What Digital Camera/Camcorder do you bring?

[tutak]

Kodak DX 4330 and Sony DCR-TRV250

[dsclark]

Nikon D70 and 3 512MB cards.

 

Why 3 - 512MB cards and not 1 - 1GB card?

 

You can take them and have them burned to a CD at 512.

 

Another good reason- three cards might be the same price, but offer more space. Also, if one chip fails or gets lsot, you still have some of your pics. As the saying goes, "Don't put all of your eggs in one basket".

Memory can get priecey real quick. Rather than get more memory, I'll just burn my chips into my Iriver MP3 player (it has a 20gig HD). Then, I'll format the memory card and reuse it.

[PelicanBill]

We bought a new DVD camcorder and a new digital camera recently.

 

Camcorder: DCR-DVD301.

Very fast,responsive, sensitive. Very please with results so far. Much smaller and lighter than the DV camera we had before. Battery life very good - looks like 2 hours. One extra battery gives us the feel we are good for a whole day.

Discs are very good quality, no complaints.

 

Camera: Canon EXILM EX-Z55

Research showed very high satisfaction among current owners of this series, and you can add us now. LONG LONG battery life, my biggest beef with cameras. 10 flash pictures and new batteries? No more. Bought it last week, haven't recharged yet after 150 pictures, of which 100 had flash. Many really cool featues like make a web album in the camera with all the data on settings for each picture. z55 has big LCD screen. Got a travel charger and extra battery but doubt I'll ever need it during one day!

[mathgal]

Camera: Canon EXILM EX-Z55

Research showed very high satisfaction among current owners of this series

 

I did a search to try and find out more about this camera, but am wondering if you meant "Casio" instead of "Canon"? :confused: I couldn't find any information on a Canon camera by this model number, but there is a Casio model.

[crzndeb]

I love my Kodak Easy Share DX6490...10x optical zoom and the viewing screen is 2 inches. You can also toggle between the viewfinder and screen easily. I got a refurbished model (1 yr warranty) on Ebay and it came with the docking station,carrying case and tripod. I went for the zoom.

[zydecocruiser]

Thanks for your help. I will consider getting another card. Did you ever buy attachements for your camera. I see lens for telephoto and wide angle. WHat cha think?

 

I don't have an A95, I have an old discontinued S230. The only accessory is the waterproof case. In my experience, a stronger telephoto would sometimes be useful, but then you need to be careful to keep the camera steadier - easier to blur the picture. Almost no use for a wide angle.

 

No filters, no nothing. Keep it simple. Take lots of pictures and sort them out later. Not out for awards - out to capture memories. A better camera does not make one a better photographer. I will sometimes use Photoshop to clean up after the fact.

 

I will probably upgrade later this year to one of Canon's high end models. With a waterproof case, of course. :D

[zydecocruiser]

Nikon D70 and 3 512MB cards.

 

Why 3 - 512MB cards and not 1 - 1GB card?

 

You can take them and have them burned to a CD at 512.

 

I always have my laptop so copy to HD and burn a CD. HDs can fail, as can chips and CDs. Don't like a single point of failure. Plus looks like a big screen for pics and movies when compared to viewers on cameras.

[serene56]

Good thing that the camera is new and I am in the process of practicing now then when I am on vacation. I tried to change the resolutions and lost all the pictures I took. DId I do something wrong? Now I am scared that I will lose pictures of my long awaited vacation. (I have a Canon 95A. Did the function thing that was posted here a bit ago. I had no trouble changing the resolutions. but when I wanted to view the pictures to see the difference there was no image. waaaaaa

[dsclark]

"No filters, no nothing. Keep it simple. Take lots of pictures and sort them out later. Not out for awards - out to capture memories. A better camera does not make one a better photographer. I will sometimes use Photoshop to clean up after the fact."

 

A better camera can give better pictures. I don't see anything wrong with that. If you want to capture memories, why not take better looking pictures?

As for photoshop, neither it nor any photo program can correct the problems of glare in a pikcture. Check out the pics that were done with and without a polarizing filter. The ones with a polarizer are much, much better, better memories, I say. Extra work? All it takes is screwing on a filter and turning it until the picture looks fantastic.

[BottledRed]

Good thing that the camera is new and I am in the process of practicing now then when I am on vacation. I tried to change the resolutions and lost all the pictures I took. DId I do something wrong? Now I am scared that I will lose pictures of my long awaited vacation. (I have a Canon 95A. Did the function thing that was posted here a bit ago. I had no trouble changing the resolutions. but when I wanted to view the pictures to see the difference there was no image. waaaaaa

 

Can you pop your memory card in your computer to look for the images? I bet they're on there still but your camera's only displaying a few. I got a smart card reader for just that reason (plus others :) )

[zydecocruiser]

Good thing that the camera is new and I am in the process of practicing now then when I am on vacation. I tried to change the resolutions and lost all the pictures I took. DId I do something wrong? Now I am scared that I will lose pictures of my long awaited vacation. (I have a Canon 95A. Did the function thing that was posted here a bit ago. I had no trouble changing the resolutions. but when I wanted to view the pictures to see the difference there was no image. waaaaaa

 

Gadzooks! Do you think you somehow accidently reformatted the memory card or did an erase all?

