The Best Cruise Pictures ......

[sail7seas]

I want to get us a new digital camera for the best cruise pictures we can get.

Can anyone recommend a VERY small size, relatively easy to use camera they are getting great pictures from?

Thanks for any suggestions.......

Lisa (Laffnvegas) ----- Your Alaska pictures were so good! Is your camera fairly easy to learn how to use? Is it small size to fit in a pocket or evening purse? Your photos were wonderful!!

[Aussie Gal]

Sail,

I have a very small Canon Powershot A400 which takes the most amazing photos. I took more than 500 when we were in South America earlier this year and they were all terrific. My husband has a very expensive 35ml Minolta and my shots were equally as good as his.

I would love to show you some. I would send a couple by email as I don't know how to post them here.

Jennie

[cands]

Hi,
We love our Olympus Camedia C770 Ultra Zoom. It's pretty small for a camera with 10x Optical zoom, and is very easy to use in automatic mode. It does allow lots of adjustments for the 'camera buff' types, if that's what you want.

Steve

(Thats me, by the way, taking the Hobie Cat out for a spin at Half Moon Cay)



22390

[Willsot]

I am a big Canon fan. Had a small Canon Elph SD450 (5 megapixels) on the past three cruises that easily slipped into a purse or shirt pocket and took great photos. I bought my daughter one for her honeymoon. The rechargeable battery and very compact battery charger is a real positive.
I recently gave my SD450 to my son and purchased a Canon Powershot s80 (8 megapixels), which is a little larger and heavier but still easily fits in a jacket or pants pocket. So far I am getting the same great results, but really not that much better than the 450. Once you have your camera, I suggest purchasing at least one extra 512 or even better, a full 1GB memory card and you will be all set to take hundreds of photos.

[cands]

Sail,

I would love to show you some. I would send a couple by email as I don't know how to post them here.

Jennie

Jennie,
It was a mystery to me, too! I think I've got the hang of it now.
The secret is to first resize the picture to the allowable limit for Cruisecritic.
Use your photo editor (I just use the one in Microsoft) to Resize your photo and save it. The maximum size for a .jpg file in Cruisecritic is 620 by 280 pixels.
Just type that into the resizing parameters of your photo editor and save that with a different name to your original, and in a place where it's easy to find on your pc. (The file may not end up as 620/280, but it's important that neither of the figures is greater than that)
Then when you're posting your reply, use the attachment button (paper clip), to open the attachment screen. Do a browse for your photo and attach it. Close the window. Now when you hit the attachment button, your file should appear. Click to attach it and some characters with the word ATTACH will appear on the screen. This will become your photo when you 'Submit Reply'.
Give it a go; its always interesting to see people's photos in their reply.:)

Regards,
Steve.

Royal Princess - Antarctica December 2004

22391

[Aussie Gal]

Steve,

Thanks so much for those instructions which I have printed out and will study at great length. What part of Melbourne are you from? We live in Mt. Waverley.

Sail,

After three attempts the email is on its way. I incorrectly left out a letter in your email address and it was returned, and then I forgot to include the photos the second time. I hope the third time is lucky!

Jennie.

[Aussie Gal]

Steve,

Thanks so much for those instructions which I have printed out and will study at great length. What part of Melbourne are you from? We live in Mt. Waverley.

Sail,

After three attempts the email is on its way. I incorrectly left out a letter in your email address and it was returned, and then I forgot to include the photos the second time. I hope the third time is lucky!

Jennie.

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Sail I actually use two differnet cameras both are extremely easy to use but one is very small the other is much larger but has a 10X optical Zoom. My very small camera is a Sony Cybershot with 5.1 megapixels DSC-T7 whcih is very small and fits in a pocket. My Kodak is DX6490 which is a 4.0 Mega pixel but Kodak makes several that are bit bit faster than this one. But I love this lense and the 10X optical zoom and think I have been able to get some amazing pictures with no skill:) My honest opinion is while my Sony has more mega pixels the pictures tend to come out a bit more grainy while my Kodak pictures come out good with very good color. To me it is worth having the one that is bigger because the lense is so much better.

[Aussie Gal]

I am going to try and post my first ever photo for C.C. which is of the Chilean fjords taken in January, 2006.

Hope it works. P.S. It does work, thanks ever so much! Jennie

[cands]

I am going to try and post my first ever photo for C.C. which is of the Chilean fjords taken in January, 2006.

Hope it works. P.S. It does work, thanks ever so much! Jennie

Jennie,
Well done:) . There will be no stopping you now!

BTW, we communicated on these boards a few months ago. (We live in Ashburton - Small World;) ).

Kind Regards,
Steve.

Here I am in the snow by the pool on Royal Princess
22394

[cands]

Sorry, Double post.

[Krazy Kruizers]

After reading all this, now I want a new camera!!

[dougnewmanatsea]

If you want something really small (and I do mean small) take a look at the various offerings from Casio. The models change at a frightening pace but it looks like this (http://www.casio.com/products/Cameras/Exilim_Card/EX-S600BE) is the latest one in their "card" ultra-compact line.

Look here (http://www.steves-digicams.com/2006_reviews/ex-s600.html) for a good review. Note the photo of the camera next to a compact disc which should give you an idea how tiny it is! Most of the major digital photography sites seem to ignore the Casio models which I think is a pity since I don't think you can beat them for very tiny cameras which are easy to use and have all kinds of nifty features if you want them. (I have to laugh at the "business card" feature, which speaks to the importance of business cards in Japan!)

I like these little cameras so much I might buy one myself for when I don't want to carry around my big, heavy Canon digital SLR!

[lardan]

I also have to second the Canon brand. I have had 3 previous Canon's, and now have two SD 400, one for myself and one for my daughter. We have been in love with these, and they take very good pictures. Very compact also. They also have come down in price quite a bit. If you do a search on www.techbargains.com for the SD 400 or SD 450 I think you will find some good deals.

Larry

[sail7seas]

You are all THE BEST!!!!

