Most of the
sub-£100 cameras are little better than toys - I think you may have to
adjust your potential spend upwards.

JPG



Les

I agree the budget might be a bit tight but not impossible. Don't get
carried away with the number of megapixels unless you want big enlargements.
1.2 megapixels is fine for printing to about 7"x5". Also ignore digital zoom
as this can be done pretty much the same post shot on your PC. Optical zoom
ratio is more important if you want a zoom.
Another way of saving money is to look for the previous generation of
models. Internet Cameras Direct are generally cheap and give camera reviews.
One of the best sites for independent reviews is called "Steve's Digicam
Reviews" or similar. Easy to find on a search engine. Some of the Olympus
and Fuji cheaper end cameras may have more manual shutter/aperture control.
I have found bottom end Fujii cameras usually have a night time auto setting
which I have successfully used to take lightning but only if you are patient
and the strikes are frequent. You can usually enter your spec into the above
sites, put in the maximum price and keep raising it till you find what you
want.
Hope this helps,

Dave

Definitely good advice re zoom. Low price cameras have fixed focal length
lens but may offer "digital" zoom. Digital zoom has a severe impact on
quality and post image cropping is much better done on PC. i.e.digital zoom
is a waste of money. Optical zoom is far better but obviously adds cost,
size and weight.

Where I'd maybe disagree is that going for max pixels gives you the
ability/latitude to post process zoom or crop which would give adequate
resolution/quality for web pictures for Ebay etc.

If you're taking pictures of kites in flight I'd guess optical zoom or
2Mpixel is must.

Terry

Where I'd maybe disagree is that going for max pixels gives you the
ability/latitude to post process zoom or crop which would give adequate
resolution/quality for web pictures for Ebay etc.

If you're taking pictures of kites in flight I'd guess optical zoom or
2Mpixel is must.


I do agree with what Terry says here - it's just you may struggle to get the
better mp resolution in your price range.

Dave