Topic: Digital Camera suggestions?

[OOK]

I currently use a fuji E550.  Its a nice little digi camera, if everyone is standing completely still.

What I am looking for is a camera that works great in low light and can snap a picture of people moving without causing any smear.  I have messed with all the settings on the fuji to tweak it, but nothing has worked.  I guess I need something with image stabilization and good low light.  I need it for concert/shows.  I also want as high a mega pixil as possible, something that will blow a picture up to 8x10 clearly.

Any suggestions....thank JK

[Fatah Ruark (aka MIKE B)]

Do you have a budget?

To get truely good low light pictures you're going to need a digital SLR camera. Ideally with a lens that has a low F stop (like 2.. That will cost you. The lens will probably be at least $500 by itself.

If you want something a little smaller and are willing to have to take a lot of pictures to get a few good ones I would suggest the Canon S3 IS. It has a nice long zoom (12X optical, I think) and a pretty large piece of glass for a point and shoot. Also has manual capabilities. I have the S2 (previous version) and it works okay for concerts. Still at the DBT New Years shows I took about 500 pictures and came out with about 10 decent ones and none were great.

I'm planning on moving up to a Canon 30D with a Tamron 18-200 lens. Total cost is going to be about $1700 for the body and lens.

MIKE B

[BayTaynt3d]

You need a DSLR with fast lenses, which = $$$$$

[OOK]

I was kinda hoping not to spend more than 500$. but as with anything the more you spend generally the better it is, huh.  I was not looking to go the SLR root.  I want something small, dare I say stealthable.......I am not looking for pro quality, although I would love it,  just something that won't smear when I take a close up shot of someone playing the guitar or playing the drums....

My camera has a sport setting and adjustable speed shutter, I just can't get it to the point of not smearing.   I think thats the word I mean, smearing.    When I take a piture of something in motion the shutter speed is to slow and it captures the entire movement of the person causing the picture to smear.  I can't tell you how many great pictures I would have had if it wasn't for the dam smearing affect.

Are there any current pocket camera's that don't do this?

[phanophish]

I was kinda hoping not to spend more than 500$. but as with anything the more you spend generally the better it is, huh.  I was not looking to go the SLR root.  I want something small, dare I say stealthable.......I am not looking for pro quality, although I would love it,  just something that won't smear when I take a close up shot of someone playing the guitar or playing the drums....

My camera has a sport setting and adjustable speed shutter, I just can't get it to the point of not smearing.   I think thats the word I mean, smearing.    When I take a piture of something in motion the shutter speed is to slow and it captures the entire movement of the person causing the picture to smear.  I can't tell you how many great pictures I would have had if it wasn't for the dam smearing affect.

Are there any current pocket camera's that don't do this?

This really does not exist.  In order to get suficent light to the sensor in low light situations, there are physics based limitations on how small things can go.  Look at the size of even a 50/1.8 lens and you begin to appreciate the size limitations of actual optics.  Most P&S cameras don't have the high ISO performance of DSLRs and certainly don't have optics that are fast enough to reliably get good concert shots.  I'm forced to ISO 1600 @ f/2.8 all the time and even then I'm shooting at 1/30th or less sometimes.   Going to my 50/1.8 I get shutter speeds around 1/125.  Even if you hold the camera steady at 1/30, performers move and getting good shots is difficult.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F_stop

[terrapinj]

www.dpreview.com - excellent reviews and specs

[BayTaynt3d]

Yeah, P&S != no light, no flash photography. Period. You will smear with a P&S no matter what you do in these situations. Just about the only thing you can do is use something to stabilize the camera (tripod), but that will only help the stuff that's not moving to not smear. You need two things to not smear in these situations, both are mentioned above. High ISO's (like 1600+) and fast lenses (even f2.8 isn't fast enough sometimes), and you will pay bigtime for both. If you still have your heart set on P&S, then make sure to get one with the highest ISO possible, it'll probably be 400 or so, and make sure to force the ISO to use the 400 while at the show (you do this in manual mode), but it'll still be somewhat hopeless unless there is A LOT of stage lighting. Quite honestly, I've found that with P&S's, you're better off shooting little movies in the movie mode than taking stills.