I REALLY appreciate all your help. I didn't have a clue where to start looking and now I have fabulous recommendations.

Jennie......Good for you!!! You got that beautiful picture posted. I can now aspire to doing the same some day soon. (I'm printing the instructions to have for future reference.)

Wonderful, wonderful help here.

Thank you.

(I'll let you know what we end up with.)

[ekerr19]

Sail -

We loved Brian's (bepsf) camera so much (from the Noordam inaugural voyage), I bought one for myself. It is so small, it fits easily in my pocket or evening bag (though not in a Leiber minaudiere, lol!) or goes easily in one of Sonny's golf polo shirts.... We have several digital cameras - we have an SLR which is way too big to lug around and and I have a Nikon Coolpix I bought when digital's were new, and Katie has a fairly inexpensive Kodak Easyshare which she just loves (and I have to admit - it takes really nice photos) and came with a photo printer for about $150.

I do like the Nikon S6 that I purchased after out Noordam cruise - I think Brian's was the S5 and when I went to buy mine the S6 had just been launched, so I opted for it instead. I will send you some of the photos I took with it - I think it does a bit better outdoors, but we've not been disappointed at all. Katie still thinks hers takes better indoor photos, and I can't really disagree - they both seem equal for indoors shots. Both Katie's and mine are super easy to use, but mine does have a nice, large preview screen, which I prefer.

[Robin7]

now have two SD 400, one for myself and one for my daughter.

We got one of these for our son before he left for Korea so he could send pictures and videos home to us and loved it so much we got one for ourselves! It is seriously tiny. Fits in my pocket IN its case. More info here: http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/controller?act=ModelDetailAct&fcategoryid=145&modelid=11158

Here's a picture we took with it (ours is 5 megapixels) from on the Oosterdam last October. That's 'Land's End'. It wasn't a very pretty day though and we didn't take very many pictures.

For our cruise this summer to Alaska, we're taking the SD400 but we're also taking along our Canon Digital Rebel. It's a great camera, too, and I love my two lenses for it, but it's a pain to haul around unless we're taking 'serious' pictures. Otherwise we just usually take the Elph.

Robin

22436

[boomerSexyK]

Sail.... We just picked up a Konica Minolta Dimage X1 last fall in St. Thomas. Used it thru Xmas and Spring birthdays for the family. I think it takes great pictures and is very easy to use. It's nice cause it's got Anti-Shake technology. (I've got a real problem with the smaller cameras with my big hands!!) It also does a nice job on short video clips although I use our Handycam for "serious" video. It's nice & small too about 3" x 2.5" x 1/2" Here's a link if you're interested http://www.steves-digicams.com/2005_reviews/x1.html

[sail7seas]

Thank you all so much for your recommendations. GREAT info here and I greatly appreciate all the comments.

I can see it isn't going to be easy to choose only one!! :) But I sure have some great suggestions for cameras I should look at.

I guess I'm off to the stores for comparisons........then I'll check on line, too.

Thank you. Really.......Thank you.

[Grumpy1]

Sail.... We just picked up a Konica Minolta Dimage X1 last fall in St. Thomas. Used it thru Xmas and Spring birthdays for the family. I think it takes great pictures and is very easy to use. It's nice cause it's got Anti-Shake technology. (I've got a real problem with the smaller cameras with my big hands!!) It also does a nice job on short video clips although I use our Handycam for "serious" video. It's nice & small too about 3" x 2.5" x 1/2" Here's a link if you're interested http://www.steves-digicams.com/2005_reviews/x1.html

I believe Konica Minolta got out of the digital camera business as of Mar 31, 2006. Sony is handling warranty and repair work.

[dougnewmanatsea]

I believe Konica Minolta got out of the digital camera business as of Mar 31, 2006. Sony is handling warranty and repair work.
The upside of this is that a lot of K-M products are very cheap right now.

Sony will continue their digital SLR line (now going to be called "Alpha") but not the consumer cameras because they have their own line of those. (This is a pity because I much preferred the K-M products to Sony's, which I find very "fidgety" to use... JMHO.)

[Alexborngal]

I want to get us a new digital camera for the best cruise pictures we can get.

Can anyone recommend a VERY small size, relatively easy to use camera they are getting great pictures from?

Thanks for any suggestions.......

Lisa (Laffnvegas) ----- Your Alaska pictures were so good! Is your camera fairly easy to learn how to use? Is it small size to fit in a pocket or evening purse? Your photos were wonderful!!

I bought a Panasonic 6 pixel at Costco for about $350 for my son as I bought it's older version 2 years ago and still love it. The camera is tiny, comes with a 256 card, plus camera case and other goodies. It's most important feature is that no matter how much your hand moves the stabilizer makes sure your picture is never blurry. This feature only comes in higher end cameras. The camera is extremely easy to use. By the way, I took pictures of the volcano at night on our Hawaii cruise and they came out great. The settings are right on the camera. My eyesight is 65 years old so I really appreciate the large viewer.

[HeatherInFlorida]

You're going to be so sorry you asked this question!!! I can't even count how many suggestions you've gotten.

But if you want small, easy and automatic (unless you want to play around with it) I highly recommend mine. It takes amazing pictures. It's an Olympus Stylus 300 Digital. I know you've seen some of my pictures on Webshots, but they don't upload that well. Still worth a peek to get an idea.

It is small enough to fit in even a shirt pocket. The dimensions are 4 x 2 x 1 1/4. The cover slides over the lens. I'm one of those people who always rushes out to get the next best thing? But I'm so happy with this one I have no desire to change. I keep all my pictures of all out trips as my screensaver on the computer. It's just awesome.

Good luck shopping!:)

[sail7seas]

:confused: So many choices. My head is starting to spin. :eek: I have printed this thread and will bring it with me to shop. Sounds like I'll have a hard time finding a LOUSY camera. Seems there are many really good ones out there.

Again....really Thank you for your help.

I'll let you know which I choose.

[dougnewmanatsea]

Sounds like I'll have a hard time finding a LOUSY camera. Seems there are many really good ones out there.
I think you hit the nail on the head.

