Camera Suggestions??

True, true, and true... sorry if my replies sound harsh, by the way, it's been a brutal day (trying to have kids through IVF and #4 failed), and I did not mean to sound defensive.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Looks like you were posting while I was posting.

I was just trying to help the guys on shoestring budges.

You photos look GREAT and expensive, and I bet they are, so more power to you.:bow: .....well, actually I would have used a wider aperture on the egret to reduce the depth of field and gain a higher shutter speed.

JC WAS way off on the LSR, though.

I've developed a few rolls of film with W. Eugene Smith (The jerk used to smoke in the darkroom) so I'm not totally out of my league using the Will Roger's quote.:rolling:

 

Ditto, but shooting at noon in Galapagos is brutal w/o ND filter. :headbang:

 

:bow::thumb::thumb::thumb::bow:

I used to shoot in operating rooms with a "camera" filled with liquid nitrogen.

Every situation calls for adaptive measures.

 

My brother declares them unfixable. He was Gen. Westmorelands photographer in Viet Nam and a Grad from the Army Camera Repair School.

He sold his camera repair biz some years ago and now only fixes his own 120 Rollie's (41 of them) and advises tossing any kaput digital camera in the trash as they cost more to repair, parts can't be found for older models and are better replaced with better/cheaper new stuff.

My Sony DSC-F717 Cyber shot, the one with (as my sister, the photographer, declares to be "phalic" because of the huge Carl Zeiss 10Xzoom) really nice Vario-Sonnar lens.

I miss that wonderful optic even though it was stuck in front of only a 5 meg box. I did not "do" anything to it. It lived in a well paded Halliburton for it's entire life and spent most of it's life on a tripod.

After spending $70 for a new Sony battery find it is now it a doorstop.

BTW~GREAT PHOTOS. Keep up the good work.:thumb:

 

Just picked one up on e-bay for $160 brand new with a couple o' extras thrown in. I needed a decent digital camera (the old Agfa digital is stone age) and I hope this lives up to what everybody says.

 

HAD several Cannons. A1, AE-1, AE-1 program. All used difficult to find batteries althoug when found, only about double a AA. All failed at one time or another and usually the cost of repairs were in the hundreds of dollar ranges. Have had Mamias, Nicon's and several others that required adding a lense. Cannon A1 with motor drive weighed more than was really worth. USED to have many, many lenses and found changing them at parties, picnics, etc was really a pain in the ....... Once started with the Cannon Mavica series I got used to just being able to take pictures. Now have seveal digital cameras and some do really end up costing to have fixed and they too break down like anything made today.
My Fuji S7000 and S9000 have both stopped working. Both have cost about 1/3 the original price to get fixed. Both are really great for close ups, no interchangable lenses, hot shoe for additional flashes and a XD and Compact flash card at the same time. Still sort of large.
My Cannon S410 has a battery that cost me $35 for a back up one juar in Case. My Samsung L73 is really great but the batty failed after a month and new one cost $30 and only due to I knew the guy at the camera store.
For someone that wants to keep the cost down to the $100 or there range, suggestions to get a camera where the battery, extra lenses, etc costs more that the original $100 just doesn't cut it.
Nothing like those recharagle AA batteries.

 

That's what the stone age Agfa uses Carl, but it seriously lacks...I'll let you know how this Cannon works out.

 

Jesh: Nothing personal but try reading the original post. Your attempting to compare oranges with apples. The original post was for someone wanting a decent, economical (cheap) camera. This means when he said $100 he didn't mean for the carrying strap. And a battery for about $20, $30 or more is also not in this story. He just wants to take photos of stuff, coins and himself for facebook.
It is nice to attempt to educate a beginner but that just isn't going to happen in one fast post. Again, note he is not interested in spending thousands of dollars on equipment.

 

Thanx everybody for your input. Didn't know camer's could be so complicated. I do like the idea of letting the salesman take a pic of a coin though. We'll see...

 

Nice to know

Nice to know I didn't get everything wrong
:high5:


I look for AA compatible cameras for casual use. Rechargable NiMH pay for themselves and can be found easily at minimal expense.

Look for a camera with a remote control~or learn to use the self timer to reduce camera shake (even low cost cameras tend to have this feature) and make any tripod or soup can a Gitzo~stable platform on a stationary subject.

Avoid coins that are moving.

I hope for access to batteries & memory card that does not require removing the camera from the tripod.

 

I have to side with Jesh on this one. I use a Canon 20D with either a 100mm Canon Macro Lens (coins) or a Canon 17mm-40mm wide angle L-Series (paper money) with a diffused Speedlite mounted on a Kaiser copystand.

Here's a recent photo:



I also agree that if you don't have the money or patience to learn an SLR Canon makes several lower priced camera's with macro mode that would be good for coins.

 

Excellent advice!

 

REALLY GREAT POINT. Moving coins could well be from a liquid lunch. If not, might well be something under that coin.

And hiho, remember we are discussing a possible $100 situation.

And a good point about the location of the memory card. I forgot that one. My Samsung has all such accesses on the bottom.

And green18: One more point is on any rechargeable battery there is that mAh notation. Nickel Cadmiums usually hit the highest at about 600 mAH ratings. Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH) go from about 600 mAH to about 2,750 mAH. I suspect those ratings are a little on the wishfull thinking side of the manufacturer. So far I've had my best results with the Energizer 2,450 mAh ones. In my Fuji S7000 and S9000 those seam to last forever. I use the Energizer 2,450 mSh on about 50 Solar lights around the house and they are great for that except for those cloudy days. For some reason the NiCads work better in Solar Lighting on cloudy days.
Plesase notice the numerous battery chargers out there. I have 9 of them. Some work much better than others and I have no idea why. Might well be the charging time allowed. One has a switch for NiCads/NiMH. Only a few of them have the capability for AA and AAA. So even with chargers it pays to check them out.
hiho remember we are discussing a $100 area.

 

shimmy

Ya caught me

This one shimmies a bit.

$200 Pentax (I paid Xtra for the ruggedness & weatherproof~ness of the Optio model)

Free "TriPod"/light tent.

Set up time <1 minute (because I had to de~lint the background)

Flop, Pop and Crop.

Affordable and simple.

 

Thats sounds like something I'm looking for, I just don't want taking snapshots to be complicated.

 

Pentax optio 60 is a good one.plus a loop will fit on lens to

 

Never Happen

I kinnda miss my old "No Batteries Required" cameras.
Actually, I still have two Speedgraphics, a Linhauf and a couple Minolta SRT's
that work fine with dead batteries as they only were for the light meter.

The Pentax K1000's were real abuse takers and my Nikkormat had that fabulous high flash syn speed of 125th instead of the standard 60th of a second.

Then there was the Leicahya:

And my Rollei 35 as a "Pocket Piece".

All history.

So now we are victims of batteries that cost almost as much as the actual camera these days.

But my water bill is much lower.