 

Are you trying to view pictures on the camera? Has that ever worked?

 

When you take a picture, does the number of pictures remaining decrease?

 

Anything unusual? Like powering down while taking a picture or did the batteries fall out when you were taking a picture?

 

Any error message show up on the screen when to try to view your pictures?

 

???????????

[GoinCruisin]

Zydeco, I just spewed water all over my laptop!!! LOL! I don't think I have heard the word "gadzooks" since one of the "Rudolph" cartoons years ago! Thanks for giving me a smile!!!!!!! :D

[zydecocruiser]

"A better camera can give better pictures. I don't see anything wrong with that. "

 

A better camera will not make you a better photographer. It can take better pictures, it can take worse. It is still up to who is operating it.

 

"If you want to capture memories, why not take better looking pictures?"

 

I find no fault with the pictures I take now that a "better" camera will change much. 3.2 megapixels is plenty. I don't need more. Why spend money when I will never print wall size photos?

 

"As for photoshop, neither it nor any photo program can correct the problems of glare in a pikcture. Check out the pics that were done with and without a polarizing filter. The ones with a polarizer are much, much better, better memories, I say. Extra work? All it takes is screwing on a filter and turning it until the picture looks fantastic."

 

Some cameras don't have threads. But sure, I could hold a filter in front of the camera. Or avoid the glare to begin with. I don't consider glare to be especially photogenic. Software can do a great deal including correcting lighting and color - issues far more common than glare.

[zydecocruiser]

"A better camera can give better pictures. I don't see anything wrong with that. "

 

A better camera will not make you a better photographer. It can take better pictures, it can take worse. It will certainly lighten your wallet. It is still up to who is operating the camera.

 

"If you want to capture memories, why not take better looking pictures?"

 

I find no fault with the pictures I take now that a "better" camera will change much. 3.2 megapixels is plenty. I don't need more. Why spend money when I will never print wall size photos?

 

"As for photoshop, neither it nor any photo program can correct the problems of glare in a pikcture. Check out the pics that were done with and without a polarizing filter. The ones with a polarizer are much, much better, better memories, I say. Extra work? All it takes is screwing on a filter and turning it until the picture looks fantastic."

 

All it takes? Some cameras don't have threads. If polarizers should be standard equipment, why aren't they? I could hold a filter in front of the camera. Or avoid glare to begin with. I don't consider glare to be especially photogenic. Software can do a great deal including correcting lighting and color - especially for underwater pictures.

[GoinCruisin]

I will say, we have a Nikon Coolpix 3100, have had it for a little over a year... got an 8800 at Xmas.... While the 8800 has alot of extra features, and it provides great larger prints... I so far, have seen little difference in the two as far as quality for "everyday" pictures... not to really justify the $700 difference in price. Have not really gotten into all it can do, and in no way am a professional photgrapher, but for "everyday" use... the 3100, less expensive but good camera, does a great job for me... And will be the one I take on my next cruise (the thought of having anything happen to the other does not make me happy ;) )

[rc51]

A couple of things to keep in mind:

The best cam will have three chips. All of the dvd cams and, actually, all other small cams outside of panasonic only have one chip.Sony has one large cam with three chips and more on the way. Not only do one chip cams deliver inferior color performance, many of them have poor low light performance. This is partially due to using a small CCD. If you are spending around $600, there is no reason not to get a 3 chip panny cam. High quality, best pic,small size etc. Here is a link to why it is the best camcorder for under $1000 for '04. http://www.camcorderinfo.com/content/Quick-Review-Camcorders--Panasonic-PV-GS200.htm

Their tests are way better than anything consumerreports has.

 

Canon makes some nice single CCD camcorders..I just trialed an Optura 40, wasn't too bad, my other choice would have been the PV-GS200, but it doesn't fit my needs for 16:9 shooting.. (or actually psuedo 16:9).

 

There's more to just a single CCD vs 3 CCD's..most people probably would not be able to pick out the video from the 200 or Opty 40... low light can be critical, speed of focus/zoom, battery life, various outputs etc etc.

 

Site mentioned has a ton of info...sometimes I think maybe too much info.... :)

[PelicanBill]

I did a search to try and find out more about this camera, but am wondering if you meant "Casio" instead of "Canon"? :confused: I couldn't find any information on a Canon camera by this model number, but there is a Casio model.

