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eteddys Jul 24, 2009

Hello,
I was right in the middle of a photo shoot today and my camera fried.  At first I thought it was a bad card but sadly  it is my camera.  I have a Fuji S7000 and I really like it.  It's an older model but takes really good pics, has a lot of settings but is still user friendly.  I am going to try to get by with my daughters camera while I save up for a new one.  I'd like to stay with a Fuji but would consider other cameras.  Any suggestions?  I want something user friendly.  If you have a camera you love or have had one you hate, I'd like to hear about them. 

Thanks!
Alison

TamiL Jul 24, 2009

Hi, I use a Canon Rebel XTI that I really love!

brightbears Jul 24, 2009

My husband uses a Sony Alpha 700 and Alpha 300 camera for his photography assignments, and makes all photos of my bears with those camera's as well. As they are Digital SLR camera's, they have removable lenses, and he uses a macro lens and a more general use zoom lens to picture my darlings.

Before, we used a Sony 'all-in-one' digital compact camera, the DSC-F717. It has a built-in high quality zoomlens with macro ability, and works just great.

The SLR's are great for very high quality images and are versatile for their ability to use different lenses and external flashes, the compactcamera's strength is its ease of use and its big depth of field (meaning even on close-ups your bear will be sharp from front to back).

My husband used to work with Minolta in the analog days, and since Sony bought that company years ago, it was easiest to just stay with them. But I am sure Fuji produced a follow up to the S7000 that you will like.

You may want to check out dpreview.com to find an extensive review.

desertmountainbear Jul 24, 2009

I use a Cannon Power Shot.  I love it, easy, but has lots of adjustments that can be made.  Not too expensive.
Joanne

bearlyart Jul 24, 2009

I agree with Bright Bears that Sony makes a very good easy-to-use digital camera.  In fact, email me if you'd like to talk about the DSC-F828 that I need to sell, LOL (listed it on eBay and the winner was fraudulent).  We "upgraded" to a Nikon D80 SLR a while back and found it to be an absolute stinker to get used to, I found myself many times wondering WHY we'd upgraded from something that took such nice pictures and was so easy to use (the Sony).   Turned out that the Nikon's pre-set factory settings were the problem, I more or less get along with it now that I've spent a few hundred hours twiddling with it but <sheesh>.  For the record, were I to get a new SLR in the distant future, it would be a Canon.  So my recommendations are simple non-SLR = Sony, SLR = Canon.

Cheers,
Kelly

eteddys Jul 24, 2009

One thing I do know, I won't be getting and SLR camera.  I don't think I need anything that sophisticated for photographing my bears.  The only other things I use my camera for is family vacations and our day trips.  I'll have my husband check out the cameras you all mentioned.  I also need a camera that takes regular batteries.  I am too irresponsible for rechargeable battery packs.    I can't even keep my cell phone charged.  I think that's why we've purchased Fuji cameras in the past.  Please keep recommendations coming!

Thanks!
Alison

artbyrjandreae Jul 24, 2009

I'm really cheap. I use a HP Photosmart (6-something I forgot the number). I bought it on eBay for under $100. It takes pretty good pictures and has a lot of options for focus, etc. 8 megapixels. It also uses regular AA batteries. I use rechargables because it really eats through them. It also has a habit of bluing things a tiny bit. I fix that in my photo editing program. You can check my blog and website to see the pics I get from it. If I had the money, I'd go for a Cannon SLR or Rebel.

peterbear Jul 24, 2009

Hi Allison,

I have just one piece of advice for you : don't get seduced by Megapixels  !  You're probably never going to use the maximum resolution, because the photo's take up enormous amounts of space and take ages to edit in Photoshop.  8 Megapixes is more than sufficient, unless you're going to enlarge your photo's to billboard size  .

Hugs,  :hug:

Peterbear

sylvia bjb Jul 24, 2009

Hi Alison,

I use a Canon Power Shot G3 and I love it. I've had it a few years and it takes great pictures and is easy to use. 4.0 mega pixels which is plenty! I also have a Nikon Coolpix which I bought because its small and fits in my handbag or pocket for trips, but its no where near as good as the Canon.

