Cameras and Photo Gadgetry

Point and Shoot Cameras     New this year is a KILLER camera from Canon. If you are not ready for the full blown digital SLR, but want something with more heft and power than a typical point and shoot, try the Canon PowerShot SX20IS. Wow, oh wow, 12 megapixel images and movies in HD! $369.   If you want the pocket-sized camera, I still love the Canon Digital Elph ($149). I own one myself and it’s the best combination of tiny size and good picture. I haven’t seen anything come through my Point and Shoot Camera Basics class that tops this little guy.   When it comes to features, remember that more megapixels are not always better. Unless you’re going to make a billboard, 6 megapixels is plenty. Otherwise you are just buying bigger memory cards, bigger hard drives, and waiting longer to upload. The ridiculous part is that often the camera defaults to a lower megapixel rating so it appears that the card holds more images. So your 12 megapixel camera is actually shooting at 8 or less unless you change this.   Image Stabilization is pretty important on a camera that has more than 3X optical zoon (remember digital zoom is EVIL. It CROPS your pictures. It’s not a zoom at all. Turn it OFF.) Without I.S., a tiny wiggle in your hand (even in just pushing the shutter button) becomes a big movement at the extended end of a zoomed-in lens, causing motion blur.     Digital SLRs   Still, the best is going to be for me, the Canon Digital Rebel XSi ($569). I’m NOT sending you to the pricier 15 megapixel one. The 12 meg one is FINE! Really! The link is for the kit, which I don’t love, as I think the 18mm-55mm lens isn’t enough for what most people will want. Try a 28-135 lens instead.     Photo Gadgets This year when a family member asked for an MP3 player, I discovered this amazing little SanDisk gadget. It plays songs, as well as lets you view photos AND videos. Since our cameras all do little videos now, this is the perfect thing to slip in your purse or pocket. Who needs wallet photos anymore? Just load up your updated pictures into this! And best of all? Only $49.   I freely admit to being a Canon girl. Among the entry-level digital single-lens-reflex cameras, I find them the easiest to use. Nikon buries the menus and makes it difficult to make simple setting changes. But if you love Nikon, definitely the D-series are a good choice ($464 for the D3000).

Private Lessons and Classes

Fancy cameras are no good if you don’t know how to use them! Most people don’t realize that a digital point and shoot camera used in the “automatic ” setting will take WORSE pictures than a point and shoot.   For gift certificates for private lessons bought between now and Christmas, buy one hour of lessons for $65 and we’ll double it for a two-hour session.   Just call or email me and I’ll get you a cute little gift certificate.    This year I got to do so many fun lessons. Dad brought the kids to the park while Mom learned how to photograph them. We set up a little space by a window in another mom’s home where she could take portraits of her baby. I got to teach a jewelry maker how to photograph her work and a knitter how to get images up on Etsy of her products. And boy, did I do a lot of Photoshop lessons. Seems everybody wants to touch up their pictures.   Gift certificates for private lessons are good for a year.   OR! Take one of my classes at UT! I will be teaching both my beginner Point and Shoot Camera Basics and my intermediate Photography Walking Tour of UT (for both Digital SLR and P&S cameras) in March. Search for photography classes at UT Informal Classes. If you want a more in-depth series of classes, look for my friend Carlos Austin’s courses for beginning digital SLR users.

For the kids

The girls’ book on how to make balloon animals is going great! It made it all the way up to #26 for Kid Crafts on Amazon last week. We were thrilled!   Since so many people asked where to get pumps and balloons, we found a company that provides supplies to professional balloon twisters and made a little kit of the book, a pump, and 20 balloons. It’s on special through Christmas for $16.95 and use the code shipfree09 and you won’t pay shipping either!   If you would like the book signed by the little authors, you can let them know the inscription in the shipping instructions.   Check it out at Casey Shay Press.

]]> http://deannaroy.com/2009/12/2009-digital-camera-and-gadget-buying-guide/feed/ 0 http://deannaroy.com/2008/12/302/ http://deannaroy.com/2008/12/302/#comments Thu, 04 Dec 2008 23:49:26 +0000 Deanna http://www.deannaroy.com/?p=302 Here it is–my recommendation list for the best cameras, printers, photo gadgets and gifts for the holidays!

Some reminders about buying cameras online–BE CAREFUL. If a price looks too low, there’s a reason. It may be a gray market product (made for non US markets with lower standards and no warranty) or a refurbished item.

