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> I just got AU$250 in birthday money so I am now in a position to buy a
> usable digital camera (what I have is no good for lego since it doesnt • have
> a macro mode).
> So, I want to know what camera to buy with my AU$250 (plus some of my own
> money).
Given that price is probably important to you, I would suggest scanning the
sales and specials for whatever cameras are cheap at local camera shops,
Harvey Norman, OfficeWorks, etc, and buy one that meets these needs:
Pixels: I have a 2 Megapixel camera and find that is more than enough pixels
for any practical Lego purpose. Despite that, most cameras in the shops
today have 3 Mpixels as standard, more than enough. Problems people claim to
have with digital photography are rarely due to the number of pixels but
more to do with lighting and the limitations of the flash in any compact
camera. Good lighting makes good photos and this is as true today with a
digital camera as it was with an old Box Brownie. Having lots more pixels is
only helpful if you intend to print your photos very large (e.g. posters).
Unless you have a printer capable of printing larger than A4, I doubt you
probably need more pixels. Since most Lego photos end up on the WWW, if
anything, you will find you have to reduce the size and quality of your
photos to make the image files small enough for you to upload and others to
download.
Zoom. Optical zoom is the only thing to consider, digital zoom is virtually
useless (unless you like grainy photos). Most digital cameras in your kind
of price range are likely to have 3x optical zoom, which is probably fine
for your Lego needs (since your Lego is unlikely to be located 100s of
metres away). Beware cameras saying "10x zoom" without spelling out if it is
optical or digital, often they multiply the optical zoom by the digital
zoom. Only the optical zoom matters.
Macro mode. Yeah, you want this, but almost all digital cameras now have it.
The main question here is just how close to your Lego can you get with your
camera. Obviously the closer the better, but even so, unless you are wanting
to photograph the part numbers in glorious detail, I suspect any kind of
macro mode will suffice.
Other considerations. Check basic compatibility with your computer, e.g. do
you have a USB port (or whatever is needed for uploading from the camera),
do you have enough disk space to install the software, the right operating
system, etc. While there are other usability considerations (how intuitive
is it to use etc, how much can you override the auto settings etc) are
probably less important to you than the price.
Given the quality of digital cameras these days and the falling prices, I
think a little bit of patient watching for specials or minor haggling should
get you a suitable camera with your birthday money.
Re Paul's comments on tripods. Tripods are nice but you can probably set up
your camera on a bean bag on a kitchen stool as a cheaper alternative. Also,
many people have a tripod in their cupboard that goes unused 364 days of the
year; you may find a neighbour or friend can easily lend you one. It's
probably better to spend all the money you have now to get a suitable camera
you can, and buy accessories like tripods if you decide you need them with
the next lot of birthday money.
Kerry
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: good camera to get?
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| (...) And, as I found, a much more frustrating one as you muck around with phone books, boxes and the like to get the relative heights correct, then muck around trying to get the camera back into its correct position on the beanbag when you press (...) (20 years ago, 2-Apr-04, to lugnet.publish.photography, lugnet.loc.au, FTX)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | good camera to get?
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| I just got AU$250 in birthday money so I am now in a position to buy a usable digital camera (what I have is no good for lego since it doesnt have a macro mode). So, I want to know what camera to buy with my AU$250 (plus some of my own money). Any (...) (20 years ago, 28-Mar-04, to lugnet.publish.photography, lugnet.loc.au)
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