Friday, October 4, 2013

A digital camera for an experienced photographer with poor eyesight?

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lulu6


I want to get a digital camera -- ideally an SLR -- for someone who is good with electronics but has deteriorating vision. He used to take beautiful film photographs and feels that a point-and-shoot is too amateurish. I imagine the viewfinder should be big, and the menu reasonably simple. He needs an all-purpose lens, but doesn't need the ability to change lenses. Thanks!


Answer
Your friend is a candidate for one of the few DSLR models with LiveView, where the lcd screen is used for composing the photo. This is similar to what he's used to with his compact point-and-shoot digital camera.

The least expensive model with this feature would be the Olympus EVOLT E-410. There are other models in the Olympus line, also with Live View.
http://www.ritzcamera.com/product/541555959.htm

After that, he might consider the Panasonic Lumix DMC-L1.
http://www.ritzcamera.com/product/542391115.htm

Nikon offers the new D300, with this same feature.
http://www.ritzcamera.com/product/SLR1164.htm

The final test is to have him handle each brand of camera. The feel, controls, and menus are especially important for all, but especially for a photographer with deteriorating sight.

There are also SLR-like cameras from Sony, Canon, Fuji, and Nikon. Here's two examples.

Look at the Olympus E-20N.
http://reviews.cnet.com/digital-cameras/olympus-e-20n-digital/4505-6501_7-7251079.html?tag=img
Or the Sony R-1.
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/sonydscr1/

Here's a site with very, very thorough reviews for you to look over.
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/default.asp?view=alpha

I hope this is helpful for you and your friend. Please ask, if you have any other questions.

And the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ18.
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/panasonicfz18/

What's a reasonable price to buy a digital camera?




Stephanie


I just want a digital camera that takes good quality photos. Ideas on camera brands as well if you like.


Answer
What kind of digital camera?

Your question sounds sort of like "what's a reasonable price to buy an airplane ticket? (without mentioning destination nor class).

There are really so many digital cameras and so many market segments, that it's hard to tell...

Let me try to lay out the lower few categories (as I take it you're not in to spend thousands)...

First, under $100 - that's really more toys than cameras, can't expect much from them.

$100-200 - Most basic entry level cameras, some offer advanced controls, but few, some don't.... If that's your budget, you can find a few decent ones here.

$200-350 - This is mid-range to advanced point and shoot cameras, usually offer somewhat better optics, some of them super zooms, better matrices, most of these have manual controls to some extent. They are often a bit bulkier and heavier.

350-450 - Advanced point & shoot. Larger, much better optics, still small but more advanced sensors, all manual controls available, often noticeable image quality improvements...

450 and up - dSLR's. That's really the best of the best. They are big, heavy and bulky, but they offer interchangeable lenses for unlimited optics options ($450 buys you one with a basic entry level lens, additional lenses cost anywhere from $100 to... well.. tens of thousands, but we're not talking about them). They offer excellent real through the lens optical viewfinders (more expensive ones have "live view", or view on LCD, as p&s, but it's really not necessary), full range of manual controls, very large and high quality matrices (up to 15 times bigger than in all categories above, and even the least expensive ones on this category have excellent matrices). And so much more. Caveats: again, they're big, and to take full advantage of these you need to learn about photography at least on some basic level.

Well, that's really it. Just a note for you - no camera takes good quality photographs. You, the photographer do. Don't deceive yourself, that if you get a more expensive camera, it will automatically produce this much better results. You need to know what you're doing behind the camera, from cheapest to most expensive models. A $120 p&s in professionals hands will probably yield better results than $2000 camera in the hands of someone who has no clue. So consider at least part of your money to spend on a good photography book.

Brands:
Nikon, Canon, Olympus, maybe Pentax. The others are not camera companies. They're there in the lucrative camera market to make some cash, but real quality is with the genuine camera companies, that have been on this market for decades...

Final suggestion:
If you noticed, when describing cameras, I spoke of optics and matrices, but never mentioned megapixels. It's not unintentionally. Don't even look at megapixel values when choosing a camera. A salesman may try pushing some more expensive models on you saying, it's more megapixels, so better quality. Don't trust the salesman! Any modern day camera with 6mp and up is good enough. It's not the pixels, it's the optics and matrix that add up to a good quality photo. And of course the photographers skill (that's #1 important factor).

LEM.




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