I just bought a Canon Power Shot A200 from Amazon.com after a friend let me know about Amazon's offer. It's a 2 MP camera with a 4x digital zoom, several flash modes and exposure (color correction such as sepia, etc.) modes. It comes with an 8 MB Compact Flash card, with room for 24 photos at the highest resolution (1600x1200.) Amazon threw in a 32 MB Compact Flash card for free, and I opted for free shipping. It hasn't arrived yet, but I'm kind of impressed that the whole thing only set me back $179.
I'm no pro photographer, so I reasoned I didn't need anything better than 2 MP.
From a professional photographer (shooting digital as well)...the delay that you have is called "lag." It exist even in traditional film cameras but only in fraction of second(s). Most consumer cameras will have the few second(s) lag because of its auto focus/auto exposure, etc.. task before it fires whether you pressed it at the moment you thought it was okay. Only a few digital cameras will be able to fire at the exact moment you release the trigger (and it will not be in focus or right exposure unless it was set to manual mode at the correct focus/exposure metering setting), and the few cameras that do have the shortest lag time are professional cameras that cost thousands of dollars.
Meanwhile, if you think you are going to take "of the moment" candid shots, then you have to have already set the focus in manual, and its exposure locked in manual, then fire away. The only way for you to get good results is to experiment with your camera in various settings for various lighting conditions. Luckily, the experiment will not cost you anything because you already have the camera and there is no processing fee to see the results. Enjoy your trial and errors
(pardon my engrish but I was out drinking til 2:30 AM and when I get drunk I get wide awake and hence I am surfing the AI board... <img src="graemlins/bugeye.gif" border="0" alt="[Skeptical]" /> <img src="graemlins/hmmm.gif" border="0" alt="[Hmmm]" />
Understood. I'll have to practice secretly fiddling with my camera so no one notices I'm going to get good blackmail shots... <img src="graemlins/smokin.gif" border="0" alt="[Chilling]" />
yeah i've been working with my camera (a40) on manual mode for a while, i have a better understanding on how to set the ISO and Shutter speed, but F-stops is something i'm not really quite sure of yet. needless to say since this if my first camera, i am not perfect on what the camera needs to be set at, though i'm getting closer
...my blasted boss (actually he is really nice) but he is a phtographer and he just knows how to set it and its almost always perfect...thaat bastard
<strong>yeah i've been working with my camera (a40) on manual mode for a while, i have a better understanding on how to set the ISO and Shutter speed, but F-stops is something i'm not really quite sure of yet. needless to say since this if my first camera, i am not perfect on what the camera needs to be set at, though i'm getting closer
...my blasted boss (actually he is really nice) but he is a phtographer and he just knows how to set it and its almost always perfect...thaat bastard</strong><hr></blockquote>
At the risk over-simplifying, here's some notes that may help in getting a handle on manual settings (these are based on years w/ 35mm SLRs - I don't have a digital camera yet):
As you've mentioned, there are 3 basic aspects - shutter speed (fairly self-explanatory), 'ISO', or Film Speed, and the F-stops, or aperture.
In reverse order, aperture refers to how much light the lens lets in, measured in increments known as F-stops (lowest number = most light (widest aperture), highest number = least light (most narrow aperture)). This is important because the more light the lens lets in, the faster the shutter speed can be (more on this later), but it's also important because of what's called depth of field. Depth of field determines how much of the picture will be in focus. For example, say you're taking a picture of a friend in his room, and your point of focus is his nose. If you're set on low Fstop (f2.8, say), his nose may be in focus, but not his ears - but at a high f-stop (like f22), everything around him is sharp, not just his nose. So 'depth of field' means how "deep the in-focus part is, and f-stops determine that.
Ok, ISO is (im totally 'reasoning from prior art' here) roughly equivalent to the old ASA film speeds. The celluloid strip films used the ASA speeds to tell you how light-sensitive the film emulsion was: the lower the number, the lower the sensitivity. In practical terms, a slow film like Kodachrome (ASA 64) would be a good choice for bright, sunny days outside, and a fast film like Tri-X (B+W, ASA 400) would be used for indoor & 'available-light' (ie, no flash) work.
In digital cameras, where there is no film, I'd guess this is used to tell the camera generally whether to be more or less sensitive. Feel free to correct me.
Shutter speed matters because if the speed is set too fast, you might not get enough light for a well-exposed picture - and if it's too slow (ie, below 1/125th/sec), motion may not be stopped completely, tending to blur an otherwise sharp image (@ 1/60th, you have to hold VERY STILL while you take the picture; below that, you really should use a tripod).
Hope that's not all basic & insulting or what. In practice, how it works is, you pick general settings for general conditions. For example, doing street photography, I'd often go for ASA400 film speed, and 1/125th - 1/250th/sec shutter, and adjust the f-stops according to changing conditions.
Most photogs (used to?) prefer either to keep a consistant depth of field, or a constant shutter speed - this resulted in auto-exposure cameras that were either aperture-priority (Minolta, for example, where you'd set the f-stop & the camera would auto-adjust the shutter speed), or shutter-priority (which does the exact opposite, like Canon).