I stand firmly behind my Casio recommendation but you will not go wrong with any of the others mentioned here, either.

There are very view poor digital cameras out there, at least not with the name of any major camera or electronics company on it. There are good ones and there are great ones (and a lot of it is personal preference) but bad ones? Not many.

It is a lot like cruise lines really!

[serendipity1499]

I think you hit the nail on the head.

I stand firmly behind my Casio recommendation but you will not go wrong with any of the others mentioned here, either.

My Husband is the picture taker of the family & is now on his third Olympus..He swears by them..The new one is a SB 500 UZ with a telephoto lens & it takes fantastic pictures, but the camera is not small...Even when he zooms in on the computer, the pictures are clear, which amazes me..

But, I sometimes wish I had a small camera to use when he's not around or one that might take movies..That little Casio is so cute (3.54" X 2.32" & only .63" thick)...It looks like it also takes movies, or am I reading it wrong?..Since I'm used to the old Sure Shots, do you think it would be simple enough for me to use...I'm impatient & hate using all kinds of different settings & buttons to focus..Of course would have to convince DH that it's something I really would use, as he always says "when was the last time you took a picture"..LOL

Sail you've had so many great suggestions..Hope you will not have a problem deciding on the one for you..

Happy cruising everyone..Betty

[richstacy]

Something small, easy and rugged with a good resolution and good zoom is Sony cybershot DSC-590. Here hopefully is a shot taken with it on our recent Statendam far east Cruise.

[Grumpy1]

But, I sometimes wish I had a small camera to use when he's not around or one that might take movies..That little Casio is so cute (3.54" X 2.32" & only .63" thick)...It looks like it also takes movies, or am I reading it wrong?..Since I'm used to the old Sure Shots, do you think it would be simple enough for me to use...I'm impatient & hate using all kinds of different settings & buttons to focus..Of course would have to convince DH that it's something I really would use, as he always says "when was the last time you took a picture"..LOL
Betty

I have the casio 850 and am very pleased with the pictures. Don't buy it for the movie taking ability, though. Thet are OK (not great) on the standard quality mode, but not very good in the so=called HQ mode. Any diagonal lines will look like stair steps. Casio says that mode was designed to playback on a HDTV set, but I haven't seen anything to document that or how to hook it up.

If you go to my webshots page http://community.webshots.com/user/slinkiegrumpy and look at the Naples. FL album, those were taken with the Casio. All of the other albums were taken eith a Minolta Dimage7. Webshots changed the resolution, so they aren't as good as they are on my computer, but they still show that it does take good pictures. I was on the end of the pier, 1/4 mile from shore for the shoreline shots. The picture with the highrise buildings is about 2 miles away.

The camera has a lot of features that you probably won't use, but it is very easy to use in the point and shoot mode.

[serendipity1499]

I have the casio 850 and am very pleased with the pictures. Don't buy it for the movie taking ability, though. Thet are OK (not great) on the standard quality mode, but not very good in the so=called HQ mode. Any diagonal lines will look like stair steps. Casio says that mode was designed to playback on a HDTV set, but I haven't seen anything to document that or how to hook it up.

If you go to my webshots page http://community.webshots.com/user/slinkiegrumpy and look at the Naples. FL album, those were taken with the Casio. All of the other albums were taken eith a Minolta Dimage7. Webshots changed the resolution, so they aren't as good as they are on my computer, but they still show that it does take good pictures. I was on the end of the pier, 1/4 mile from shore for the shoreline shots. The picture with the highrise buildings is about 2 miles away.

The camera has a lot of features that you probably won't use, but it is very easy to use in the point and shoot mode.

Thanks Grumpy..That's just what I'm looking for..It takes good pics for two miles away..And it's a perfect size to carry in my purse..Not really looking for a movie camera, but at times wish I could catch little things like my dog chasing something...Now have to convince DH that's what he should get me for my Birthday..LOL

[obriendan]

The recent Consumer Reports (July, 2006) has an extensive review of and ratings for digital cameras - compact, subcompact, advanced compact, super-zoom cameras, and digital SLR cameras - pages 24-40.

[zackiedawg]

As you guessed earlier, and was affirmed by another poster, it is true that you will have a harder time picking out a bad camera than a good one - unless you are a professional-league photographer with extreme knowledge of photography. For the vast majority of folks out there, any of the middle line or up cameras from the likes of Casio, Canon, Nikon, Panasonic, Minolta, Sony, Olympus, Ricoh, Kodak, Fuji, or HP will give you good, vibrant prints with fairly simple and effective automatic modes. If you buy the bargain-basement models from some of these manufacturers, they may be a bit inferior, but generally anything in the middle of the range or higher will do just fine.

What you may want to use as the deciding factor, instead of brand, are particular features which are better for the type of photography you are interested in, and the dimensions of the camera that suits your needs.

You mention that you want something compact - which of course is the largest digital camera market of all - ranging from pursable-size to super-slim pocket size. Understand some basic compromises - for example, super-thin pocket cameras aren't likely to have long-zoom capabilities as the lens has to be very small to fit in such a narrow space, and often low-light capabilities are slightly hindered, so indoor photography using flash or slow shutter will suffer a bit. Larger compacts will often have slightly larger sensors (the chips which actually produce the digital picture, which can range nowadays from 2MP to over 10MP in PIXELS, also come in different sizes to fit into the different shape cameras. I will break this down into a few posts to make it easier to read...my next two posts will detail a few things you may wish to look for when choosing a digital camera!

[zackiedawg]

PIXELS VERSUS SENSOR SIZE:

The pixel is the little guy that is actually giving you a picture - a sensor is the little square chip on which all the pixels sit...each little pixel gathers light and color when the lens shutter is opened, and gives you your digital photo. You can have 3.2 million pixels, 4 million pixels, 5 million pixels, 7 million pixels, or more. And the sensor which they are all sitting on can be different sizes too - usually they are made smaller to fit in smaller cameras, meaning each little pixel has to be smaller, and mounted closer together in order to fit on a smaller chip.

