Camera advice

[Picasso]

I busted my Canon. It's gone. I'm working on getting my new camera but in the meantime I needed to get some shots for photo class this week. So, I pull out my backup ditigal camera, a Kodak P850: aka: Kodak POS. I use it for shooting snap shots on boats or if my daughter is going camping or other places where there is a good possibility of the camera getting dropped in water or lost... Here's a link to one, I got mine for 20.00 at a garage sale:

Kodak P850 5.1 Megapixel - eBay (item 280490170097 end time Apr-12-10 16:02:59 PDT)

Here's the shot I got for photo class:

You CAN get good shots with a crappy camera if you get the right kind of crappy camera AND if you know how to take pictures. Why do people spend a fortune on cameras? Obviously they want to get good pictures, right? So why don't they read the owner's manual and spend a few hours learning how to use those cameras?

You don't need an expensive camera to take good pictures, you need a good brain.

C

 

[dcantucson]

Oh thanks Catherine! Now you tell me. :( It was my brain all along and not my camera. :grumble:

 

[Picasso]

That post is in NO WAY an endorsement for the Kodak, you can do better for less, I'm just sayin' that your camera isn't that big of a deal to take good shots.....

 

[Picasso]

Oh thanks Catherine! Now you tell me. :( It was my brain all along and not my camera. :grumble:

Well, if you've got a good brain and a good camera then your really rockin' :)

 

[cageburn]

thats true you can still get great pictures but the macro shots would definitly differ from lets say a 10 mp and a 5 mp

 

[BL1]

mp really have less to do with it, then the ability of your camera to focus and the size of the image it projects on the film/sensor. If your camera can't focus then you'll just have a 10mp blurry picture

Macro photography is close-up photography. The classical definition is that the image projected on the "film plane" (i.e., film or a digital sensor) is close to the same size as the subject. On 35 mm film (for example), the lens is typically optimized to focus sharply on a small area approaching the size of the film frame. Most 35mm format macro lenses achieve at least 1:2, that is to say, the image on the film is 1/2 the size of the object being photographed. Many 35mm macro lenses are 1:1, meaning the image on the film is the same size as the object being photographed. Another important distinction is that lenses designed for macro are usually at their sharpest at macro focus distances and are not quite as sharp at other focus distances.
In recent years, the term macro has been used in marketing material to mean being able to focus on a subject close enough so that when a regular 6×4 inch (15×10 cm) print is made, the image is life-size or larger. With 35mm film this requires a magnification ratio of only approximately 1:4, which demands a lower lens quality than 1:1. With digital cameras the actual image size is rarely stated, so that the magnification ratio is largely irrelevant; cameras instead advertise their closest focusing distance.

 

[cageburn]

just my expierence

 

[d2mini]

Ya, screw mp.
I have professional shots taken with a 6mp camera that online you wouldn't be able to tell the diff between those and ones taken with my 12mp camera.
More important is the size of the sensor and how many mp the camera company is trying to shove in there, due to the consumer's misconception that higher mp is better. There's actually a breaking point where shoving more mp into a tiny sensor will actually increase noise. Sensor size is more important than mp. The bigger the sensor, the more mp you can comfortably fit on it. This is the real reason why dslrs produce cleaner shots... the bigger sensors.

Here's a shot of a tiny woman's watch and the brown stuff is women's foundation dust/shavings.
Shot with my old 6mp nikon d70

 

[yote]

I still hate your camera Dennis.:mrgreen:

 

[BL1]

Mp start to make a difference when you start to enlarge your pictures to 11"x14" and larger you'll start to see a difference in the mp size

 

[Picasso]

I just think if you figure out how to use your camera then you can get some very good shots even with a POS. This is true especially if you mostly view your shots on a screen rather than printing. Granted, you need to spend bucks if you want to be a pro but for most people you can get exceptionally good shots with a brain and the right kind of cheap camera.

Catherine

 

[d2mini]

Mp start to make a difference when you start to enlarge your pictures to 11"x14" and larger you'll start to see a difference in the mp size

To an extent, but i'd still rather take the larger sensor with less pixels, even if printing a 20x30. May even choose the small p&s sensor with less pixels depending on the circumstance.

But ya, to Catherine's original point... in the right hands, even a cardboard pinhole camera can take an amazing shot. Learn your tools! Don't expect to just take it out of the box and start clicking off shots and end up with something great. Even if you just spend 3 grand! :wink: