Topic: New Camera

[sirean_syan]

I won't go into the details of how I decided to buy a new camera within a single day; all that's really worth mentioning is that there's a new camera in my place.

So, I got this guy. I did look at a lot of reviews and decided I wanted something that would take great pictures at the expense of being a little bulkier than my current camera (a Sony Cybershot DSC-P100, which I've been extremely pleased with). By the looks of things the Sony will remain the small travel camera and the Canon will be the big gun... which will probably amount to a lot of shots of minis.

I just got the thing tonight, so I haven't been able to play around too much, but its doing very well thus far. As you can guess, I've been focusing on the macro features and I've mostly played with them. Here are a couple quick shots so far that I took without much effort. The only bit of editing I've done has been to crop a little off of one image. They're fairly large, so give them a bit of time (if you're Idol).

Sample one.
Sample two.

[Xessive]

Nice, pretty good quality too! Congrats!

I need to get myself a camera too, but I'm still saving to get a decent SLR.

The EOS Digital Rebel XT is the one I've had my sights on for a while. It was provided by the company I worked for at the time; I used it on a project and I fell in love.

[Pugnate]

I have a Cybershot 3.2 that was brand new years ago heh.

Congrats., good camera. Now you can use it to take pictures as you guys party at the OW meet. Later when Idol is married you can use those pics to blackmail him.

[Quemaqua]

I'd just like to reiterate that my 2 megapixels and I hate and mock you.

And it's also sick that your minis actually still look pretty darn good under that level of scrutiny.  Mine very much do not.

[idolminds]

Thats like a newer version of my camera. Good choice.

[Cobra951]

So Cybershots are decent?  My ex is looking for a camera, and asked about this one.  Hmm, it's gone up $20 since yesterday.  I thought it looked great for $180.  My only problem with Sony is that they take their own proprietary memory cards.  Other things being equal, I'd always choose a make that takes SD cards.  You can get 2GB SDs at Microcenter now for about $13.  They work too.  I have one.

[iPPi]

That's a pretty nice camera.

I've considered getting a digital camera myself as well, but I can't justify the cost since I'm not that big into photography.  The 3.2 MP camera I have on my phone meets my needs already.

[Ghandi]

The EOS Digital Rebel XT is the one I've had my sights on for a while. It was provided by the company I worked for at the time; I used it on a project and I fell in love.

Heh, this is the exact same camera that I have been looking at. My dad has a Nikon D40 which I have been drooling over, but I think that this is a better camera by some regards. It's way out of my price range at the moment, though.

[sirean_syan]

So Cybershots are decent?  My ex is looking for a camera, and asked about this one.  Hmm, it's gone up $20 since yesterday.  I thought it looked great for $180.  My only problem with Sony is that they take their own proprietary memory cards.  Other things being equal, I'd always choose a make that takes SD cards.  You can get 2GB SDs at Microcenter now for about $13.  They work too.  I have one.

I think mine was a strange exception to the rule since it was a model that was pretty different from the norm of Cybershots. More often than not when I've read reviews of Cybershots they were always a bit negative; however, the reviews of the model I have were actually pretty good for a camera that is designed around being small. I can say that in my playing around with both cameras that my Cybershot shoots less noisy pictures on full auto mode in lower light than my new one. Generally, from what I can tell I'm gonna need to be more active with this guy to really get that jump in quality.

[Xessive]

Heh, this is the exact same camera that I have been looking at. My dad has a Nikon D40 which I have been drooling over, but I think that this is a better camera by some regards. It's way out of my price range at the moment, though.

Hehe yep, that's my condition right now, still trying to save enough money My problem is that I won't settle for less!

It's the same reason I don't have a laptop.. The one I would settle for is way out of my price range (approx. $4000 USD). That's why is tick to desktops, I can build a system with similar specs for a mere fraction of the price. Sure, it's not portable, but it's superior in every other way (plus it's fully customizable).

[sirean_syan]

Alright. I'm more convinced with this guy after today. I needed to go visit a museum in San Francisco to find something to write a paper about, which meant I would be going to one of the most senic places in the city; it was perfect test to try out my camera.

So, I took something like a hundred pictures and tried to use the automatic settings as much as possible. Most everything turned out pretty good save for a couple images that I took while driving, but that was more of the fault of me trying to take pictures without really looking at the camera. The pictures tend to have this voluminous look to them, much like the pictures that come from Idol's camera, and I really like it (your stuff was a big reason I decided to give this guy a shot, Idol). Images from my Cybershot tended to have a sharper quality to them, but they feel flatter to me now that I've had some personal experience with another camera. I also had a better experience with the low-light shots than last night. Since you can't use the flash in the museum, I really got to see what the guy could do. While I have no direct image comparisons, generally the indoor pictures I took this pictures were clearer and had more realistic colors than a couple pictures I took a few months ago on another visit to the meseum. Using the automatic settings, the Cybershot will take less noisy image that are fairly sharp in low-light, but the Powershot has way better color, are a little brighter, and a bit of a softer exposure. I think what happens is the Powershot is just more likely to default to a higher ISO setting which would account for the noise.

Anywho, I picked out a few of the more choice pictures to share. As I said, most of these are attempting to use more automatic settings so I could see how the camera would react to different things. I resized and cropped them so you can see them better on the screen and are easier to download, and, of course, used Autostitch to build the panorama. Also, in making the panorama I used the camera's built in stitch assist mode, which is a very cool feature.

