Help with new camera.....

[Ollie Jay]

Hi folks

 

after so long at looking at some great shots taken by most of you i have decided to try and invest in a half decent camera for myself in the new year and was wondering about your views on the following kodak........... Kodak not really one for cameras and all this SLR stuff but looking for one that will give me good shots and be able to pick up fine detail at a fast pace.....ie catch moving objects without it blurring to much or even missing the shot due to a low shutter speed!

 

many thanks and if there are any camera's that are in the same price range up to 150 quid ideas would be great

 

Cheers

[rabster]

Hey Ollie.

 

I reckon the main plus points for the camera you mention are 1) the price 2) 10x optical zoom for under 90 quid and 3) a decent size LCD - but I think there are likely to be a few negatives. From checking out a couple of reviews HERE'S ONE it looks like the camera has been on the market for about 3 years, so it is probably no longer being produced, which tends to equal poor aftersales support & it also follows that, unless it's been updated, it could be using 3 year old technology.

 

I think at the price it could be worth a try as a decent intro to a digital camera with some manual settings & good optical zoom and I don't think I know of anything with similar spec in the same price range, but ifyou wanted to spend a few quid more I think one of the Fuji Finepix prosumer cameras would be a good buy.

 

BTW - I just clicked on "buy" on your link to see what they're charging for the 256mb sd card - and it looks like your camera is sold out.

 

BTW2 - I've got an HP945 5.3MP digi camera (also a discontinued line), with 8x optical zoom, that I think I'm gonna sell on Ebay shortly, which is in full working order, has three secure digital memory cards, a docking station & (maybe) a 1.7x Olympus telecon lens and lens adapter (giving approx 500mm 35mm equivelent). If your interested PM me & I'll send you a link to hundreds of piccies taken with it, in fact I've already posted a dragonfly macro shot taken with it on the photo thread on this forum and here's a telephoto shot: -

 

 

(Oh & the swanshot (swanshot, that's a good fishing term) in my avatar was taken with it)

 

BTW3 - when I started my reply my intention wasn't to try & sell you my old camera - so the very best of luck to you with whatever you choose to buy.

 

Regards

 

Cliff

Edited December 27, 2005 by rabster

[Steve Randles]

Specifications

Standard Features

CCD resolution 4.23 MP (2408x1758 pixels)

Image resolution 4.0 megapixel (2304 x 1728 pixels)

Picture quality 4.0 MP – best (print, enlargement 20" x 30")

3.5 MP – best (optimized ratio for 4" x 6" prints, 3:2)

2.1 MP – better (small print)

1.1 MP - good (e-mail)

 

Zoom 10X optical zoom, 6.3-63.2 mm (35 mm equivalent: 38-380 mm)

3.0X Advanced Digital Zoom

30X total zoom

 

Auto focus Multi-zone, center-spot

Focus distance wide std. – 0.6 m (2 ft.) to infinity; tele std. -- 2 m (6.6 ft.) to infinity; wide/tele infinity: 20 m (65.6 ft.) to infinity

Display LCD - 2.2" (56 mm) 153k pixels, indoor/outdoor display;

Aperture f/2.8 - 8.0 (wide); f3.7 - 8.0 (tele)

Shutter speed 16-1/1700 sec.

ISO equivalent Automatic - (80 - 160); Selectable - 80/100/200/400/800

White balance auto, daylight, tungsten, fluorescent

Flash mode automatic, fill, red-eye, off; external flash synch available

Flash range wide - 0.5 - 4.9 m (1.6 - 16.1 ft.); tele - 2.0 - 3.7 m (6.6 - 12.1 ft.)

Viewfinder electronic - 1.1 cm (.44 in.), 180K pixels (800 x 225)

Self-timer 10 seconds

Performance Features

Scene modes automatic, sport, portrait, night, landscape, close-up, program (aperture priority, shutter priority), manual

Color modes color, black and white, sepia, saturated, neutral, sharpness (sharp, standard, soft)

Macro/close-up mode wide - 12 - 70 cm (4.7 - 27.6 in.); tele - 120-210 cm (47.2 - 82.7 in.)