Anyhow, hopefully that will give you some basis for some informed fooling-around.
I don't know much about digital cameras or cameras in general since college photography days. i want a manual focus camera , none of this auto-focus stuff. i want to be able to have better control like a real camera. i want the feel of a real camera as well like my old film camera (Nikon) i used in college photo classes. i preferably want 4 megapixels. is the higher the megapixel the better? i'm looking at the Minolta Dimage S404 which is about $500, which is about what i want to spent. This camera seems to get pretty good reviews
i found someone on another thread that like this model
I love my Canon A40. Great for point and shoot or manually setting your pix. Small and convenient, and even tho it's plastic, it feels pretty damned solid. Great buy for $224.
<strong>I love my Canon A40. Great for point and shoot or manually setting your pix. Small and convenient, and even tho it's plastic, it feels pretty damned solid. Great buy for $224.
glad to see another a40 users out there is as happy as i am...what do you do to clean ur lens, i assume after awhile it will get dusty and even possible a finger print or two when my sis borrows it
i've noticed that too in low light situations! Try opening up the aperture and adjusting for more exposure, does this help? I don't have my camera handy and still have to tackle the manual eventually.
The reason pictures get more "grainy" in low light situations is that most digital cameras increase their sensitivity with low light. As noted above, there are three basic things you can change to adjust exposure: shutter speed, apeture and sensitivity. As you increase the sensitivity, the CCD will pick up more noise. What you are calling grain is that noise.
And as far as "real camera" features in digital cameras - well first of all digital cameras ARE real cameras. The only real difference is the media the image is recorded to. Good digital cameras, which are getting cheaper every day, give you a lot of control.
My camera, a Fuji FinePix S602Z, gives you control over very nearly every aspect. It has an actual focus ring and you can set the focus completely manually that way, it has an ISO range of 100 to 1600, in Macro mode it can focus on objects as close as .4" away, f-stop from 2.8 to 11, shutter speed from 15 seconds down to 1/10,000 of a second. It also features focus lock and exposure lock for taking a number of shots under the same conditions, it has a continuous shot mode where it will take as many as 5 shots per second depending on shutter speed obviously.
It has a hot shoe on top, you can switch the LCD display into the viewfinder which is nice if you can't see the screen because of glare or something. It has a lot of operational modes, like Shutter Priority and Aperture Priority in addition to full manual mode, where you can set everything manually.
Pretty cool stuff, and you never have to buy or develop film again. This particular camera has both a SmartMedia slot and a CompactFlash Type II slot, which can take any kind of CF card or an IBM Microdrive.
For what it's worth, I work for one of the country's biggest newspapers, and our photo department went digital over a year ago. We don't use film at all any more and we couldn't be happier about it, it's much easier this way. Our photographers in the Middle East can shoot a couple hundred pictures on a single card, offload them to their TiBooks and remote in via satellite. Pictures can go from the camera in Baghdad to our photo dept in a matter of minutes - a real advantage when you're a newspaper.
Even our in-house photo studio is all digital. The camera is hooked up via Firewire directly to a G4 at a desk in the corner of the room - take a picture, and it shows up on the Mac seconds later. I only mention it as an example of professional photographers who have moved to digital and wouldn't go back to film if you doubled their paychecks.
Comments
I'm no pro photographer, so I reasoned I didn't need anything better than 2 MP.
<strong> My Coolpix takes 3 seconds to actually take a picture." <img src="graemlins/hmmm.gif" border="0" alt="[Hmmm]" />
</strong><hr></blockquote>
My Sony DSC-P1 takes a little while too. I thought it was just because its a digital camera
<img src="confused.gif" border="0">
Meanwhile, if you think you are going to take "of the moment" candid shots, then you have to have already set the focus in manual, and its exposure locked in manual, then fire away. The only way for you to get good results is to experiment with your camera in various settings for various lighting conditions. Luckily, the experiment will not cost you anything because you already have the camera and there is no processing fee to see the results. Enjoy your trial and errors
(pardon my engrish but I was out drinking til 2:30 AM and when I get drunk I get wide awake and hence I am surfing the AI board... <img src="graemlins/bugeye.gif" border="0" alt="[Skeptical]" /> <img src="graemlins/hmmm.gif" border="0" alt="[Hmmm]" />
[ 12-29-2002: Message edited by: kwondo ]</p>
<a href="http://www.exilim.com/"; target="_blank">http://www.exilim.com/</a>;
...my blasted boss (actually he is really nice) but he is a phtographer and he just knows how to set it and its almost always perfect...thaat bastard
That is a sweet looking little camera. Do you have one? Any disadvantages. Appears it doesn't have a lens protector.
