reccomended cameras?

[murkywaters]

what kind of camera do you reccomend for tank pics? What lenses? Thanks in Advance for good advice

[fishypets]

Ask Texas Todd..His shots are some of the best I've seen.

[LoneStar]

Ask Texas Todd..His shots are some of the best I've seen.


:huh

[Ross]

lol thats messed up

[cpreefguy]

I don't think you can go wrong with a canon or nikon and just get you a macro lense and you should be set.
+1

[TheOtherGuy]

How much do you want to spend?

[zerreissen]

Yes, the first question should be what is your price range. Next should be what kind of experience do you have with cameras. I think then we can go from there.

[murkywaters]

I'm not sure of my price range , but probably under five hundred.

[Hotrod32487]

tagging along on this one...

[hobogato]

im holding out with my old camera until i can afford the sony dslr.

[z28pwr]

I like the canon digital rebel xti with the canon 100mm macro lense
I don't think you can go wrong with a canon or nikon and just get you a macro lense and you should be set.


The Canon Digital Rebel get's my vote too, but there are some nice Nikon's aswell.

My friend has a Canon Digital Rebel with a zoom lense and took this picture from our cruise boat as we were moving at 20 nots, while the fish is flying through the air. He was on the very top deck and the fish was out some, therefore he had to be atleast 50FT away from the fish and he still managed to get some pretty good details in the shot. This image has been scaled down considerably to reduce file size and image size.

http://www.z28pwr.com/images/cruise/flyingfish.jpg


You obvioulsy would want a Macro Lens and not a zoom lens, but just to give you an idea. I've seen some of Brian's (GreenMako) tank pictures and they look awesome.

[TheOtherGuy]

For 500 then I would say a P&S (Point and Shoot) is the way to go.
There are so many new ones that it is hard to keep up with them all.
Canon, Sony, Nikon, Olympus, Fuji all make some great P&S cameras.

I know I like my old Olympus 2100UZ.

[JimD]

Is there a such thing as a decent camera/video in the $100/$200 range? I see tons on ebay but Im not sure if theyre worth a dump or not.

[TheOtherGuy]

Jim,

I would say "Yes". My Olympus 2100 is 6 years old. A 2.1mp camera and I still like it. Takes great pictures and has an excellent macro mode.

There are plenty others as well. If you find something that looks interesting go to www.dpreview.com and look it up. They have reviews for almost every digital camera around.

Although the marketing hype wants you to believe it is all about the Number of MegaPixels a camera has this is so untrue. There are 2,3, 4 Megapixels that still blow away some of the newer 10-12 Megapixel cameras. There are lots of factors that contribute to picture quality including sensor type, sensor size, sensor noise, optics, hardware processing techniques etc.

Anyway, if u have a couple specific models you are looking at. PM me and I will give you my opinion if u want it.

[JimD]

Hey, thanks Mark, Im not sure which ones Im considering yet, theres sooooo many to choose from. Im really just now beginning to look around since I just had Roadrunner istalled on a "real" computer so Im kinda looking for suggestions to be honest, Id like to have decent macro with video capability. What ya think?

[TheOtherGuy]

Jim, I will hunt around a bit. See what I can come up with.

[TheOtherGuy]

To MurkyWaters, JimD and others.

I just looked at Sundays Paper and wow I was amazed at how many cameras are available at the 150-250 range. There are tons of them. I think the best bet is to take a look yourself. Then go to www.dpreview.com and read about that camera's features and review. The brands I like are Canon, Nikon, Fuji and Olympus. Not to say that there is any thing wrong with the other brands either. Then I would suggest going to a store and trying it out yourself.

Keep in mind that in addition to the camera, you might be buying other things like a tripod, memory, case. So save a little $$$ for the extra's. If you are wanting to do macro stuff really consider getting a tripod as your results will be greatly improved with the use of one. Tripods like cameras can cost mucho dollars but do not worry. I think for a lightweight camera just buy an inexpensive one it will work just fine. I used a cheapy 30 year old tripod up until last year and it worked just fine.

Perhaps some folks who has recently purchased a P&S will chime in and give us their review of the camera they purchased.

[murkywaters]

never mind am just going to buy a better lens for my camera.

[brewercm]

I just bought a new Canon S3IS and haven't had much time to play with it yet. I would like to buy the macro adaptor lens for it and see how it performs for tank shots. I bought this to have something that has a nice zoom without having to cary around my Digital rebel everywhere with all the extras for it when we go on vacations (of course I'll probably drag it along also).
So far these are the cameras I own, you'll notice a trend here. I also like the Nikon series of cameras and in my opinion they are hard to beat for macro shots, at least on the P&S style cameras.


Kodak DC265, first digi camera and not bad. My son still uses this for messing around.

Canon G3. Upgraded from the old Kodak, still like this camera and probably will give to my other boy.

Canon Digital Rebel (original). Bought this one to get shots of my daughter I couldn't get with G3 due to shutter lag.

Canon S3IS. Wanted an ultra-zoom without having to carry all the extra stuff for my rebel all the time, and the shutter lag is almost non-existant compared to my old G3.

