It is time for me to breakdown and purchase a digital camera. What features do I need to take quality MRR photos? I am still in the Stone Age with a 35mm camera. Can anyone help me?
Sue
Stone age? 35mm? That’s exactly where I am, and I’m happy with it…what’s wrong with your photos now?
On film cameras, to post the picture on the internet, you have to scan the photo into your computer or have the print finisher transfer the photos to a CD for you (at extra cost!).
Digital cameras make online posting easy. The image is already digitized!
What’s the best camera? Boy, are you going to get a lot of different opinions on THAT question. I currently use an inexpensive rangefinder camera and the results are marginally acceptable. I am looking at an SLR-type digital camera with interchangable lenses. I favor the Nikon line of cameras, but mostly because I have a good selection of older Nikon lenses and have been told that they can work with the Nikon digital cameras.
I have heard many good comments about the Canon line of SLR cameras. SLR’s from Canon and Nikon are high-end cameras and are expensive when compared to rangefinder-style digital cameras.
Be wary of cameras that have long zoom lengths. Read the literature carefully. Many cameras have both optical AND digital zoom features. The digital zoom function doesn’t really zoom in on the picture, it merely crops the image and enlarges only a small portion. (Like having HALF a 35mm negative enlarged to 8x10, the quality of the picture suffers.) Optical zoom lenses physically move the lens optics to really zoom in on your subject. Obviously, optical zoom lenses will give you a much better photo.
Good luck figuring out what camera to buy!
Darrell, quiet…for now
A large megapixel (>5mp) rating ensures that your photos will have high-enough resolution to show the details. You can always shrink-down a large picture, but you can’t elarge a small image [without losing quality].
To get really good pictures of trains coming around a curve, you need good depth of field - otherwise the front of the loco might look great, but everything else will be fuzzy. Only an SLR camera will let you manually set the shutter speed and the aperture (‘f’ stop) to achieve that. 2 years ago I ‘bit the bullet’ and used money I’d planned for installiing decoders, to buy a Canon EOS Digital Rebel for $1000. Since that time, prices on the Rebel have dropped to the $400-500 range.
OTOH, if you only want something to quickly shoot ‘progress’ photos of a modeling project without a large background scene, maybe a point-and-shoot (>=5mp) will suffice.
Sue,
Bob Boudreau from the forum has put together a very informative Web page discussing model railroad photography and what to look for in selecting a digital camera. You may want to check it out at the link below. Good luck !!!
Paul
TrainboyH16-44:
I had a Vectus 400 APF (Advanced Photographic Film Cartridge) camera that cost my wife over $400 to get for me. I liked the capabilities of a digital camera but could not jusify mothballing a perfect good camera. That is, until I developed a roll of pictures taken of my grandson when he was born ten weeks premature and none of the pictures came out. I immediately went out and purchased a digital camera, particularly since I can immediatelly upload the pictures into my PC to edit them, print them or E-mail them. For the people who do not have photographic capable printers hooked up to there PC’s, there are self service digital print makers in all Wal-marts, chain drug stores and supermarkets. With digital cameras, you never have to “finish the roll” in order to see how the pictures come out.
P.S. I have a digital picture of my now 7-month old grandson as the background on both my home and work computor screens.
Sue,
Digital cameras offer very good ‘depth of field’ - some old film critics argue that they ‘too sterile’. This feature alone makes them wonderful cameras for taking model photos. The biggest items with a digital camera are the ‘megapixels’ and ‘optical focus’. To have the same resolution as a good film camera, most of the ‘experts’ claim you need between 6 and 8 megapixels. My son has a 5 megapixel Canon A95 and I get wonderful model photos with it(a photo for an article in a regional NMRA publication will be published next month). I just bought a Canon A620(7 megapixels) and a few test shots last night confirm that it is a great camera for layout/model photography. It has a built-in ‘Macro’ mode that will allow focus as close as 1 cm if needed. And the camera has a full range of feature, including complete manual control of the exposure. I spent $222 for this camera, and I am sure you can shop around on the Internet and find many good digital cameras in the $200-$300 range that will make great model and general use camera. BTW, I got a high speed SanDisk Ultra II Plus 1GB memory card for $40, after mail-in rebate at the local Best Buy! So just ‘wade right in’ and get your feet wet with digital - you will enjoy it!
