which 7 megapixel to buy??

[Uncle Pug]

CAPX28... a friend printed some of my photos off at 13x17 and I've printed off a bunch at 8.5x11 and have them in my office. I gave some to another friend and he just spent $$$ to have them framed for his home. They are stunning... and they were only shot with a simple PnS fully automatic 5 megatpixel Pentax.

Another friend is a professional sports photographer and he just purchased a small PnS full auto 7 meg Nikon for having fun underwater and he is getting great shots!

Unless you are a photographer and really get off on settings and stuff I would say don't worry about getting a camera that does more than auto. If I were to buy another camera today I would get the Fuji F10. But I think I'll wait until tomorrow.

 

[LavaSurfer]

Make sure you take a look at the Olympus EVOLT E300.
I picked one up and its a great camera.
The Housing will cost you an arm, leg and your first born for any camera.
The evolt comes with two lenses and the battery life is out of this world
My last trip to Hawaii entailed 15 gigs of pictures, ya I love taking photoes, and I never charged the thing one time. Its a great camera and the price is right in there with the rebel.

OK what i really want to know is what is the diff in price between say an Oly 8080 and a Canon Dig Rebel. I hear all this talk that SLRs are soo expensive but really they are not, you can get one for under $1000 no problem. I am thinking, but not really sure, that an 8080 or something is probably pretty similar in price.

If you want to grow into a camera get the low end SLR, that way you don't have to put up with the slllllloooooowwwwww shutter that the 8080 has (try it on super macro where i have seen people want to destroy the camera because of missed mandarin fish shots due to slloooooowwwww shutter lag)

D70 or Canon Dig Rebel in Ike housing with one zoom and 1 macro lens compared to 8080 or similar in Ike housing can't be that much of a difference price wise cuz i know 8080 is rather expensive.

Do yourself a favour and go SLR cuz the consumer cams just kill soo many shots with shutter lag.

My 2 cents
Mike

 

[OE2X]

Another friend is a professional sports photographer and he just purchased a small PnS full auto 7 meg Nikon for having fun underwater and he is getting great shots!

That would be me. Hey topside I shoot with Nikon F5's and film. I'm about to convert over to the D2X because my film and processing bills average about $15K per year. I have an Aquatica housing for one of my F5's along with strobes. It's a royal pain to push it through the water. Since I dive a lot with UP and he has taken to the photo thing, I thought I would try my hand at it. I bought a Nikon 7900 7 meg PnS. To be truthful I could probably get better shots with my F5, but my fun ratio would go way down. Sometimes I just want to dive. Bottom line is that this little camera does well enough for my needs. Underwater, I'm a diver first and a photographer second. If you really want to be serious about photography then by all means get the big camera and housing, but if you want to have fun diving - well the PnS is a great choice.

 

[alcina]

UP - who did you use for printing?

 

[Uncle Pug]

Snowbear's mother printed off the 11X17 and I printed off the 8.5X11.

 

[alcina]

Thanks, that probably won't help me

 

[Mike Veitch]

That would be me. Hey topside I shoot with Nikon F5's and film. I'm about to convert over to the D2X because my film and processing bills average about $15K per year. I have an Aquatica housing for one of my F5's along with strobes. It's a royal pain to push it through the water. Since I dive a lot with UP and he has taken to the photo thing, I thought I would try my hand at it. I bought a Nikon 7900 7 meg PnS. To be truthful I could probably get better shots with my F5, but my fun ratio would go way down. Sometimes I just want to dive. Bottom line is that this little camera does well enough for my needs. Underwater, I'm a diver first and a photographer second. If you really want to be serious about photography then by all means get the big camera and housing, but if you want to have fun diving - well the PnS is a great choice.

Wow, must say i am truly shocked to hear you are still shooting film in your business. Don't get me wrong, i love film and still shoot my Nik V and 15mm underwater all the time. However, in your business i would think DIg would be a must to get photos into publishers etc pronto just to compete with the others.

And just think how many lenses you will be able to buy with money saved from processing...nice!

 

[hdtran]

Ya I am not intrested in cover art either . I would like to make some larger prints put htat is it. THe pics definatly loook good, I especially like the shot of the ray buried in the sand. well if i actually learn how to use the camera hopefully i can get some pics as good as yours. I would definatly be happy with that. Since i know the s70 is capable of it, its just a matter of me learning.

I think i will buy one tomorrow. (and i KNOW i can get the s70, unlike the f810)

Just curious how much experience with photography have you had?? and was most of that experiance before or with the s70??

bye the way good info on last post as far as to how you did the pics and the diffrent setting you used.


THanks

You know, my sense of composition sucks, but my camera takes great pictures

About 25 yrs ago, I 'inherited' a semiautomatic SLR, which I used for backpacking & 'action' shots. After about 5-10 yrs, I switched to a zoom point-and-shoot. About 5-10 yrs ago, I switched to digital for family snapshots. I 'upgraded' to the S70 mostly as a compromise between wanting a smaller camera, but also wanting a good lens. The smaller (fits easily in a shirt pocket) camera don't have as good optics. The bigger ones have better optics, but are bigger :11:

If you constantly take pictures, you'll get to know your camera (regardless of the brand), and how to optimize the exposure in just a few weeks. Digital is really cheap (hard disk or CD-R runs about $1/GB), so there's no excuse not to practice. Composition is something you also need to practice (but I don't).

Now, if I can find some slave strobe parts on e-bay

Good luck & have fun!

 

[alcina]

Ryan DOES have the 810 in stock. There are rumours that reputable camera houses do too (B&H etc).
www.reefphoto.com
Ryan@ReefPhoto.com

 

[RonFrank]

That would be me. Hey topside I shoot with Nikon F5's and film. I'm about to convert over to the D2X because my film and processing bills average about $15K per year. I have an Aquatica housing for one of my F5's along with strobes. It's a royal pain to push it through the water. Since I dive a lot with UP and he has taken to the photo thing, I thought I would try my hand at it. I bought a Nikon 7900 7 meg PnS. To be truthful I could probably get better shots with my F5, but my fun ratio would go way down. Sometimes I just want to dive. Bottom line is that this little camera does well enough for my needs. Underwater, I'm a diver first and a photographer second. If you really want to be serious about photography then by all means get the big camera and housing, but if you want to have fun diving - well the PnS is a great choice.

I am NOT a full time pro, but have done enough professional photography that I could be. That said my latest purchase was NOT a new lens, or body, but rather the Canon S70.

These camera's can really produce the goods, IF the user is aware of the limitations. I have to agree 100% with O2X, and go a step further, and say the same applies Top Side (which is were I (and most everyone) does the most shooting.

I have not even got my S70 UW (no point here in Denver). But regardless of if one has the ability of blowing up an image to 16x20", and having it published, there is a place for just having a camera period without carrying a suitcase.

One of my favorite and most used quotes is: "The best camera is the one I have with me". That says a LOT about how I feel about the S70. I delivers the quality to make high end photographs in many situations, but the fact that I can carry it everywhere is priceless. Granted, I can carry my F4s, or D1x everywhere, but what a pain.