The best combination for good pictures with the best contrast and good low light capability is not to chase the highest MP number, but instead to try to get the biggest sensor dimensions. Sensors are measured in fractions, with the smallest ones measuring 1/2.7, then 1/2.5, 1/2.4, etc (remember that in fractions, the smaller bottom number means it's bigger). Many ultra-compact cameras use a 1/2.4 or 1/2.5 sensor - very small.

Don't let this confuse you too much if you don't know anything about this stuff - the sensor size is usually written in any camera description, in the detaisl section, and all you have to remember is that they are measured in fractions. Here are some common sensor sizes from small to big: 1/2.7, 1/2.5, 1/2.4, 1/1.8, 2/3, 1".

This is completely independent from the number of megapixels listed.

A 1/2.5 sensor with 4 megapixels means each individual pixel on the sensor has to be small enough to fit 4 million of his buddies on a sensor measuring 1/2.5". When that same sensor size (1/2.5) is upped to 6MP...that isn't always better...because now each individual pixel has just gotten much much smaller in order to fit 2 million more of his buddies in the same space. What happens is each pixel is not able to gather quite as much light, and you can end up with 'grainy' or 'noisy' pictures, or pictures that lack contrast or shadow details...despite having 'more megapixels'.

However, if you find a compact camera which maybe isn't quite so small, but still small enough to make you happy, and it has 6 megapixels, but a larger 1/1.8 sensor, those 6 million pixels can be a little larger and more spread out than they were on that tinier sensor, and therefore that camera may have better low light performance, better contrast, better color, and better shadow detail in underexposed photos!

So, you should weigh size and convenience against your needs. Look at the specs of any camera you shop, and in the details they will tell you the size of the sensor - don't always fall for the MP trap - a 5MP camera using a larger 1/1.8 sensor may produce better pictures than a 7MP camera with a 1/2.5 sensor - despite being slightly smaller. Remember that to produce a nice, clean 8x10 photo, you only need 3.2MP. More megapixels can let you make a really big print, or have some room to crop a photo...but for standard 4x6 prints and even 8x10, anything over 4MP is more than necessary.

[sail7seas]

Justin.........You're Amazing. I actually think I understand all that.

THANK YOU FROM EVERYONE here who is seeking an understanding of what all the 'language' means.

Really, really appreciate you going to all this trouble to explain and help.

[zackiedawg]

LENS AND HOW MUCH LIGHT IT CAN GATHER

If you don't know much about a lens - it is more than a piece of glass. It also involves an aperature. When taking a picture in bright light, a lens without an aperature would just end up snapping a bunch of white hot mess...just as your eyes have a hard time in bright light. Lenses esentially need eyelids, so they can squint just like we do when things are too bright. And much like our pupil, that gets bigger when the light goes down...a lens' aperature needs to open up to let in as much light as possible when it's not bright out.

Here's a basic thing to look for - the 'aperature' is designated by an 'F' number, with a bigger 'F' number indicating a smaller aperature, and a lower 'F' number indicating a larger aperature. When shooting in bright sunlight, a camera's aperature will get smaller because less light is needed to get the shot...and in low light, it will get much larger to gather more light needed to get a properly exposed shot. Cameras will be marked with a 'maximum' aperature range for a zoom lens, usually showing the maximum at both wide angle and at full telephoto. For example, you may see a lens listed as F2.8-F3.7. This means at full wide angle, the aperature can open to a maximum of F2.8, allowing it to pull in more light, but when extended to full telephoto, it can only open to F3.7...a smaller aperature. That means at zoom, the camera will not be as good in low light as at wide angle. Really good zoom lenses can maintain the same minimum aperature whether they are at wide angle or zoom - for example Panasonic makes a long-zoom camera called the FZ20 which has a maximum aperature of F2.8 throughout the entire 12x optical zoom range.

Really good SLR camera lenses will often have a 'prime' lens with a very wide aperature - F1.8 to F2.0 is common. Most digital cameras have a maximum of maybe F2.8 - not quite as good, but still respectable for most common uses. Credit-card style ultra-compact cameras usually have a maximum aperature of F3.7, and as low as F5.4 at telephoto...meaning they don't perform very well in low light situations, and usually struggle indoors without a very powerful flash.

So ideally, look for the smaller F numbers in the aperature listings to get the best all-around digital camera for indoor and outdoor photography.

One last note: Beware when getting a zoom camera...sometimes a tiny little camera will claim to have an amazing 12x zoom...and you think "boy! Why get a big fat camera with 12x when I can get this little tiny pocket camera?". MANY manufacturers lure you in by listing a camera's total zoom capability. But there is really only one zoom that you should be worried about - OPTICAL zoom. A compact camera with 3x optical zoom may also have 4x DIGITAL zoom, which results in a grand total of 12x zoom. But digital zoom is nothing more than cropping. When you zoom optically, the lens of the camera is moving its elements to zoom in on the subject, so you are still getting maximum resolution with no cropping. As you enter 'digital zoom', the lens no longer moves...now the camera starts zooming in to the center of your full resolution photo - cropping away the edges and then blowing it up the cropped portion to the original size - but with much less resolution.

So when shopping, be sur eto look at optical zoom only. Digital zoom can sometimes be useful...maybe you don't mind cropping because you want to shoot something father away, and you don't want to fiddle around with your computer afterwards cropping the photo yourself. But optical zoom is the only way you are going to get a nice 8x10 print of that whale's tail coming out of the water in Alaska from 300 yards. Compact cameras usually don't go very high on the optical zooms...3x is common, sometimes you can find a rare 5x or 6x optical. But you have to creep up to larger cameras to get more zoom.

Hope that helps someone out there! Phew!

[Aussie Gal]

zackiedawg,

After saying I loved my camera, I have decided to invest in a newer one and went back today and reread this topic as I wanted to see what everyone was buying.

I came across your wonderful posts and have printed them out for reference.