Burst mode 3 fps, up to 6 pictures

Light metering method TTL-AE (menu selectable: multi-pattern, center weighted, center spot

Exposure compensation +/- 2.0 EV with 0.33 EV step increments

Exposure control program AE aperature priority, shutter priority, manual

Click to capture 0.65 seconds

Shot to shot <2 seconds

Movie mode continuous digital video with audio capture, audio playback on camera

Movie image resolution 320 x 240 pixels at 20 fps

 

Movie length limited by capacity of external memory card

Ease of Use Features

Capture mode capture always ready

Auto-orientation auto picture rotation

Delete dedicated delete button

Review dedicated review button

Share dedicated Share button

Review mode 2X or 4X magnify, picture info, slide show, multi-up, fast scroll, protect, albums

Video out NTSC, PAL (user-selectable)

Software KODAK EASYSHARE Software v3.1

Interface Dock Compatibility - KODAK EASYSHARE Camera Dock 6000, KODAK EASYSHARE Printer Dock 6000

Additional Features

Storage 16 MB internal memory MMC/SD card expansion slot

Power options DC in jack on side of camera for 5V adapter; KODAK EASYSHARE Li-ion Rechargeable Battery (KLIC 5000 or KLIC 5001), KODAK EASYSHARE Camera Dock 6000 and KODAK EASYSHARE Printer Dock 6000

Image file format still: JPEG/EXIF v2.2; movie: Quicktime

Interface USB 2.0 compatible, KODAK EASYSHARE Camera Dock 6000 and KODAK EASYSHARE Printer Dock 6000 compatible

Lens protection lens cap tethered to camera body

Tripod mount 1/4 in. standard

Weight without batteries and memory card: 337 g (11.9 oz.)

 

Dimensions WxHxD: 99.6x79.9x81.2 mm (3.9x3.1x3.2 in.)

 

Warranty

Warranty one year

 

 

 

These are the specs of the camera your interested in and for the price, I have to say they are not too shabby!

 

You have the various "auto" modes along with shutter and aperture priority..and most important it has manual mode so you can take back control of the camera. You can freeze the action or blur the motion with the shutter speeds available and the aperture range allows for reasonable close up work and also some depth of field at the other end of the scale.

 

It has a reasonable range of ISO sensitivity to enable shooting in most situations, and a selectable white balance setting to further enhance this.

 

In short it has all of the major features required to shoot decent photographs, but as you would expect for this price most of the features are short in what they could deliver, the ISO aperture and shutter speed range would be more benificial if it was extended to allow more freedom but at 4mp it will take a good photograph..I think.

 

If your after this one to introduce you to photography where you are in control (not point and shoot) then its a good buy, however if you already have that interest and your after more control to take better pictures then a little more money will buy you more features. It could always be sold on down the line if you wanted to upgrade to a different model. Persoannly I would be dissapointed with apperture range only going to f8.

[Steve Burke]

Persoannly I would be dissapointed with apperture range only going to f8.

 

I'd assume that's all it needs to go down to as digital compacts have a lot of depth of field compared with both digital SLRS and any 35mm camera. On the other hand it's much harder to open the lens right up to reduce the depth of field on anything but telephoto shots. I'd add that neither Peggy's Canon A80 nor my Canon S2 IS can be stopped down further than f/8.

 

In other words digital compacts aren't as flexible as digital SLRs. However they're a hell of lot smaller and lighter - both in weight and price. What's more some like our Canons have got screens you can flip round to make self-portraits of trophy shots a doddle - something that AFAIK no digital SLR has!

 

You pays your money and makes your choice........

 

In the final analysis though it's the photographer who takes the picture, and I only wish I could take landscapes half as well as Steve!

