iflywituez
12-10-2005, 03:36 PM
I am a recent grad from the University of Kansas in the graphic design department and am about to purchase my first digital camera. This has taken me a really long time to settle on which one I would like to purchase and I have not really been able to settle with a choice. I am backpacking through europe this summer so I am highly considering a purchase that would cater to light traveling although since it is my first and only digital camera purchase I will be making I would like to get a camera that is good enough to use (if needed) for graphic design projects or studies. I have copied and pasted the general questions i should answer so hopefully that could help guide someone in giving me an answer. I haven't gone to an electronic store to ask any employees because i do not trust their judgement but hopefully with the information i fill out below someone will be able to give me an unbiased non comission based answer. Thank you for your help here are my specifications:
Budget
400 give or take $150
Size
thinking that small/thin would be best for light travel pull out of my pocket type situation large lcd is a must i love the 2.5" screens
Features
How many megapixels will suffice for you? at least 5 preferably more
* What optical zoom will you need? (None, Standard = 3x-4x, Ultrazoom = 10x-12x, Other - Specify) not sure whatever would give me good options for all the travel pics that I would want to take. I was hoping someone with experience in this category of travel would be able to give me a better idea of what kind of zoom i would want to be working with.
* How important is “image quality” to you? 9-10=very important although I dont think i will be printing out mass amounts of large format pictures i take unless i fall in love with a few that could be printed out large and framed (not really sure)
Do you care for manual controls? most likely although i would prefer to rely on auto controls to get me decent looking pictures in a short amount of time but maybe if I became really familar with different types of settings that I can manually adjust it would become more of a second nature. (i have taken a intro to photo class and know very very basic levels of f-stop and apature but not enough to know what settings i would need to use in any given situation unless I experimented a lot with it)
General Usage
* What will you generally use the camera for? thinking mainly with friends general personal use definately need/want it for travel pics in europe and some graphic design projects
* Will you be making big prints of your photos or not? if i get any that look cool enough to be framed and hung on the wall
Will you be shooting a lot of indoor photos or low light photos?
not sure most likely with friends but again maybe someone who has backpacked would be able to help me out on a more accurate answer to this question.
Will you be shooting sports and/or action photos?
most likely not but i do have a dog that I would take pictures of and i have noticed it is hard to get him to sit still enough to get a clear picture of him. He is also a black dog so a lot of the time the picture is difficult to make out an accurate depiction of how cute he actually is.
Miscellaneous
Are there particular brands you like or hate?
i dont think so. i have been looking closely at the sony cybershot aka what I like to call the aerosmith camera but my boyfriend has a different sony cybershot model that I think is a piece of crap.
Are there particular models you already have in mind?
lightly looking at the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX9 and the new sony cybershot dsc t9 but have been waiting for the newest updated review to come out tomorrow.
(If applicable) Do you need any of the following special features? (Wide Angle, Image Stabilization, Weatherproof, Hotshoe, Rotating LCD) definately need image stabilization and wide angle could be cool for scenery shots but doesnt seem to be a feature on most of the cameras i have been looking at.
furthermore i am not opposed to getting a larger camera which in my mind would be more on the technical side but for some reason I am really attracted to the ultra-slim feature of sliding it into my pocket and being able to point and shoot immediately, however size of the camera would compromise any sort of quality especially at the price im willing to pay i would not want to go that route.
one last feature that i thought might be good to consider would be battery life seeing as i will be living out of a hostel and on trains for the majority of my trip i would hate to get a camera with short battery life i think it would be really inconvient.
I hope this helps someone form an opinion about what camera i should purchase as i really have no clue. and anyone that has been in my similar situation any helpful pointers on traveling and what extras are a must would be helpful. thank you for your time.
Maria
ps i use a mac
Budget
400 give or take $150
Size
thinking that small/thin would be best for light travel pull out of my pocket type situation large lcd is a must i love the 2.5" screens
Features
How many megapixels will suffice for you? at least 5 preferably more
* What optical zoom will you need? (None, Standard = 3x-4x, Ultrazoom = 10x-12x, Other - Specify) not sure whatever would give me good options for all the travel pics that I would want to take. I was hoping someone with experience in this category of travel would be able to give me a better idea of what kind of zoom i would want to be working with.
* How important is “image quality” to you? 9-10=very important although I dont think i will be printing out mass amounts of large format pictures i take unless i fall in love with a few that could be printed out large and framed (not really sure)
Do you care for manual controls? most likely although i would prefer to rely on auto controls to get me decent looking pictures in a short amount of time but maybe if I became really familar with different types of settings that I can manually adjust it would become more of a second nature. (i have taken a intro to photo class and know very very basic levels of f-stop and apature but not enough to know what settings i would need to use in any given situation unless I experimented a lot with it)
General Usage
* What will you generally use the camera for? thinking mainly with friends general personal use definately need/want it for travel pics in europe and some graphic design projects
* Will you be making big prints of your photos or not? if i get any that look cool enough to be framed and hung on the wall
Will you be shooting a lot of indoor photos or low light photos?
not sure most likely with friends but again maybe someone who has backpacked would be able to help me out on a more accurate answer to this question.
Will you be shooting sports and/or action photos?
most likely not but i do have a dog that I would take pictures of and i have noticed it is hard to get him to sit still enough to get a clear picture of him. He is also a black dog so a lot of the time the picture is difficult to make out an accurate depiction of how cute he actually is.
Miscellaneous
Are there particular brands you like or hate?
i dont think so. i have been looking closely at the sony cybershot aka what I like to call the aerosmith camera but my boyfriend has a different sony cybershot model that I think is a piece of crap.
Are there particular models you already have in mind?
lightly looking at the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX9 and the new sony cybershot dsc t9 but have been waiting for the newest updated review to come out tomorrow.
(If applicable) Do you need any of the following special features? (Wide Angle, Image Stabilization, Weatherproof, Hotshoe, Rotating LCD) definately need image stabilization and wide angle could be cool for scenery shots but doesnt seem to be a feature on most of the cameras i have been looking at.
furthermore i am not opposed to getting a larger camera which in my mind would be more on the technical side but for some reason I am really attracted to the ultra-slim feature of sliding it into my pocket and being able to point and shoot immediately, however size of the camera would compromise any sort of quality especially at the price im willing to pay i would not want to go that route.
one last feature that i thought might be good to consider would be battery life seeing as i will be living out of a hostel and on trains for the majority of my trip i would hate to get a camera with short battery life i think it would be really inconvient.
I hope this helps someone form an opinion about what camera i should purchase as i really have no clue. and anyone that has been in my similar situation any helpful pointers on traveling and what extras are a must would be helpful. thank you for your time.
Maria
ps i use a mac