I use a Canon Powershot A70 digital camera. While it is not the latest one on the market and not the best, it does do an excellent job of making pictures. I enjoy using it a lot.

Almtnman,

Alrighteeeeeee!!! I use a Nikon D70 and love it. I made the mistake when digitals came out of making the statement that IF they ever made digital cameras that supported SLR lenses, I would buy one. They did, I did, I have no regrets over the expense.

I use the standard Nikon 18-70mm, Quantaray 70-300mm, and a Sigma EX 50-500mm lens. Told my new wife that she could get me a nikon wide angle for Christmas. Also may invest in a 2x multiplier to see what it does for me. Don't need distortion but would love to reach out a little more :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

Jim

I wish that I had done that when I bought the digital. I used a Canon AE1 SLR for many years and still have it and all kind of lenses for it. My son talked me into the Canon powershot that I have now as he had one. Then he went and bought an 8 megapixel Canon that makes really great pictures, but it was a little pricey for me right now. Condor had posted something about the Panasonic Lumix being a good digital. I might have to check one and see.

I see a lot of Canon's in use by the pro's and their multiple shot feature gives 8 shots per second I believe. My Nikon only gives 3 per second. At 6.5 megapixel, I took a shot of my wife and her mother and had it blown up to 24x20 and framed for Christmas. The result was perfect.

A buddy of mine has a D70 like me but also purchased a Nikon D200 and the extra features are fantastic. I can't afford the new one so will be satisfied with what I got. He takes a lot of pictures and will keep regular lens on the D70 and super lens on the D200.
The D200 is 10.2 megapixel ... heck you could photo a billboard with that!!!!!

Jim

I need to put it on my list to get a better digital since I like to take a lot of nature scene pictures and when doing that the picture needs to be better on clarity showing up leaves and running streams. My Canon just doesn't have enough to get what I want, so I guess I'm going to have to put a better camera on my wish list.

I brought a lot of big glass back from Ukraine that takes a Nikon mount. In theory, I can use that on my D50. I tried a couple of shots, but have more serious things to do for the moment so mostly use the Nikon 18 - 55 and an OEM 70 - 210. Love both of those, but the Lumix is an easy pack and carry with some good power at a great price point. I have some 1000mm and one 1100 mm Nikon mount Russian glass that I can't wait to test on the D50. The Navy spooks in Ukraine used those lenses over the Navy issue ones that they had. They used them with 35mm bodies and could get the VIN on a flying mosquito at a mile!The issue with the Russian glass is that it is HEAVY! I also have some 70mm format glass that I got for the Kiev88's that will adapt to the Nikon as well. Lots of lens fun to be had. One problem here with the big glass is the water vapor in the air. It distorts something terrible! The shot looks wavy.

Condor,

Ohhhhhhhhhhh man, you're giving the 'buying itch'!!!!! When I bought my 500mm, I wanted to go 1000mm ... I'm scared what will happen if'n I get one of them, hahaha. Tha's why I was thinking of buying the 2x multiplier for under a $100

Jim

TD & Condor, you guys are giving me the camera bug. I like to take nature shots, like small creeks, mountains, watefalls, dirt roads, stuff like that. To get the clarity that I want it looks like I'm going to have to get myself a better digital than the one I'm using. I am learning a lot of things by the posts you guys are adding here, so keep them coming. smiley-patriotic-flag-wave

Almtnman,

I also enjoy nature shots. Below is one I caught in my backyard. I'll try to post a few more when I have more time but would also be very interested in others pictures. I enjoy seeing work by others and looking at techniques, angles, etc ...

Jim

... here's another I enjoyed

Jim

Jim, that's some great pictures. I'll try to add a few also. I was at Wally-World a couple of days ago and looked at one of the Panasonic Lumix cameras but it only went 10 power on the lens. I think Condor said something about one that went to 12 power. The 10 power one I looked at was around 300 bucks, so that would fit my budget.

I had a very good picture that I made once of a Cedar Waxwing bird in front of my house that I would like to find and get scanned to put on here. I spent almost half a day waiting on the bird to land on a limb out front that I had the camera set just for that spot. I had noticed that it had been eating berries from there and I finally got a great picture of it. I had the camera on a tripod looking through the front window and the lens set so it wouldn't reflect off the glass.