Thanks for all that information, it is invaluable.

Jennie

[zackiedawg]

You're welcome Jennie. I'm no expert...I just love cameras and technology, and research them alot. Since I wrote all of this, I've gotten a new camera myself (my 5th digital - two others of which I still have). I was dying to add a superzoom camera to my collection to get those far-off wildlife shots and such. All superzooms tend to come with the same small 1/2.5 chip...a necessity of putting such a long optical zoom in such a small camera body. But technology is pretty good, and they are able to squeeze decent performance out of these small chips nowadays when they want to. The combination of price, features, picture quality, lens quality, etc. had me down to Panasonic FZ7 or Sony H5...and the Sony won out with its lower noise and higher ISO performance for me. But they are all so close in performance, and so good nowadays, that you can't really go wrong with any of the superzooms!

[RevNeal]

After reading all the excellent advice and recommendations, I don't feel compelled to offer my own. However, I will offer a few remarks anyway. :D (I wouldn't be true-to-form if I didn't).

1. No matter which camera you buy, please give thought to sticking with a camera from a company which makes film cameras. The electronics are critical, but even more so -- for high-quality photos -- are the lens arrangements. A company that makes cameras -- and has made cameras -- for years is going to know how to make and use the lenses. And a good quality lens arrangement can make or break a camera in the quality of image department.

2. Technology exponentiates ... so don't worry about the fact that, within 3 months of buying the thing, the company will have released updates, improved versions, and simply "better" cameras. You can't avoid this. Some people will buy a camera and use it well beyond the units reasonable life expectancy ... well beyond when service and accessories are no longer available for it, even from the manufacturer. Other people always have to have the "latest and greatest" model. Regardless of which type of person you are, accept the fact that whatever camera you buy will probably be obsolete within a year, and in need of replacement within 5.

I have been entirely pleased with my Olympus purchases. With the exception of my C-5060, which was an utter lemon, these cameras have all been fantastic performers, with high quality images on screen and in print. My current primary-use camera is a now-obsolete C-7070; this is, in effect, a mini-SLR in that it has full automatic AND manual controls as well as the ability to accept and use additional external lenses. It takes both Olympus xD Picture Cards and standard Compact Flash Cards. It takes excellent pictures. My pocket camera is the Olympus D-630 Zoom, which is an excellent little unit that fits comfortably in the palm of the hand and takes quite good photos. I carry it around aboard ship all the time, and most of the photos I took in the dining room aboard the Noordam, and all of my city photos while in New York pre-cruise, were taken with it.

If I were to buy a new camera right now I would get the Olympus EVOLT E-500, which is a full fledged SLR. If I were to get a new pocket camera, I would buy the Stylus 810. Indeed, I will probably buy the 810 before my cruise to Hawaii this Fall, while the C-7070 I'm going to keep using ... it takes fantastic photos.

[HeatherInFlorida]

I wish I had read Justin's great advice about pixels vs sensor before buying my camera, but I'm still not sorry because for me the size of the camera is really important and the pictures look good to my pathetic eye. It's just so easy to pop my tiny camera into my pocket and be off!:)

I just bought an Olympus Stylus 600. I love it. I was even happy with my Stylus 300 (so happy that I'm giving it to a friend). I only moved up a notch so that I could blow my pictures up a bit bigger for framing.

Both Greg and Justin know from where they speak. I have seen photos taken by both and they are amazing. So all this is wonderful advice for anyone considering a new camera.

[Grumpy1]

For anyone that needs a little visual aid to understand about sensor sizes and those funny looking imperial fractions they use to describe them, this link has some very good information... although it's almost out of date already. http://www.dpreview.com/learn/?/Glossary/Camera_System/Sensor_Sizes_01.htm

[AlohaPride]

Sooo...I'm getting a new Digital Camera from my parents for my Birthday (a week before our cruise) and I know what to ask them to look for. Thank you EVERYONE for the information

However, what happens when you are on a cruise and your memory card gets full? Is there a place on board you can transfer the images to a disk and then empty your card? What size card do you all recommend? I bought a memory card for my current camera (a crapy Kodak Easy Share that CONSTANTLY freezes and shuts off) and it allows it to take a little over 250 shots. I'm probably going to take more than that as it takes a LOT of tries to get that perfect picture, so this is why I ask.

[HeatherInFlorida]

Aloha, I suggest you buy extra cards. It's worth the investment. There are ways you can transfer from the one card you have, but all the better to just have extra cards. My camera uses the XD picture card and I have a a 64, 128, and a 256MB. How many pics each card takes depends on the setting you choose.

[Grumpy1]

The photoshop onboard will transfer photos to a CD-ROM for somewhere in the neighborhood of $15. A CD will hold about 675mb of pictures. The nearest memeory card size to that is 500mb. They will not take multiple small cards and put them on one disk. If you have smaller cards, you will have to pay for each one to be transferred. A 1gb card would have to be copied to two disks.

The drawback to a large card that will last for the entire trip is the possibility of losing all of the pictures. A lot of cameras are far too easy to erase all of the pictures. One of our tablemates on the world cruise did exactly that... twice!

I always have my own laptop with CD transfer capabilities and I transfer the pictures to the laptop daily. when there are enough, I burn a CD so I still have them if the laptop crashes. I end up burning CD's for fellow passengers when they find out I can do it.

[zackiedawg]

I also like to burn my pics to CDRs when on a cruise. I actually bring enough memory for most scenarios, but as Grumpy mentioned, I don't like the risk element of having all my pics stored on one card that can be lost or corrupted.

Rather than bring a laptop, I bring a small portable CDR burner unit with a built-in card reader. It's about the size of a CD walkman, and can run on battery or AC power. All I have to do is load the memory card in the slot, load a blank CDR, and hit 'copy'. The unit will burn the pics to CDR. If the memory card is smaller than a single CDR, you can add more pics from another card to the same CDR until full. And if the memory card is bigger than a CDR, or if you are loading a second memory card onto a CDR and run out of space, the unit will stop the burn, prompt for another blank CDR, then continue burning where it left off. It's a pretty nifty little device, and saves you having to bring a larger laptop or risking damaging or losign your laptop in transit. Mine is made by Addonics...it also sells under the name Roadstor. They go for between $30 and 100 new and used nowadays...and even have additional functions - they can play MP3 CDs or music CDs (with headphones), and it plays DVDs when hooked to a TV (it even comes with a remote).

