Ok. I need you Railfans help. I want to get myself a good Digital Camera. The problem is,the Megapixels. What would be the best in Megapixel wise? 1MP? 2MP? 3MP? And so on. I was thinking of a 5MP. Help! Is there a web site out there that can
give me an idea? Thanks,Allan.
It depends what you want to do. If you’re planning on just posting on the web, a 2MP would be fine. If you want to print pictures, you’ll have to decide how big you want to go.
The upper limits of my D60 is about 20x30 with the very best Canon lenses in front of it. 5MP could probably do a decent 16x20, assuming the optics were up to it.
There’s more to sensors than MP, though. Ultimately, the resolution is tied to your MP count, but overall image quality depends on pixel pitch, microlenses, the camera’s (or computer program’s if you shoot RAW) ability to process your picture cleanly, the lens in front of the camera, etc. etc.
I would suggest heading over to DPReview (www.dpreview.com) and checking out some of their reviews. Phil does an excellent job of reviewing the camera’s features, image quality, comparisons versus other cameras of the same class, etc. If that’s not enough, the forums over there are simply full of excellent photographers from all over the world that can add their wisdom…
Good luck.
Buy the best camera you can afford.
Many of us use a DSLR but you can
obtain good images with a Point and Shoot
camera if you understand its limitations.
This site is a great resource for learning
about digital cameras:
Thank you so much.
If you decide to buy a DSLR, this
site offers owner reviews of DSLR
bodies and lenses:
Dave
I just put a Digital 6MP on Layaway. I hope to use it next month,I can’t wait eather. This whole new Digital thing is all new to me. Thank you all. Allan.
Best advice is stay away from pro cameras and don’t get anything too complicated. Any high-end extras would be a waste of your money.
I have a Kodak Easyshare C643, and it is great except for the well-known problem of lower-end digital cameras- look at the slanted lines. Does anyone have any tips about getting rid of that problem? Would using “Landscape” help?
After I uploaded it, it looks a lot better! COOL
What slanted lines? Maybe the focus could be a little better, but otherwise it looks technically OK to me.
Take a look at what 6mp will get ya:
http://www.railpictures.net/showphotos.php?userid=6008
All of page 1 except the station building pic in b&w is with a 6mp Pentax Optio 60. 6mp are great, the more the better – after this, I wouldn’t bother with anything less (this is my first digital camera).
Wow.
As dsktc said - buy all you can afford. If you have experience with a film 35mm SLR, go with one. My 8MP Canon Digital Rebel hasn’t disappointed me yet, unless it was because I could have used a feature I don’t have down yet.
As has also been said, most of the point and shoots are fine. Something to watch is optical zoom vs digital zoom. The more optical zoom you get, the better off you are.
All the other points about technical characteristics are valid as well. Also consider availability of lenses, should you go with a digital SLR.
One thing about lotsa megapixels is that you can crop a picture and still have a reasonably sharp shot. My Rebel gives me a 3456x2304 image - I can crop out an 800x600 image to show detail (full screen if that’s where you have your screen set) and not lose a pixel of resolution.
Thanks everyone.
I have a 5MP 12X zoom. If you are going to make pix from the card then the more MP the better. [:D]
I would like to recommend a specific camera. Until recently I resisted digital technology because the cameras could not do what my Eos 5 or N90s film cameras could. I particularly hated the lag time between pressing the shutter and capturing the image. Well that changed for me last year when I purchased a Nikon D50 for about $600. Since I had an abundance of Nikkor AF lenses it was an easy choice. I was surprised at how quickly I learned how to use it. The controls were very similar to the N series film cameras and within minutes I was up and running. For several weeks I took my film cameras with me as backup and never touched them. I subsequently bought another D50 and the slightly better D70s. I use digital exclusively now and since I use top notch lenses like the 35-70 2.8D my images are better than anything I was getting on film. So, I recommend the d50 as the most cost efficent SLR digital out there, especially if you have Nikkor lenses. By the way I tried some of the point and shoot digitals first. For me they were totally inadequate in performance and not an improvement over film cameras. Whatever digital you get make it an SLR. One last suggestion. Go to a store where they also have the Canon Rebel digital or the Olympus E volt or the Pentax or Minolta Konica SLR’s and try them out for feel and comfort with features. For me it was Nikon but if I had more Canon EF lenses than Nikkor I might have gone with the Rebel
I agree it is better to get a digital SLR than a fixed lens digital camera. A 6 megapixel digital SLR should be good for most railfan photography including submitting photos to magazines. Some of the more important considerations are image quality, or the ability to shoot raw images, fine, normal, andl basic jpeg pus raw +jpeg,and the lack of “noise” or graininess in the picture at higher equivalent sensitivities, or ISO’s of up to 800; while there may be very few occasions where you would have to use a higher sensitivity it’s a good idea to be able to use a higher sensitivity and get a clear picture.
Get a good used Nikon FM-2 with Nikkor glass. Hardly go wrong, and will make any digital under $500 look sad by comparison.
One thing that the Digital SLRs do better than point and shoot models (even the very top level, like the Fuji 9500) is response time. Digital SLRs are a little slower after button press than a film camera, and they can get delayed by focus problems (zooming out on a receding subject will throw a Canon EOS every time).
But if you want to take good photos of fast moving trains, a DSLR is the only way to go.
M636C
The Camera I am gona get is a Sony. The ISO is like 1000. Would that be ok?