Digital Camera

[Torque]

Fuji Finepix



Nikon Coolpix 990

[festus]

Fuji FinePix 6900 Zoom


Hickam AFB in the Morning


Squaddie OTR


Refueling (would have been a great pic if I'd remembered to take the book off my leg)

[Swoop]

Canon G3.  

[Dinger]

We've all got our favorites.  I've got a Nikon CP995, and am pretty happy with it.  Nikons and Canons consistently get good reviews, and it usually comes down to what features match your style.

check digital photography review or something and look for something that matches quality and the features you're looking for.

Oh, and the sigma SD-9 (or DS-9, or whatever it is): that's a different class.

The digital camera market looks something like this.

A. Consumer cameras: the point-and-shoot stuff that tops at a couple hundred bucks, marketed at the general population.
B. "Prosumer" cameras: pretty much continuous with group A., this is the higher-end stuff with fancier features and greater flexibility.
C. Digital SLRs: These are real SLR cameras (mount--or whatever they call it--  and lens).
The sigma is one of (C).  Yes, it uses a foveon CMOS sensor instead of the normal CCD, and so its 3.14 megapixel images are crisper than other CCD 3.14 megapixel images.  But it's gotten mediocre reviews, and in clarity a 12-megapixel CCD dSLR from one of the big players will kick its ass.
When they start making CMOS sensors that cost as much and have comparable resolution to CCD ones (generally, the Foveon 3 mp CMOS is comparable to a 6 mp CCD), then it'll be worthwhile.
So yeah, want to get a $5000 digital camera? great. it'll take _really cool_ pictures.

[Wanker]

Guys, I'm really ignorant about digital cameras. Do you save them off to your computer using a USB cable?

Do they come with software to organize your pics?

How much RAM is enough to get quality pics?


Thanks!

[Dinger]

yeah, most digital cameras these days have a USB cable.
But they also tend to use some sort of flash ram (except forsome of those bulky sonys that use floppy discs, zip discs or minidiscs), and you can have a separate USB reader for those.

Consumer and Prosumer cameras come with that sort of software.  The bundles vary from place to place -- some are good, some are crippleware.  Also, if you're going to buy, check out resellerratings.com before making an order.  There are some very shifty camera dealers out there who will just as soon sell you a retail camera stripped of its bundle and charge you extra for said bundle.  And that's only one of the stunts they pull.

dSLRs generally don't come with that stuff.
In any case, acquire a copy of photoshop if you can.  Nothing else comes close.

As for the size of the flash card, it depends.
My Nikon CP995 shoots 3.14 megapixel shots, I save in "Fine" Jpg Compression, for which I see no appreciable loss from TIFF mode.  "Fine" is about 1mb a shot; TIFF is 15.  so on a 256meg card, I get about 250 pictures.

But it all depends on your shooting style.  For example, if you really get into postprocessing, and you get a camera that shoots in RAW mode (dumps the CCD output straight to memory), yoiu'll be getting less shots per card.  If on the other hand, you want to shoot straight to email, you can get by with a lot less.

My advice? Find where the "Sweet Spot" is -- the card size that gets you the highest mb/$ ratio, and buy two of those.

And when shopping for a digital camera, think about your current photography interests and abilities, and buy one level above that, if you can afford it.  Digital Cameras are a great way to learn how to take pictures.

[hyena426]

Guys, I'm really ignorant about digital cameras. Do you save them off to your computer using a USB cable?

 ya there very easy to use and run:) just hook them up to usb,,open up the softwear that comes with your new cam and download your pic,, very easy to figure out,,i seen a bunch of diffrent types,,everyone one of my freinds got diffrent cams,,just dont buy a cheap one!!! dont ever get a pen cam!! junk,,lol,,you will be dissapointed,,spend 200 to 300 dollars on a nice name brand and you will be very happy

[SaburoS]

Originally posted by banana

Guys, I'm really ignorant about digital cameras. Do you save them off to your computer using a USB cable?

Yes with most of the good digital cameras. Imagine taking a family photo and 5-10 mins later actually holding the photo in your hand. With most of the better digital cameras and most of the decent photo printers, you'll have a print good enough for framing.  

You'll never go back to film again.

Do they come with software to organize your pics?

As Dinger said.
You'll want to purchase a separate dedicated, full program.

I would recommend any of the following for starting out:

Microsoft's Digital Image Pro is one of the easiest programs to use. Lowest learning curve. Only real drawback is no panoramic stitching.
Adobe Photoshop Elements is a really good program and very reasonable.
Jasc Paint Shop Photo Album is good also. Nice if you want to correct a lot of images at once. It's panoramic stitching isn't as good as Adobe's though.

There are other good programs out there but I don't have experience with them.

For advanced/professional work:
Adobe's Photoshop. The standard. Steep learning curve though because of all the features. Too expensive for most at $400. - 600. (I don't have/use this program as it's too expensive)

Good alternative is Jasc's Paintshop Pro 8.0. Around $95. - 109. Steep learning curve as well. Best deal for the money. It'll fix barrel distortions, pincussion distortions, perspective angles, man too many to list. Has a useful background eraser. Unlimited tech support.

How much RAM is enough to get quality pics?

The more, the merrier. Depends on the file sizes and quantities of images involved. Ideally, 512MB and up RAM as well as a video card w/ 64MB and up.

Also FreeMemoryPro is very helpful. Think I paid 19.95 for its license.

What type of shots are you interested in taking? How many shots at a time?
What is your total budget for the camera and accessories?
No matter what you decide on, a good tripod is a necessity.