:hug:  :hug:

EvaJ Jul 24, 2009

Alison, I had a Fiji for years and loved it but it ate through batteries so decided to check out others cameras online to find the  best for what I wanted.  It has been a couple of years that I got my camera which is a Vivitar rechargable and I love it.  They are no longer being made which is a shame because it is very user friendly.  The rechargable battery holds for a long time and I take lots of pictures.  If and when I can afford it, I will buy a Canon SLR.  I had a Canon SLR before they switched over to digital and it was great.

Angela Jul 24, 2009

I use a canon powershot camera and love it. It takes 2 'aa' batteries, it uses an sd card, and it's simple to use. My uncle takes more professional photos and he likes the colour quality best from the digital slr fuji camera. He's tried some of the newest and expensive equipment out there, but still prefers his fuji. He likes the canon too, but it wouldn't be his first choice. I know canon has a great reputation for making a really good lens. For price/quality comparisons, I found the nicest cameras under $300 for what I wanted were the canon.

eteddys Jul 25, 2009

Thanks everyone.  Peter, I will try not to be seduced by mega pixels, but maybe one day I might like to advertise eTeddys on a billboard.      I think if I do get seduced by anything, it will probably be a good zoom.  I do like to get pictures of animals on my husband's crazy day trips.  My husband said he wants to take me "looking" for a camera tonight.  It will be a good way to see some of the cameras you all have told me about and figure out how much money I need to save up. 

Hugs,
Alison

Clarebear Jul 25, 2009

I have used a Panasonic Lumix with a zoom - this is a fantastic easy to use camera it was in a good price bracket and I bought it after using a Sony for many years.  I went to a camera shop armed with the features that I wanted and tried many cameras but the Lumix won out.  My husband got a canon digital camera long after me and we both prefer the panasonic (takes aa batteries).  I also use a Canon SLR but I still prefer the Panasonic but it comes down to what I am using it for.  I have taken some great shots of miniature bears using the Panasonic set on close up and using a zoom.  Good Luck with your search.

eteddys Jul 25, 2009

We went and looked at cameras this evening.  I'm even more confused!  Some of the canon's were confusing, some were really easy to figure out.  Nikon's were impossible!  Clare, I did look at a Lumix and it was easy and my hubby said they get great reviews.  I guess I'll do a little more research and probably pick between a Fuji or Canon.   My husband said Sony is too proprietary for his taste.  Whatever I buy will be so much better than what I had at a fraction of what I paid.

Hugs,
Alison

Kat Jul 25, 2009

We have a Canon 350D (Digital SLR). I love it. This model isn't in production anymore, but the new model is 450D I think, we've had ours a few years now.
This is a photo I took with it the other day. It is a Barn Owl that keeps flying over the fields at the back of our house.

brightbears Jul 25, 2009

That is a beautiful picture, and one that can only be made using a SRL camera. A compact would never be fast enough to make it in these situations. What a compact is good for, however, is creating macro images of our bears. Due to technical reasons, it is easier to make a complete sharp image of a bear with a quality compact camera than it is with a SLR. On the other hand, it is great to make sharp portraits with an unsharp background with a SLR, and the compact can not do that as well. If you are willing to learn, and need speed and quality in lots of situations (also in low light!), the SLR camera is great. Otherwise, choosing a compact digital camera is a better investment. And just as important, buy a quality tripod, it makes your life a lot easier...

edie Jul 25, 2009

Alison, I  have 3 digital cameras and they are all Canons. The one I use for my bear photos is the cheapest and is a Power Shot A430, 4 megapixel, from a few years back. I got it as it can take REALLY close photos of my miniature bears - closer than I need even as it turns out! I know there is a newer version of it now that has a few more megapixels and it might even be cheaper now - I'm thinking $100 range, and it uses 2 AA batteries.  I've never had a problem with it and am really pleased with the pics. I have a bit bigger one that is a Power Shot SX100IS that has 8 megapixels and 10X zoom that I got for taking pics of wildlife around here and it is great for that but I actually like the bear pics better on the smaller camera.

rkr4cds Jul 26, 2009

I have 2 deck-of-cards cameras, they're the only ones we use now. Even DH has stopped bringing his 45 lbs of cameras & lenses on vacation... preferring the (4 year old) camera I bequeathed to him when I moved up last year.
Yes we miss the long range zoom close-ups and top-of-the mountain:look-at-that-baby-mouse images.
But we took those years  ago....and how many more do we need? (We repainted our bedroom this week: all of those thousands of slides and just as many prints came down off the shelf... I don't think they're all going back up again!)