[Zaphod]

I've gotten some pretty good lowlight concert shots with a Cannon SD400 with all the manual settings tweaked FWIW.

Of course the stage lighting was pretty good as well, I can post some if anyone is interested.

[it-goes-to-eleven]

This really does not exist.  In order to get suficent light to the sensor in low light situations, there are physics based limitations on how small things can go.  Look at the size of even a 50/1.8 lens and you begin to appreciate the size limitations of actual optics.

My nikon 50/1.4 was $60 and tmax at 3200 is great in ambient light

There are some very nice 1600+ speed slide and neg films.  The lenses for these cameras are pretty reasonable.. If someone just wants to take serious concert photos, they don't need to drop the $$ on a modern dslr with killer lenses. Just get your negs scanned.  You can also rent decent film gear cheap.

But...  I think digital cameras are so easy to use that people put less emphasis on learning old school photo tech. Shutter speeds and aperture, etc, still apply.  Knowing how and when you can shorten your exposure to get a salvagable dark photo instead of a useless blur, understanding color balance, etc.

[Fatah Ruark (aka MIKE B)]

Here is an example of what you can get with a $500 camera.



This is from my Canon S2 IS, which cost about $400 a few years ago. This is the BEST picture I took over 2 nights (about 5+ hours of concert time). As you can see it's pretty grainy and there is some blurring. If your subject is 100% still AND you have a really steady hand this is about the best you will do. I consider this fine for memories but not worth printing.

I think the S3 IS is about $400 now. I would not call it 100% stealthable, but it's one of the best small, non-slr cameras for low light simply because it has a large lens for a point and shoot. I have gotten it into shows when they were searching, but more often than not I had to put it back in the car. One nice thing about it is that sometimes when photography is allowed, but no "pro" equipment is allowed you can just walk in with it. Still it's not going to give you anything close to professional results.

So, I would check out the Canon S3 IS to see if you think it's too large. Otherwise I would save your money and just not take pictures. There may be some other options but the cigarette pack sized cameras are all going to be pretty bad.

If you decide to ever go the SLR way, the Canon Digital Rebel XT is a sick camera for the money. You could possibly sneak it in if you took the body and lens in separately, or hidden underneath some recording gear.

MIKE B

[momule]

I'm pretty happy with my Kodak Z700.  I gave about $125 off ebay for it new. 
here are just a few pic's from waka last year.
http://www.kctaper.com/waka_Oteil_pg1.html

[Jamos]

I'm pretty happy with my Kodak Z700.  I gave about $125 off ebay for it new. 
here are just a few pic's from waka last year.
http://www.kctaper.com/waka_Oteil_pg1.html

Outdoor and indoor shooting are completely different balls of wax.

My 5 year old 4MP Olympus Camedia takes brilliant outdoor shots, but indoor it is severely lacking...

just my .02

[phanophish]

As JMOS said daylight shooting you can get great results from a P&S.  Night & Indoors is a different ballgame.

This is from my Nikon D70 and some of my various lenses, the "slowest" are 2.8.  Check out Noiseware for high ISO noise reduction, it is amazing.

This actual image is from my 85mm f/1.8.  Shot was ISO 1600, f/2.2, 1/320.

Jeff Coffin w/ The Flecktones @ Wakarusa 2006.

[flintstone]

The Fujifilm F30 is great for low light situations.
Check out the review here:
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/fujifilmf30/

I got one a few months ago and it has replaced my
Nikon digital SLR as my favorite walkaround camera.

The F30 has just been discontinued in favor of the F31fd,
so you can find it discounted to less than $250.

Flintstone

[momule]

couple of night shots (with a flash) keep in mind its a $125 camera as well