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General discussion

Best cameras with these features?

Mar 19, 2005 12:25AM PST

Hello, I am looking to buy a new digicam and these are the features that are important to me:

*very little shutter lag (VERY important)
*compact size
*large lcd screen
*compact flash storage
*around $400-500 price

I had been seriously looking at the Sony T1, which in theory has a lot of what I'm looking for, but the mixed reviews have swayed me from it.

I'm not a pro user by any stretch of the imagination, just a point-and-shooter wanting decent pics of my kids. Happy I don't understand much AT ALL about the technicalities of photography, but do like to play around with the menus. Wink

I really appreciate the help!

Discussion is locked

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That's odd. Why the compact flash requirement?
Mar 19, 2005 12:37AM PST

It's usually because someone has some cards they want to re-use. But the prices for some 512MB SD card cost me 44 bucks so I gave the heave ho to the old CF cards and moved to a better, newer camera.

Bob

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cf
Mar 19, 2005 2:20AM PST

Yeah, I have quite a few CF cards. It's not a total requirement, just a plus. Happy I have no problem with changing to a camera that uses different media if the other options are there.

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Features
Mar 19, 2005 8:09AM PST

If you want a 2.5 inch LCD, you had best look at the Sony cameras. They make that LCD and not many other camera companies are using it.
There does not seem to be a second source for 2.5 LCD.
So Sony is probably pricing that LCD pretty high.

If you can settle for a 2.0 inch LCD, take a look at the Canon SD series of cameras, and the new A510 and A520. They all have shutter lag of about 0.3 second.

I think you will have to start looking at something other than Compact Flash (CF) media. Canon was the big user of CF and those cameras were not particularly great when it came to shutter lag.
Canon is switching to SD media. The price on SD is dropping every day.

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Thanks!
Mar 19, 2005 9:11AM PST

Thanks to you all for the replies. Happy

I ended up going with the Sony T1 afterall, it just had so much of what I wanted. Circuit City had it on sale for $349 ($50 off!) and I couldn't resist. I did go ahead and get the extended warranty, considering that the front sliding cover and large LCD are potentially easy to break items.

Again, I really appreciate the info!

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CF or SD Media
Mar 24, 2005 3:35PM PST

snapshot-M, Please clue me in on why SD is the better choice on a new compact? Two years ago I purchased a Canon S-400 Power Shot. The pictures are wonderful. The camera fits into any of my pockets easily. Presently I have a 512 MG card.
I have noticed that there has always been a lag when I click to take a picture. Interesting.

Just for your info, off this subject:
I still have a Nikon 6006 35mm camera that I use with a nice Nikon lens. This camera is my choice when I photograph flowers in my garden. Better photos than the S-400.
Compacts are great out on vacation. Also, when out in lousy weather, I take my Cannon Sure Shot SP-1. Nice photos also. Not all new, but wonderful cameras for the price. Thanks,

Kevin

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Memory Cards
Mar 24, 2005 11:10PM PST

Compact Flash cards offer the best value.
The SD cards are the next best for price and continue to drop in price.
Canon has moved to the SD cards on their new A510 and A520.
The small size of the SD is attractive to the camera maker.

Shutter lag is seldom caused by the memory card.
If you just punch down the shutter button, the camera has to focus and then capture and store the photo.
Autofocus time causes almost all of this lag.

High speed memory cards are not needed unless the camera makers specifies that they should be used.

Some camera makers are starting to require higher speed memory cards on their newer cameras.
Mostly for 640x480/30fps movies and faster start-up times.

As camera makers improve their shot-to-shot time and add more buffering, high speed memory cards will likely be required on future cameras.

I still use my Canon AE-1 SLR film camera for some occasions. Over the years I have taken about 5,000 35mm slides with that camera.

I have been slowly turning the 35mm slides into DVD slide shows. That 35mm format works great when using the Ken Burns effect (zooming and panning), because the 35mm image is wider than the television image. You have to pan the 35mm picture, to see the entire image on television.


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Memory Cards
Mar 25, 2005 2:13PM PST

Snapshot/M.
Thanks for the info. I do hold down the auto focus 1/2 way down before I take a shot on my Canon Shure Shot S-400.
Yet, why does there still seem to be a lag with the shutter timing?

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S-400
Mar 25, 2005 11:19PM PST

You are using the best method, by utilizing the half press. That just leaves the shutter release lag.

Because the total lag is almost one second.

The shutter release lag shows to be 0.1 second when using the LCD and <0.1 second when using the viewfinder.

From this I assume you can turn off the LCD.

You might experiment with taking photos with the LCD turned off.

Here is a link to all the timings on the S400:

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canons400/page8.asp

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Took back the T1 and got an Olympus Stylus 500!
Mar 20, 2005 11:48PM PST

I had major problems with blurry pics from the T1 (takes beautiful pics as long as your subject is standing as still as a stone). I really wanted to like the camera, and loved everything but the pic quality. Silly

So I ended up exchanging it for the Stylus 500, and I absolutely LOVE it! Has everything I was looking for and takes awesome point-and-shoot pics. The red-eye isn't that great, but the people in our family are VERY prone to red-eye, even with a high-end camera.

I took pics of my son dancing and running around, and there's not one blur! Grin With the T1, he literally looked like a ghost, you could see objects in the room through his image in the pic. I couldn't get this to stop, no matter what settings on the camera were, and I tried all suggestions I could find online.

Anyway, I just wanted to say that if there's anyone else out there looking for a camera similar to what I was, the Olympus Stylus 500 is definitely something to check out! Grin

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Sony or Olympus

There's a new nice Sont T-7, more compact and sylish than the older T-1.

I really recommedn the Olympus Stylus 500. It doesn't have a lag, very quick. I find it quite compact, even though it has a gorgeous 2.5 hyper crystal display. It is arounf $300, even though it is 5 megapixels and has great funtions. THey oinly con is that is uses xD (extreme digital) media cards instead of compact flash...