Cameras

[billbenson]

I seem to have lost a camera that I bought for my wife 2 or so years ago. It was a cannon that had an optical zoom that was x35 or something similar at 12Mp if that makes sense. You could spy on neighbors a half block away. It may be in our house somewhere or I may have left it at an event I attended.

So if it doesn't turn up, what should we buy. We aren't avid photographers. We would like to have ok pictures though. Also, if we do find it, it would be nice to have something better. The zoom feature was nice. Picture quality was good. I paid $300 ish for it.

Anybody have any recommendations?

[Freelancier]

Does shooting speed matter? Do you take pictures of things that might move (like little kids, dogs, sporting events)? If so, you want either a DSLR or a "mirrorless" camera. Otherwise, a standard point-and-shoot with lots of pixels is going to be enough, provided you can get the lens you want.

[nealrm]

For general personal use, you are going to want something that is handy and easy to carry. At this point there is really not much difference between the general point & shoot and a cellphone with a good camera. Neither is going to give you the quality, performance and versatility of a DSLR or mirrorless camera, but most people don't need that. What the cellphone will give you is a camera that is convent, easy to carry, can be setup to auto download photo to your computer and makes generally good photos.

We currently have 4 DSL cameras and a dozen lens used in our business, but when it comes down to family trips and fun time we use our cells.

[Harold Mansfield]

I've been looking at cameras and reviews of them for a couple of months now and am almost ready to pull the trigger. At the moment I'm leaning towards the Canon EOS Rebel T5 or T5i. Amazon has some decent bundles (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00L3NY180/) that come with a few accessories starting at around $499 for the T5. A little more for the T5i. All of the reviews that I've read and watched seem to give it nice marks.

Sorry I can't give you any first hand knowledge. I haven't purchased a stand alone camera since the picture actually ejected out of the bottom of the unit.

[nealrm]

The Canon Rebel series is are great cameras, we use a Rebel T3i for our business. With good care expect it to last a long time. Color is good, but you may notice that the reds are a little bold. The non 'i' series have less feature and are a lighter weight than the 'i's. But in general this is a good buy. I would get a second battery and card. That way one can be charging while you are using the other.

That said, this is a camera that you will notice carrying it around. It will not fit in a pocket. If your use is typical, a good cell phone camera is hard to beat.

[Patrysha]

I love my Canon Rebel, but I've always been intrigued by photography and have been coveting a DSLR for years...so was very excited when I finally got this entry-level one. It takes amazing pictures (in my opinion) but I like to have more control than a typical point and shoot and I always drop my cellphone so it's picture taking capabilities are horrid.

[Freelancier]

If you go the DSLR route, look at the deals they have at Costco... when we priced out DSLR a couple of years ago, the prices they had for the feature sets they sold was better than anywhere else, including Amazon. But DSLRs are still too bulky for everyday carrying around. I wouldn't go the cell phone route either if you're doing anything more than taking selfies or photographing static objects that are nearby. Once you start talking about zoom or lens quality or movement, cell phone cameras turn out to be worse than many point-and-shoot cameras. There really is a difference in lens quality and image receptor.

[billbenson]

I have a Gopro for the fast moving up close stuff. Mostly for video's but it takes great photos for what its designed for.

I don't need a DSLR. But I did like the optical zoom on the Cannon I lost. I took a picture of some kids vandalizing stuff in the neighborhood once. They never knew it. I'll take a look at the Cannon Rebel. Its mostly for use at birthday party’s, wedding's etc.

[billbenson]

Oh, on a similar note; you will see on some of the home shows on TV where they have taken an image of a photo and have blown it up to poster size. What's the process for this? A high quality scanner? A high quality photo of the original and blow it up? Or is it just TV?

[nealrm]

If they have a digital image it's not really that hard. It all depends on how sharp you want the image and how far away your will be when viewing it. Billboards on the highway are typically done in the 10-20 dpi range. For a poster sized image, typically viewed from several feet away 300 dpi will work nicely. A 2' x 4' poster would then need a 7200 x 14400 pixel original image. Then all you need to do is find a large format printer to print it.

If you don't have a digital image, you will need to make one. That would require a scanner for best results.

One rule of digital images, you can reduce an image physical size without and still have a sharp image. However, when you try to increase the size you can not add details that are not present in the file. So taking a 300 x 600 pixel image and increasing it to 7200 x 14400 does not result in a clear picture. It will be fuzzy.

As for the point & shoot vs Cell phone, there are trade off. As a general rule, the larger the len the better the image. Larger sensor also general better photos. Digital zooms are worthless. If you want to digitally zoom in, doing it on you computer afterwards, the results will be better. With a cell you are trading a zoom lens and fast motion capture for ease of carrying. The colors and resolution from my Nokia 920 is on par with that of point & shoot camera. But the point & shoot can optically zoom while I have to use a digital zoom. (Neither will come close to the Rebel).

[billbenson]

As for the point & shoot vs Cell phone, there are trade off. As a general rule, the larger the len the better the image. Larger sensor also general better photos. Digital zooms are worthless. If you want to digitally zoom in, doing it on you computer afterwards, the results will be better. With a cell you are trading a zoom lens and fast motion capture for ease of carrying. The colors and resolution from my Nokia 920 is on par with that of point & shoot camera. But the point & shoot can optically zoom while I have to use a digital zoom. (Neither will come close to the Rebel).

That's why I specifically mentioned the optical zoom.

Thanks