Can anyone recommend a good camera?

lestweforget · **Posted:** Mon Jul 20, 2009 5:49 pm

Hi. I hope this is the right place to post this. I guessed that most of you in the know would visit this section, judging by the quality of photo's on show.

I am interested in a cheap point and shoot camera,which would take acceptable pictures at airshows etc. All I usually get are specks in the sky!!! I had a 35mm SLR years ago, but found it a bit much for myself,but certainly wouldn't write off anything with changable lenses.

Is there any such thing as a simple and cheap camera, even an old discontinued model that I could pick up on e-bay etc. that would give reasonable pictures of aircraft in flight ,and on the ground. I am not talking award winning pics here, just reasonable quality. I am a firefighter and a single parent, so I don't have a ton of cash to throw around!!!

Thanks in advance if anyone replies.

k5083 · **Posted:** Mon Jul 20, 2009 9:00 pm

There are a number of quite good cameras that fit your requirements. You want what is termed a "megazoom" category point and shoot with a zoom that will reach at least 450mm expressed in old 35mm-film camera terms. In practical terms that means one with at "10x optical zoom" or higher. It will also have image stablization.

The one that I have is a Sony DSC-H2, which is thoroughly obsolete and available very cheaply now. The current model is the DSC-H10, I think, or maybe they are up to H11 now. Anyway, they've superseded my model at least 3 times over. But I am not sure the latest ones are really much better.

If you want to see what kind of pictures it takes, all of the shots in this gallery of the 2007 Chino show were taken with this camera:

http://rides.webshots.com/album/469071301RomNKK

Every major manufacturer makes these. I think that the Panasonic ones may be a little better than my Sony. The others are all about equally good.

The good news about these cameras is that they are wonderfully compact, have long reach, and the image stablization makes it easy to get good pictures of moving targets. I find that the best technique for using them at airshows is to turn off all the auto features, set the exposure manually, and lock the focus at infinity. This minimizes shutter lag (the time between when you push the button and when it gets around to actually taking the picture) almost to DSLR levels. The bad news relates to image quality. They have tiny sensors, which creates a lot of noise in the image and makes it pointless to go beyond 6 or 8 megapixels. They mostly save only to JPG files, which adds more noise (I think the latest ones have a RAW option which is the one thing that may tempt me to upgrade). And the lenses, which have to cope with these absurd zoom ranges, perform poorly, with a lot of chromatic aberration (color fringing). Some of these problems can be reduced afterwards with photoshop, but you're never going to get DSLR or 35mm-film quality out of them. But if web sized shots like the ones in my gallery would be good enough for you, these may be just the ticket. I carry mine with me whenever I'm going to be near an airport, and use it at airshows that I go to during business trips when I don't have room for my industrial grade photo gear. HTH.

August

evanflys · **Joined:** Mon May 25, 2009 11:07 pm **Posts:** 78

We shoot with Panasonic overgrown point and shoots - an FZ-18 and the newer FZ-28. If we had the $$ we'd shoot full size DSLR's but these work pretty well.

Plus sides:
around $300
light weight and my 10 year old can carry one all day long
lots of zoom and image stabilization
optional 1.7X tele-extender!

down sides:
slow write speed - especially in RAW - so with a fast mover you're lucky to get two good shots in a pass
autofocus lags some times
only goes to F8 so it's hard to get a good prop blur on bright days at 1/125

check out my son's website - most of the shots there are his with our Panasonics
http://evanflys.com

hope this helps,
Evan's dad Tim

RyanShort1 · **Posted:** Mon Jul 20, 2009 9:33 pm

If I had the money, I would be buying this: http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/controller?act=ModelInfoAct&fcategoryid=144&modelid=17630
Until I dropped it one too many times, I had the previous version, the Powershot S3 IS with the 10X zoom with 6MP and was VERY happy with it. I'd had a few other brands before that including the Konica Minolta competitor, and my sister had the Kodak competitor. One good thing about these is that they take reasonably good shots, and can take video as well, which is fun at an airshow. Otherwise, you're looking at at least twice the money to get a good DSLR that also takes video.

