Digital camera fault.

[Joe]

Too true.

My Kodak's got a proper view finder and switching the screen on lengthens battery-life substantially.

- Joe

On?

Alan

Well done, Beckett. I wondered who'd spot that first.

- Joe

[Radio Fixer]

Thanks for the feedback Colin - I think it will meet my needs nicely if they still have any left.

I prefer the LCD screen as a 'viewfinder' - I don't like squinting through a tiny window like in days of yore. Works fine for me - I can review the pic and if it's not to my liking I can delete it and take another. It's not as though I'm trying to take 'once in a lifetime action pics' as people who are interested in sport might wish to - as someone crosses the finishing line, scores a goal or whatever (zzzzz).

As I said earlier - I'm not in the slightest bit interested in photography as such - just want to take a few snaps here and there, as and when. Rarely take any prints off, and when I do, the chap up the village does excellent prints cheaper than faffing around with my own printer, so I just take the memory card and he does them while I wait - no dramas.


To post them on the forum, I reduce them in 'Photoshop Elements'.

OK! OK! Don't 'shout' at me, just a suggestion.

Gary

[pwdrive]

"Cameras where you can only compose on the LCD screen I call "Point and hope cameras"."

I agree with that one.

Lawrence.

[AlanBeckett]

What an odd idea. Assuming that the Data from the Sensor is being fed directly to the LCD where is the 'Hope'? You're looking at exactly what the Sensor is capturing.
A separate Viewfinder, as opposed to SLR, inevitable introduces Parallax errors.
My Cybershot CDC-F828 doesn't make mistakes, but then it does have Sony written on it and Carl Zeiss on the Lens.

Alan

[pwdrive]

We have a bog standard pocket digital, when I use it outside I can't see whats displayed on the screen unless I shade the screen by some means.

Lawrence.

[AlanBeckett]

You need a 'Bendy Lens' Lawrence like the Cybershot.

Alan

[pwdrive]

I said that to my other half...she slapped me..

Lawrence

[AlanBeckett]

You're incorrigible young Lawrence

Alan

[pwdrive]

If I was into it I would buy a DSLR.

Lawrence.

[Aerodyne]

Camera types: basic pocket, bridge, DSLR. A basic digital camera is fine if all you want to do is take general shots on holidays or of project work - but buy a good make such as Nikon, Canon, Panasonic, Pentax and avoid names like Polaroid. Search internet for reviews. Bridge camera offer you similar technical spec to DSLRs, with RAW imaging as an option. DSLRs can give you great quality and flexibility but require some skill to get the best out of them.

If you want excellence, though, you have to pay for it. That, as you all know, is the way of the world. Regardless of the image sensor size, any camera is only as good as its lens, so a 20MP pocket camera isn't going to take pictures that are twice as good as a 10MP one. In fact I'd go so far as to say that for general use, 10-12 MP is more than adequate. I holidayed in Canada 10 years ago with a then state of the art Olympus 5MP pocket camera and those images are still comparable with any later higher-resolution camera I've subsequently owned, not counting the DSLRs of course. Such small cameras are always limited by their inbuilt processing (saving of images in preset JPG format) plus, nowadays, the rarity of a viewfinder. Screens are very hard to see in sunlight but they do offer a good method of composing a photograph, I believe.

So, I am now on my second DSLR (Nikon, always) and also have a Pentax Optio 10MP and a Panasonic Lumix 16MP, the latter being a particularly slim and well-made camera. The DSLR takes photos in RAW format, allowing me to work with Lightroom and Photoshop to retrieve what might, at first sight, be a lost shot. The results are frankly amazing at times.

You can tell from this that I enjoy photography and have done all my life. The quality of the Nikon DSLR image is simply stunning at 21MP, using a CMOS sensor, superb Nikon lenses and RAW format.

Having bored you all rigid, I will now close by saying that you need to decide your priorities. Don't buy DSLR unless you want sparkling image quality, e.g. for possible publication.

Tony