Jim
Good morning Sue, I have a Minolta 35mm SLR that I have owned for eons. I finally broke down a year ago and purchased a Nikon D70 SLR. I wanted to be able to use interchangeable lenses, and also wanted rapid fire ability. This camera does it all, I love it!!! Canon’s offering is also excellent. Granted, these cameras are more expensive than point and shoot, but if I am going to spend say $300 for a good P&S camera, I would much rather spend $700 to $900 and get a real good Digital camera that will give me what I want for years to come. And, the ability to quickly change out a lense and shoot a distant shot with say a 600MM lense, you can’t do that with a P&S camera without it looking like a dot in space. I can shoot 3 pics as fast as I can press the button…I love it for “run-bys”. If you decide that you cannot afford a DSLR, then as the others have mentioned above, get a camera that is at least 5 MP, and has a high OPTICAL zoom, like 10 or 12. DIGITAL zoom is nothing more than electronic “trickery” to make the picture larger, but it will also blur the photo as you increase the zoom. Good luck…
I have been using digital for several years. My old, cheap, film “point and shoot” died and I decided to go digital. I am on my third digital camera and this time got a Canon Digital Rebel ( after my 3 year old Kodak point and shoot died). By the time I got all the other stuff I wanted, I had put a G-note on my credit card. OTOH this camera is way better than anything I have used. I bought the Canon on the recomendation of several professional photographers who use the Canon SLR digital cameras. I have taken over 1400 photographs in the last six weeks since I got it. Lets see If I had to pay to have 1400 photos developed (to get the 200 or so that are awesome) that would set me back how much $$$$. I also use Photoshop in my business so I have all the tools to crop, resize, adjust color, brightness, contrast, levels, etc., etc., etc. To do that with film would involve a pretty hefty start up cost, not to mention some nasty chemicals to work with.
Take the plunge and get a good SLR digital camera. Try some out and see how they feel to you. Then make a decision on which one to buy.
There Are Many +'s and many -'s to digital. In todays world of instant gratification Digital is Great!! But I still have a soft spot for 35mm. The advances in the digital market are growing by leaps and bounds and I am going to be looking for a nikon SLR soon but I am still going to keep my nikon 6006 in the same bag. I feel for doing quick photos for web posting and trips a Digital is fine but for some of those important shots I still want tham on film. Plus I just like the challange of 35mm and the anticipation of seeing how I did when I set the exposure. just my 2 cents.
Curt
Nobody had mentioned the two other essentials for great pictures: a decent tripod and good lights
I recommend getting two tripods: a table top and a more rigid floor standing model: Slik makes decent ones. Gitzo make exellent, but expensive floor models
As to lights, the typical train room has overhead florescents or track lights that don’t resemble sunlight in either color or direction. Canon and Nikon both make great flash units that can be fired off the camera or synch’d with other slave units to create fill flash balance. I use old vivitar 283 with the slave and vari-power modules to control the intensity when off the camera.
Good luck!
One other point when looking for a digital camera. Look for one that has a tripod mounting hole on the bottom and a hot flash shoe on the top (no-that’s not Jimmy choo’s for elderly ladies)
just a note on the very popular Canon digital rebel … a new model of the rebel is due out soon (September?)… Rebel XTi or something … so I would expect the price of the older rebels to drop even further at that time.
Greg
Reading this makes me wonder I havent bought a new camera. I have an old 1.2MP dinosaur that only cost $150… and that was 5 years ago! Kind of silly that I still use it
Tripods are indeed essential to getting good shots of your models. As for lighting, there are new color corrected forescents that have excellent color rendering. Even if you are not taking photos of your layout, you will be amazed at the difference in the colors on the layout if you change to them from the “cool white” bulbs. Flash is most often problematic with small models and with the SLR cameras using manual settings such as the f-stop and exposure levels, you can get very natural looking photos. I add extra lighting to create the scene when making photos for contests or if I really just want to have a great scene. I find that when using 2700 k lights, I have to reduce the amount of yellow in the photo to get correct color when not using a flash. It is something you just have to experiment with. (Just like using the old 35 mm [;)])
A digital SLR is a wonderful camera. However, I get good results with my two-year-old Canon PowerShot A85, a 4 megapixel camera. I use the manual settings and f8.0 and set the camera for maximum resolution. I paid a total of $275.00, including a 256MB card. The Canon comes with correction for incandescent lighting, which is handy.
Of course, these days, the same money will buy you higher resolution, which is good, and more money will buy you more capability. But the question you need to ask is what you want to do with the camera. If you were already using an SLR and have a collection of lenses, filters, etc., it makes sense to spend the bucks for the digital SLR. If you just want a method to take photos of your layout to share with friends, post on your homepage or use for PC wallpaper, you can get one of the less expensive camera and spend some time learning how to get the most out of it.
Samsung digimax s500 THATS THE WAY TO GO!!!
3x optical
5.1 mp
up to 10x digital
TAKES EXCELLENT PICTURES!!!
This camera works GREAT for me!!!
GOOD LUCK AND IF YOU HAVE ANY!!! QUESTIONS FEEL FREE TO CONTACT ME!!!
Alex,
Please remember, DIGITAL zoom is nothing more than electronic magnification, not TRUE optical zoom, therefore, look for a camera with high OPTICAL Zoom, not DIGITAL Zoom.
This is great! I never would have expected so much help to come so quickly. I have been away for a few days so it will take me a while to respond to you all, but I will. Thanks.
Sue
Matthew, I find that is too much effort and you loose too much resolution to scan and save. I use the scanner mostly for a copy machine.
Darrell, Thankyou for the info on optical vs digital. I think that is critical. I was wondering if the lenses would be interchangeable between the 35mm and digital camera. Our 35mm is a Canon.
Kent, You are right. I prefer the ability to adjust the shutter speed and aperture. I believe that it is what you get used to. I feel that I have more control over depth of field. We are also sidetracked on the decoder installation, but that will come.
Sue