Ryan

k5083 · **Posted:** Mon Jul 20, 2009 9:50 pm

Tim,

Your Panasonics are a lot like my Sony. Two tips for using them:

1. Focus on infinity and lock it there; no more AF lag. At airshow distances you can be sure that everything will be in focus.

2. I have the f8 problem too. Your camera probably came with a screw-on tube that projects out in front of the lens; maybe this is what you put the 1.7x extender on. That tube is threaded to take filters. Put an ND4 neutral density filter on it on bright days, or maybe a polarizer. Either one will allow you to drop your shutter speed by 2 notches and catch more blur.

August

evanflys · **Joined:** Mon May 25, 2009 11:07 pm **Posts:** 78

August,
I saw you'd mentioned the fixed focus in your earlier post. I'll definitely try that. I showed it to Evan and he was thrilled. That hunting the camera would go through to focus cost us a lot of shots!

The filters are a great idea too. I really appreciate the help. Evan and I are pretty new to this!

thanks again!

Tim

lestweforget · **Posted:** Tue Jul 21, 2009 6:12 am

Thankyou very much for your replies. I have checked out the Sony DSC-H2 ,the Panasonic FZ-18 and the Canon Powershot. These are the kind of cameras I was thinking of. If I can find one at the right price, then I will certainly try to purchase one. Thanks again for passing on your knowledge.

mikoyan29 · **Joined:** Tue Jul 10, 2007 12:59 pm **Posts:** 42

I used to have an FZ-7 and I loved the hell out of it but it opened the latent bug from using a 35mm years ago. I think mine had a 12X optical zoom which was pretty good for airshows.

lestweforget · **Posted:** Sun Sep 27, 2009 4:46 pm

The Fuji S2000hd 10mp is the front runner at the moment. Also the Kodak Z915 10 mp is in there. Basically it is because I can get a good deal on these two. Any comment on it before I take the plunge?

evanflys · **Joined:** Mon May 25, 2009 11:07 pm **Posts:** 78

I'd add this to the list to consider - Panasonic DMC-FZ35K

It's the next evolution of the series

Tim

Holedigger · **Posted:** Tue Sep 29, 2009 10:40 am

My 11 yr old warbird nut shoots with a Nikon SLR and he has only one hand. Of course with the big zoom lens on it, he tires quickly....that starts to turn into a heavy rig! Cheap point and shoot, hmmmmmm, get as high a megapixel and the best lens you can find. Carl Zeise are nice!

Here is a very good site for Digi camera reviews

http://www.dpreview.com/

Rob Mears · **Posted:** Tue Sep 29, 2009 12:29 pm

Get yourself a Sony Cybershot DSC-H1. They are effectively the same as the DSC-H2 and about $200 cheaper. This is the camera I've been using for the last three or four years and its been absolutely wonderful.

http://shopping.yahoo.com/p:Sony%20Cyber-Shot%20DSC-H1:1991720803;_ylt=Ar_h3JjkdzeF0WTE4Mn4C2qmjnUC

It still has the 12x optical zoom, but the image resolution is 5.1-megapixels vs. 6-megapixels with the DSC-H2. My guess is that 5-megapixels is probably all you will need for your purposes (its still quite a huge photo). 9 times out of 10 I find myself reducing the size of the image drastically just so I can share them with friends over the net.

Here's a couple of quick shots to show some of the capabilities and detail you can get with it. Keep in mind I had to reduce the size of these images to about 1/3 of their original size to post them here.

You can even pull off extremely detailed close-ups using the proper settings. Here's an oddball shot I took to remember the position of a 1/2" bolt in the door of my car. :lol:

Holedigger · **Posted:** Tue Sep 29, 2009 1:05 pm

Nice pics from a point N Shoot. The P-40 shot especially with the depth of field and full sun to shade yet still capturing well through the whole range.

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Can anyone recommend a good camera?

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