Before you spend your hard earned cash on hardware, you might want to check out your local community college to see if they offer a basic photography class in order to unravel the mysteries of depth of field and f-stops.
We have a Canon EOS 10D SLR. We’ve had it for several years and it works like a Swiss watch. The image device is 6.3 megapixels which is now at the low end. I believe that the current successor to this model is the 40D. It takes great pictures on the fly in automatic mode and you can get really creative in manual mode. If you want to save some $$ and still get many of the benefits of the Canon SLR you should look at the Canon Rebel series. The camera bodies aren’t quite as well built but they take all EOS lenses. These cameras are always at or near the top in Consumer Reports. Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of good point and shoot cameras out there but if you step up to SLRs you will give your self plenty of room for growth.
If you are aiming to match the quality you see in MR, you will need to spend some extra $$ on lights, mounting clamps and a decent tripod. You should also add a photo software program to your budget if this turns into a serious obsession. Keep in mind that digital zoom is no substitute for taking the picture at the right focal length to begin with. This is especially true with cameras lacking in megapixels. All of warts really start to show up when you blow up a digitally zoomed photo.
I bought my wife a Canon Powershot A710is with 6X optical zoom for Christmas in 2006. It’s funny, but it seems to be near my layout or the computer desk except when we are on a road trip or vacation.
It has 7.1 megapixels, and is a joy to use. Even better when I read the manual. [:I]
Colour image taken shortly after dawn in my back yard overlooking the Strait of Georgia.
I have used a couple of Canon A70s and found that they didn’t last long for me - one continued to behave like it was working, but the pictures were black. The other makes everything green. I bought a Nikon CoolPix 4600 (used) for $50 and it seems to be darned good for everyday and model pictures.
When I get serious about making a photo, I drag out my Nikon FM-2 (manual camera, manual lenses, and - heaven forbid! - film). I like the organic nature of manual work in an analog format. When I want to digitize those photos, I use my scanner.
I use a Nikon Coolpix 5400 which I bought a in 2003 while working for a camera distributor. I have used it ever since. I am not thew world’s greatest photographer but I do like the advantage of being able to download my photos into something like Photoshop Elements and playing with them to get something better than I snapped. Here is a sample of a recent shot I took of my under construction train room.
As you can tell there are lots of things going on in this photo. It’s alsoi been photoshoped to show better color contrasts than were in the original photos which appear drab and the blue on the all comes out purplish. I know that’s caused by how the camera sees the wall because of my flourescent overhead lighting.
This camera is no longer made but it gives me what I want and need from it.
I am using a 2 year old Canon Digital Rebel XT 8 Megapixel. Most of my shots are using the kit lense that comes with the camera. It is great for capturing moving targets like this:
And layout photography:
In the manual modes it gives wide control over every aspect of the shot. A real plus if you want to learn more than point and shoot. I just purchased a canon 100mm Macro/medium telephoto lens for getting some real closups.
While I have a lot to learn, my photography has improved by leaps and bounds after getting an EOS Digital Camera. For anyone really serious about getting those perfect shots I would recomend the Canon Digital Rebel series.
I love it. No lens ailities on it, but a nice set of options for pictures, and a video ability. Tehre is a hole for tripods, but it’s also plastic and small, so you can run trains past it ans det it right on the layout. The lens is close to the right height for HO scale people, not perfect, but close.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPC9c4i0Lhw&feature=user Thuis is a video I shot, assembled in MovieMaker. I t is a better camera than vid camera, but it will do both nicely. I have a few more to saddle up. It can do sound, I just don;t put it on as the people talking in the background shouldn;'t be repeated…
This thread has great suggestion on cameras and lenses. The ones I use are getting to be regular dinosaurs, they’re that old. I sometimes use a Nikon 990 purchased in… I believe 2000 or '01, and a Nikon D100 bought around 2004 if I remember correctly. The older Nikon is a gem when it comes to closeup photography and due to it’s swivel body will get in the places you need it to go.
It takes a good image but not as good as the D100, a dslr type camera. Bad thing is you have to purchase lenses separately for your dslr, unless you get a kit lens with the body when you buy it. A good quality lens can easily run $500 to several thousand. The best bird photographers I know spend $5,000 to $6,000 on one lens and another thousand on a tricked out tripod. But that’s neither here nor there as far as the conversation here. Below is a picture made with the D100 and a Sigma (brand) lens.
But I’d rather talk about another piece of equipment that comes with the camera and that’s the instruction book. Most people probably glance through it and then pack it away somewhere. When it gets to things like fstops and shutter speeds, depth of field etc. it gives people a headache. I know it did me many years ago. But… there’s that but again, you really do need to know these things, to have a good foundation in the craft. Auto and Program mode will take you only so far, maybe it’s as far as you want to go and that’s good but Auto mode has it limitations.
The second thing I’d like to bring up is light. I know it’s already been mentioned in this thread but it really can’t be emphasized enough how important it is. It stands to reason that if you don’t have light you’ll get no picture, but what I’m talking about is the quality of light.
(Not my picture of MY camera, but the same make.)
