 |
 | Home | Contact Us | FAQ | Search & Site Map | Link to Us |
 | Sign In | Join | Other 45 Sites in Network |
| PhotoKB HomeDiscussion Groups Digital Photography Digital PhotoDSLR CamerasZLR CamerasPoint & Shoot CamerasFilm Photography 35 mmLarge FormatMedium formatDarkroomFilm and LabsOther EquipmentPhoto Technique Nature PhotographyPeople PhotographyTechnique GeneralGeneral Photo Topics General TopicsAustralian PhotographyUK PhotographyDirectoryPhoto Clubs |
Photo Forum / Digital Photography / Digital Photo / July 2008Suitable Pocket camera for Railfanning?
I'm looking for a reasonable priced pocket digital camera. I want one with a decent lense with a low aperture. I'm interested in one with a good range of shutter speeds with less spacing than say a film slr with 1/250 and the next increment being 1/500. I would also like to burn at least 5-8 fps to the flash card in one burst. Is there one out there with all the settings fully controllable by the user? thanks bill  Signature--- William O'Hara www.N1ey.com - Amateur Radio and Railfan Blog www.yahoogroups.com/group/illinoiscentral - premier discussion list re: ICRR > I'm looking for a reasonable priced pocket digital camera. I want one > with [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > thanks > bill I think the rest of us would be looking for a camera like that too. Rudy Benner VE3BDR > I'm looking for a reasonable priced pocket digital camera. I want one with > a decent lense with a low aperture. Which brands are you considering? > I'm interested in one with a good range of shutter speeds with less spacing > than say a film slr with 1/250 and the next increment being 1/500. That is a standard half-stop exposure change. > I would > also like to burn at least 5-8 fps to the flash card in one burst. You seem to be describing a Canon 1D Mark III. > Is there one out there with all the settings fully controllable by the > user? There are several compact cameras with manual controls, but they usually cannot shoot at more than 1 fps without reducing the resolution and the exposure time. You may be waiting quite awhile for a compact camera that can support faster fps rates when using short exposure times. If you want at least 5-8 fps and the buffer to support those bursts, you should be considering a Canon 1D Mark III or similar dSLR. : > I'm looking for a reasonable priced pocket digital camera. I want one with : > a decent lense with a low aperture. [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] : : That is a standard half-stop exposure change. Is it? Doubling the speed halves the number of photons hitting the sensor. That's a change of a full stop, isn't it? Bob > : That is a standard half-stop exposure change. > > Is it? Doubling the speed halves the number of photons hitting the sensor. > That's a change of a full stop, isn't it? I was referring to the 1/350-1/500 half-stop. I am not sure which modern cameras have a full-stop shutter speed option, although older 35-mm cameras had such a dial setting. >> : That is a standard half-stop exposure change. >> [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > modern cameras have a full-stop shutter speed option, although older > 35-mm cameras had such a dial setting. Where did the 1/350 come from. The OP wrote 1/250 and 1/500. Allen Allen <allen@nothere.net> wrote in news:482dedb4$0$30524 $4c368faf@roadrunner.com: >>> : That is a standard half-stop exposure change. >>> [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > Where did the 1/350 come from. The OP wrote 1/250 and 1/500. > Allen No... The OP wants cameras that can do exposures at 1/320 or 1/400. thanks Signature--- William O'Hara www.N1ey.com - Amateur Radio and Railfan Blog www.yahoogroups.com/group/illinoiscentral - premier discussion list re: ICRR > I am not sure which > modern cameras have a full-stop shutter speed option It appears that Leica still uses the whole-stops on the shutter speed dial. >: > I'm looking for a reasonable priced pocket digital camera. I want >: > one with a decent lense with a low aperture. [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > > Bob No kidding... So I must be stupid or something as no want else wants a decent pocket camera for which you can control the settings and can take more than one picture a minute? thanks Signature--- William O'Hara www.N1ey.com - Amateur Radio and Railfan Blog www.yahoogroups.com/group/illinoiscentral - premier discussion list re: ICRR > No kidding... So I must be stupid or something as no want else > wants a decent pocket camera for which you can control the settings > and can take more than one picture a minute? > > thanks Hardly stupid. My few-years-old Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX1 goes: " ... 80 100 125 160 200 250 320 400 500 ... 