Camera for travelling?

Thread view:

Enable EMail Alerts

Start New Thread

Thread rating:

Newshound - 12 Jul 2005 22:24 GMT

Daughter needs a camera for 2 month trip to Africa. I'm thinking, 3 - 4
mpix, reasonably dust/damp proof. Small and light for convenience /
security. Won't need very many "knobs". Thought about the Oly mju but guess
she'd be better off with AA batteries. Suggestions?

Reply to this Message

peter - 15 Jul 2005 08:53 GMT

> Daughter needs a camera for 2 month trip to Africa. I'm thinking, 3 - 4
> mpix, reasonably dust/damp proof. Small and light for convenience /
> security. Won't need very many "knobs". Thought about the Oly mju but guess
> she'd be better off with AA batteries. Suggestions?

Konica Minolta Dimage X xxx. One of these takes AA cells, I can't
remember which. The others take wretched Li-ion. Should be quite inexpensive

Reply to this Message

Newshound - 15 Jul 2005 14:34 GMT

> Konica Minolta Dimage X xxx. One of these takes AA cells, I can't
> remember which. The others take wretched Li-ion. Should be quite
> inexpensive

Thanks, E500 takes AA and looks quite nice. As you say all the slimline jobs
take Li-ion

Reply to this Message

Charles Schuler - 16 Jul 2005 00:33 GMT

> Daughter needs a camera for 2 month trip to Africa. I'm thinking, 3 - 4
> mpix, reasonably dust/damp proof. Small and light for convenience /
> security. Won't need very many "knobs". Thought about the Oly mju but
> guess she'd be better off with AA batteries. Suggestions?

Is she going to have the opportunity or need to shoot wildlife? If the
answer is yes, you might want to consider a Panasonic Lumix FZ5.

Reply to this Message

Alan Meyer - 17 Jul 2005 00:17 GMT

>>Daughter needs a camera for 2 month trip to Africa. I'm thinking, 3 - 4
>>mpix, reasonably dust/damp proof. Small and light for convenience /
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
> Is she going to have the opportunity or need to shoot wildlife? If the
> answer is yes, you might want to consider a Panasonic Lumix FZ5.

What Charles is saying here is that she'll want a long
telephoto to shoot wildlife.

I concur with that. You don't want to get too close to
wild animals and probably couldn't even if you wanted to.

The best long telephoto cameras have image stabilization
but, unfortunately, that adds a lot to the price.

Alan

Reply to this Message

David J Taylor - 17 Jul 2005 09:15 GMT

[]

> The best long telephoto cameras have image stabilization
> but, unfortunately, that adds a lot to the price.

There's quite a lot of discussion of such cameras over in:

rec.photo.digital.zlr

The 5MP Panasonic FZ5 is about GBP 300, and includes an image-stabilised
36 - 432mm zoom, good for distant photography. I don't regard GBP 300 as
lot more expensive, considering its capabilities.

David

Reply to this Message

Newshound - 17 Jul 2005 21:32 GMT

Thanks all for the suggestions. I think she will be more after "social"
photos than serious wildlife stuff. However the Panasonic sounds good, I'll
have a look at that for myself!

Reply to this Message

Alan Meyer - 18 Jul 2005 16:09 GMT

> Thanks all for the suggestions. I think she will be more after "social"
> photos than serious wildlife stuff. However the Panasonic sounds good, I'll
> have a look at that for myself!

I think for social photos while traveling, small size is the
most important thing. If the camera fits easily in her purse
or pocket, and doesn't weigh her down, she'll want to take it
with her more often.

On a long trip, unless she has a laptop with her, she'll also
need a high capacity memory card. One gigabyte cards are available
for about $79 USD, and less on sale. A card like that can hold
500-1000 images, depending on how big each is and how compressed
they are.

Most cameras now also take movies, which is nice. If she might use
that a lot then the quality of the movie mode is a factor, and
the need for a large memory card is even greater.

Also for a long trip, a big LCD screen on the back of the camera
is nice. If she has no access to a computer, the only way she'll
be able to see the photos during the trip is on the LCD screen.

There are some cameras that are credit card size (though obviously
much thicker) and have 2.5 inch LCDs. Maybe one of those would
be ideal.

Alan

Reply to this Message

Newshound - 18 Jul 2005 20:51 GMT

> I think for social photos while traveling, small size is the
> most important thing. If the camera fits easily in her purse
> or pocket, and doesn't weigh her down, she'll want to take it
> with her more often.

Yes, my view too

> On a long trip, unless she has a laptop with her, she'll also
> need a high capacity memory card.

Yes, I thought she should take a couple and swap them every day against the
risk of losing one.

> Most cameras now also take movies, which is nice. If she might use
> that a lot then the quality of the movie mode is a factor, and
> the need for a large memory card is even greater.
>
> Also for a long trip, a big LCD screen on the back of the camera

Good point

> There are some cameras that are credit card size (though obviously
> much thicker) and have 2.5 inch LCDs. Maybe one of those would
> be ideal.

Her brother took an Oly mini miu to New York, I was amazed at the picture
quality for the size and price, but I can't help thinking AA instead of
proprietary Li Ion will be better on tour in Africa

Reply to this Message

( ^ ! ^ ) - 23 Jul 2005 22:22 GMT

DIGITAL CAMERA WEBCAM VIDEO CAM AUDIO REC 4 IN ONE

GOING CHEAP!

http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7533232684&rd=1&sspagename
=STRK%3AMESE%3AIT&rd=1

> > Daughter needs a camera for 2 month trip to Africa. I'm thinking, 3 - 4
> > mpix, reasonably dust/damp proof. Small and light for convenience /
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
> Is she going to have the opportunity or need to shoot wildlife? If the
> answer is yes, you might want to consider a Panasonic Lumix FZ5.

Reply to this Message