[Steve Randles]

For a good few years I had a point and shoot cam with no manual settings at all, I saw photographs of the quality that I wanted to be able to take and found out what camera it was, then saved for and bought it. Thats the camera I have now. As f8 is really a mid-range aperture and mine goes way beyond this I assumed that f8 was cutting it short. Sure you can get a reasonable depth of field at f8-f11 but I generally use f16-22 or even f32 on occasions for my landscapes and therefore found it odd that the above camera stopped at f8.

[Ollie Jay]

Thanks for your comments on this camera and am currently thinking it over.....as they haven't got this camera in stock i may be forced to look for a more pricey one.....maybe a fugi, not sure yet but thanks for explaining the f8 thing! wasn't to sure what that was about and as I'm a very keen newbie to the camera world I'm sure I'll be asking lots of questions as i continue my look for a descent beginners camera

 

cheers for your views chaps

[TubularBelle]

I have loved taking photos since I was a child but know nothing about apperture settings and shutter speeds etc, even did a photography course about 20 years ago that went way over my head. A few years ago I bought my first decent camera, a Pentax Espio 135M for $250 secondhand (sorry, don't know what that is in pounds) and got great pleasure from it but still only used it for family snaps. Then my partner Michael (HellBelly) very recently bought a Sony cybershot DSC-P100 also secondhand for about $380 ($600 new) and for Xmas he got a tripod and has started experimenting with slow shutter speeds. His first ever photo (on the tripod) is in the trees challenge, of our street at 10pm at night. So it has only been in the last two weeks, (kids are grown up, time on my hands now, and with Michaels interest) that I have started thinking about taking photography up as a more dedicated hobby. As I said, our new camera is still new, so it will be a while before we invest in one of those flash big manual cameras. I haven't even read the manual yet and I am relying on Michael to explain to me how it all works etc. Obviously our compact camera has some manual capabilities, but I am wondering if the more serious photographers on this site think you can still get a decent picture out of an automatic or inexpensive camera? Thanks to Finepix's beautiful macro photos and Rabsters extraordinary dragonfly photo, I have realised my area of most interest. Can't wait to get started, if HellBelly ever lets me get near HIS camera, he takes it everywhere.

Edited January 15, 2006 by TubularBelle

[Steve Burke]

Obviously our compact camera has some manual capabilities, but I am wondering if the more serious photographers on this site think you can still get a decent picture out of an automatic or inexpensive camera?

 

Yes, yes and yes!

 

It's the photographer who really takes the picture, the camera is only a tool. A more advanced camera just makes it easier, especially for those of us like me who haven't got a natural eye for composition. That's why I can't take pictures that are as good as some of those on this Forum.

 

A good photographer with the most basic camera will take better photos than a poor photographer with the world's best equipment.

 

Having said that there are some pictures that are more difficult or even impossible without the right facility on a camera - macro shots for instance. One of the reasons is that you can correct many things on the computer - but not an out of focus image.

 

One of the advantages of a compact camera though is that it's great for shots that need snapping in a hurry. If you have to fiddle around with changing lenses etc the opportunity may be missed. On the other hand there's less control over depth of field as I found out to my cost on a recent trip to a zoo park.

 

For me, one of the best things about digital cameras is that you can take picture after picture at practically zero cost and see the results in time to often take another of the same subject. It's a much quicker way to learn than with a film camera!

[ayjay]

Obviously our compact camera has some manual capabilities, but I am wondering if the more serious photographers on this site think you can still get a decent picture out of an automatic or inexpensive camera?

 

I don't count myself as a serious photographer but you can see what cameras some of us are using here, mine is only a fairly basic tool but it's one of the best for digiscoping (there are fairly particular requirements for this which more expensive cameras don't meet) I'm reasonably happy with what mine turns out.

 

Get out there and just start pressing the button, it's digital, if you don't like it delete it.

 

 

[Mat Hillman]

That camera is an old model, now superceded by the Kodak easyshare Z740 which incidently I'm looking at buying myself and was just about to post in this part of anglersnet asking for comments <G>

 

Mat