I Bought a Digital Still Camera!

[anonymez]

Hi guys, i had a little money so i decided to buy me a nice digital camera. i did some research for the features i was looking for (just megapixels and optical zoom ) and bought a 6 megapixel beast, the 'pentax optio60' (for only $300 AU, which is at least half the price of other 6mp cameras) http://www.dpreview.com/news/0507/05...ax_optio60.asp

i'm no professional, so i didn't see why i needed one of the $800 ones.the picture quality is amazing, pumping out 3mb jpeg's at ~2800 res, but i'm not exactly good at the actual taking of photographs

anybody got any general tips? (i'll mostly be photographing family members).

[LT. Columbo]

i'm in the same boat, i have a digital canon that has pretty much the same features and i paid about the same (us). i like the movie clip feature, and it sure is nice to download your picture to the pc right away and be able to edit, or send it in an email. i used to think that anybody can take a picture, but not everybody can take a good one. still only read about 10% of what this thing can do

[benbryant]

Hi anonymez,

People usually think that the expensive cameras will help them become the best phoyographers. I have a Olympus with only 4 megapixel which can make decent pictures. So unless you are a serious photographer and want to have huge pictures you can go for a high end ones otherwise this one is more than enough for you. I used to spend a lot of money for printer's ink and photo papers (That not including album books). Nowaday, I just save them in my HDD and when having enough pictures for one DVD, I use Sony Vegas to add transitions, effects, and musics for a good DVD photo slideshow

Regards

[jmet]

"anybody got any general tips? (i'll mostly be photographing family members)."

Take pictures in well lighted rooms or areas.

[LT. Columbo]

...how many years did it take you to accquire that level of expertise jmet?

[jmet]

Took me a long time! lmao

No seriously, the "Flash" works but, I wouldn't rely on it totally. Thats all I meant by that comment.

[LT. Columbo]

i hear ya, i have the most trouble with night photos
maybe one day...

[anonymez]

Take pictures in well lighted rooms or areas.

so very true jmet, its unlikely i will be taking many photos indoors

[blutach]

Try keeping the bloody thing still while you say "cheese".

Regards

[atifsh]

Try keeping the bloody thing still while you say "cheese".

Regards

thats the main reason ill be upgrading my 10x optical olympus towards cannon or panasonic image stable versions

cannon S2 IS
pana FZ20

[atifsh]

Took me a long time! lmao

No seriously, the "Flash" works but, I wouldn't rely on it totally. Thats all I meant by that comment.

if u didnt have a tiny winy full auto camera, always use manual controls, exposure, gain, ull endup better then auto

[anonymez]

yeah i read a couple of articles at http://www.cameratown.com , and its been extremely helpful in explaining the manual controls, the terminology and has very specific tutorials on capturing all types of images, like beach, landscapes, jewelry, children, etc

its an interesting read

[anonymez]

ok after playing around with this camera, taking many many photos and testing out all its features, i have found that you get what you pay for, and that this camera absolutely SUCKS. might i say i have never been happier with my choice to upgrade from photoshop 6 to CS2

seriously, ~50% of the photos that this camera can capture all seem to have a problem with ugly, washed out colour, low lighting, extreme lighting, blurriness, bad contrast, etc. (it has nothing to do with my ability to take photos ). but the actual picture detail/quality is consistently high. so after some serious photoshopping, a nice chunk of the photos look absolutely amazing, and i end up very happy with the final product. so this camera (and i'd imagine other low-priced cameras) does suck unless you're familiar with levels/curves/beauty retouching...

[atifsh]

(it has nothing to do with my ability to take photos ). ..

It has everything to do with ur skill's to take pictures ...

my sister cant take one decent snap outa crappy camera i gifted her few years back and i could take nice picture , printable one should i say, with it

[anonymez]

i'll bet if i took a photo with an $800 camera, and took the same photo with my current camera in same conditions, the more expensive one would come out much better