 

Argh, I even got out the manuals to get the model #s right, but messed up the maker! Yes it's a CASIO Exilm ex-z55

And we're very pleased with it.

[dsclark]

Some cameras don't have threads. But sure, I could hold a filter in front of the camera. Or avoid the glare to begin with. I don't consider glare to be especially photogenic. Software can do a great deal including correcting lighting and color - issues far more common than glare.

 

I think you are a little confused with what a polarizer does. Yes, it does reduce or eliminate glare. However, that is the tip of the iceberg of what it does.

When you are outdoors, light is bouncing all over the place. The polarizer eliminates stray light. Doing this can make colors look deeper, the ocean more turquoise, the sky bluer. Even more important, it can bring out more detail. In the link I posted, there is a picture of some trees on a hill. Without polarizer, the trees look like a bunch of green. With the polarizer, you can make out the leaves.

Ever take a picture or use a camcorder in a tour bus? The polarizer can allow you to film/take pic with out seeing your reflection in the window. This is also handy if you ever go to an aquarium. Using a polarizer in Grand Cayman, I was able to make the stingrays more visible with the polarizer (Can't photo shop that!).

Yes, there are cameras that don't come with them. These would include point and shoots. Why? Because most people who buy these cameras know little about photography. Picture quality is secondary to ease of use. Go to a circuitcity/best buy etc. and you'll see cameras on display... you'll see people play with them and buy them without even taking pics and comparing them!

Most people wrongly think that the only factors in buying a camera are pixel count and ease of use. Yet, there is much more, like white balance accuracy, chromatic distorion, color accuracy, lens distotion,noise reduction, shutter lag, etc. If Joe Blow doesn't consider these, then there is really no reason to throw a threaded lens on a point and shoot. However, there are a couple of point and shoots that do offer the ability to use a theaded lens. The SOny 7mp 150 and 5mp both can be used with an adapter. Either the Canon or the Olympus 7000 (I don't remember) also offer an adapter as an option. I think Kodak also offers a adpaters for its cameras- they have a lot of very nice accessaries.My adapter fits over the cam and screws into the tripod mount.

[CruiseFever]

Im going to be in the market for either a digital camera or camcorder in the next several months. Been doing lots of research online. Would like to hear what types of camera you guys take when cruising.

 

One of the big issues to consider is memory storage. If you'll be bringing a laptop computer along that pretty much solves any memory issues you may have. We do and simply download our photos at the end of every day on to the laptop. Makes them easy to organize and edit later.

 

If no laptop, pick one that uses a memory media that enables you to take a LOT of photos like a CompactFlash memory card say 512 mb.

[dsclark]

"If no laptop, pick one that uses a memory media that enables you to take a LOT of photos like a CompactFlash memory card say 512 mb.

"

 

All the formats allow to take for a lot of pics. All can go up to 1-2 gigs. The problem is that they can get very costly, especially when taking 5-7mp pics. The compact flash format is the cheapest, but many newer cameras don't use it.

You can get an mp3 hd player for $250-300 that will allow you burn in all the pics (and even camera made video) you want. Unlike a laptop, they are small, about the size of a deck of cards. Even better, you can use them to listen to music on the plane, or on the pool deck.One 20 gig hd mp3 player can cost less than one 1gig memory card.Or, another way of putting it- one $300 mp3 player can hold more pics than $3000 of memory cards....

[MyImagination]

dsclark

 

Do you have any pics online? I would love to see the shots you have taken.

[karpems]

I have a Canon Elf and it is great. Battery usually lasts a few days and have never even come close to using up the 512MB card it has.

Adam

[fttw223]

We brought our cannon s1is it was great 10 optical zoom with the image stabalizer, and it uses compact flash which is still the cheapest memory out there i believe we bought 1 gig for 99 bucks not bad.

[tef43]

Digital media prices have plummeted in just the last year. I have enough CF cards to allow me to save approximately 3000 pictures at a high quality size/resolution. Let someone *else* schlep a laptop, I'm on vacation.

 

I also bring along a battery charger and at least one extra set of NiMH 2300 mAh batteries.

[zydecocruiser]

"

You can get an mp3 hd player for $250-300 that will allow you burn in all the pics (and even camera made video) you want. Unlike a laptop, they are small, about the size of a deck of cards. Even better, you can use them to listen to music on the plane, or on the pool deck.One 20 gig hd mp3 player can cost less than one 1gig memory card.Or, another way of putting it- one $300 mp3 player can hold more pics than $3000 of memory cards...."

 

Better still, two people can watch DVDs on the laptop on the plane. I can not only copy all pics to the laptop hardrive, I can also burn CDs and eliminate a single point of failure for my memories. The larger screen allows me to see and view my pictures better, and the laptop allows me to run the software to correct flaws.

 

20gig of CF cards can be had for less than $1500, but why would anyone buy that many.