I know what you mean about waiting for the perfect shot. Sometimes I may take 100 pics and only have 1 that is good enough to satisfy me and print out. I spent several days (off and on) trying to capture a shot of a dragonfly. I could get them while they were sitting on my patio or on a bush but not in flight. Then one afternoon I had my camera on the patio with me and had been shooting random shots and trying to track those elusive, skittery critters. I saw one to my left about 30 feet away that paused for just a moment and I swung my camera around to snap the shot. Unbelievably, the lens was set for that distance and also for multiple exposures ... ONE of the pics captured him in mid-air. I'll post it below ...

Jim

Well TD, the only response to the dragon fly photo is WOW! Great shot.

AMM, did I mention that the Lumix that you should look at has a Leica lens 12x lens with optical stabilization? I like the menu set too. Usually, there are so many items on the menu set that it is a pain to change anything. On the Lumix, the menu is easy to access and changes are pretty easy to make on the fly. That gives you a lot of creative leverage while shooting.

Sorry I haven't been on much in the last week or so. Been busy moving a hot tub and trying to get some stuff done that is dragging on.

I think you had mentioned something about the lens, but now that you have told me again, I know what to be looking for now. The one I looked at was 10 power, but i don't know what kind of lens it had. It was about 300 bucks at Wally-World.

TD, that was a great shot of the dragonfly in mid air. I imagine catching a shot like that doesn't happen a lot. I have been wanting to get a shot from the back of my house one morning when the sun is rising and the fog is floating in from the bluff side. I have seen it a couple of times and getting the sun rays shining at an angle through the trees and fog would make a good shot, but by the time I run get the camera it's gone.

Condor is this the camera you're talking about?


DMC-FZ7K
6-Megapixel Digital Camera with MEGA Optical Image Stabilizer, High Sensitivity Mode & 12x Optical Zoom, Black

LEICA DC VARIO-ELMARIT Lens with a 12x Optical Zoom
The DMC-FZ7 features a LEICA DC VARIO-ELMARIT Lens with a remarkable 12x optical zoom, equivalent to a 36 to 432mm lens on a 35mm film camera. A film camera with an optical zoom this powerful would be so big and heavy, you couldn't handle it with one hand. However, the DMC-FZ7 is small, lightweight and easy to handle. It also has Panasonic's Extended Optical Zoom. While causing minimal deterioration by using the center part of the high resolution CCD, this function magnifies the image to give you total zoom power of 16.5x1.

Almtnman,

That Lumix looks like it will get the job done. The six megapixel will give you some fantastic photos.

Jim

Yep, that is the beauty. Not only is the optical zoom great, but the digital zoom is about the best I have seen.

I did a search and found it in every price range, from about $188 at an online camera store to $313 at Circuit City and even higher prices. I'm kind of llery on buying from the online camera stores. I would rather find it in a store, look at it in my hands and then decide, plus I know what I'm getting when I have to pay extra.

I know what you mean. I have bought some camera stuff from Ebay but it turned out to be a camera store in NY or NJ and the transaction was great. When I bought my camera though, it was from a store I had walked into. It adds that little bit of confidence to the transaction.

Jim

I got mine from Unclaimed Baggage for 250.00. Not much warranty and I had to buy the charger and a couple of batteries, but still well satisfied. By the way, the best place I have found to buy batteries for digital cameras is at www.overstock.com. When I was overseas, I bought a lot of stuff from them. Now, in comparison to other places to buy, their prices aren't so good. They are still the best place I have found for specialized batteries though.

Mountain Man, did you ever make your camera decision?

Not yet, been burning the candle from both ends here lately!

I really need to plan a trip to Unclaimed Baggage and see what they have.

I kept shopping around and finally got myself a Panasonic Lumix camera. I got the Lumix DMC-FZ8. Found it at my local Walmart store. When I first went in, they were out of them, but they told me that more was on order. I went in first thing this morning and they had got 3 in over night. They told me these cameras were selling as fast as they came in the store. I also got a 2GB SD card for it and a 2 year service contract that starts after the manufactures 1st year warranty ends, giving me a 3 year warranty.



