What's a good camera that...?

Question

Does anyone have any suggestions for a 'good' camera that takes very clear, 'as your eye sees it' photos, can be set to a shutter speed that makes it difficult to get a blurry photo, and has a zoom that isn't terribly grainy?

I have a basic understanding of photography. If there is such a thing. I realise shutter speed depends on the lighting and the lens, and I realise digital zoom is pretty much the shittiest ever and gives you the photos with the most noise. I suppose instead of 'basic understanding', I should say I've well-researched it, and I've always been interested. I've had a cheap little Panasonic Lumix DMC-F1 for years now, and although it's okay for 'hey let's take a photo of this it looks cool' casual pictures, I definitely need something better if I'm going more serious.

Answer 1

I have an Olympus digital SLR with interchangeable lenses. It takes the best pictures ever. You can change the lenses and focus in on pretty much anything as well as take wide pictures of the sky (moon, sun etc). Email me and I will send you pictures if you like. It's a fairly expensive camera but every bit worth the price.

Answer 2

there are a lot of good cameras out there, but since film cameras and digital cameras are very different from our eyes, there is rarely such a thing "as your eye sees it" (or what you see is what you get). There bound to be something different from the result of the camera and your eyes - however insignificant it is.

But of course, most camera took a good picture if you know how to use it.

So you understand shutter speed - which is good. But it is also important to understand that the best shutter speed depended on the light condition and the lens itself - so even though a camera are able to take a picture at a fast shutter speed, you might not be able to get a good result when you take it on a dark alleys/indoor.

Most zoom camera has two different zoom type - optical zoom and digital zoom. At any rate stay away from using digital zoom. Even during extreme zoom with optical zoom, slower lens tends to capture picture darker than usual and therefore the camera may compensate to a higher ISO which in turns means more noise.

My suggestion for you would be to learn more about photography - and experiment on yourself.

Answer 3

All of the major brands are good. Choose a brand that appeals to you. Then you have to think about getting a spare battery, what size memory card, if you want an extended warranty, how much you can afford, what size zoom, if you want manual controls, the size of the camera, finding a reliable place to purchase it, and the list goes on and on and on.......

The first thing to realize is that almost any digital camera will take good pictures. If more people would read the manual more than once, they would be able to take better pictures. Usually, the person assumes it is the camera when it could be them not knowing exactly what to do. Just give yourself more photographic knowledge by doing more reading on the internet.

I really believe buying a camera is an individual choice.
The person needs to read alot of reviews on cameras so they can decide on the features that they really want and need.
Go to the store and hold them so you can see if they feel comfortable in your hands. If possible, take some pictures in the store to check the quality of the 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 4

The human eye is constantly scanning the scene before it. As it pauses briefly on an element in the scene that element is in focus. The camera lens doesn't - can't - do that. Depending on where we aim it and the f-stop we choose the camera simply records the scene. Choose a sufficiently small f-stop with an 18mm wide-angle lens and the entire scene appears to be in focus. Choose a large f-stop with a 50mm lens and the in focus subject will be isolated against a blurred background.

Correct exposure is a product of light, ISO, f-stop and shutter speed. All are dependent upon one another. Change one and they all change.

Lets look at a hypothetical example, in bright daylight, using ISO 100 and the Aperture Preferred setting (we control the f-stop, the camera controls the shutter speed.

f2 @ 1/1000
f2.8 @ 1/500
f4 @ 1/250
f5.6 @ 1/125
f8 @ 1/60
f11 @ 1/30
f16 @ 1/15
f22 @ 1/8

All eight of the above exposures are IDENTICAL. Each will give exactly the same image. Yes, there will be a quality difference as we go from f5.6 to f11. This is simply a product of lens design since lenses are at their optimum within that f-stop range. Yes, we will see more Depth of Field (DOF) from f5.6 to f22. The exposures are still IDENTICAL.

Change the ISO to 200 and:

f2 @ 1/2000
f2.8 @ 1/1000
f4 @ 1/500
f5.6 @ 1/250
f8 @ 1/125
f11 @ 1/60
f16 @ 1/30
f22 @ 1/15

Again, all eight of these exposures are IDENTICAL - and they are IDENTICAL to the first eight. See above for comments on image quality and DOF.

If you doubt this then test it. Put your camera on a tripod, set it to Aperture Preferred and focus on an evenly lit subject. Use your entire f-stop range at ISO 100 and then at 200.
Yes, I'm well aware that modern cameras have electronic "stepless shutters" so your shutter speed values may vary slightly. Record the shutter speed at each f-stop and see how close it is to 1/2 of the previous speed as you stop down from f2 to f2.8 to f4, etc. Show your results in here.

Answer 5

Well you might think of my camera. The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H2. 6 megapixels, 12X optical zoom. Excellent 8X10 print.