Digi Camera s

[Full Moon Man]

Hi all , need some feed back on good quality and dynamic digi camers , have a preferance for slim digi zoom with no moving parts , whats the general group think on the make and all round good bushcraft camers. When you consider that we need to take pics of plants up close , capture mind boggling landscapes and often take photos in poor light conditions , night time round camp fire , I think there is room here to really do some good testing and share the results.
Battery life , low light , water or splash proof etc etc. Pack ability , weight gordon bennet ................
Joni

 

[loz.]

Hi all , need some feed back on good quality and dynamic digi camers , have a preferance for slim digi zoom with no moving parts , whats the general group think on the make and all round good bushcraft camers. When you consider that we need to take pics of plants up close , capture mind boggling landscapes and often take photos in poor light conditions , night time round camp fire , I think there is room here to really do some good testing and share the results.
Battery life , low light , water or splash proof etc etc. Pack ability , weight gordon bennet ................
Joni

Hi Joni,

I cant comment on the camera as i just use a fairly standard 8 MPix Samsung - an average allrounder,

However make sure that use use NiMH rechargables with a very high mAh - otherwise you will be running home every few snapps for new batteries !!!!!!

Regs

loz

 

[Chainsaw]

aw man, you're going to get as many opinions as there are leaves on a tree!

like most things it's almost always down to money. I have a Fuji S5000 (quite an old model) which was quite inexpensive but does a good job. Downside is that it's quite large (but not heavy) My wife has an Olympus Mju which is small and light but only has 3x optical zoom... but has 5M pixels

I take what fits, day treks to take photos, I take the fuji, need something small just to take snaps then the olympus. One of the better review sites I've found is here

My preference for my next camera would be a big optical zoom with anything over like 3M pixels, running off standard AAs is also good. It'll probably be another fuji....

Cheers,

Alan

 

[British Red]

FMM,

I do take the odd photograph as the guys will tell you

Okay, first things first. Forget digital zoom - its pointless - all you are doing with it is the same thing you can do alter on the PC. This leaves with optical zoom which implies moving parts (although they may be internal) or fixed focal length which is worse than useless.

So, a camera with optical zoom. One that uses removable batteries is good - if it takes AAs or the like then they are easy to carry spare. If they are proprietary then you have to buy spare rechargeables.

Resolution? 5MP is more than enough and pretty much standard now.

Optical Zoom. If you plan on taking wildlife shots then the more the better up to 10x - beyond that you need a tripod in even good light.

Size - the smaller the better as many times you won't want to be laden down - this is a trade off though. Too small and it will lack features, too large and you won't take it

Focus. A mnual focus option is really useful for taking pictures in a cluttered environment. This si only available on SLRs and better quality compacts - it also means they tend to be larger cameras. As a minimum find a camera that's autofucs is quick. My Canon can lock onto a bird on the wing - my Kodak can't.

Its always going to be a compromise. For top results you need a DSLR and a range of lenses. Great for photography but not so good for carrying due to bulk. For Bushcraft a quality compact is more likely to be with you - a good make (Olympus, Canon, Kodak, Nikon etc.) with at least 6x optical zoom, 5MP or better, AA batteries and small footprint is ideal. I choose both but generally carry the compact when out and about - I take the DSLR when stting out to take pictures

My choices are a Kodak Z740 and a Canon D400 SLR with a range of lenses from 400mm to 18mm.

Hope that helps

Red

 

[Full Moon Man]

Ioz Chainsaw
Ive checked out this a bit but we as tribe are unique in our activity and our mind set , utility , durability , quality , endurance , muntifunction are just some of the things that go through "OUR" heads when we look at kit , people who are no so into bushcraft think different and the reviews kind of reflect that . Your bang on a bout Fuji very smart kit but the prize is the camers that does the lot and doubles up as a stove !!!! Are we aiming too high , have the got the technoligy on the flip side all messing aside the brother only ever brings disposables with him when we vanish.
Id just like to see what every one has to say its to easy to buy something and then read a real good specific review and have a cup of tea looking out the garden window wishing you had taken a bit more time, then having no regard for your inital purchase , telling your self that when it , breaks , get stolen , gets lost you will replace it with the review model and the dame thing lasts forever . This is a path well travelled mate. Oh how many more cups of tea must i drink.

Joni

 

[KAE1]

Totally agree re zoom. I used to have a kodak DX 6490 with 10 x zoom which was a good all rounder. After my daughter broke it I made the decision not to buy another biggish compact but to buy a small compact this year and a DSLR next.

I bought a Panasonic DMC FX12 compact, nice and small and it has a leica lense.It is great for close-ups and snapping but crap beyond its 3 x optical zoom.

Can't wait to get my DSLR next year.

PS the fuji 5600 are really good value at little over £100.

 

[Geoffrey_Bubbles]

I have a Kodak DX6490 with all the extras for it including wide angle lens which I'd be happy to sell on if you are interested. Haven't really thought about selling it as I like its optical zoom, but I just bought a Canon Ixus 850IS and could do with recouping some of the money.

