learning the camera

Silencer · January 19, 2010, 02:59:42 PM

went for a ride to take pic's... trying to learn the camera

cock bird in flight

sunset mountain

These were taken with the digital zoom, very grainy...

Frogman · January 19, 2010, 03:31:48 PM

The digital zoom on my camera is also very grainy and is of no practical use!

Jim

Hawks Feather · January 19, 2010, 05:01:23 PM

What camera do you have?

Jerry

Frogman · January 19, 2010, 05:54:52 PM

Kodak Easy Share C533. It only has a 3 x optical zoom. It does fine as long as I don't zoom in beyond the optical zoom. I have often thought I would like a better camera with a better more powerful optical zoom, but that requires a larger and more complex camera and this one fits easily in my shirt pocket so I have stuck with it?? I post lots of pictures and it seems to do OK for most of them.

Jim

Silencer · January 20, 2010, 04:32:37 AM

Same here but mine's a Fuji pocket sized. I got it for hunting photo's and what not. I dont expect it to run up there with the good ones but I was just playing to see what she'd do.

Hawks Feather · January 20, 2010, 09:01:39 AM

There are advantages and disadvantages in all cameras. Some are light/easy to carry and lack telephoto quality while others are heavy/difficult to carry/expensive and have pretty good telephoto quality. I have a Sony point and shoot that has served me well, but no where close to the quality of the Canon SLR. But I have a backpack for the SLR and the Sony slips into my pocket. I would hate to take the Canon on a hunt.

Jerry

HaMeR · January 20, 2010, 10:23:51 AM

I carry a Kodak EZ Share C330. It works good for what we do as hunters in the field. Diane has a Sony CyberShot that we take the groundhog videos with. I wouldn't carry that one either. It's just too big. I think for what we do these small digital cameras are the way to go.

slagmaker · January 20, 2010, 11:01:04 AM

Best thing to do is save the picture with the best quality you can, bigger the better. Then when you want to zoom in on what your taking the pic of you do it later with the computer. Just crop in and enlarge what your wanting to look at. It will work a little better than the digital zoom. It will still get grainy or pixalated when you go to far but you can go more than the digital zoom usually.

Only good way to use the digital zoom is on a tripod. A window mount is a great help. They just clamp to your window with a thumb screw. roll the window down a bit clamo the mount and snap pictures. I havent seen one in awhile but I havnt looked real hard.

slagmaker · January 20, 2010, 11:32:41 AM

Well after a quick search on ebay I found a great many. bunch of suction cup type and some clamp type. I would think the suction cup type would be more versatel. There cheap too. Most under 10 bucks and some under $5.

pitw · January 20, 2010, 01:11:26 PM

I use a Canon power shot A550 on my hunting forays and a Kodak EasyShare DX7590 for other times. Neither one can overcome my shakiness

. The fellow from Iceland had a Leica that was the most amazing camera I have seen. It comes down to what you want in life I guess

. This fellow is as broke as any of us[he picked worms to pay his way over] but his optics were top of the line.

KySongDog · January 20, 2010, 01:38:29 PM

I just picked up a Panasonic SDR-S26 video camera. It has 70X optical zoom. I haven't tried it out yet but the reviews look good.

slagmaker · January 20, 2010, 01:39:28 PM

Leica is one of the top names in lenses. Ya got to remember a camera is just a box with a hole in it. I don't care if its a digital or a film camera. You still pass light through a lens.

My Daughter has a Sony cybershot that has a setting that wont take the picture till they are smiling. It is a very nice camera I will be getting myself one of those when my present Nikon cool pix dies.

I had a camera lens for ya Barry. Had gyro-stabilisation on it. Very expensive tho. I think the lens I used was about 15grand but that was a long time ago. You can get them a lot cheeper now maybe $1,500 might get used even cheeper.

FOsteology · January 20, 2010, 02:19:30 PM

My brother is BIG into photography. He finally twisted my arm and ear to the point that I'm about to pull the trigger on a new and improved setup.

Leaning heavily towards the new Canon EOS 7D and a 100-400mm Canon zoom for taking pics of wildlife. Just need to save some more pennies.

Hawks Feather · January 20, 2010, 03:01:25 PM

Fos,

I will be looking forward to your review of the 100-400. Even at the 4.5 it looks like a great long distance lens. What lens are you planning to get for closer work?

Jerry

FOsteology · January 23, 2010, 12:01:39 AM

I'm still mulling it over!

I'm leaning towards the:

16-35 f/2.8L IS for landscapes

Debating between the:

24-70 f/2.8L or Tamron 28-75 f/2.8 for general use

Have read some high praise for the Tamron, and the pictures I've seen taken with the lens looks real good.... and at 1/3 the cost of the Canon....

I'm currently looking at a gently used Canon 40D and adding one of the general use lens above in addition to the 100-400 to start.

My brother told me he prefers the 300mm F/4L IS with or without a 1.4x teleconverter over the 100-400mm as it's a bit sharper...... Hard to decide as the versatility of the zoom looks practical...

slagmaker · January 23, 2010, 07:11:26 AM

I have a Tamaron 18-200 f1:3.5-6.3 on my Fuji finepix S2 pro nikon mount. Not sure if I like the Tamaron. It drags when focusing sometimes. Makes it louder than I like and slow to focus.

It is a nice length for general work. Good on landscape and a dicent enough zoom. the quality is there for my prints. Good focus across the entire FOV.

Hawks Feather · January 23, 2010, 12:39:07 PM

Fos,

You need to spend a few days here: http://photography-on-the.net/forum/index.php

It becomes habit forming and some of the pictures are unbelievable. I can spend hours in the bird and animal sections. If you do a search for any lens you will find lots of things (both good and bad) being said about them.

Jerry

Silencer · January 23, 2010, 03:03:27 PM

good stuff, keep it coming guys

FOsteology · January 23, 2010, 03:50:49 PM

Jerry,

Much obliged. My brother beat you to it!

I've been there for the past week sifting through posts. Considering perhaps the EF 24-105mm f/4 L for my general purpose walk about lens. The 24-70 f/2.8 L being a big lens would probably be more than I'd want for a walk about lens.

My intention is to eventually spring for a 1DMK3 or maybe the new 4 late in the year if I can save some more green backs (and sell of some hunting/shooting gear). Main reason why I'm focused primarily on the L lenses.

msmith · January 23, 2010, 06:11:31 PM

Vic,

I really like the first two pics. I think they turned out nice. Digital zoom is pretty much worthless as you noted that the pics turned out grainy looking.

I have a Kodak Z710. While it is a far cry from being professional grade, it takes some pretty nice pics. I am a long way from knowing how to use it to it's potential. FO and slag are speaking in Egyptian hyroglyphic kind of language to me. I'd love to know more about photography. Perhaps slag can clue us in a little more at LBL.