time to upgrade

[Stu Olson]

With my sub-megapixel Sony camera badly showing its age (although its ability to handle the close up details on a Jeep project is almost 2nd to none IMO) and my desire to shoot some pictures that will look good when sent to my new Epson printer, I finally broke down today and picked up a Canon A70. Spent a lot of time reading write-ups on various cameras and the truth be known, I believe it is impossible to stay on top of the technology that is driving the digital imaging portion of the world.

So, while my 3 megapixel CCD is not bleeding edge technology, I think I am going to enjoy it. It has more gadgets and settings than I can remember (luckily the owners manual isn't too big) but I think it will suit my needs just fine.

Anyone else here have an A70?

[cbremer]

stu, i personally have an A60, and use an A70 at work. For the price, I feel that they are fine cameras, and are a good size to handle on the trail (pocket size, or can fit in the small cubbyholes in the Jeep)

I played with the imaging software that came with the A70 and had a bit of fun with the panoramic image 'stitching'. The cameras themselves are good automatic point-and-shoot cameras, but still have a fair bit of adjustability and manual control in reagards to shutter speed and aperture size. The ability to record video with sound is a great feature too, IMO. The video length is limited only by the memory card you're using- you can record until the card is filled, then pop another card in and keep going

have fun!
Chuck

[Stu Olson]

Chuck.....your comments are quite similar to what I found in various feeback forums and write-ups for the A60 and A70 cameras. (good to hear that info confirmed by someone on the BBS)

I am not a hard core camer user but knew I was not going to be happy with a fully automatic only camera. I use to shoot 2 1/4" x 2 1/4" and develop my own pictures but that was 30 years ago now....but I enjoyed it and now I am looking to get some of the enjoyment I had back then but without the smelly chemicals. LOL The camera has some short comings but I honestly don't think I'm at the level to worry about them.

[BlueJeeper]

Funny you bring this up. I have been getting ready to drop the hammer on a new one, and have been torn between the a70/a80 series and s45/s50. I like the extra bells and whistles and LCD on the s-series better, but prefer how the a-series feels in the hand, and that they use AA's instead of proprietary lithium-ion.

I think it's pretty much can't miss with the Canon's though, they seem to represent tremendous value with manual controls in the consumer and prosumer cams. A friend has one of the Canon digital SLR's and a powershot g3, and I loved the manual controls and UI, but not the form factor. These other ones are great I think.

I also thought a great site for reviews was dpreview.com. Their reviews are extremely detailed.

The coolest accessory for the powershot series is by far the underwater case:

[Stu Olson]

Rick,

I just stumbled across the dpreview web site the other day. It is indeed a good site for reviews. They had more detail than I was able to absorb (or interested in) but did manage to provide info for all of the questions I had acquired from reading the user comments and reviews.

I'm sure you know this but the A70 (don't know about its bigger brothers) has some of the best power consumption specs available. Hence, they run for ever on alkalines (albeit the A70 uses 4 of them). My Sony Mavica is a proprietary batter and while I have gotten pretty good life from the 2nd battery, the longevity of the 1st battery was less than expected.

I just took some pcs of my wife's sewing project and then printed an 8.5"x11" on the new Epson printer. She was tickled pink and is convinced that both items were worth the expenditure and now realizes how poor the 4+ year old camera and printer actually were.

Good luck on what ever you decide on.

[TObject]

The most common reason for "pink" looking pictures out of Epson printers is usage of wrong ink or paper (usually later). I am personally fed up with ink printers, how much the ink costs, how fast it runs out, and how often the nozzles have to be cleaned, etc. I have an Olympus P-10 printer on order, I intend to use for printing snapshots.

www.jeepbbs.net is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.

[Stu Olson]

Thanks Sergey....I'll keep the pink tip in mind if I ever come across that situation. I have a small stock of Canon photo paper that seems to be working OK so far. This Epson is the first ink jet I've had that uses individual color cartridges. Time will tell if it is as cost effective as claimed.

[TObject]

I had good results (quality wise) with Epson Premium Glossy Photo Paper, Epson Stylus Photo 820 printer, and Epson inks.

The color laser printers are not very good for printing photographs yet. Even though mine (Xerox 6200), has a special Photo mode.

I'll let you know how I like the new Olympus Dye-Sub.

[pcoplin]

I have a little HP Photosmart 230 I use with HP pare. I like the quality.

