What camera do you use?

[Brad B]

Back in the day I spent a lot of time behind the camera. Back when they had this roll up stuff called film in them. Now all I have is a digital point-and-shoot. I love the little half-a-cigarette-pack-sized-camera for it's convenience but have to admit the shots arent that good unless I get really lucky. But I do like the point and shoot technology. Let the camera do the work. I just want better quality than my 8 year old camera can offer.



I have (don't laugh) a Casio EX-5500 5.0 mega pixel.



I would like to upgrade but really have to keep costs down. Will consider used. I'm clueless as to pricing. Can $200 buy a decent (better) camera. $400? I'm cheap. Be kind.



Was interested in knowing what you have and/or recommend. Thanks in advance.



One of my shots...Detail shots aren't too bad.

But overall shots my camera has trouble between darks and highlights. Silver cars just blow out white all too often. And focus isn't always sharp.

 

[C. Charles Hahn]

If you're not concerned about shooting video much, I'd go with an entry level DSLR. They have the auto modes which can make your life easy just like point and shoot, but also you get the option to play with settings yourself if you choose. Plus the interchangeable lenses and filters can come in handy depending on what you find your favorite shooting style to be.



My bet is you'd be happy with something along the lines of the Canon EOS Rebel T3, or even pick up a used older Rebel DSLR like a T1i or even just the Xti.



The rig I shoot with personally is a Canon EOS 60D; it's a mid-range camera with a lot more features that a lot of people wouldn't even use -- and to be honest I don't even use half of what that thing is capable of. I mainly bought it because it was more comfortable in my hands than the Rebel T3i and I was set on having the tilt-and-swivel LCD.

 

[08Sunburst]

I have a sony w350 point and shoot that is an awesome camera. Normally when i hear Sony, i think of overpriced garbage, but i did my research, and the model i got was pretty much the best in its price range among all of the manufacturers out there.



Couple shots ive taken with it:

When i bought that camera, it was right under the $200 mark, so i think you can DEFINITELY get a good camera for under 200 bucks, and will definitely be better than what you have.



The main things that i looked for in a point and shoot:



-Manual settings!!! Cant stress that enough. The pre-set settings are a pain in the ***, and wont let you adjust the ISO, EV settings, and so forth. For me, that was a MUST.



-Image stabilization... NEEDS to have optical image stabilization. Digital stabilization works, but not nearly as well as optical. EVERY camera that i have used with digital stabilization has always had more blurry photos than clear.





Also, the lens was a big factor in getting a sony camera as well, as my camera has a Carl Zeiss lens. It has a few other cool features, like HD video recording(which works well) and a sweep panorama mode, but that was less important to me.



Also a couple of tips, when you are photographing a car, make sure to use the flash, or at least keep the flash turned on. Most point and shoot cameras dont have the setting for the flash where it will stay on, even if the lighting is good enough to take a picture without it. That could be one of the problems you are having with shadows...



The camera i have is discontinued now(naturally after a year...), but this one is pretty much the exact same thing, and its even cheaper too..



DSC-W560 | Cyber-shot® Digital Camera W560 | Sony | Sony Style USA

 

[Dan]

For point and shoot, grab a canon s95. Otherwise find a good used dslr. The current crop of cameras under $200 is utter garbage. The megapixel race has upped the standard to 14 megapixel, which in a point and shoot image sensor means noise, noise, and more noise. [



I am a compact camera junkie and have stopped buying them. However on impulse I bought a Fuji a few weeks ago and almost puked.

The first camera is a Fuji F40, it's about 7 years old. The last shot is the new 14MP wonder. Look how soft and noisy the image is at a 100% crop. Note these are outdoor full light shots. Indoors at night it gets even worse.

 

[WAS]

yakky is 100% correct. The point and shoots these days take terrible photos.



08Sunburst: Not trying to be rude here or anything, but let's look at your photos. First one, look at the bottle left where the 2 other Jeeps are parked. Notice that they're out of focus ? I'd also need a higher resolution, but I think I can see some purple fringing on the tree to the right as well. Second pic, look at the cement column on the left side, and all the areas where the sun is shining in behind and to the left of it. All out of focus. Even the ceiling shows a bit of blur. And again in the third pic, both sides of the garage are out of focus, although most noticably is the left.



Sony Cybershot's are garabge. I owned one many years ago before buying my first Canon, an A60, and it took pictures very similar looking to yours.



Anyone looking for a halfway decent point and shoot needs to look at Canon's models, and to a very limited extent, SOME of the Fuji models. But in all reality, a DSLR is the way to go these days. Honestly, I find that the pictures that come out of my BlackBerry to be more to my expectations than what I get from a point and shoot.

 

[08Sunburst]

yakky is 100% correct. The point and shoots these days take terrible photos.