Also be suspicious of any vendor who wants you to call and confirm your order. You’re just going to have to suffer through a big spiel to buy expensive and often overpriced accessories. This is another way companies that lowball prices try to get their money back, often telling you your item is backordered or out of stock if you don’t order the extras.The following vendors are legitimate, reasonably priced, and I deal with them all the time:

www.bhphotovideo.com

www.adorama.com

www.amazon.com

I’m also a fan of Fry’s Electronics (although I know not everyone is.) And when I can, I support Precision Camera at 35th and Lamar. They will often work with you on the price if you bring in a printout. Keeping local brick & mortar stores open is important!

Okay, scroll down, see what I’ve got for you! And have a great holiday.

Point and Shoot Cameras

There are a crazy number of automatic cameras out there. It’s hard to have any clue about which one to buy. My main advice: hold the camera in your hand, turn it on, and take some shots. You can do this at local camera and electronic stores. Check the following dealbreakers:

• How long does it take to power on and be ready to take the first shot?
• How big is the LCD screen on the back?
• Is it clear and easy to change shooting modes?
• Does it have enough zoom? (OPTICAL zoom only–digital zoom is a bad bad thing made by bad, bad manufacturers and will wreck your photos if you use it.)

After another year of teaching the Digital Point and Shoot beginner’s class, I still love the Canon Digital Elph ($159). I own one myself.

Features you should not waste your money on:

I already told you about my camera options (see post below.) And the best printer.  And where to get prints.

So here’s some other ideas. I love custom photo ornaments and get them all the time. I find some of them to be great for my personal use, but I don’t use them for my clients as I feel they would be too expensive, too iffy a delivery wait for me to guarantee for Christmas, or just too much trouble.

But I’ll tell you about them!

I love these ornaments from Wal-Mart (yes, the evil empire, but yeah, I get over it.) Upload your picture and have it shipped to your nearest Wal-Mart (if you step foot in one) for free. If not, pay for shipping direct to you. I’ve bought many of them and they are beautiful!

Next, oh, those digital key chains. I mean, I love them. I bought several this year, and I can’t say for who (hopefully they don’t read my blog and figure it out). Here are the ones I ordered. They are small and cute and have a great screen luminosity. I wish they would act like a drive rather than make me use software to load the images, but I know they know that you guys would try to stick full resolution files on them, so the software saves it down to fit. Here’s the ones I got from Amazon for $25. (They keep changing the stock number and pricing slightly, so my blog post has been adjusting too.)

While I loved those, later on I saw this one with a cover on it! The screen is slightly smaller but the cover works for me as I am hard on my keys! I *hope* I’m getting one of these for Christmas! I made it *quite* clear, but sometimes boys can be, well, you know…slow. These are $20.

Another really fun thing for your pictures are photo statues. They are laser cut inside clear acrylic. They are very fun! I like the ones MPix does best. Around $16.

Okay, go shop!

Before I get carried away, I’ll cut to the chase.

Best small point and shoot digital camera:
Canon Digital Elph Line (they are all good) $250-$350 depending on model

Best starter digital SLR for manual control:
Canon Rebel Kit $500-$1000 depending on model and lens in the kit

I gave Amazon links since most people are familiar and comfortable with them. Buying digital camera equipment on the internet takes some know-how. Many companies are literally setting up a temporary online presence, putting up very low prices, and then refusing to fill orders or giving open-ended shipping dates unless you “call their salespeople” to listen to long high pressure spiels for expensive extras. Once they get too many negative reviews, they change names and start all over again.

Here are two other reputable places to buy equipment. They won’t pull any gimmicks. I buy 75% of my cameras, lenses, lights, tripods, and printing supplies from one of these two places:

 www.bhphotovideo.com

www.adorama.com

Those two sites will be within a dollar or two of each other. B&H has more selection for pros, I think, if I’m buying flashes or strobes, so I often go with them, but Adorama often has free shipping options, so in those cases I go for them. To see them quickly side by side, type in what you’re looking for at www.pricegrabber.com, just don’t get fooled by the very cheap places, which pop up as fast as the site can weed them out. Basically, if a company has lowballed a price, it is either a purchase-only-with-accessories or a gray market (non-US warranty) item. I’ve also used Tri-state and Abe’s of Maine (should they pop up for you at PriceGrabber), although I do not recommend them as highly.

If you want to go local, your options are few. I buy things at Precision Camera on Lamar at 35th whenever I can to support them, as the only other two camera stores with pro equipment shut down. We need Precision around and they will often work with you if you bring in an internet printout on a price. I buy a few things at Fry’s, especially printers, spare camera batteries, and memory cards. I will use them especially if I think I might end up returning the item. I will not buy cameras at other electronics or camera stores, as any salesperson who knows enough to be helpful will only work there about 1.2 seconds before moving up or on, and the others can pass on terrible misinformation. I’ve had terrible arguments with some of them, especially about negative issues on cameras they tout as “bonus” features–but they are settings you should not use under any circumstance, such as digital zoom or auto ISO.