What I like about that solution is that I can keep my data on the memory cards, as well as back it up to CDR. If I do run out of room on the memory card, I can burn a 2nd or even 3rd set of CDs backing up the same photos - which makes me feel more secure pressing the 'format/erasse' button on my camera - one set of CDs can get damaged, lost, or the burn may have had a glitch, but 3 sets of CDs gives ample redundancy to feel fairly confident.

As Grumpy mentioned too...I end up burning off more than my own CDs...once others learn what I can do, I sometimes run off favors for them by backing up their stuff. But it can work for me too - for example, I cruise once per year with an old college friend from Texas (I live in Florida). It is nice to be able to burn a CD of HIS photos from his camera while still on the ship, and I can give him a burn of my own, so when we're making up our photo albums, something one of us may have missed, the other one may have gotten.

As for the memory cards - the size you should get depends on what resolution and quality setting the camera you'll be getting is shooting at. For a typical 5mp camera, set to JPEG Fine mode (the top quality photo) and shooting at full 5MP, you might have an average file size of 2MB per picture (the file size is variable, based on how much color information is in each particular shot). So, on average, a 256MB card might fit between 90-120pictures. If you get a 7.2MP camera set to the best setting, the file size may be nearly 3mb, meaning you can only fit between 50-60 shots on a 256mb card.

So take into consideration the MP of the camera you are getting, and base your card size on FULL RESOLUTION and quality settings (If you find you only need to shoot at 5MP with a 7.2MP camera, or want to reduce the picture quality to 'standard' instead of 'fine' because you only intend to make 4x6 prints, then that will get you alot more pictures on the card - but I recommend always shooting at the top quality, because you can always downsize and crop a larger pic, but there's not much you can do with the smaller one!). The prices of cards is quite reasonable nowadays, with 512MB cards going for between $35 and $50, and 1G cards between $80 and $100 for most types - and even less on sale.

[HeatherInFlorida]

I stand corrected because both of you know what you're talking about and I don't. I'm sure yours is a better way.

I was going to get a new 1GB card for my camera, but I can't seem to figure out whether there's a limitation on it. Can you put a 1GB into any camera? I have a 6MP Olympus Stylus.

[HoneyGV]

I have 2 Canon digitals...a small Elph 500 and a Canon Rebel XT

[zackiedawg]

I stand corrected because both of you know what you're talking about and I don't. I'm sure yours is a better way.

I was going to get a new 1GB card for my camera, but I can't seem to figure out whether there's a limitation on it. Can you put a 1GB into any camera? I have a 6MP Olympus Stylus.

You should be able to put a 1G card in most newer cameras...say over the past couple of years. However, there may be limitations depending on the type of card you use. The Stylus 410 is the only current Stylus model which cannot use the xD 1G card...all the other models should be able to (at least the ones made in the past 2 years). Check on Olympus' website first. Other card types, Memory Stick Duo, SD, and CF are a bit faster than the xD format, and can go up to 4GB or more...but you do need to check the particular model of camera you have to see if an older model can support the newer, faster cards.

[AlohaPride]

You should be able to put a 1G card in most newer cameras...say over the past couple of years. However, there may be limitations depending on the type of card you use. The Stylus 410 is the only current Stylus model which cannot use the xD 1G card...all the other models should be able to (at least the ones made in the past 2 years). Check on Olympus' website first. Other card types, Memory Stick Duo, SD, and CF are a bit faster than the xD format, and can go up to 4GB or more...but you do need to check the particular model of camera you have to see if an older model can support the newer, faster cards.

How much you know about cameras and the like just blows me away! I'm absolutely amazed! Thanks for ALL of your information! I will tell my parents what I need in a camera and I might ask my sisters (all three of them) to get me the cd burner and memory card. Who knows! Thanks again!

[HeatherInFlorida]

Justin, mine is a brand new camera ... just got it. It's the Stylus 600. I did check the Olympus website, but I have to say it was confusing. I'll take another look. I remember looking into it and getting offtrack ... it happens:o .

Thanks so much for all the info!

[Timethief]

I stand corrected because both of you know what you're talking about and I don't. I'm sure yours is a better way.

I was going to get a new 1GB card for my camera, but I can't seem to figure out whether there's a limitation on it. Can you put a 1GB into any camera? I have a 6MP Olympus Stylus.

Hi Heather!

Yes, your Olympus Stylus 600 can handlethe 1 Gig card, no problem. Have fun!

Keep Smiling!!!

[HeatherInFlorida]

Thank you, Peter! I'll get that ordered!:)

[RevNeal]

I keep both a 1 GB xD picture card and a 1 GB CF card in my Olympus C-7070. The CF card is a tiny bit faster in storing pictures, while the xD card takes panoramic photos that the CF card will not. Of course, one can turn carefully taken photos into panoramas with photoshop, too, so one doesn't HAVE to have the xD card. However ... with both slots in the 7070, why not have both cards loaded and ready to go?

I also take with me an additional 1 GB CF card and an older 500 MB xD card, both for back up and additional photos if I fill up my first two while on excursion.

And, I always take my Laptop with me, so after a full day of touring, etc., I download pictures for safe-keeping on my laptop (and for upload so that I can share them with my friends here and elsewhere).

[~Nereus~]

I bought a Sony 8.1 Cybershot with a large screen. It slips in my pocket but it allows me to take pictures inside without a flash. Here's one in the theatre on Galaxy:

[fcorey]

I keep both a 1 GB xD picture card and a 1 GB CF card in my Olympus C-7070. The CF card is a tiny bit faster in storing pictures, while the xD card takes panoramic photos that the CF card will not. Of course, one can turn carefully taken photos into panoramas with photoshop, too, so one doesn't HAVE to have the xD card. However ... with both slots in the 7070, why not have both cards loaded and ready to go?