[technomex]

I just got the Sony H-5 and have taken some ok shots with it. Although, I am still trying to figure it out and need to buy the macro lenses for it. I thought about getting the Alpha DSLR, but needed more of a P&S so that my wife could use it easily.

[tony]

good choices cliff, i have a 30d and and s2-is now

the s2 and s3 is are impossible to beat for the price

[apedroza]

The fuji finepix s3000 is a good point and shoot with some SLR type functions. It has a maual mode, and Auto mode. It also has a nice macro mode for taking good close up shots. My avatar was taken using this camera. The new one we have by casio does not have as good a macro mode than the fuji. Sorry I got rid of it, but am looking at a SLR now.

[Ram_Puppy]

optics matter so much more than MP.. bad optics = bad camera

[brewercm]

optics matter so much more than MP.. bad optics = bad camera

Best quote I've seen in a while.
Unless you're planning on printing a poster you really don't need much over 6MP camera unless you just like buying really large memory cards.

[Texreefer]

I have a Sony cybershot, point and shoot and you see how my pics some out :blink :sick

[brewercm]

A lot of it is learning the cameras capabilities and what can be set manually to compensate for special issues. Especially when you are dealing with the lighting we are.

[TheOtherGuy]

optics matter so much more than MP.. bad optics = bad camera

Best quote I've seen in a while.
Unless you're planning on printing a poster you really don't need much over 6MP camera unless you just like buying really large memory cards.

I agree too.

[justin-branam]

this goes for all interested. check out either www.photography-on-the.net or www.fredmiranda.com Both are camera forums and have buy/sell sections (you may need to register to view them). I would highly suggest the Canon Rebel line. i use a Rebel XT for all of my underwater (SCUBA) shots, and the pictures come out excellent. no problems blowing them up to 20x30 prints (which can be had fopr $20 through costco online, and the quality is excellent). You can fin a good condition used rebel xt with the kit lens for $450-500, or the regular digital rebel for as low as $350 with the kit lens! as far as lenses go for macro stuff, i actually like the canon 60mm macro over the 100mm macro, but it is all dependent on how clse you want to get. I also shoot with a canon 1D MK II above water, but you would have to cough up the cash for that bad boy, but it is the best camera i have ever used, and it will be a long time before i upgrade.

to see examples of what the Rebel XT can do, check out the pics from indonesia and bonaire (in the Underwater Photography Album) on my website at www.justinunderwater.com/gallery

[apedroza]

I jsut got a Nikon D50 and I loooove it. I still trying to get the hang of it, but so far the pictures ar looking awesome.

[apedroza]

Sorry I made a mistake, My camera is a D50, not D70 (My brother In Law has the 70). There really is no difference between the two except the rapid shooting (D50 2.5fps vs. 3fps D70) also some minor extras wth the D70. For the price differrence I couldbn't justify spending the extra $300 for the D70. The lens I used for my pictures was the 18mm-55mm lens that came with the camera. If your trying to stay in th e150-300 dollar range I would look into the fuji fine piX line of cameras. They are a point and shoot camera with soem SLR qualities. I had one before and it was a great little camera.

[TheOtherGuy]

D50 is a great camera. In fact, it has better noise performance than the D70(s) at higher ISO settings.

Also check out the D40 which just came out.

A very affordable DSLR.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?sq=desc&A=search&pn=1&Q=&O=&kw=d40&sb=ps&shs= nid40

[apedroza]

Yeah I almost got the D40, but the the reason I went with the D50 is because the D40 only will take the new nikkor DX lenses. Where as the D50 accepts the old and new nikkor lenses.

[TheOtherGuy]

Yep, forget to mention that. Still, plenty of DX lenses and for $600 to get a DSLR is not bad at all.

Considering I paid almost $600 for my 2 mp P&S camera 6 years ago that is real good.

I wonder what kind I camera I can get for a $1000 6 years from now?

[apedroza]

Where are you finding them for under $300?? I paid $550 for mine and that was cheap. The D70 body alone retails for $600. Let us in on the deal :o

[apedroza]

thats for the body only, but that is still a heck of a deal I'd say go for it.

[tony]

caveat emptor!!!!


http://donwiss.com/pictures/BrooklynStores/

[TheOtherGuy]

Yeah, be careful, many camera retailers on the net really really suck.

That link Tony posted above provides some great information.

These places like to play bait and switch, and charge you for the other stuff that comes with the camera, sell grey market cameras and have crappy customer service. YMMV but I am guessing the experience will not be good.

A few Reputable places are B&H, KEH, and Amazon, Best Buy, Circuit City etc....

[tony]

i 2nd the b&h recommendation. i ordered my 30d from there and it arrived with a small crack in it. return process was quick and received a refund as soon as the camera arrived back at their location. (i ordered a 2nd one from b&h so i wouldnt be without)

if you dont mind used keh has some good deals from time to time as well as the fred miranda forums

[apedroza]

The cheapest place, beside online, I found my type of camera at was wolf camera ($599 for the D50 with lens)

[TheOtherGuy]

Why you should not buy from Express Camera
FYI: http://www.nj.gov/oag/newsreleases06/pr20061130a.html

[TheOtherGuy]

Excellent.

[apedroza]

Post some pics!!