One of the newest additions to the ultra-zoom market is the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ8, which has the same stabilized 12x optical zoom lens as other Lumix cameras but pairs it with 7.2 megapixels, manual to automatic functionality, and an expanded ISO range. With its $349 price tag, the FZ8 sits in the middle of Panasonic’s ultra-zoom line between the 6-megapixel FZ7 and the 10-megapixel FZ50.

Now, I've got to check out all the features and see if I can make some good shots. BTW, this camera's shutter lag time is 0.008 second which makes for some good photos.

Oh, the price was a lot cheaper at Wally-World than what's listed above. I got mine for $298. I could have ordered it from Wally-World online and had it sent to the store for $269, but didn't want to wait on it.

Waiting to see some photos.

Taken on the day I got the new camera and it was very foggy on the mountain that day. The fog is eerie looking in the woods.



Cloudy Day on the Mountain!

A couple of nice shots. How do you like the camera?

I like it, but haven't learned all of the features that it does yet. I especially like the burst mode where you can take very fast action shots. Just set it on burst mode and it takes pictures extremely fast as long as the shutter button is depressed. The 12X magnification works good also, zoom it out to 12X hold halfway down on the shutter button and you can watch it focus in until the shot is clear then just depress the button fully.

Great pictures! This is a recent one I took with my cheapo camera! I'm not ashamed at all, because Condor once told me, "it's not the camera that counts, it's the person taking the picture"!! I think I did pretty good!

Nice photos !!

My last camera purchase was the FujiFilm finePix S700.

It's classed as A like SLR digital camera So far so good using it.

Only problems I seem to be having is picture clarity but I don't attribute it to the camera I believe the SD memory cards must begin to degrade with use. So I'm looking into higher quality recording medium.

The digital cameras have made my photo life much easier being old school 35MM.
and not having to carry a suitcase full of tubes extensions lenses filters and film in various speeds and type much appreciated.

However digital is still a far cry from film.

blkbear54Mike

Also if your looking to purchase A camera I recommend Amazon for research they give complete info on the cameras they list with user and opinions and rating's.
Find what you want then search for price.

I always wanted to have a really good camera to take on another hobby.

So we picked up a Nikkon D60 when it went on sale recently that also included a 55-200mm zoom lens. All the lenses were SLR's.

We took a few pictures while on vacation, so here a few of them - sorry if they are not professional quality - as Ali says, it's the person taking them:







SUNRISE



SUNSET

I gotta admit, without the high-speed sports feature, one could not have taken this of these playful guys....

I forgot to post picture - FOR TDAWG:

Geeee thank ya CW ... you brought back memories. I lived there back in '77-'78. I had quit my job in VA (dumb), sold my house (remember when houses would sell?), packed the family up in the pickup and headed south (not Beverly Hillbillies --- we were the VA rednecks). Settled in Holmes Beach and looked for work which was almost non-existent. I found a job driving a truck for the Bekins agent on the mainland (Bradenton) and drove mostly local moves for the elderly. I loved Holmes Beach but soon missed the mountains of VA and moved back. Had a great little house and if I stood out front I could look to the right and see the inlet between Anna Maria Island and the mainland ... if I looked left I could see the beach.


BTW, them's some might good pictures for using a new camera. You done good, CW.

TD,

It really brought back some memories for myself, also. We'd ride the trolley around the island and kids (grown up one's, too :P ) would hop on it with fishin' poles and tackle to head for the fishin' hole. Tried this a little ourselves and had a blast catching some spanish mackerel.

Brought back memories of being a kid and hopping on the bike to do some fishin' in the river or lake. Bombing around on the bike from fishin' hole to fishin' hole to try and find where they were biting.

This looked like one heck of a great place to be a kid if you liked water and fishin'. I could have EASILY lived here while young. NOW, I can't take the heat in the summer. The old northern body kinda likes it below 80.

Back on the subject - sent yous guys some pics from the PGR mission last weekend. Learning a little more about the features of this camera. Basically HAVING FUN - something that's kinda hard to find nowadays.