I also take with me an additional 1 GB CF card and an older 500 MB xD card, both for back up and additional photos if I fill up my first two while on excursion.

And, I always take my Laptop with me, so after a full day of touring, etc., I download pictures for safe-keeping on my laptop (and for upload so that I can share them with my friends here and elsewhere).

RevNeal one thing I discovered which has reduced the amount of things I travel with is my ipod adapter. I have an ipod with a large hard disk that I use for travel to drown out the noise on flights and such. I purchased from the apple store a little adapter that plugs onto the bottom with a usb port. I can then upload the photos i took directly from the camera to the ipod for ssafe storage. Since the ipod holds up to 60GB, and I rarely have more than 10GB in music and audio books, I have lots of space to spare for my travel pictures. For that reason I rarely use anything other than my 1GB SD card, but i carry a 512MB just in case.

[HeatherInFlorida]

So, Greg, this is basically you arriving at the airport? (sorry, the image didn't upload ... have to click to see it ;)
http://images.google.com/images?q=tbn:kDcs_dxjIqFBCM:www.fotosearch.com/comp/DGV/DGV051/753014.jpg (http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.fotosearch.com/comp/DGV/DGV051/753014.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.fotosearch.com/DGV051/753014/&h=298&w=300&sz=35&hl=en&start=28&tbnid=kDcs_dxjIqFBCM:&tbnh=115&tbnw=116&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dman%2Bwith%2Bbaggage%26start%3D20%26n dsp%3D20%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26sa%3DN)

Because if so, you might want to consider this next time;) !
http://images.google.com/images?q=tbn:K9LCDYNZ9UacwM:www.svenhoefer.de/bilder/rad_anhang2.jpg (http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.svenhoefer.de/bilder/rad_anhang2.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.svenhoefer.de/english/ostrad/liegetour_en.html&h=406&w=502&sz=62&hl=en&start=12&tbnid=K9LCDYNZ9UacwM:&tbnh=105&tbnw=130&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dman%2Bwith%2Bbaggage%26ndsp%3D20%26sv num%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26sa%3DN)

[obriendan]

It really pays to watch for sales when buying memory cards. Recently, BestBuy was selling a 1 gb xD cards for $99.95 and the following week they had a "sale" for the 1 gb card at "only" $79.95. At another electronics store, Frye's, I was able to buy the same 1 gb xD card on sale for $45 (including shipping)! The 1 gb card will store approximately 650 pictures on the Olympus SP-500UZ at the settings I use.

[HeatherInFlorida]

I didn't do quite as good as you, Obriendan, but I did get the Hi-Speed XD 1G card from Amazon (J&R Music World) on sale for $44.94. With shipping it did come to $50, but that's close enough!:)

[RevNeal]

RevNeal one thing I discovered which has reduced the amount of things I travel with is my ipod adapter. I have an ipod with a large hard disk that I use for travel to drown out the noise on flights and such. I purchased from the apple store a little adapter that plugs onto the bottom with a usb port. I can then upload the photos i took directly from the camera to the ipod for ssafe storage. Since the ipod holds up to 60GB, and I rarely have more than 10GB in music and audio books, I have lots of space to spare for my travel pictures. For that reason I rarely use anything other than my 1GB SD card, but i carry a 512MB just in case.

I understand. I actually have that adapter for my iPod, but I've not had a chance to use it. My first time will be on my trip to Israel in November ... that is, if I don't use it in October.

As for reducing the amount of things I take with me when I travel ... well ... I'm taking my laptop anyway. I don't know what I would do without my auxiliary brain. I do a lot of writing when I'm on a long cruise -- both personal, devotional, and even theological. Also, I like to update my website with "reports from the ship" -- including photos and even movies. One just cannot prepare such reports, do the html programming, edit photos and videos, and upload them all with the ship's terminals. All the money I save with offline reading of e-mails and drafting of responses, alone, makes taking the laptop worth it. :) And, it's not so bad ... my my carry on luggage is my laptop bag, which also holds my cameras, etc. Everything else goes in my rolling upright and my garment bag (which hangs, well, on the front of the rolling upright ... meaning I don't have to carry ANY thing, since the laptop bag goes well on top of the rolling upright).

For any who might be interested, here are links to my videos from my November cruise. Warning, these links are to filed designed to be streamed with broadband access to the internet. If you have a dial-up connection, I suggest you download them.

Streaming Link to the First Video Report from the Westerndam (http://www.streamload.com/Deliver/Deliver.asp?cxInstID=45975024&nodeID=360416891&returnPage=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Estreamload%2Ecom%2FN odes%2FNode%2Easp%3FcxInstID%3D45975024%26nodeID%3 D936585127)
Download Link to the First Video Report from the Westerdam (http://www.streamload.com/Deliver/Deliver.asp?cxInstID=45975024&nodeID=360416891&action=2&isDelivery=true&forceSaveAs=true&returnPage=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Estreamload%2Ecom%2FN odes%2FNode%2Easp%3FcxInstID%3D45975024%26nodeID%3 D936585127)

Stream Link to the Second Video Report from the Westerndam (http://www.streamload.com/Deliver/Deliver.asp?cxInstID=45975024&nodeID=295024177&returnPage=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Estreamload%2Ecom%2FN odes%2FNode%2Easp%3FcxInstID%3D45975024%26nodeID%3 D936585127)
Download Link to the Second Video Report from the Westerndam (http://www.streamload.com/Deliver/Deliver.asp?cxInstID=45975024&nodeID=295024177&action=2&isDelivery=true&forceSaveAs=true&returnPage=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Estreamload%2Ecom%2FN odes%2FNode%2Easp%3FcxInstID%3D45975024%26nodeID%3 D936585127)

[AlohaPride]

For any who might be interested, here are links to my videos from my November cruise. Warning, these links are to filed designed to be streamed with broadband access to the internet. If you have a dial-up connection, I suggest you download them.

