I want to take pictures like Elwyn !!!! What is a good low end camera?

[Paul Taylor]

So I will be getting a new camera soon. It will not be a high dollar one but kinda of middle of the road.

The problem with the one small one we have now is when I press the button to take a picture, the plane is already passed and I miss the shot.
Also there is no view finder. Just a LCD screen that I can not see in the day light with my bad eyes.

Can anyone suggest a camera?

Thanks
Paul

[john e. holliday]

I would suggest you contact Elwyn via PM.  I think the secret is a long range lens.  I too have wondered how he gets those fabulous shots.  He sent me one of the Staggerwing inverted.  You could see the prop going thru the arc.  There are others out there also like DEE Tyson taking great pictures.  Good luck, as with anything it takes practice.  DOC Holliday

[Elwyn Aud]

Mine has the same shutter lag problem. To get around this you press the shutter release half way down, it locks the focus and when you finally get the subject in view and depress the release the rest of the way the camera fires immediately. My camera is a Kodak P-850. The lens has a lot of range, around 36mm to 400mm. You can aim the camera through an eyepiece like a standard 35mm camera(great for action shots),  or use the view screen (handy for close-ups). The camera shoots in several modes but I don't think I've used anything but the JPG mode. Drawbacks- The shutter speed only goes to 1/1000. Sometimes trying to hold the shutter release at the halfway point gets tricky and you end up shooting a photo at the wrong time. The optical viewfinder isn't very bright and when you adjust the camera to let in a bit less light the viewfinder gets dimmer also. Sometimes the sky comes out grainy or blotchy especially when using a lot of zoom. The price was around $350 several years ago. I felt it was worth the money but now I want to upgrade to a more standard 35mm style of digital. Being able to shoot tons of shots with a digital makes success a bit more likely at times. I think I took around 35-40 shots of one of the faster clown racers at Brodaks last year before I finally got a shot I was happy with. Never would have done that with film. I haven't checked out the latest offerings in this range of digital so there might be something a bit better in the same price range now.O.K. I just checked out Kodak and it looks like their latest offering similar to what I'm using now is the Z1012 but a lot of the specs weren't listed. They did double the megapixel rating from the P850. It's not supposed to be available till April and the price is a bit under $300.

[Mike Scholtes]

Consider the new Nikon D40 and D40X digital SLR with telephoto lens adaptability. I just bought the D40X and am thrilled. It gets rave reviews in the camera mags and online sites. The X has more resolution (pixels) but otherwise is essentially the D40. It looks like a standard thru-the-lens film SLR and indeed it is, except no film. Check out the online reviews. Has a viewscreen but only to look at the picture you just took; you must look thru the lens to see what you are shooting. Remember, the great photos you see are the result of hundreds or more discards. A National Geographic photographer told me he may take 5000 photos to get one usable in the magazine, and that was in the days of film!

[George]

So I will be getting a new camera soon. It will not be a high dollar one but kinda of middle of the road.

The problem with the one small one we have now is when I press the button to take a picture, the plane is already passed and I miss the shot.
Also there is no view finder. Just a LCD screen that I can not see in the day light with my bad eyes.

Can anyone suggest a camera?

Thanks
Paul

Paul,

I have a Canon 570. It takes great pictures but many (including me) have been having problems with battery contacts, so I couldn't recommend it. It replaced a Canon A70 which I liked very much, but it broke.

Generally, most cameras have both LCD and view finder. You only need the LCD for close-ups. Also, with the larger megapixels, you can take a shot that is not so close up that it's hard to follow, and crop it down to show what you want with the processing software.

Mine is 7.2 megapixels, which is about average. Some cameras without replaceable lenses have options like a telephoto lens.

Look around. Most go on sale. I got my present one at Best Buy, the previous one at Staples.

George

[linheart smith]

I have watched Elwin in action at Brodak.  I love to take pictures at contest and would be proud to capture any of the shots he gets.  The problem for us would be photographers is not the camera we choose.  Elwyn works very hard. Shooting lots of pictures.  Discarding most of them and then cropping the best to produce the optimum shot.  As he said in his post, the camera he uses is not the optimum type for the photos we want to capture.  Why not?

Let us start with the finished product.

1.  We want to capture a fast moving object in frame and sharply focus.
2.  We may or may not want the background in focus.

What do we need to do this?

1.  You must Pan and focus the camera to achieve number 1.
2.  You need control over the aperture and speed to achieve number 2.


Therefore a camera with a "Thru the lens" viewfinder will make it easy to see and follow the airplane.
This is called Single Lens Reflex  or SLR.
Eywyn was using a camera at Brodaks with a Digital Optical view finder.  As he said,  These view finders do not produce the best (large bright) sight picture.  But he gets great pictures in spite of this drawback.

 

Having a camera with full manual settings allows you to prefocus.  This is the method I use opposed to Elwyn's method of using the 1/2 way on the shutter to set and hold the focus.  He must have a very strong steady finger to do this all day long.  I think his method gets better shots of the airplanes up in the sky.   


I chose the Nikon D50 to make the job as easy as possible.

Linheart

[RandySmith]

So I will be getting a new camera soon. It will not be a high dollar one but kinda of middle of the road.

The problem with the one small one we have now is when I press the button to take a picture, the plane is already passed and I miss the shot.
Also there is no view finder. Just a LCD screen that I can not see in the day light with my bad eyes.

Can anyone suggest a camera?

Thanks
Paul

HI Paul

I have about 60 cameras and there are some really good ones out there for your needs. However for 279.00  The KODAK  812 IS  is about the best buy on the planet.
It has a very sharp German lens that is a very versatile zoom-or macro...A Schneider-Kreuznach VariogonLens Focal Length(s)35mm equivalent: 36-432mm.
It also has a very bright LCD that you can see in daylight or you can switch to the viewfinder which acts like a  SLR camera.
Specs
Megapixels (Effective)8.2Megapixels (Total)8.3Image ResolutionUp to 3340 x 2483Optical Zoom12xDigital Zoom4.2xLens FeaturesSchneider-Kreuznach VariogonLens Focal Length(s)35mm equivalent: 36-432mmLCD Screen Size2.5"LCD Screen FeaturesIndoor/outdoor color TFT-LCD with brightness adjustment and histogram displayViewfinderLCD onlyImage StabilizationYes, optical


IF you want to spend more money on a Digital SLR I would go for the Canon  EOS Digital Rebel XTi 10.1MP Digital SLR Camera , they are about 599.00 to 799.00

Or the  Nikon D-80 at 10 Mega Pixels about 800.00

Model: Rebel XTi (Body Only) SKU: 8294437

Regards

Randy

[Will Davis]

Spend as much money as you can for the camera you want after you have done your research. Then take thousands of pictures to get a few outstanding ones .. It;s a blast

Will