2000" Fully controllable, a little noisy, high-quality construction and lens. A Leica-branded version was much more expensive. I believe there has been at least one edtion since I bought it, but in contrast to the one-new-small-camera-every-six-months tenor of my previous "pocket" camera quest, I haven't encountered a need to try again. You could go to Flickr.com and search on "LX1" to see tens of thousands of examples of the kind of output it generates. SignatureFrank ess > Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX1 What does Unlimited Consecutive Shooting function mean? 3fps is kind of slow. I know from experience. Can it really do 5fps? Is this only in JPEG mode? thanks Signature--- William O'Hara www.N1ey.com - Amateur Radio and Railfan Blog www.yahoogroups.com/group/illinoiscentral - premier discussion list re: ICRR >> Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX1 > [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > > thanks I believe "Unlimited Consecutive Shooting" is something no one has bothered to understand. I certainly don't. It seems to be a concept like "There's plenty of room until it's full", which goes without saying, doesn't it? My experience is that there is no actual 5fps in this camera. I have mis-filed (hidden) the Owner's Guide, and won't be able to offer any authoritative advertising propaganda, but the picture-taking I do with it is of the nature: Frame Press Focus two three four Fire and process two three Repeat as needed. That's with a SanDisk Ultra II 2GB card. It may go faster with faster cards. Yes, slow. SignatureFrank ess > I'm looking for a reasonable priced pocket digital camera. I want one with > a decent lense with a low aperture. [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] > William O'Harawww.N1ey.com- Amateur Radio and Railfan Blogwww.yahoogroups.com/group/illinoiscentral- premier discussion list re: > ICRR If you mean a 5 shot burst mode that is common on even cheap cameras as its been out for years >> I'm looking for a reasonable priced pocket digital camera. I want >> one w [quoted text clipped - 24 lines] > If you mean a 5 shot burst mode that is common on even cheap cameras > as its been out for years Not true. Point one out to me. My pentax can only do 3. thanks Signature--- William O'Hara www.N1ey.com - Amateur Radio and Railfan Blog www.yahoogroups.com/group/illinoiscentral - premier discussion list re: ICRR You learn something new every day. Until this thread, I had never heard the word 'railfanning' and had no idea what it meant, which appears to be the American equivilent of 'train-spotter' or 'anorak' in Aussie / Pomspeak. Wonder what you call a propellerhead / plane-spotter? Paul >You learn something new every day. Until this thread, I had never heard the >word 'railfanning' and had no idea what it meant, which appears to be the >American equivilent of 'train-spotter' or 'anorak' in Aussie / Pomspeak. >Wonder what you call a propellerhead / plane-spotter? Paul, IF I understand the UK English term correctly, "trainspotters" are people with books listing the numbers of all the locomotive on a system like British Rail, and they check off the number of each engine they have seen. I also have the impression that "trainspotting" is considered a bit like "slacking" in the USA. "Railfanning" describes various activities in connection with a deep and broad-based interest in railroads, rail transit, and surface rail lines ("trams:). If often involves photography, but also music, historical research, collecting items connected with rail systems and the like. If go you onto eBay and look at transportation memorabilia, you can get an idea of the range of collectible items. As for rail activities, some of them have enough people with expensive gear that you might think you were at a professional photographers' event. Father Kodak >Paul > "Father Kodak" <dont_bother@IDontCare.COM> wrote >> "Paul Bartram" <p.bartram AT OR NEAR mysoul.com.au> wrote: >>You learn something new every day. Until this thread, I had never heard >>the >>word 'railfanning' and had no idea what it meant, which appears to be the >>American equivilent of 'train-spotter' or 'anorak' in Aussie / Pomspeak. >>Wonder what you call a propellerhead / plane-spotter? > Paul, > IF I understand the UK English term correctly, "trainspotters" are > people with books listing the numbers of all the locomotive on a > system like British Rail, and they check off the number of each engine > they have seen. That was my understanding too (though with me, it was London buses, as there was an LT garage at the end of our road!) > I also have the impression that "trainspotting" is > considered a bit like "slacking" in the USA. That is probably because of the 1996 Scottish film 'Trainspotting' http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117951/ which dealt with the lives of a group of heroin addicts. I never saw it, not my kind of subject! > "Railfanning" describes various activities in connection with a deep > and broad-based interest in railroads, rail transit, and surface rail [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > If go you onto eBay and look at transportation memorabilia, you can > get an idea of the range of collectible items. Thanks for that information. My Dad worked for British Railways all his life, so our family had close contact with the culture, and I can see the attraction, especially in the steam days. > As for rail activities, some of them have enough people with expensive > gear that you might think you were at a professional photographers' > event. Oh yes, in fact it was probably the sight of 'long tom' lenses in use at our local station that originally got me interested in photography - you know kids, see something 'cool' you just have to have one like it! Paul >That is probably because of the 1996 Scottish film 'Trainspotting' >http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117951/ which dealt with the lives of a group >of heroin addicts. I never saw it, not my kind of subject! Not my kind