If you’ve taken any of my photo classes, you’ll know my highest recommendation for getting your pictures printed is NEVER going to be anything you will buy and do at home, which is always an iffy proposition for both quality and longevity. Upload your images to be printed to www.mpix.com, which is a sister company to my professional lab. You will not believe how good your pictures look over your Target or Walgreens prints. Try it. You’ll believe me.

If you are buying a printer and plan to do pictures, first, really, don’t. But if you do, get an Epson. Yes, you have to take care of them (ALWAYS turn them off when you are done or the heads will dry out and it will stop working.) But they care about how long your prints last. The other manufacturers’ prints will often fade in six months.  Yes, months. Not exactly what you want to fill your family albums with. I bought an Epson PictureMate for 4×6 prints for my mom and she loves it. Its a wonderful little photo printer that you can carry around with you. She takes it to birthday parties, on vacation. You stick your card in, push print, and it makes your full bleed 4×6 in about 60 seconds. For 29 cents. And the print lasts 125 years according to independent industry testing.

It is CRITICAL if you are buying a point and shoot digital camera without trying it out in a store that you at least read a review of it, hopefully one with comments where people post their problems with the camera. There is nothing worse than spending several hundred dollars on a digital camera and discovering it takes ten seconds to turn on, therefore missing most any shot. My favorite review site, mainly because they review most everything, is

http://www.dpreview.com/

You can easily compare models, see when they were released, and how much the major sites are charging for it.

Whew!

I checked out the depth of field outdoors in ideal light and was astonished how little is in focus. Elizabeth’s closest eye is tack sharp, her further eye slightly off focus, and her shoulder is already quite fuzzy. Wow! But I loved how totally blurred the grass is behind her.

Indoors, in low light with window blinds slightly opened, I had no problem getting a fix on the exposure. The image was a little softer than I’d like, which was one of the reasons I got this lens, hoping to get additional sharpness since the camera wouldn’t be reaching quite so hard for a decent exposure.

But mainly I love how my camera weighs now–so light! I forget how much the zoom lens adds to it. I’ll just have to get used to framing the shot as is–I can’t get a tighter shot with a twist of the lens anymore.

Ah, the joy of new toys. My Zilker shoots start this weekend! I still have room in my schedule for more families!

First, we visited Emily at school for lunch–mmmm, pancakes!

Then we were off to Fry’s for–of course–spare battery and card for the new toy! Eliza got her pick of the little candy and toy quarter machines as we left for being sooo patient. Bouncy ball and M&Ms! (Or, as she calls them, MMMs.)

Then we waited for Emily to arrive home on the bus.

And lots of play time in the back yard!

This is the sort of exciting day we tend to lead!

Ah, my new Canon Digital Elph 550 came in last night. I got her all charged up and have been running around terrorizing my children with unending flashes.

The camera is tiny, about the size of a deck of cards. I did the important stuff first, you know, set the “turn on” sound to a bird song and the shutter click is now a dog barking. I’ll get sick of that soon enough, I am sure, but it makes the kids laugh.

Many people ask me to help them pick out a digital camera. I warn them about shutter lag, the time between when you press the button to take a picture and when it actually snaps, the uselessness of digital zoom (don’t EVER use it), and the conundrum of new cameras with higher megapixel ratings yet not necessarily taking a better picture, just a bigger file.

This particular camera, however, amazes me. Turn on the camera and it is instantly ready. Press the shutter and it shoots. I did basic shots of the girls, then started playing with the white balance to get some fun ones of still life objects. The camera also does video, so I am going to have SOOOO much fun with that.

Anyway, off to play! I’ll post anything else fun I take! But watch out! This camera is so small, I plan to take it everywhere! Nothing goes undocumented!

To celebrate I bought myself a toy I’ve wanted since last summer–the Canon Elph, a digital camera extraordinaire–7 megapixels, super high quality video capacity, pictures like I only see coming out of my $5K professional setup, and it fits in my back pocket!!! I am so excited. One of the students in my class had one and all the images we took–the window silhouette, an orange rose we pilfered from a horticulture class during the break, and even throwaway shots testing focus range were all breathtaking.

Another professional photographer friend had highly recommended it many months ago–back then it was over $500. Now I picked it up–the newest incarnation no less–for $350.

Oh, the happy camera dance commences!

And the end of this class signals my slowdown in everything. Back to a normal 10-hour work week, a regular schedule, time to play.

Whew. Thanks for all of you out there who were great about listening to me complain.

(more happy new camera dancing!!!)