08Sunburst: Not trying to be rude here or anything, but let's look at your photos. First one, look at the bottle left where the 2 other Jeeps are parked. Notice that they're out of focus ? I'd also need a higher resolution, but I think I can see some purple fringing on the tree to the right as well. Second pic, look at the cement column on the left side, and all the areas where the sun is shining in behind and to the left of it. All out of focus. Even the ceiling shows a bit of blur. And again in the third pic, both sides of the garage are out of focus, although most noticably is the left.



Sony Cybershot's are garabge. I owned one many years ago before buying my first Canon, an A60, and it took pictures very similar looking to yours.



Anyone looking for a halfway decent point and shoot needs to look at Canon's models, and to a very limited extent, SOME of the Fuji models. But in all reality, a DSLR is the way to go these days. Honestly, I find that the pictures that come out of my BlackBerry to be more to my expectations than what I get from a point and shoot.

The pictures i posted were processed and edited, raw they were fantastic, at least in my opinion. No, their not going to be as good as a DSLR, but for a sub $200 camera, i think their good looking. As for the focus, the main subject(my car) was in focus, which is what i wanted. I could have set it to focus the entire photo, but i wanted the car in focus, and the background less focused.



A few more shots i took with it this afternoon(exposure based on center brightness, and center focus):





DSC03755 by Sunburst08, on Flickr





DSC03747 by Sunburst08, on Flickr



Again, pictured were run through processing and editing. Not too terrible for a p+s.

 

[C. Charles Hahn]

Sunburst08, can you post some of those same shots WITHOUT the processing and editing?



I'd venture that most people aren't going to do, or may not even know how to do, the things you've done to make those pictures look like what you're posting. Seeing raw unedited shots would give us a more honest assessment of the camera's performance.

 

[imported_DetailDan]

yakky is 100% correct. The point and shoots these days take terrible photos.



08Sunburst: Not trying to be rude here or anything, but let's look at your photos. First one, look at the bottle left where the 2 other Jeeps are parked. Notice that they're out of focus ? I'd also need a higher resolution, but I think I can see some purple fringing on the tree to the right as well. Second pic, look at the cement column on the left side, and all the areas where the sun is shining in behind and to the left of it. All out of focus. Even the ceiling shows a bit of blur. And again in the third pic, both sides of the garage are out of focus, although most noticably is the left.



Sony Cybershot's are garabge. I owned one many years ago before buying my first Canon, an A60, and it took pictures very similar looking to yours.



Anyone looking for a halfway decent point and shoot needs to look at Canon's models, and to a very limited extent, SOME of the Fuji models. But in all reality, a DSLR is the way to go these days. Honestly, I find that the pictures that come out of my BlackBerry to be more to my expectations than what I get from a point and shoot.

Nothing wrong with the foreground or background being out of focus or blurred. Its called bokeh, often done on purpose.



I use a Canon 40d. I would definitely looked into a used dSLR.

 

[08Sunburst]

Sunburst08, can you post some of those same shots WITHOUT the processing and editing?



I'd venture that most people aren't going to do, or may not even know how to do, the things you've done to make those pictures look like what you're posting. Seeing raw unedited shots would give us a more honest assessment of the camera's performance.

Absolutely, straight from the memory card:

 

[08Sunburst]

And here is the raw one from my first post:

 

[Brad B]

Everyone, this has really been an education. THANKS for the input. Being on a budget I doubt that I can afford a DSLR, maybe used, though, need to research specific models mentioned here. In any event, my goal is to at least upgrade from the old camera I have. A better point and shoot may even be the ticket.



I look forward to hearing more discussion. Awesome!

 

[C. Charles Hahn]

Nothing wrong with the foreground or background being out of focus or blurred. Its called bokeh, often done on purpose.



I use a Canon 40d. I would definitely looked into a used dSLR.

:werd:



Well placed bokeh can actually create some very cool looking shots...

08Sunburst: Thanks for posting the raw shots... they do look very good for a point-and-shoot!

 

[08Sunburst]

Everyone, this has really been an education. THANKS for the input. Being on a budget I doubt that I can afford a DSLR, maybe used, though, need to research specific models mentioned here. In any event, my goal is to at least upgrade from the old camera I have. A better point and shoot may even be the ticket.



I look forward to hearing more discussion. Awesome!

Glad to hear you learned something, let us know what you wind up with!

:werd:



Well placed bokeh can actually create some very cool looking shots...

08Sunburst: Thanks for posting the raw shots... they do look very good for a point-and-shoot!

Yep, those pictures look good!



I agree, for a sub $200 camera, the pictures it takes turn out pretty good. Not DSLR quality, but i didnt pay for DSLR quality, so i dont expect to get it. I have a few friends with DSLR's who dont know how to use them, and i would venture to say that the pictures that i take look better than theirs. The camera is only half of it, its knowing how to use it that makes some of the difference.

 

[Brad B]

Charlie,

It was your shots of the Corvette that really made me start thinking of a new camera again. Great images!