of lifestyle either. And if there are any heroin addicts among anyone I know, then I'm just too dumb to spot that. I once met a British chap in business who might have been a heavy drug user, because he looked like he just got hit by a bus, every day I saw him. >> "Railfanning" describes various activities in connection with a deep >> and broad-based interest in railroads, rail transit, and surface rail [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] >life, so our family had close contact with the culture, and I can see the >attraction, especially in the steam days. What did your dad do? Was he a train driver? Even past steam days, there is still a lot that attracts people to the rails. >> As for rail activities, some of them have enough people with expensive >> gear that you might think you were at a professional photographers' [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] >local station that originally got me interested in photography - you know >kids, see something 'cool' you just have to have one like it! Long Tom. That was the nickname for a US Army World War II cannon, 155 mm if I remember correctly. Father Kodak >Paul > "Father Kodak" <dont_bother@IDontCare.COM> wrote >> "Paul Bartram" <p.bartram AT OR NEAR mysoul.com.au> wrote: >>That is probably because of the 1996 Scottish film 'Trainspotting' >>http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117951/ which dealt with the lives of a group >>of heroin addicts. I never saw it, not my kind of subject! > Not my kind of lifestyle either. And if there are any heroin addicts > among anyone I know, then I'm just too dumb to spot that. I once met > a British chap in business who might have been a heavy drug user, > because he looked like he just got hit by a bus, every day I saw him. Perhaps he was just hopeless at crossing the road? >>Thanks for that information. My Dad worked for British Railways all his >>life, so our family had close contact with the culture, and I can see the >>attraction, especially in the steam days. > What did your dad do? Was he a train driver? Wouldn't that have been cool, I'd have been the most popular kid in school. No, he started out as a ticket collector, moved on to the ticket office, and ended up as deputy District Manager for Southern Railways (before the regions merged into British Rail - who knows what yuppie name is painted on the trains these days?) They still don't run on time, or at all sometimes... >>Oh yes, in fact it was probably the sight of 'long tom' lenses in use at >>our >>local station that originally got me interested in photography - you know >>kids, see something 'cool' you just have to have one like it! > Long Tom. That was the nickname for a US Army World War II cannon, > 155 mm if I remember correctly. I know Amateur Photography magazine often referred to telephotos as 'Long Toms', but doubtless that name originated in the military, as you say. Paul > I'm looking for a reasonable priced pocket digital camera. I want one with > a decent lense with a low aperture. [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] > William O'Harawww.N1ey.com- Amateur Radio and Railfan Blogwww.yahoogroups.com/group/illinoiscentral- premier discussion list re: > ICRR You said 5-8 fps thats frames per second, if you meant burst continous shooting you would be realistic or video mode most all will do. >> I'm looking for a reasonable priced pocket digital camera. I want one with >> a decent lense with a low aperture. [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] >You said 5-8 fps thats frames per second, if you meant burst continous >shooting you would be realistic or video mode most all will do. And you also need to think about buffer depth. Gosh, how many years since IC became ICG and then CN/GTW. Father Kodak I'm a long time amateur photographer and sometimes railfan (see my ID!). Not a whole lot of trains running around where I live, but do shoot them from time to time. I don't know much about all the pocket sized digital cameras that are out there, but sorta doubt any will fulfill the OP's requirements. I've been using Canon Rebel DSLRs since they came out and I can do much of what he requires with all of them. But they are certainly not pocket sized! I've always had smaller cameras to carry around, and they haven't really been all that great at shooting multiple shots of passing trains. They need to shoot, refocus, then shoot, etc. etc., and this takes way too much time. I used a Kodak P850 for a while and it was like this, and it's replacement, a Canon Powershot S5 is about the same. Great for one shot, but not really for a whole lot in a row. If there are cameras out there that would be considered, I'd suggest looking for one that has an optical viewfinder, as trying to follow a moving subject in the read LCD can be difficult. And sometimes almost impossinble in bright sunlight. I also have a Pentax Optio Z10 that has a great 7X optical zoom lens, but since it only has the LCD viewfider, using it outdoors in fast moving situations is not practical. Bob B. Canada |
Reply to this Message |
 Sign In
 Join
 My Latest Posts My Monitored Threads My Blog My Photo Gallery My Profile My Homepage Start New Thread Enable EMail Alerts Rate this Thread
|
©2008 Advenet LLC Privacy Policy - Terms of Use
This website includes both content owned or controlled by Advenet as well as content owned or controlled by third parties.