digital camera for indoor use

[SnowyShiloh]

I know there have been a couple threads about digital cameras, but I hope it's okay if I start my own! I had a lovely Fuji Finepix F11, I was really pleased with the pictures it took, but the darned thing doesn't work anymore. We tried purchasing a new battery for it, but it still doesn't work. My boyfriend thinks I need to just buy a new one. I'm hoping to get one for Christmas, until then I'm using his camera (I gave it to him for his birthday last year, so it's kinda sorta mine too, right? )

As much as I love the photos taken by Mouse_Chalk, Delusional and ADEE, I don't think a big camera like that is in my future- at least not anytime soon! I'm looking for a more compact one. The main thing I'm looking for is a camera that takes good indoor shots. Our apartment is a little dark even with all the lights on, and since it's dark and frozen here for 8 months of the year, most of the pictures of the bunnies will be inside. One that takes good action shots (since my rabbits don't stop moving) would be nice, as well as one that can take longer videos.

I've looked at several cameras on Amazon, but none of them really seem right. My first digital camera was a really bulky Olympus that took the most beautiful photos with amazing colors.

Thanks in advance for anyone's insight!

 

[pinksalamander]

I always love Olympus. My friend bought a camera recently from Jessops, he went in and asked and they were really helpful. We walked out 10 minutes later!

Fran :hearts :brownbunny

 

[LadyBug]

my uncle(professional photographer)suggested this camera to me, it looks like a really good one, check out my digi cam thread for more info one it

 

[mouse_chalk]

Shiloh, I have 3 of your threads open at once, LOL!

Anyway, you might want to look at a creative compact maybe. You can use the auto modes on them, so that you don't have to fiddle with settings, but you could also use the more manual settings and experiment! The great thing is that you don't have to use the manual settings if you don't want to, but they are there if you feel more adventurous Also, they're still very compact. Maybe not so small as the really really tiny 'credit card' sized cameras you can get, but small enough to fit in a handbag and not be in the way etc...

I'm a big Canon fan! Obviously mine is a DSLR, which is too big for you, but the one I had before was a Canon creative compact, and it still took really good pictures! (Once I'd figured out how to use it lol...)

This website is pretty good for cameras/reviews- it has lots of sample pictures, so you can see what it might turn out like!

DP Review

When I'm not so shattered I'll have a look and find some models for you! And I might just make more sense on a day when I've not been sat on a ferry for 5 hours and then a car for a further 5 lol....

 

[SnowyShiloh]

Jen, I love DP Review! I spent hours on that web site before picking my cameras. The thing is I really liked my Fuji Finepix, darned thing died after I'd only had it 2 years though I loved my Olympus even more! I looked at the camera Anna suggested and am not sure... my price range is up to $300 I'd say, if it helps anyone with suggestions. I may look into another Fuji because it was so nice before it stopped working. And Jen, I updated my blog with more Phoebe Mae pictures! Just so you know and stuff :biggrin2:

 

[Little Bay Poo]

I don't have much to add because I'm no camera expert, but I think the length of video the camera is capable of taking is based on the memory card. I know when I upgraded to a 2 gigabyte memory card my video capability shot up from 15 minutes to 1 hour and 30 minutes! Of course then I realized that I had been shooting video on basic mode, so when I set it to "fine" I went back down to only 30 minutes of video capability.

When you're looking at cameras you should check to see if video can be shot in "basic" and "fine." Fine is so much better quality, but it does come with the huge memory requirement. I think I filled up about 30 gigabytes on my hard drive with stuff from that camera. Despite the memory usage, I will never go back to "basic" because the quality is so much poorer than "fine."

 

[SnowyShiloh]

Thanks for your input, everyone! After many hours of research, I finally decided that I want a Nikon D40:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000KJQ1DG/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

I researched so many smaller point and shoot cameras, and none of them seemed like what I was looking for. The Nikon D40 is $450, so more than I was hoping to spend, but my first digital camera (a 4 megapixel Olympus that took gorgeous photos) was $400. I'm planning to ask my parents, boyfriend and maybe aunt to just give me money for Christmas so I can buy the camera, a case, a book and the other necessities.