 

[C. Charles Hahn]

Charlie,

It was your shots of the Corvette that really made me start thinking of a new camera again. Great images!

Thanks Brad!



Not sure what your budget is, exactly, but I just did a bit of poking around on eBay and there are definitely some deals to be had on good used equipment. Just depends how hard you want to look and actively bid.

 

[Dan]

I'm certainly not trying to bash any brands, the point I'm personally trying to make is AVOID P&S cameras that are over 10 megapixels. The image quality out of them will be WORSE than cameras in the 4-6 MP range. Yes... I know it sounds crazy. As to the other pictures posted, none of them are 100% crops. I can post tons of sharp, great looking pictures from my iphone. Once you zoom in and crop, you see a huge degradation of quality.



The point is, you possibly and probably will be getting a worse camera than the one you already have. Its like trading M16 for the latest release of Gold Class. Sure the box looks cooler, but what inside stinks.

 

[WAS]

The pictures i posted were processed and edited, raw they were fantastic, at least in my opinion. No, their not going to be as good as a DSLR, but for a sub $200 camera, i think their good looking. As for the focus, the main subject(my car) was in focus, which is what i wanted. I could have set it to focus the entire photo, but i wanted the car in focus, and the background less focused.



A few more shots i took with it this afternoon(exposure based on center brightness, and center focus):



Again, pictured were run through processing and editing. Not too terrible for a p+s.

Brokeh is one thing when it's done on purpose, but did you intend to do that in these shots ? Again, no offense, but it doesn't look intended but rather looks like a limitation of the camera, processor and / or lens. In these pics that you gave (the flower and leaf), you can easily see purple fringing and hue on the edges.



Again, yeah, not absolutely horrible for point and shoot, but for anyone really wanting quality photographs, these aren't the cameras to be looking at.

 

[PAR Detailing]

I use a Canon t1i and it works great for me. It is entry level but I am not as into photography so the picture quality is perfect for me. I like and try to use as many features as I can but I knwo I havent even scratched the surface.

 

[uzj100]

Here are some samples with info for each photo. (Camera Nikon D3s)



For the OP, if you can wait a bit and get a DSLR I think you'll be much happier and enjoy the hobby more.



Lens: Nikkor 24-70/f2.8/ISO 1000/f4/1/320

Lens: Nikkor 24-70/f2.8/ISO 1000/f4/1/320

Lens: Nikkor 17-35/f2.8/f8/1/400

 

[08Sunburst]

I'm certainly not trying to bash any brands, the point I'm personally trying to make is AVOID P&S cameras that are over 10 megapixels. The image quality out of them will be WORSE than cameras in the 4-6 MP range. Yes... I know it sounds crazy. As to the other pictures posted, none of them are 100% crops. I can post tons of sharp, great looking pictures from my iphone. Once you zoom in and crop, you see a huge degradation of quality.



The point is, you possibly and probably will be getting a worse camera than the one you already have. Its like trading M16 for the latest release of Gold Class. Sure the box looks cooler, but what inside stinks.

Ive used DSLR's that loose quality when you zoom in that much, it depends on how much you zoom though. I can zoom and crop the majority of my pictures with decent results, slr quality, no.. The OP asked about camera's in the $200 range. I think he can get something better than what he has for 200 bucks. The other thing to consider is the size. Yes, you cant beat the picture quality of an slr, but if you are traveling to work on a customers vehicle, thats just one more bag to carry around. P+S is pocket sized, which is nice to not have to worry about carrying around an slr body, flashes, lenses, etc etc.



I will agree that the whole megapixel understanding is being blown out of proportion. Most consumers just assume more is better, and buy that.

Brokeh is one thing when it's done on purpose, but did you intend to do that in these shots ? Again, no offense, but it doesn't look intended but rather looks like a limitation of the camera, processor and / or lens. In these pics that you gave (the flower and leaf), you can easily see purple fringing and hue on the edges.



Again, yeah, not absolutely horrible for point and shoot, but for anyone really wanting quality photographs, these aren't the cameras to be looking at.

100% intended. Focus was set to center. Yes, the camera has its limitations. I honestly dont see the purple fringing. Maybe in the photos i edited, but in their raw form, i dont see anything..

I see a purple flower, but no edges that are purple..





But, anyway, would the OP be better off with an SLR, yes, but in his budget, unless you are going to buy used, i cant see him getting a halfway decent slr(and lenses, and extra batteries, at least a UV lens filter, memory card(s) and a case, all of which you really should have) for $400 bucks. Even if he could, then you have to worry about having a used camera. Has it ever been dropped, has the mirror system ever been cleaned, etc etc. I would rather buy a new camera, with at least the manufacturer's warranty backing it up for a bit.





If all he is looking to do is shoot some before and after shots of cars, i think he could get away with a new point and shoot for the time being, while he saves up for a nice SLR and accessories.