On cameras, we currently have an Olumpus c-4000, but are downgrading to the Minolta DiMAGE E323 3.2-Megapixel camera. It's much smaller than the beast-of-a-camera Olympus. It should work well for a basic camera.

[jeepik]

i use the canon elph, its small and takes brethtaking pictures..


Canon makes some great cameras and the quality is awesome, inmho you cant go wrong with Canon

[BlueJeeper]

Originally posted by Stu Olson
Good luck on what ever you decide on.

Just got an a80. I like it a lot.

I found some 37mm lens adapters (http://www.lensmateonline.com/A80adapter.htm), although I am not sure if these would also fit the other a-series or not. They have the benefit of not blocking the flash and viewfinder as much as the canon 52mm adapter.

Anyone have a favorite tripod? I am looking for a lightweight one that can collapse to small dimensions.

Any opinions on high-speed CF cards? What other brands are comparable to the read/write speeds of the Sandisk Ultra II cards?

[Jeff Weston]

How does the A80 do in low level light? I'm considering the A70. I enjoyed my Olympus D560 (550?) but flash photography left a lot to be desired. I don't want to spend too much coin as my son through my last one in the bathtub.

[TObject]

WD, and I used a Bogen / Manfrotto 719B Digi Tripod.



It's light, easy to use, comes equipped with a ball head, and inexpensive. Really nice travel tripod for lighter cameras, I think. The only thing I would recommend is, buy a quick release adapter and plate(s) (Part numbers 3299 and 3157N, if I am not mistaken), otherwise, you would have to screw the camera on and off every time you put it on the tripod.

This particular model has been discontinued and replaced by 724B, which is a new and improved version.

Now, if you want something more substantial, the rule of thumb is to buy the heaviest tripod you can carry. I have one of the bigger Slik tripods (700DX) with a pan and tilt head. Most people prefer ball heads.

[BlueJeeper]

Originally posted by Jeff Weston
How does the A80 do in low level light? I'm considering the A70. I enjoyed my Olympus D560 (550?) but flash photography left a lot to be desired. I don't want to spend too much coin as my son through my last one in the bathtub.

I can't say I've shot enough in low light conditions to recommend the camera one way or another on the basis of the flash, but most of the reviews don't have anything bad to say, except that autoflash photos are a bit underexposed. Most also have complaints about the red-eye reduction as well.

In the manual modes you can vary the power of the flash, but not in the auto mode. The auto mode does have one of those orange AF-assist lamps. None of the reviews I read about it (and I think I read them all) panned the low-light performance on the a-series Canons. I think they're about as best as can be expected for an internal flash. That said--for the photos I've taken, it's light years ahead of the low-light performance on my old digital camera.

As far as price--I picked mine up from www.beachcamera.com for a great price--and the standard low-cost 7-10 day fedex shipping had the thing to my door in 3 days via courier after I ordered it. The shop is in NJ.

[BlueJeeper]

Originally posted by TObject
WD, and I used a Bogen / Manfrotto 719B Digi Tripod.

It's light, easy to use, comes equipped with a ball head, and inexpensive. Really nice travel tripod for lighter cameras, I think. The only thing I would recommend is, buy a quick release adapter and plate(s) (Part numbers 3299 and 3157N, if I am not mistaken), otherwise, you would have to screw the camera on and off every time you put it on the tripod.

This particular model has been discontinued and replaced by 724B, which is a new and improved version.

Now, if you want something more substantial, the rule of thumb is to buy the heaviest tripod you can carry, and the most expensive you can afford. I have one of the bigger Slik tripods (700DX) with a pan and tilt head. Most people prefer ball heads.

Thanks!

[Tim]

hah sergey!

had to look at the bogen you were talking about to see if it was the same as mine. the one you shown looks pretty light. i was worried for a minute that you were packing around the type pf ball head like i have. its heeeaavyy

thinking it is more of a studio type with a squeeze lever. very solid setup with the bogen pod but it weighs a ton.

i also have a bogen mono pod that is great for jeeping video and timed exposures if you have good control (me = 50/50 for te) and it also doubles for a walking stick and possum deterant. great aide to my bum hip for short trails if i do some hiking.

[Stu Olson]

Originally posted by T.Dome
it also doubles for a walking stick and possum deterant. great aide to my bum hip for short trails if i do some hiking.

Note to self: Get economy size can of possum repellant for Moab trip.

[BlueJeeper]

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