MartinM

Andy

No new lenses

Got some Circ Pols as well though...excellent in the right situation (eg our recent holiday in Greece with loads of blue sky and sea), but definitely not to be left on all the time - can reduce light reaching the camera by up to 4 stops, which messes up freeze frame attempts on motorsport images when you forget to take them off[img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img]

Must admit I despise the slow autofocus of the D30 sometimes - yes you can pre focus etc etc - but I was at Prescott the other day and you sit there on MF waiting for the car to be in the right place and it comes off at the previous corner and you don't have a hope of getting the focus right for the changed subject distance.

Ever used a 1D? I think its the answer, but it's probably just too many £££s to justify Know anywhere I can rent one for a day to really check one out?

[Edited by MartinM - 9/7/2002 8:02:25 PM]

ScoobyTal

ixus 300


loads of time spents reviewing


you need a little camera that slips in your pocket or youll never take it anywhere


the quality is fantastic


buy a 128mb card as well

movies aswell

tal


mail me for samples


Tal



DOHHHHHHHHHH http://www.askdirect.co.uk/uview?call=ask.productSearch&id=961&topcatid=12

[Edited by ScoobyTal - 9/7/2002 8:47:02 PM]

msp1

Read the reviews and just ordered the Ixus (oops and 128 memory). Thanks Tal for the Askdirect link, by far the cheapest (with stock).

Keep on eye on the members gallery at the end of the week for some samples

Mike

[Edited by msp1 - 9/8/2002 7:52:08 PM]

msp1

In the market for a digital camera. For it's compact size the Canon Digital Ixus 330 (2.5 megapixels) is my first choice, having considered the Fuji Finepix and Nikon Coolpix. However the Kodak Easyshare DX4900 is cheaper and is a 4 megapixel camera. I've read various reviews and the Ixus scored 9/10 for pic quality and the Kodak 8/10.

My questions are:-
1. If I get a 2.5 megapixel pic printed professionally will the quality be as good as a normal 35mm camera, ie good enough to frame?
2. Would anyone recommend either of these cameras/other cameras?

Thanks in advance

Mike

STi 7

i'm going to buy the Sony CD400...

its the one thats takes the likkle CD, and u can put it str8 into ure CD Rom drive, store hundres and hundreds of pics! including a few min length movies...

worth looking into!

MartinM

You generally need 240-300 dpi for a real 'professional' print, if you don't want to have any evidence of pixelation. You might get away with 180dpi, but that's generally acknowledged as a bit on the low side.

For printing 1 dot = 1 pixel on the image

So for:
6x4 print, you're talking about 1600 pixels x 1200 == 2megapixels
7x5 print, 2000 pixels x 1500 == 3megapixels
10x8 print, 3000 pixels x 2000 = 6megapixels

Having said that, it depends how closely you look at the printed picture. The closer you look (like 9 inches, say) the easier you can see the pixelation. I can print excellent 10x8 prints from my 3mp camera (OK it's an expensive DSLR where the 'quality' of the pixels is excellent) where there's no evidence of pixelation if you're more than 3 feet away ie it's hanging on the wall

HTH. Any more questions - ask away (digital photography is my 2nd hobby after the Scoob)

BTW I hate a lot of the £300-£600 digital cameras since I can't stand the delay between pressing the button and it taking the picture - as much as 1 second in some cameras. If you shoot fast moving stuff (football, motorsport etc) then it's generally luck that gets the good shots, not the camera. So I would research - www.dpreview.com very carefully. Flame suit on for all the happy P&S camera owners out there...

AndyC_772

iTrader: (2)

Mike,

Don't judge a camera based solely on the number of megapixels. It's rather like measuring driving standards by looking at speed - easily measured but a very long way from telling the whole story

In terms of image quality, there are a lot more thing to consider - lens resolution (MTF), distortion, chromatic aberration (colour fringes), low light noise levels and so on. Take a peek on http://www.dpreview.com where you'll find reviews of almost every camera available, along with example photos that you can download and print to see for yourself.

