I need an all-around good for taking pictures of damaged roofs (but also basic exterior of houses)?

Question

I'm a home inspector

I take pictures of the inside and outside of houses. I'd like something compact with image stabilizaiton.

I'm tired of taking 10 pictures of a damaged roof because either my hand shakes or whatnot. I want to take one picture and be out there.

I'd like to pay under 200 dollars, but I will spend more.

Answer 1

I really believe buying a camera is an individual choice.
The person needs to read alot of reviews on cameras and learn as much as they can from the internet.
Go to the store and hold them and try them to see what they feel like and how they take pictures.
I can only give a suggestion of what to look for in a new digital camera.
Good Luck

my suggestion
go to yahoo shopping
digital cameras
digital camera GUIDE
be sure to check titles on the left side
the guide should answer your questions

Answer 2

There are three choices here:

- A Fujifilm camera, with a good, large sensor that will allow you to use high ISO sensibilities (thus allowing the camera to use faster shutter speeds, fast enough to prevent motion blur due to camera shake) without getting too much noise/grain. Check the Fujifilm FinePix F31fd; if it's too expensive, look for the F30; if still too expensive, then the F40fd, and then the F20.

- A Nikon camera, the best one available for 200 dollars, and obviously with VR (optical stabilization). Why Nikon? Because, as well as the VR stabilization some of them have, most have a function called “BSS” (“Best Shot Selector”) that will automatically take 10 pictures in a row, then analyze them, and automatically choose the sharpest one and discard the rest, effectively giving you around 1 additional step of “stabilization”, maybe a little more, to add to the usual 2 steps gained with the actual stabilization system. The point is, with this function, you don't need to make 10 pictures and then manually select the best: the camera does it for you, with no hassle. You just press the button.

- Since Fujifilm cameras doesn't usually have real, mechanical stabilization (a few recently announced do have it, like the F50fd, but it hasn't been reviewed yet, so it's still unknown if it's as good as it sounds), and Nikon cameras on their part aren't exactly the best in either optical quality or ISO performance, you may want to settle with either Canon or Panasonic cameras. Panasonic ones have usually better quality optics, but poorer ISO performance, so that leaves you with Canon, which has a few cameras with optical stabilization and a decent enough ISO performance, certainly not as good as Fuji's, but still decent. Check out the SD700 IS or SD800 IS (the new SD850 IS will probably be too expensive), and if they're still way too expensive for you, look for either the PowerShot A570 IS or PowerShot A710 IS models, both a little bigger than the SD models, but cheaper and somewhat better.

Below there are some reviews of cameras that might interest you:

Answer 3

Check the Sept. 2007 issue of Shutterbug magazine for a review of five 10 megapixel digicams. You can also access it at shutterbug.com.

Answer 4

Use flash.