Equestian Scuplture at the Museum
Some bust from inside the Museum (I should have paid more attention to the name)
Scene of the French Campaign of 1814, probably what I'll be writting on.
The obligatory picture of the Golden Gate Bridge
Panorama of San Francisco

[idolminds]

Yeah, it does seem to like using noisier settings to get the brightness. Its be nice to be able to force a max ISO setting while still allowing everything else to be automatic. Like dont let the camera use anything over 200 ISO. I tend to do most of my shots with the manual settings, but that really slows things down. I suppose that wouldn't matter much at an art museum, though.

The pictures tend to have this voluminous look to them, much like the pictures that come from Idol's camera, and I really like it (your stuff was a big reason I decided to give this guy a shot, Idol).

[sirean_syan]

The program mode allows you to do that more or less (set the ISO while most everything else is automatic). I had some good luck with a few other test in the museum.

[beo]

very nice camera. you really can't go wrong with canons. as i've said before, i work at a camera store with a photo lab, and over my time there i've compiled a portfolio of images from pretty much every camera we've ever stocked. the only challengers i've seen come close to the canons are the panasonic lumix's (which are a little sharper in well lit conditions, but go extremely noisey above iso 200).

the sony cybershots tend to be pretty decent from what i've seen - you will however, pay *way* over the odds then you would for a compartive camera from another brand. there is one sony camera (the model number escapes me), which is pretty awesome though. it's touch screen and enables you to select a focal point absolutely anywhere just be touching the screen. very innovative, and gives you a level of control that you don't even see on SLR's (as far as focusing goes, anyway).

[sirean_syan]

That's pretty sweet. One thing I've almost always disliked is the selective area focus most digital cameras use because it almost never picks the area I'm actually care about. More often than not I just turn the thing off and use the old fashioned center focus. This Canon (and I assume it's been a feature for a while on this line) has an option where I can move the area focus to where ever I want on the screen with the buttons, but it's a bit cumbersome and just easier to stick with the center focus. Being able to just touch the screen would be a great fix for the problem.

[iPPi]

I've been thinking about getting a digital camera, and thanks to this thread, I think I'm going to be getting the Powershot A630, the one you have sirean. 

Do you have any complaints about the camera or any cons that you know of?  I'm pretty new to digital photography, I mean, this will be my true first digital camera (my phone's 3.2MP doesn't really count), so I don't really know what to look for in a camera and stuff, but from reading reviews and stuff, it does seem that the A630 is a damn nice point and shoot camera.  I don't really want to spend that much money on an SLR camera as those tend to be excessively expensive with the body and the lens and stuff.  My friend bought the Canon Rebel XTi version and it's an amazing camera, but he spent nearly $1000 on it and I cannot justify that cost given my lack of interest in photography.  I just kind of want to have a digital camera, and perhaps start taking some photos and stuff.  Just some casual stuff.

[sirean_syan]

My complaints are minor. The first is I wish there was a true battery indicator rather than a low battery warning. I got nailed by it once already because the warning basically came on when I had one picture left. I've fixed this by buying an extra set of batteries that will just be in the camera bag at all times.

The cover for the USB feels flimsy. I'm thinking of buying a memory card reader to compensate for this, but I haven't gotten around to it.

Finally, when you plug directly to the camera it actually connects to the computer as a know digital camera rather than a plain external hard drive. That makes removing images a little less functional and clunky than I'd like (I don't want to go through the wizard to do these things and dragging and dropping is slightly less smooth than it is with a normal drive), but it's not really a big deal. If I do get that card reader then the problem will disappear completely.

But yeah, minor complaints and nothing I can't live with. With even more time to get use the camera there has been a nice jump in quality compared to my old camera, especially with the macro mode. That alone pleases me to no end.

[iPPi]

How's the battery life on it?  I'm reading it uses 4 AA batteries, so I guess it's pretty obvious you would buy some rechargeables or something.

[sirean_syan]

Yeah. I'm using Energizer NiMH 2500mAh rechargable batteries and I got about 200 pictures from my first charge. Supposedly you can get about 250 from a charge, but these particular batteris have been sitting around for a month without doing anything and I took a lot of pictures while fiddling with the manual settings, so the 200 images I got sounds about right.

[iPPi]

Ah...

I was looking at the SD800 Powershot as well, and its smaller size is more appealing, but it is also significantly more expensive than the A630.  I'm reading the A630 takes better pictures as well.

Decisions decisions...

[sirean_syan]

Yeah. I decided this time around picture quality and price were more important than size. Having owned both ends of the spectrum, I can't deny the smaller cameras have plenty of advantages. My Cybershot spent a lot of time with me during a few camping trips I took with Aimee and I imagine the Powershot would have been something of a problem. At this point, Aimee has a fine smaller camera for stuff like that and now we have a slighter bigger boy for everything else. Plus, I still do have the Cybershot for myself during trips (although I didn't know if that was going to be the case when I picked out my new camera).

[iPPi]

Hmmm... I'm reading a lot of stuff, and I really can't decide between the Powershot A630 and the Powershot SD800 IS.  The SD800IS seems to be marginally better overall with built in battery, smaller form factor, and a better lens, and DIGIC III. 

[sirean_syan]

Better in what respect? I only looked at one or two reviews, but they made it seem like the SD 800 wasn't much of a step up from its previous generation and even a step back in certain aspects in picture quality.