What kind of camera to purchase?

[Warren_L]

The camera that we have is a 3.3 megapixel. We weren't able to blow up our pics without making them blurry. Someone on our last dive trip had a D70 (I think it's a 7 or 8 mp). I figure that soon there will be 10mp (if there aren't already) and we plan on keeping this camera for a long time, so if we buy a good one now, we will be satisfied with it much longer. She didn't even really know how to work the camera, but her pics were so much sharper than ours. We had some great shark photos that we were hoping to frame, but weren't able to do so. We'd like to take photos that we can blow up to at least 8X10. So what brands do you guys recommend?

The D-70 is a 6 Mpix camera, which is what I have. Love the quality of the photos I'm getting. And nikon is soon releasing (much anticipated anyway) the D200, which is a 12 Mpix camera. But keep in mind that the number of mpix is not necessarily a conclusive indicator of image quality. My D70 is a 6 mpix camera and my Oly 5050 is a 5 mpix camera. When I compare images side by side, the D70 blows away my C5050. And not because of the extra 1 mpix. The quality of the sensor plays a big factor between camera models.

 

[Chad_Ordelheide]

I'll second Alcina. I have used a Canon A80 over the last year. They take great pictures, and have good manual settings.Like every camera there is a learning curve to U/W Photos. I would look at the new A620! It has 7.1MP which is nice but I also like the movie modes that are offered!! Check out the forum "Canon Corner" if your interested!!

 

[LavaSurfer]

The camera that we have is a 3.3 megapixel. We weren't able to blow up our pics without making them blurry. Someone on our last dive trip had a D70 (I think it's a 7 or 8 mp). I figure that soon there will be 10mp (if there aren't already) and we plan on keeping this camera for a long time, so if we buy a good one now, we will be satisfied with it much longer. She didn't even really know how to work the camera, but her pics were so much sharper than ours. We had some great shark photos that we were hoping to frame, but weren't able to do so. We'd like to take photos that we can blow up to at least 8X10. So what brands do you guys recommend?

There are so many variables to look at that this is a science in and of itself.
You stated you could not get good 8x10's from a 3MP. There are several reasons this might have occured frm bad focus to small sensor size and a whole array of issues in between.

Here is a web site that might help you.
http://www.bobatkins.com/photography/digital/size_matters.html

Having more pixels helps but its not everything. companies are packing more and more into smaller sensors and thats not always a good thing.

Also, my 8MP will print a crystal clear 2x3 foot and can go larger with some very minor distortion. I cannot think of one reason why someone needs larger than that unless its for professional purposes.

Any 3MP, as I stated before and the attached article verifies can produce acceptable 8x10s.

Here are the features I find exremely valuable and they may not apply to you
1- Manual WB
2- Manual Focus
3- Manual Shutter and Apperature settings
4- Rapid response when I press
5- Long Batery Life
6- Common Media with other devices
7- Flash upgrades to hardware
8- Sports Mode
9- ISO 100,200,400 minimum
10- Raw Format
11- lots of Optical zoom 4x or better Currently I have 8X in my OLY 720

Digital zoom is useless and distorts pictures. Leave it alone or ruin pictures. its that simple. If you want to zoom digital, use your computer and crop and zoom. The algorithms are better in Photo Shop and the likes.

I may have missed a few but I hope this helps

 

[OSUscubagirl]

Chad, you recommended the A620...I was looking at some of the specs and I noticed that it only does jpeg...my question is, won't that limit the ability to enlarge photos? I've been reading that several people recommend shooting in RAW????

 

[alcina]

RAW is a great tool. It allows much more creative control over your images. Basically RAW allows you to decide all of the settings that the camera would usually decide for you - saturation, white balance etc.

You might get some benefit in blowing up an image shot in RAW...this will depend on how much work you need to do to a jpeg. In a nutshell...the biggest benefit in RAW is post-processing...the camera doesn't throw away any data so you have more to work with than in a jpeg. For a large number of images, this may not be essential...ymmv. RAW isn't a substitute for getting the image as close to "right" as possible, though.

If you take a good photo and use your software well then you shouldn't have a problem enlarging to 8x10 or even larger.

FWIW - while I was overseas recently my hubby needed to blow up a few of my shots to 28x21" for display purposes. He used the wrong file - jpegs that had been reduced in quality (think Save for Web) and size for another purpose. The posters look great. Could they look better from the larger file? Probably, but these are surprisingly nice - I had no idea that could be done. Two images were from my 5MP Oly 5050 and one was a fairly heavily edited shot from my trusty Canon A70 3.2MP.