Poor digital camera
I don’t know if it is because I carry around with me everyday or the fact that I had a mishap with my digital camera in Seattle. However, whatever the cause my lovely Canon digital camera has started to behave erratically. I bought it on my first trip to Internet Librarian because it was also my first trip to California and I couldn’t get through the trip without taking some pictures. It has been a great camera and I loved it. So I’m terribly sad to see it go.
Now I’m thinking about replacing it and I’m mulling over my choices. I want something small enough to carry around with me, but I’m a klutz so I need something not so small that I can’t get a good grip on it or easily misplace it. Another thing I like about my current camera is that it takes regular batteries. I like this because I don’t have to remember to charge the camera and if the batteries die I can easily solve this by going to a store and buying new lithium batteries. I’m looking at Canon’s again the Canon PowerShot A640 and the Canon PowerShot A630. The biggest difference between these two cameras is the 630 is an 8 megapixel camera and the 640 is a 10 megapixel camera. I’m not sure which to buy or if I should consider another brand. The reviews on Amazon for both are good, but some people seem to have problems taking indoor pictures when they use the automatic settings (something I never do).
Any thoughts on digital cameras that might fit my needs?
My wife and I love the Panasonic FZ-7. Great speed and zoom. Good looking photos. A blast to use. I hear the FZ8 is a great followup. the only downside is color noise at higher ISO/poor lighting. Mind you, it’s not a camera that fits into a pocket and it doesn’t use AA batteries (which was an original desire of ours, but the battery gets 300+ shots before giving out so we’re happy anyway).
Here are two great websites for camera reviews…
http://www.megapixel.net/html/cover.php
http://www.dpreview.com
Good luck!
We are on our third digital camera. They all still work, but my husband had “megapixel envy”. All three are Canon. one requirement we had was that any camera had to use standard batteries, not a battery pack. If the battery died in the middle of a trip we wanted to be able to rush to the nearest store and purchase new ones. We also had invested in external card reader and wanted the same memory card. That worked for the first two, but the latest has a sd card. We did not care about digital zoom (I can do that later at home), but wanted max. optical zoom. Because we take sports photos of the kids, we also wanted it fast. indoor photos (think hockey arenas) can be done easily by setting a programme (mostly by trial and error) and keeping it for future events.
I got an HP R927 8.2 megapixal camera this past Christmas and I love it. The HP is small,but it also has some nice, reasonably priced carrying cases that you can get. I’d never done that, but got one this time that will go across my shoulder. It’s not big at all. It doesn’t use standard batteries, but it comes with a charger and that puppy keeps a charge. Good luck with your search!
Unless you’re planning on making huge posters, an 8MP should work fine. The specs on Amazon say that the 8MP will print up to “16 x 22-inch prints” and the 10MP “18 x 24-inch prints.” How often to you print poster size images? A family member of mine as a Canon PowerShot S70 that he loves because of its wide angle lens and it’s reliability on many trips abroad. I’ve seen numerous slide shows and the pictures look very good.
Any digital camera above 5 mp is good enough to take a picture of an ordinary sheet of paper or a book. One needs to click on the “near” feature. Storage on a computer is nearly infinite. I have used a Sony, Konica and now a Panasonic camera, and each has been better than the last. One can use the SD-card and then transfer them to your laptop. Its best to check the camera you have to determine whether it will take the high-capacity cards – great than 2 Gigs. Many laptops will take the SD cards, but unless it is a recent one, it won’t take the high-capacity cards. However, you can transfer the pictures by wire. Cataloging the picture can present a problem. I use the year_moda_writer_recipient format
thus
08_1208_aby_to_xyc_letter_nuclear_arms
then this will arrange in date order according to 2008-december and then by day.