<strong>yeah i've been working with my camera (a40) on manual mode for a while, i have a better understanding on how to set the ISO and Shutter speed, but F-stops is something i'm not really quite sure of yet. needless to say since this if my first camera, i am not perfect on what the camera needs to be set at, though i'm getting closer
...my blasted boss (actually he is really nice) but he is a phtographer and he just knows how to set it and its almost always perfect...thaat bastard</strong><hr></blockquote>
At the risk over-simplifying, here's some notes that may help in getting a handle on manual settings (these are based on years w/ 35mm SLRs - I don't have a digital camera yet):
As you've mentioned, there are 3 basic aspects - shutter speed (fairly self-explanatory), 'ISO', or Film Speed, and the F-stops, or aperture.
In reverse order, aperture refers to how much light the lens lets in, measured in increments known as F-stops (lowest number = most light (widest aperture), highest number = least light (most narrow aperture)). This is important because the more light the lens lets in, the faster the shutter speed can be (more on this later), but it's also important because of what's called depth of field. Depth of field determines how much of the picture will be in focus. For example, say you're taking a picture of a friend in his room, and your point of focus is his nose. If you're set on low Fstop (f2.8, say), his nose may be in focus, but not his ears - but at a high f-stop (like f22), everything around him is sharp, not just his nose. So 'depth of field' means how "deep the in-focus part is, and f-stops determine that.
Ok, ISO is (im totally 'reasoning from prior art' here) roughly equivalent to the old ASA film speeds. The celluloid strip films used the ASA speeds to tell you how light-sensitive the film emulsion was: the lower the number, the lower the sensitivity. In practical terms, a slow film like Kodachrome (ASA 64) would be a good choice for bright, sunny days outside, and a fast film like Tri-X (B+W, ASA 400) would be used for indoor & 'available-light' (ie, no flash) work.
In digital cameras, where there is no film, I'd guess this is used to tell the camera generally whether to be more or less sensitive. Feel free to correct me.
Shutter speed matters because if the speed is set too fast, you might not get enough light for a well-exposed picture - and if it's too slow (ie, below 1/125th/sec), motion may not be stopped completely, tending to blur an otherwise sharp image (@ 1/60th, you have to hold VERY STILL while you take the picture; below that, you really should use a tripod).
Hope that's not all basic & insulting or what. In practice, how it works is, you pick general settings for general conditions. For example, doing street photography, I'd often go for ASA400 film speed, and 1/125th - 1/250th/sec shutter, and adjust the f-stops according to changing conditions.
Most photogs (used to?) prefer either to keep a consistant depth of field, or a constant shutter speed - this resulted in auto-exposure cameras that were either aperture-priority (Minolta, for example, where you'd set the f-stop & the camera would auto-adjust the shutter speed), or shutter-priority (which does the exact opposite, like Canon).
Anyhow, hopefully that will give you some basis for some informed fooling-around.
<strong>can you tell me what you do if there is a strong backlight in a dark room, how would you fix that?</strong><hr></blockquote>
You mean like shooting into a room, directly towards some windows? I'd say use a powerful flash and hope for the best....
i found someone on another thread that like this model
any other recommendations?
[ 12-30-2002: Message edited by: Mikey Offender ]</p>
<strong>I love my Canon A40. Great for point and shoot or manually setting your pix. Small and convenient, and even tho it's plastic, it feels pretty damned solid. Great buy for $224.
[ 12-30-2002: Message edited by: Mikey Offender ]</strong><hr></blockquote>
Is this normal or what? (especially in lower light situations)
Aside from that, I love this thing. Really small, MPEG movies with audio, 4MPx, etc etc
My camera, a Fuji FinePix S602Z, gives you control over very nearly every aspect. It has an actual focus ring and you can set the focus completely manually that way, it has an ISO range of 100 to 1600, in Macro mode it can focus on objects as close as .4" away, f-stop from 2.8 to 11, shutter speed from 15 seconds down to 1/10,000 of a second. It also features focus lock and exposure lock for taking a number of shots under the same conditions, it has a continuous shot mode where it will take as many as 5 shots per second depending on shutter speed obviously.
It has a hot shoe on top, you can switch the LCD display into the viewfinder which is nice if you can't see the screen because of glare or something. It has a lot of operational modes, like Shutter Priority and Aperture Priority in addition to full manual mode, where you can set everything manually.
Pretty cool stuff, and you never have to buy or develop film again. This particular camera has both a SmartMedia slot and a CompactFlash Type II slot, which can take any kind of CF card or an IBM Microdrive.
For what it's worth, I work for one of the country's biggest newspapers, and our photo department went digital over a year ago. We don't use film at all any more and we couldn't be happier about it, it's much easier this way. Our photographers in the Middle East can shoot a couple hundred pictures on a single card, offload them to their TiBooks and remote in via satellite. Pictures can go from the camera in Baghdad to our photo dept in a matter of minutes - a real advantage when you're a newspaper.
Even our in-house photo studio is all digital. The camera is hooked up via Firewire directly to a G4 at a desk in the corner of the room - take a picture, and it shows up on the Mac seconds later. I only mention it as an example of professional photographers who have moved to digital and wouldn't go back to film if you doubled their paychecks.