What kind of Digital Camera or Camcorder should I buy?

[Cammy]

All my recent photos were taken with a Fuji camera, and I have used an earlier model as well as the one we used recently, and it's an excellent quality camera, I don't think I've ever seen one better quality or faster. It takes HD videos as well as photos. When you zoom right into the photos, the grain and detail is still sharp, not all smudgey and painted looking like some digital photos when you zoom in to 100% (as they're nearly always shrunk down to be viewable on the screen). I think the reason they don't sell as much is because usually only photographers look out for Fuji cameras, where as most average people will just grab the first thing they see with a familar logo (Sony). Not that the Sonys are worse, I havent used one so I can't say, but Fuji have been in the camera business for a while.

[ChaosLord]

Cammy I watched a YouTube video starring Cammy and her magical Amiga SVideo adapter.  It looked great.  Was it shot using that Fuji camera?  Which model?

[Tripitaka]

It is true that Joe Average goes for a well known name nine times out of ten but for once I will defend Sony. I've used a lot of Sony video equipment, pro equipment mostly. I've worked in video and DVD since 2000 on and off. I'm a Sony trained DVD author and have used Sony cameras, SP Beta recorders, Digital Beta recorders, video and audio encoders etc. and I have found all of them bar none to be of exceptional quality.

That said, I hate the way they screwed Nintendo, Lik-Sang and most of all, the very customers they sell products to. Sony pro equipment often has custom connections and the leads cost, well to be honest, astronomical amounts of cash. If I was going to buy a camcorder today this would probably stop me handing my cash over to Sony.

[Cammy]

Ohh no that was taken with a really cheap digital camera, the Fuji one is infinitely better quality than that. And it's true Sony have been in the video business for a long time too. I'm not saying the Sonys are bad because I've never used them, just saying there's nothing wrong with the Fuji that I used, it felt like a real SLR camera too.

[Tripitaka]

@ Cammy

What model is it ? I used to swear by Fuji film for my ol' 35mm. It was a Chinon CE4, awesome camera! Shame I don't have it anymore...
..Meh

[ChaosLord]

At first I was really wanting a camcorder with built-in 80+GB hard drive and 60x optical zoom.  I mean that sounds AWESOME.  But everyone is telling me that hard drive camcorders overcompress the video. I really HATE over compressed video.  I watch it all the time on cable tv. ugh. :pissed:

So I have decided to concentrate on something that takes great individual pictiures.  Video features can be an extra added bonus.

I need a camera that I can hold in my hand and press the button to take a pic without moving the camera.  I don't want blurry pictures! :destroy:

I have 3 friends that own cheap digital cameras and it is just about impossible not to move the camera when pressing the button.  The button is 1. Too low.  2. It requires too much force to press.  So their cameras always take blurry jittery pictures. :nervous:

So I need a camera with a nice big easy to press button that sticks OUT from the rest of the camera.  And of course a Tripod mount.  And some sort of remote shutter release system would be great.  And/or some sort of image stabilization technology that works on snapshots.  I want beautiful snapshots. :knuddel:

Does anyone own a camera like that?


JPG is an awful picture format.  I would much prefer PNG or some other lossless format.

Does anyone have a camera that saves its pics as PNG instead of JPG?

Thanx for all the helpful info guys & gals!

[Ral-Clan]

Does anyone have a camera that saves its pics as PNG instead of JPG?

Pro and semi-pro cameras can take pictures in TIFF format (which can be non-compressed or use one of many flavours of lossless compression).

But, actually, JPEG is not a terrible image format as you said.  A lightly compressed JPEG can look really good.  It's only when you really crank up the compression that the image starts to degrade noticeably.

[marcfrick2112]

Well, I have to concur with ral-clan that the best option would probably be to capture the video from the miggy via comp. out, or to use UAE.