A good 2.5 megapixel shot should blow up to 8"x6" without too much trouble and still look sharp. 4 megapixels should fill an A4 page, but I very much doubt that the lens in the Kodak camera is good enough to resolve the extra detail in the first place. (As an aside, a Canon EOS 1D - professional digital SLR - has 4 megapixels and a massive sensor, yet you can still see the difference between a £300 lens and a £1000 lens with it. The number of pixels really isn't the limiting factor).

A colleague of mine has the Canon 330 and is very happy with it, and that's what I'd recommend.

Andy.

AndyC_772

iTrader: (2)

ps. Hi Martin Got any new lenses lately? (Just got myself a Sigma 15-30, great for taking pics of cars. Bought a circular polarizer too, for the same reason - it almost entirely cuts out the glare off windows. I could have done with it at JAE; roll on next year!)

I tend to stick to 8"x6" prints from my D30, but only because my photography isn't really good enough to warrant the wall space that bigger prints would take up. Getting slowly better tho'...

A.

AndyC_772

iTrader: (2)

No, never used a 1D. I have a horrible feeling that using one would lead to a massive hole in my bank balance, and probably a divorce (Fancy a slightly used D30? Tried and tested, one careful owner, yours for £4300...)

You can rent one from www.fixationuk.com for a trifling £95/day - should give about long enough to work out how to drive it!

D30 focusing tip: leave the lens on AF, but use the Custom Function to reassign AF to the * key (CF2 = 1, I think). That way you can prefocus where you're expecting the subject to be, but still have auto focus available when and if you need it. I leave mine set up like this all the time now, it soon becomes second nature.

A.

MartinM

Interesting site. How come I always want the most expensive thing in the shop

...not very local to me though. I'd need it for a week - only £380

MartinM

msp1...sorry to hijack the thread

Andy...aha, just been playing with CF2. Set to 3 with AI Servo seems the best:

• Press * to focus
• Release * - focus is fixed. No hands on camera!
• Get ready to take picture at focus point with shutter button
• ...but action is somewhere else, so re-press *, wait for focus and then take picture with shutter button

..is that the way to do it?

AndyC_772

iTrader: (2)

Martin,

Let me have your email address and we can take this offline

I use CF2=1 with one-shot focus. The difference is:

- I get the focus confirmation beep, which I appreciate. Maybe AI focus would work better if the subject you're trying to focus on in a hurry is moving. Personally I've never had much luck with AI focus, the D30 is just too damn slow - at least, it is with all the lenses I can afford!

- Using CF2=1 rather than 3 means that I can still lock exposure by presing the shutter halfway, then recompose and shoot. CF2=3 means that the exposure isn't locked when the shutter is half pressed.

Andy.

Allan

iTrader: (1)

Mike,
In answer to your first question,
I have achieved very good results using a 2.1MP Sony Cybershot and an inkjet printer, however I have a friend with the same camera who has used This Service to achieve absolutely amazing quality prints both in 6x4 and 10x8.
The 6x4 was the closest result I have yet seen to rival 35mm, you would be very hard pushed to tell the difference.
As has already been said it's not just about the number of pixels.
Allan

msp1

Thanks to everyone for the advice, think I'll opt for the Ixus unless something else pops up on this thread.

Mike

polarbearit

My advice - try before you buy, I have a camera which has a 1 second delay when you press the shutter - makes it useless half the time...

msp1

Tal

Is there a delay with your Ixus?

Mike

ScoobyTal

yep

Scumbag

Just got a Pentax 330 RS - new model, cheaper than the original 330 with 11MB of on-board RAM, and extra features - £416 including case, spare battery, 128MB CF card, and card reader.
It really is the dogs danglies. I spent quite a lot of time researching, and comparing - it gets excellent reviews, and is a LOT cheaper than the outgoing model - check it out. Got it mail order from one of the outlets on Tottenham Court Rd - superb next day service