What kind of Camera do I need?

Question

I have an interest in doing rail photography, I asked this similar question several months ago but forgot to mention that I am a college student and I cannot afford a 2000+ dollar whiz bang camera. I would like a camera with a good enough zoom and good enough picture quality to take good rail pictures.

Answer 1

The ultra zoom class of digicam will give you lots of flexibility to get closeups of the equipment and wide angles of the facilities.

To keep costs down, look for an older model (or even a used camera if you have a source that you trust).

You can get one of the following 2005 models for around $300 plus memory card:

Sony H1, Canon S1 or S2, Panasonic FZ5, Fuji S5000

There are also some Kodak and Olympus older ultra-zoom models for $250 or less, but they do not have Image Stabilization so you would need a tripod to take long range zoom shots.

Good Luck

Answer 2

Those that suggested a wide angle camera are right. However all of the superzooms mentioned don't include anything wider than 36 or 37mm effective.

There aren't too many inexpensive cameras that go out to 28mm. I like the Panasonic FX01 for a compact.

But- short of going the DSLR route- If you can find something like the venerable Minolta A2 on the used market for $300-$400 that is truly an excellent instrument- the last of the true prosumers, with more features and controls than you can shake a tripod at.

Answer 3

It seems to me that you would like very wide angle as well as a lot of zoom as well as a decent amount of pixels. My daughter just bought a Canon Powershot S2 IS and it might work for you. It has 12x optical zoom; 6 mm to 72 mm (35 mm equivalent 36 - 432); and 5.3 megapixels. If you want to blur the background, the maximum aperture is f:2.7 (wide) and f:3.5 (tele). This ought to get it done. If you want crisp detail throughout, let's just say that won't be a problem with a digital point and shoot. You can do everything from going full wide and laying down on the tracks to get the whole frame in focus or standing up and using as much tele as you want and it will still probably all be in focus.

This camera costs about $350 and you'll need a memory card to go with it. I suggest a fast memory card to avoid frustration and recommend something like a 1 GB Sandisk Ultra II, which is quite adequate for a 5 MP camera. You can get one for well under $40, I am sure.

Answer 4

It deffinitly sounds like you need a digital SLR, although their price can jump all the way to like 7k for just the body, it can also go the other way. Entry level DSLRs (digital slrs) begin around 500 dollars and go to about 999 before they start getting really complex. since the lenses on a SLR camera are interchangable for any other SLR lense that you can buy later, the zoom and field of view is really up to you, the lense that comes with the camera is great for taking any kind of picture although the zoom is almost nonexistant. lenses start around 150 dollars and are available at pretty much any photo store. lens upgrades enable u to zoom farther, take wider angled shots or both depending on the lens you get. i hope you find the one you need!!

Answer 5

Even though I'm only 14 I know what camera you should use because I have been studying about a lot of cameras what they do, what's inside them and how they work and all that stuff. You should go with A High-end fixed lens camera because it usually has a zoom lens and many of the exposure and focus controls that are found on SLR cameras.

Answer 6

if thats the case, try look around for prosumer digital camera (not DSLR). example would be nikon's coolpix 8800 or 8700 or canon powershot S3 IS.