Drop me a pm if interested.

Geoff

 

[michiel]

I've just got a Nikon D80 and I'm really content about it. It's a bit big for most people, but it came with a great bag in wich I can put some other stuff. Good enough for a day hike.

It's quite expensive though, but you get what you pay for!

Regards,
Michiel

 

[ganstey]

I've had a Fuji S5500 for a couple of years. Its a good camera, but has one major drawback for me: Because of its shape (mini DSLR) its a bit bulky to keep with me all the time. I found that more often than not when I wanted to take a picture I'd left the camera at home.

After having a play with one that a colleague had at work, I decided upon the Canon IXUS 70. Its about the volume of a fag packet, but slightly thinner and longer. It has 7MP and I've used this when cropping and digitally zooming on the PC to advantage. It also has pretty much instant on and off, making it good when that deer suddenly appears in front of you - yes it did happen, but before I bought the IXUS:togo: It does use a dedicated battery, but the battery life is pretty impressive. I've just come back from 5 days down in my wood, and the battery only ran out as I was downloading the pics when I got back home.

I find that I now carry the IXUS around with me all the time (I keep it in my bag or on my belt) so its always poised for action.

Given that no camera is going to be all things to all people, I guess you need to decide which features are critical to you, and then make your choice from those that meet that spec.

I also have a couple of film cameras that I use for more specialised work.

Hope this helps rather than muddies the waters
Graham

 

[John Fenna]

I am currently using a Fuji FinePix A900, size if a fag packet,, 4x optical zoom and 9Mp - so I can realy blow-up detail when I get home!
Lots of features I do not use but it was cheap in Thailand, uses AAbatteries (lots of them!) and once my camera has had its feed off them they go in my torch and are still good for a while.
Useful features include various "modes" such as portrait and video, close up and anti-red-eye and for shots from vehicles anti-shake! Nice big screen, tripod fixing etc.
I own an Eos SLR (film) and never use it now......I used to do all sorts of fancy camera work, now it is all didgi but the pictures sell even more!
John

 

[Pablo]

I've got a Nikon S4 which I'm pretty pleased with on the whole. The optical zoom is x10 which is good for wildlife shots and the swivel lens is excellent. It's 5mp. It's not he slimmest, but it is a 10x optical after all.

I use rechargeables and the battery lasts for weeks.

The macro is okay, but sometimes I can't seem to get it to autofocus on what I want at short range. It might be me. There's quite a few programmed options for low light, landscapes etc. I'm no expert, but it has produced some reasonable stuff for me. I got mine for £140 ish.

Pablo.

 

[shep]

With respect, most folk will tell you to get what they got, because you'll love any modern camera and the pictures you take. Don't do what I do and get bogged down in details, it ends up spoiling your photography and giving you buyer's remorse with whatever you get.

Take in as much info as you can, but before your head starts to hurt just buy something and start taking photos.

As for compact vs. SLR, here are my thoughts, I'll leave behind the earlier important points about size, cost etc.

Picture quality: 10mp compact does not equal 10mp SLR. Smaller pixels mean more noise and some cameras overcompensate this. As Red says 5mp is adequate in either format, but there is this difference. This, however, is an academic difference until you blow your pictures up greater than A4 size.

Control: This is the big difference. If you understand f-stops and how aperture/shutter speed effects your photos and want to control this you need an SLR, or one of very few compacts.

Depth-of-field: Real photo-geekery here. But depth of field is deeper on a compact than and SLR (I can explain why but it will be longwinded, I warn you). This means that under given light conditions, you can get more front-to-back in focus for your landscapes and macros, but for arty portrait type shots, you can't blur the background as nicely on a compact.

Build-quality: SLRs probably more robust for use out and about, but need to be because they're so big. Look for metal-bodied compacts where the lens retracts fully.

Finally: To follow from my first point, I've used a Nikon D70s for 2 years and film SLRs for 10 before that, They're great but this week I'm selling it all to buy a Ricoh Caplio GX100. It's a compact that gives you all of the control you get in an SLR, I prefer wide to telephoto so am going to live without distant wildlife shots (of which I get very few good ones) and focus on the details and landscapes that I get more success with. I am going to use photoshop to compensate for the other artistic shortcomings I mentioned above. The emphasis being on lightening my load. Since I almost always carry my camera. I will be walking around 3kg lighter!

 

[mr dazzler]

We started off with a fuji finepic which was Ok until someone stole it out the bairns pushchair one day. Then a konica, not very good at all. Both these used way too many batteries (like a set would last a couple of hours). Then we finally got a canon powershot A75, top kit. Small and light, batteries last ages, optical zoom, macro for close ups, I even (hand held) photograpehed saw teeth for adverts and you could clearly see the sharp edges on 9 point saws. My wife uses it also to photograph doll's with tripod, lights and reflector's etc, sound as a pound. When I was decidng wether to buy that one I dont think I saw a bad review of it. Its a pleasure to use and wont want to replace it with anything else.