Streaming Link to the First Video Report from the Westerndam (http://www.streamload.com/Deliver/Deliver.asp?cxInstID=45975024&nodeID=360416891&returnPage=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Estreamload%2Ecom%2FN odes%2FNode%2Easp%3FcxInstID%3D45975024%26nodeID%3 D936585127)
Download Link to the First Video Report from the Westerdam (http://www.streamload.com/Deliver/Deliver.asp?cxInstID=45975024&nodeID=360416891&action=2&isDelivery=true&forceSaveAs=true&returnPage=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Estreamload%2Ecom%2FN odes%2FNode%2Easp%3FcxInstID%3D45975024%26nodeID%3 D936585127)

Stream Link to the Second Video Report from the Westerndam (http://www.streamload.com/Deliver/Deliver.asp?cxInstID=45975024&nodeID=295024177&returnPage=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Estreamload%2Ecom%2FN odes%2FNode%2Easp%3FcxInstID%3D45975024%26nodeID%3 D936585127)
Download Link to the Second Video Report from the Westerndam (http://www.streamload.com/Deliver/Deliver.asp?cxInstID=45975024&nodeID=295024177&action=2&isDelivery=true&forceSaveAs=true&returnPage=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Estreamload%2Ecom%2FN odes%2FNode%2Easp%3FcxInstID%3D45975024%26nodeID%3 D936585127)

Those were awesome. I especially liked the 1st one.

[RevNeal]

Thank you, Mary. I appreciate it.

[fcorey]

RevNeal, I think that my wife would probably hit me over the head with my macbook if I tried to bring it on vacation. I work in the IT field and spend far far too much time at a keyboard so our vacations are usually to get away from technology :) , I was horrifed to read the headline about Carnival and cell phones. I think that if we ever got around to taking a trip longer than a week I would probably take the laptop too.

thank you for posting the two clips the were both great.

[RevNeal]

RevNeal, I think that my wife would probably hit me over the head with my macbook if I tried to bring it on vacation. I work in the IT field and spend far far too much time at a keyboard so our vacations are usually to get away from technology :)

Frank ... LOL ... I understand. For someone who's work IS the technology, leaving it behind is critical. For someone, like me, who just uses his Powerbook G4 to get work done, to play, and to keep up with the internet ... well, it's a mixture of work (but I sometimes "work" on Cruises, as a Chaplain), peace of mind, and pleasure.

Question: You're in IT ... but you have a Mac? Every IT person I ever met has been an anti-Mac-bigot, thinking Macs are "toys" and other such pejorative nonsense (the term "macintrash" come to mind). You're the first IT person I've ever "met" who uses Mac. :) Thanks for "blowing my mind."

And thank you for your kind words regarding the videos. I enjoyed producing them, and especially sending them to my church for them to project on Sunday morning. I look forward to doing it again. :D

[fcorey]

Question: You're in IT ... but you have a Mac? Every IT person I ever met has been an anti-Mac-bigot, thinking Macs are "toys" and other such pejorative nonsense (the term "macintrash" come to mind). You're the first IT person I've ever "met" who uses Mac. :) Thanks for "blowing my mind."

For me its a matter of quality of design and performance. Also you can always tell those "mac bigots" that Apple was first to market an outstanding 64bit personal computer and operating system. MacOS X is at its core a UNIX operating system which is what I use every day at work. To be honest I have a PC also, my work issued Thinkpad, but I prefer the macbook :D less worry about computer virus, worms, spyware etc.

[Grumpy1]

I stand corrected because both of you know what you're talking about and I don't. I'm sure yours is a better way.

We weren't correcting you, Heather, we were presenting different options. If you don't carry a laptop or CD burner and don't want to pay the photoshop to burn CD's, your method of taking several cards makes sense and works very well. When it comes to technology, there are seldom any right or wrong answers when it comes to how we implement solutions. It's more a matter of what you are comfortable doing and how many toys you can afford (or carry):D

[HeatherInFlorida]

We weren't correcting you, Heather, we were presenting different options. If you don't carry a laptop or CD burner and don't want to pay the photoshop to burn CD's, your method of taking several cards makes sense and works very well. When it comes to technology, there are seldom any right or wrong answers when it comes to how we implement solutions. It's more a matter of what you are comfortable doing and how many toys you can afford (or carry):D

Grumpy I thank you for your comments, but the truth is when it comes to technology I know so little that it's pathetic. So I really shouldn't have stepped in with my 2 cents. When it comes to technology and me, there are several wrong answers!:D It reminds me of how I learned to play the guitar all by myself. I just strum along and hope it comes out okay. So far, I've been lucky. And I have fun trying to figure out what I'm doing ;).

[~Nereus~]

when it comes to technology I know so little that it's pathetic. .

I have to ask my children or my wife how to start a DVD. Just when I had the VCR figured out (insert, press play) along comes something else.
I bought my pocket camera with a cord that plugs into my laptop, turn on the camera (and computer) and everything works. Some day I might even sort out the pictures. Now I have an electronic shoebox.:D

[dj_crusin]

I have to ask my children or my wife how to start a DVD. Just when I had the VCR figured out (insert, press play) along comes something else.
I bought my pocket camera with a cord that plugs into my laptop, turn on the camera (and computer) and everything works. Some day I might even sort out the pictures. Now I have an electronic shoebox.:D

There's a lesson in this statement for all of you computer experts. It doesn't make a bit of difference what type of hardware or OS you're using if the "average" guy can't use it!

[fcorey]

There's a lesson in this statement for all of you computer experts. It doesn't make a bit of difference what type of hardware or OS you're using if the "average" guy can't use it!

:o How very true, the old KISS addage is forgotten by most companies these days

[~Nereus~]

:o How very true, the old KISS addage is forgotten by most companies these days

Too true. Everything should work like a light switch... If it's on, it works, if it's off.. well obviously you're in the dark...