Buying a digital camera.
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So I've entertained the idea of buying a camera instead of a laptop until work is sorted out. Let me start off saying it's for spur of the moment stuff, like conventions and selfies, not serious photography.
Years ago I had a little Canon Powershot, about the size of a credit card except ten times as thick, but didn't use it much so I can't speak to its performance.
I've been using an old Samsung Galaxy phone since. I don't think the picture quality is great but not as horrible as everybody I show photos to says it is. I recent bought a Creative webcam and don't get any better quality out of it. Seems like nothing performs well for me absent perfect lighting but photos aren't my wheelhouse.Can you recommend what I should look for to get acceptable photos?
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@Zenith said in Buying a digital camera.:
Can you recommend what I should look for to get acceptable photos?
A midrange laptop is good for dealing with photos, unless you're dealing with extremely high resolutions.
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@Zenith If you are not looking to do any serious photography, have you considered simply upgrading your phone instead?
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@Zenith said in Buying a digital camera.:
Can you recommend what I should look for to get acceptable photos?
I would say something like Sony A6000 - which is not just an example, but a nice little shooter; my old folks have the previous model - is the price range you should aim for to beat current gen phones. Low light shooting still sucks in both kinds of devices - take extra care with that.
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@Applied-Mediocrity said in Buying a digital camera.:
the price range you should aim for to beat current gen phones
You'd think any dedicated camera would beat an equivalently priced phone. But I guess phones get the advantage of massive batch manufacturing. There's like 100 phones for every dedicated camera.
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@acrow said in Buying a digital camera.:
You'd think any dedicated camera would beat an equivalently priced phone.
There's this really obscure and niche feature that gives a basic compact camera an edge over phones -- it's called "zooming."
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@kazitor said in Buying a digital camera.:
@acrow said in Buying a digital camera.:
You'd think any dedicated camera would beat an equivalently priced phone.
There's this really obscure and niche feature that gives a basic compact camera an edge over phones -- it's called "zooming."
You'd think so. But last time I bought a basic compact camera, the zooming was absolute shit. And it even refused to zoom at all while taking video. Because that feature was listed for the €50 more expensive sister model.
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get a GoPro or other action cam?
picture quality is good to great and they have a handy small form factor and almost indestructible
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@Luhmann He'd have to invest in one with a high resolution though. For photography, he'd have to crop in post-processing a lot. But taking clips of a few seconds each does increase the likelihood of a good frame or two, yes.
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@acrow said in Buying a digital camera.:
There's like 100 phones for every dedicated camera.
This. Also OP lists use for spur of the moment stuff. Phone has the distinct advantage that you probably have it with you, unlike a separate camera. And, opinions on selfies aside, most phones have a selfie-cam, which makes taking those quite a bit easier.
More importantly, once the novelty factor wears off and you realize that you actually weren't that interested in taking photos anyway, you're left with a phone that you can use for other stuff instead of a shitty camera.
(Things change if you're looking for an actually good camera, but those are kinda awkward for selfies.)
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@Zenith said in Buying a digital camera.:
absent perfect lighting
Lens size and wideness of angle compensate for lack of light to some degree. But generally absence of perfect lighting is corrected for with a bigger flash.
Also, for selfies, consider a remote trigger. Like, say, from one of those Bluetooth selfie-sticks. Just cut off the stick part.
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@acrow said in Buying a digital camera.:
invest in one with a high resolution though
I wasn't under the impression this was a requirement ... I'm just a offering a different solution then the obvious one that might fill his need and offer some advantages
he'd have to crop in post-processing a lot
don't put it on the default fish-eye mode for pictures?
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@Luhmann said in Buying a digital camera.:
invest in one with a high resolution though
I wasn't under the impression this was a requirement ... I'm just a offering a different solution then the obvious one that might fill his need and offer some advantages
It wasn't a stated requirement. But if he'll have to crop in post-processing, then it will be.
don't put it on the default fish-eye mode for pictures?
I doubt they have a mechanical zoom, for robustness reasons, so you'd lose resolution. Also, there isn't a sighting reticle to help with composition in a GoPro. Or wasn't, the last time I looked. So you either get too wide or too narrow. Too wide is easier to fix afterwards.
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@Deadfast said in Buying a digital camera.:
@Zenith If you are not looking to do any serious photography, have you considered simply upgrading your phone instead?
When I was looking at replacing the phone, I was focused on other features, so the replacement was possibly going to be a Motorola Moto E6 or a low end Samsung (both in the $100 range I guess because they were off plan?) with whatever camera that included. But then it was just a different camera, not necessarily better or worse (that I knew). Is there a brand/line of phones that generally has better cameras? I kept reading about Samsungs having some sort of decalibration problem that I didn't have or didn't notice.
@Luhmann I'll have to look up GoPro.
@acrow I had a convertible selfie stick/tripod somewhere. Never got the remote working so I just used the phone's timer.
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@kazitor said in Buying a digital camera.:
@acrow said in Buying a digital camera.:
You'd think any dedicated camera would beat an equivalently priced phone.
There's this really obscure and niche feature that gives a basic compact camera an edge over phones -- it's called "zooming."
The one that those camlump phones have? Where is your God now?
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As for phones which may have a "good enough" camera.
This is my most recent purchase:
I've bought this one for my husband and MIL for Christmas when it was available under $200. I've had a few BLU phone (required
for my Pokemon Go habit), some barely over $100.I just won't pay the $600+ price no matter how it is financed.
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@Zenith The Pixel 4a can take decent photos, although it's probably more expensive than you were looking for.
However as @cvi said, it's probably a better "investment" in the long run.
Amazon.com
Google Pixel 4a Camera review: Excellent single-camera smartphone