Picking a digital camera (help)

Well

I like canon cameras, But Nikon and Sony are very nice also.

What do you intend on doing with your pictures?
If you plan on printing them, and making enlargements then higher megapixles are a must. If you print an 8x10 at say 5 MP it looks OK, but the same pic shot at 10 Mp will look much better. MP's dont add noise.

If you want to take pix of your fish, be sure the camera you choose, (I am assuming you want a point & Shoot) has a macro setting.

If you plan on viewing your pictutrs only on your computer screen, you can slide with lower megapixels.

I have a 4 megapixel Canon Powershot G2. It's not that great, but you gotta play with the settings. I've taken great pictures with it.

Hi there,

Just to add a tinge of credibility to my information, I work as a professional portrait and fine art photographer. I've used both digital and film mediums for about 12 years now.

You are somewhat right- here are the factors that contribute to digital noise: sensor size ratio to amount and density of onboard photo-diodes (megapixels), processing speed and color rendition of the particular camera, and overall heat generated by the sensor. Cheaper models generate more heat at higher sensitivities, leading to greater noise- this is also why longer exposures are more prone to noise.

Pretty much every point-and-shoot-camera you buy out there, regardless of megapixels, will have absolutely horrid quality (in my eye anyhow) with any images taken above 100-200iso - anything at or above 400iso you will see noise, digital caking, and digital artifacts throughout the image. Quite frankly, it'll look like s**t. I have a pretty developed eye for this however, and you may infact be completely satisfied with the quality that can be delivered by some higher end compacts (Canon G series, latest panasonic aps-C sensor bodies, etc).

The prime reason DSLR cameras have such better quality is their sensor size- it is almost at times, 20x the size of a standard point-and-shoot sensor. This disperses the generated-heat and photo-diodes over a much broader surface, enabling a much higher quality image file. This is why a 4mp DSLR will always shoot better pictures than a 12mp point-and-shoot. The comment above about printing: a 6mp file is fully capable of bolstering a beautiful 16x20 print- much like a 35mm film negative can produce 16x20. 12mp is more than I USE in my professional work, unless you're shooting for a commercial fish ad, it's complete overkill if you ask me. Megapixels do enable you greater ability to crop and retain high resolution.

Megapixels however are in no way correlated with image quality- they represent the SIZE of the image, and therefore are somewhat connected to how much detail can be captured by the camera (how much you can zoom in, how large a full-resolution print you can make), but in the end- nobody cares about detailed LOW QUALITY images right? Megapixels are the illusion of image quality that all consumers buy into- they need to have as many as they can- when really you want a nice DSLR with a good sized sensor and a good processor.

If you have to go down the point-and-shoot route, be sure to pick one that has fully manual control over iso, shutter speed, and aperture. In this way, you can at least combat noise by using a tripod and going for longer exposures at lower sensitivities, rather than blasting away with the flash and end up with nasty pictures. the Canon G-series of point-and-shoots is by far one of the best in this domain.

As far as photographing fish goes, if you really want great pictures, a DSLR is a must. The auto-focus computers on point-and-shoot models are just idiotic, sluggish, way too slow- getting a picture of a moving fish is honestly going to fall on luck- the auto-focus and manual-focusing capabilities of a true DSLR will land you much sharper pictures, much quicker. DSLRs also have an extended iso range, coupled with better quality, enabling you to use faster shutter speeds to freeze your fish.

If you aren't looking to spend a lot of money, but want great quality pictures, I recommend you shop around on ebay for used/refurbished, or brand new DSLR models of the following:

Olympus E410/E420, Sony A200/A350, Canon 350d/400dXti/450xsi, Canon 20D/30D, Nikon D40/D40x/D50/D60

If you are ready to spend a little more, you will be 100% satisfied with:

Sony A700/A900, Canon 40D/50D/5D/5DmkII/1Dseries, Nikon D80/D90/D200/D300/D300x/D700/D3/D3x

this is a great website to look up cameras, and compare image quality across different models, including noise performance: www.cameralabs.com

Feel free to ask any specific questions. I personally shoot medium format-film and digital stills using a Canon EOS40D camera system, soon to be upgrading to a Canon 5Dmkii
www.flickr.com/frankiewithers

I just got a CoolPix S203 with 10 MP, for $88 during black friday and is an awesome point and shoot camera. I am getting decent shots without any hassle at all.

My question is... how exactly do you get a picture to be 10 MP exact? The digi is a 10 MP camera, but the photos are not 10 MP. And I upped it to the highest I guess resolution setting. Looked at the setting it is set at 10 M High(3548 *)

The camera will not shoot exactly 10mp, 10mp is the entire sensor area, the image will ultimately be cropped a tiny bit from this image plane. Also take into account the aspect-ratio that is used.

i'd reccomend a nikon dslr. You could get a full d60 package (camera and lens) for around 600 dollars.

if you want something in between consider a superzoom camera...most have image stabilizers and more complex lenses than those tiny compact and subcompact point-and-shoots. if you're just going to be taking pictures of your family, fish, and whatever else casually, then i would definitely check out a superzoom camera.

im pretty pleased with mine...i get some pretty good photos but i also did a fair amount of fiddling around with ISO, shutter speed, and aperture. that said, my angel will sit still for quite some time

Superzooms still have the same sensor size- image quality will not improve. They are built to a slightly higher standard and have more features, but offer nothing close to that of the canon G-series of compacts and especially far as all compacts are, from the benefits of a DSLR system. I personally also don't think the extended zoom range is really useful for photographing fish. For best optics and image quality in the sub-DSLR range of cameras, the Canon G-series cannot be beat.

If you want the best quality, as I stated above, you will want to opt for a model that has a larger aps-C sized or four thirds size sensor- much better performance overall.

Here are some models to look at:
Canon G11 (also G10, G9 if you want to save money)



if you want to step higher, there are two compacts that feature larger sensors:

Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF1

features DSLR-sized 4:3 sensor as well as capability to change lenses, overall a much more formidable camera

also the Olympus EP-1

take it from a photographer.

goodluck.