As for blurry/jittery pictures... Well almost every digicam I've owned seems to need too much pressure to depress 'the button'. My Olympus FE-180 has an image stabilization mode, which can help, but it's far from perfect. One of those tiny digican tripods might help too, tho',  IME the legs on them can be a bit 'rubbery' , and you may still end up with a blurry shot because you had to push so hard on that !@#$%&! button.

For my dad, the biggest 'selling point' of the Olympus FE-180 was that it had an AV out cable.... he would hook the camera up to the DCTV on his A1200 and just grab the picture that way. Not nearly as good a picture as loading it directly, but still pretty cool.....

About Sony.... Uhhhh, I dont want to say too much... I might make my Sony Beta machines angry
But, I will say that, quality-wise,  current manufacture consumer electronics by Sony can be very hit-or-miss .... It might work when you get it unpacked, maybe not. Maybe it will die 1 week/month/year later..... It's sad really, I know Sony CAN make reliable, good quality products.... they just can't do it on a regular basis.... OK, I've never owned any pro or semi-pro video equipment by Sony, so I can't say about that....

[Tumbleweed]

A

So I have decided to concentrate on something that takes great individual pictiures.  Video features can be an extra added bonus.

I need a camera that I can hold in my hand and press the button to take a pic without moving the camera.  I don't want blurry pictures! :destroy:

I have 3 friends that own cheap digital cameras and it is just about impossible not to move the camera when pressing the button.  The button is 1. Too low.  2. It requires too much force to press.  So their cameras always take blurry jittery pictures. :nervous:

So I need a camera with a nice big easy to press button that sticks OUT from the rest of the camera.  And of course a Tripod mount.  And some sort of remote shutter release system would be great.  And/or some sort of image stabilization technology that works on snapshots.  I want beautiful snapshots. :knuddel:

Does anyone own a camera like that?


JPG is an awful picture format.  I would much prefer PNG or some other lossless format.

Does anyone have a camera that saves its pics as PNG instead of JPG?

Thanx for all the helpful info guys & gals!

I'd get a Canon EOS 500D or 550D (EOS Rebel T1i EF-S & EOS Rebel T2i EF-S in the USA) - they are well balanced, button sticks out at the front, both shoot video in HD, and for lossless images you can shoot in RAW.

Weed

[ChaosLord]

What program can load RAW images?

[Tumbleweed]

What program can load RAW images?

For the PC and Mac Adobe Photoshop on the Amiga you can get a datatype on Aminet

http://aminet.net/package/util/dtype/CR2_DataType_V39_4

Weed

[Vlabguy1]

I recommend getting a Canon.. the GL1 is nice.  I would buy any Canon over a Sony.  To me the Canon's video output is
more realistic.  

Rich
ny

[djnick]

Amazing. Today I am also going to get one so whole day I am searching over the net for best solution.

Anyway, this is the best cam ever, but expensive:

Canon EOS 5D Mark II [take a look @ Youtube for HQ video examples] BUT for cheaper I would go this way:

Sony HDR-CX115eb

or

Panasonic hdc-sd60

Seems like it has crystal clear image, excellent slow-motion [check out Youtube]...

[Tumbleweed]

Amazing. Today I am also going to get one so whole day I am searching over the net for best solution.

Anyway, this is the best cam ever, but expensive:

Canon EOS 5D Mark II [take a look @ Youtube for HQ video examples] BUT for cheaper I would go this way:

Sony HDR-CX115eb

or

Panasonic hdc-sd60

Seems like it has crystal clear image, excellent slow-motion [check out Youtube]...

The 5D MKII is a way cool camera - its full frame and takes you into the world of professional photography. If you don't need full frame - the recently released 7D is a good alternative. Or if you're not overly bothered with the ability to record HD video a second hand 5D MK1 can be had for £700-£850, which is pretty good value. Especially when you marry it up with a pro lens. For a high end consumer/semi-pro model the 50D is pretty good and you can find its predecessor the 40D for around £350-£450 on evil bay. Or if you don't fancy a Canon (I am a Canon user) Nikon is worth looking at.

Weed