We now want to carry the cameras in our pockets - to capture our (grand)kids at play/B'days/fishing/riding bikes and close-ups of the bugs on the flowers in the garden, an excellent sunset and my bears.
And we need to be able to see the images on the screen as we focus! And not pay for processing while we shoot a series of 'bracketing our shots'.

The Cascio Exilm (sorry! 8 MP) is 4 years old, about $200 then, and what I like about the digital cameras in the last few years is that the User Book is now built into the camera!!
The Menu button brings it all up and you catch on pretty quickly to the settings you usually need to nightshots, Macro, lighting, white balance, etc.
The Macro close-up focus on this one is about 4" away but it has only 20 minutes of movie time and I need to insert a new card.

So I bought another camera for $200, when friends were all buying the Flip (with crap resolution, pardon my French..) 'movie' camera for $175 because they could plug that right into their computers. But that's all it could do!

This is an Olympus Stylus (also 8 MP because Consumer Reports gave it a better rating than their 10 MP model at the time) again everything built in, needing no dock to import the data to the computer as the Cascio has, just connect a cable into the side and push OK, and this has a Macro plus Super Macro, focusing down to about 3/4" away.

Now one of us is taking the still shots and the other is filming the same event and we're not missing anything.

For your purposes Alison, the only downside would be recharging. But I never remember my phone charging either, because I don't use it and forget to charge it. But - you could just as easily forget to bring extra memory cards, or have fresh or extra batteries along with you. So I don't see that as a trade-off reason to avoid the small pocket digis when there is a world of advantages balanced against this one disadvantage!!!

PLUS! I found that I no longer need a tripod! I rest my arms against the edge of my photo shelf set up (I make only minis) and can SEE when the images are hair-sharp in the almost 3" across (diagonal) screen and snap away. I can move into positions around the bear that would be impossible to attain when I was limited by the 3 standing legs.

I am so much freer and take so many more images now; literally hundreds in an hour, to save perhaps 20 great shots online. Then Photoshop those at 300 res for printing and again at 72 for online.

Photography has become almost effortless now, just knowing and bringing forth a fraction of what we learned from our SLR experiences. 

The best thing you can do is take in a (cloth?) back drop and one of your bears into every shop you visit and tell them that this is what you want to see on the monitor/screen/computer. If they're interested in selling to you, and know their equipment, and who wouldn't be interested in a Sale these days? they should allow you to set up your bear with a bit of draping to block out the background junk and use their different models to see how they perform, then plug them into a monitor to see what they look like online.  You won't understand how to use all of the functions but you should be able to take a point & shoot under their directions, even at a Best Buy or similar store.

That's the best test of what each camera will do with Your work!

edspencer Jul 27, 2009

Hi Alison,

As you know I am camera "nutcase" and someone mentioned megapixels.  In a sense that is correct because it's ALL in the lens.  The best lens produced today are Nikon (NIKKOR).  If you are shooting stills like the bears, an SLR is almost manditory.  It's impossible to get rid of the "falloff" and the "flares/ghosts" with anything other than
a SLR.  Nikon makes excellent little pocket cameras and you can get great pictures of things that won't sit still.  So if you can catch your bears running or jumping the little point-n-shoots will work fine but serious pictures for websites need an SLR.  I just sold my Nikon D300 and got a D3X, it's phenominal.  You can pick up a great D40 for about $100 more than a point-n-shoot so $$$ are about the same.  Canon makes a great camera as well but the "good picture" secret is still in the lens and Nikon can't be beat for that.  Hope this helps a little.