What do you guys think? Look through the customer photos, they're gorgeous. I would love a Canon Digital Rebel xti, but that's really pricy.

 

[pinksalamander]

I can't tell you how jealous I am! I've wanted a DSLR for so long! Please don't tell me you are going to waste it just on indoor photos! LOL! Take loads with it!

By the way my friend has the D40 and its brill

Fran :hearts :brownbunny

 

[SnowyShiloh]

Fran, I'll take outdoor photos of course, but my options will be very limited until next summer. It says the camera functions at 0-40 degrees Celsius, or 32-104 degrees Fahrenheit. It's well below that temperature most of the year here. I'm sure the camera would work for a little while outside here, until the internal components got cold, but in the winter it's usually around 30 degrees below 0 Fahrenheit (-34 Celsius) so the camera would get cold very quickly.

 

[Pet_Bunny]

Here is the currentNikon Line up that I saw at a recent Camera Show.

Nikon D40 Nikon D60 Nikon D80Nikon D90 Nikon D300 Nikon D700


The top of the line camera (Nikon D3) is not shown. It isa professional model costing CAN$5,300.00 (body only) that you special order.

 

[mouse_chalk]

Oooooh! I thought you might get tempted by a DSLR! I've heard a lot of good things about that camera Delusional has a Nikon (I forget which one now) and her pictures always come out really well. Not much noise in low light I noticed!

I can't believe that the Canon DSLRs are so pricy! I'm sure that they're more expensive than over here! I have the Canon EOS 400D, which I think is the Caon Rebel xti, (different names over here for some reason lol) and it was about £350 when my parents got it for me? That's nearly 700 dollars I think but I would have thought it would be cheaper in the US.... :?

 

[mouse_chalk]

Pet_Bunny wrote:

Here is the currentNikon Line up that I saw at a recent Camera Show.

Nikon D40 Nikon D60 Nikon D80Nikon D90 Nikon D300 Nikon D700


The top of the line camera (Nikon D3) is not shown. It isa professional model costing CAN$5,300.00 (body only) that you special order.

The D90 is the one that does HD movie isn't it? If I remember correctly from my Digital Photo magazine..... have you tried it out?

I love pictures of cameras lol!

 

[Pet_Bunny]

mouse_chalk wrote:

The D90 is the one that does HD movie isn't it?

Yes it does. It is Nikon's newest camera.

Here is the picture I took where it was hooked up to a television screen to show it's video capabilities.

 

[NZminilops]

My little point'n'shoot Panasonic Lumix takes video in HD, but I haven't tried that part out yet. I don't think it's that high anyway, 720p or something.

 

[Little Bay Poo]

I have a Nikon D40 and I've found it to be difficult to get the proper white balance indoors. This isn't the camera's fault at all...it's mine because I'm a beginner and I don't understand all of the settings or photography methods. I haven't had the time to really sit down and learn all of the mechanics behind it properly, so I'm not super pleased with my pictures.

I will say that the pictures are A LOT better than my point and shoot camera. The Nikon D40 allows you to do a custom white balance and use gray cards to try to get it right. The problem for me is that the lighting in the apartment is really terrible, and Chris uses these compact fluorescent lights that the camera just doesn't handle well. It does an excellent job with window light though, and gets the white balance spot on.

One other feature that I like about this camera is the shutter speed. My old point and shoot only had one shutter speed and I couldn't adjust it. The Nikon D40 has adjustable shutter speed which means that if you are taking pictures in low light it can slow down the shutter to get enough light for a good picture. The subject has to be pretty still though and I've gotten a lot of blurry pictures due to insufficient lighting.

I imagine this camera would work really well in good conditions, especially outdoors. I'm probably not a good representative of how the camera works because I haven't had the opportunity to test it out in optimal lighting with the bunnies.

Robin

 

[Little Bay Poo]

I've uploaded some pictures to show you what some of my beginner level photographs look like from the D40. I had to resize them so they lost some detail. Keep in mind that I just point and shoot without adjusting anything afterward, so if you know how to use a camera you can get better pictures than these

Some outdoor pictures from Skyline Drive in Front Royal, VA...taken with a UV filter on the lens:

And these are my two favorite indoor bunny pictures taken with the D40: