Looking for a camera!!!!

I have seen here people posting beautiful pictures!!! I am looking to buy a camera for my may cruise but don't know which one :( can somebody help me find one???

Check Bea's Allure of the Seas review. She told someone what camera she has... and her pics are amazing! I think her CC name is Kubanita or something like that.

I have seen here people posting beautiful pictures!!! I am looking to buy a camera for my may cruise but don't know which one :( can somebody help me find one???

I suggest you pose this question on the Photo Gallery Board.

That is where you will get the best answers from the experienced photographers.

we recently got a DSLR camera, and we chose the Canon Rebel T3I. It is fantastic!! interchangeable lenses are great, and the fact that it take the picture super quick, we don't miss out on any moments =) I'm still trying to learn the camera, but hopefully will have it figured out before our cruise in July!

I just picked up a Sony DSC-HX9V. It's a 2011 model, and the original MSRP on it is $349.99. Picked it up at Best Buy for $197.99, as they are on clearance to make room for the 2012 models. It's a great little camera, able to fit in a pocket, but with a 16x zoom which is much greater than most compact point and shoots. Check out reviews of it online. I don't have any pictures to really share, as I haven't had a chance to truly play around with it yet, but based on internet reviews from reputable sources, it's one of the best out there right now, and the price can't be beat.

Are you looking for a DSLR or a simpler point & shoot.

My preference in cameras is Nikon. Both my DSLR and my point and shoot are Nikon.

I have a canon G12 which I bought to replace my canon G9 that broke on my January cruise. So far I am LOVING the pictures that I've taken with this thing. Check out this picture that I took coming into Nassau in earlier this month on the Monarch.

Monarch2012-32 by MonaCK2, on Flickr

I don't know a lot about camera so the point & shoot, will be better for me!!

For point and shoot that you can fit in your pocket that has amazing functions (including HD video), we love our Canon S95. You can google their reviews as well.

I just picked up a Sony DSC-HX9V. It's a 2011 model, and the original MSRP on it is $349.99. Picked it up at Best Buy for $197.99, as they are on clearance to make room for the 2012 models. It's a great little camera, able to fit in a pocket, but with a 16x zoom which is much greater than most compact point and shoots. Check out reviews of it online. I don't have any pictures to really share, as I haven't had a chance to truly play around with it yet, but based on internet reviews from reputable sources, it's one of the best out there right now, and the price can't be beat.

:) I have been the happy owner of an HX9V for about 6 mths now - posted various photos in other threads on this board

:) I have been the happy owner of an HX9V for about 6 mths now - posted various photos in other threads on this board

Glad to hear! I like it so far... My wife is a big fan of the bacground defocus and I like the isweep.

I'll second the HX9V! An example of the zoom:

Vic

I bought the Sony DSC HX200V. It's a handy semi-little 18mg camera. Bought it at Best Buy for about $500.

I just picked up a Sony DSC-HX9V. It's a 2011 model, and the original MSRP on it is $349.99. Picked it up at Best Buy for $197.99, as they are on clearance to make room for the 2012 models. It's a great little camera, able to fit in a pocket, but with a 16x zoom which is much greater than most compact point and shoots. Check out reviews of it online. I don't have any pictures to really share, as I haven't had a chance to truly play around with it yet, but based on internet reviews from reputable sources, it's one of the best out there right now, and the price can't be beat.

I just went to Best buy website for is not on sale!! :( the price is $349.99 Do you went to the store?? Do you think the sale is still on?

I just went to Best buy website for is not on sale!! :( the price is $349.99 Do you went to the store?? Do you think the sale is still on?

Your local store may have the lower price. When I checked online before going to the store, the price was $329.99. You can imagine how my jaw dropped when I saw $197.99 in the store. I didn't even think about it and told the sales guy to grab one for me.

Try looking at prices under "Shopping" on Google. That's where I had seen a local price for Best Buy at $197.99. I figured it was wrong but was happily surprised when I got to Best Buy.

I don't know a lot about camera so the point & shoot, will be better for me!!

I have always been a fan of the FZ series on Panasonic.

I have been on umpteen cruises, both river and ship, and the reason why I like the FZ series was the fact that it had a lot of features in addition to the fact that you could use it as a point and shoot camera.

The latest FZ series has zoom capability from about 25mm to 600mm which allows for a better wide angle than most P&S but a comparative longer zoom than most P&S have. The longer zoom was great in Alaska where I was photographing bears about a mile away from the road and getting great detail on changing of the guard in Seoul!

The Leica lens is very sharp and what is more important, the camera does not weigh a ton!

Try it out at Best Buy (or whatever store you use) and compare it to whatever other brand you have in mind.

Your local store may have the lower price. When I checked online before going to the store, the price was $329.99. You can imagine how my jaw dropped when I saw $197.99 in the store. I didn't even think about it and told the sales guy to grab one for me.

 

Try looking at prices under "Shopping" on Google. That's where I had seen a local price for Best Buy at $197.99. I figured it was wrong but was happily surprised when I got to Best Buy.

Soooooo confuse, I went to Best Buy and they told me that the camera is $197.99 but this is because is the floor camera. In another word, the camara on display and because of that, I won't get the cables, battery ect. Just the camera! Did you get it brand new from the box???

Soooooo confuse, I went to Best Buy and they told me that the camera is $197.99 but this is because is the floor camera. In another word, the camara on display and because of that, I won't get the cables, battery ect. Just the camera! Did you get it brand new from the box???

I did, but it was a few weeks ago. Your local store may be sold out... Just speculating though. Maybe try another store if you've got another one close by?

Depending on budget, interest, etc. this is a good first place to start reading: http://www.imaging-resource.com/WB/WB.HTM

Next I'd go to a camera store, NOT Bestbuy, Target or other big box that sells electronics. Find a staff member who will ask you question to learn a little about what you want.

The most imporatant element for a beautiful picture these days isn't the camera but the person and eye for pictures behind the camera.

I have seen here people posting beautiful pictures!!! I am looking to buy a camera for my may cruise but don't know which one :( can somebody help me find one???

I have seen here people posting beautiful pictures!!! I am looking to buy a camera for my may cruise but don't know which one :( can somebody help me find one???

A little more information on your needs, price point, photo ability, what you want to shoot, how big a camera do you want and about a million other items would be useful.

DON

A couple things to consider.

Glass is more important than pixels.

Ie. a good quality lens in a 4M.P. camera will often get better results than

a 12M.P. with a so-so lens.

My wife is a camera junky and has a drawer of PHD cameras, some up to

12zoom 8-10 M.P. and out best images come from our 4.4 M.P. Olympus

Optical Zoom is more important than digital zoom.

A decent PHD ( press here dummy ) that will stay in your pocket is often better than a SLR that stays in the Camera bag.

Be sure the camera you chose uses a common memory card, carry a spare or two.

Do not have the Ship DL your images to a disk unless you pack your disk in a otter box case. Wife lost all our images from Italy due to a broken CD disk in her luggage.

If your camera uses a special battery have a spare and keep it charged. My PHD

uses AA rechargeable s, can use Dura Cells in a pinch.

For Postcard type images any of the med zoom name brands will get good results.

For your portrait or large frame-able images then your need to consider a more hi dollar investment.

Regardless be familiar with altering image size if you expect to email or post images online.

New Camera tech is just now coming out so look for changes in equipment shortly, yes really !

I'd just like to add a couple of things to frediver's checklist.

I never reformat/delete images or reuse a memory card during my travels - when one card is full I start another. I carry a Photobank (portable rechargeable hard drive with slots to take all popular memory cards) which I keep in the hotel/cabin safe, and back up the card in my camera daily just in case the card or camera fails or the camera gets stolen. A laptop/netbook could be used instead, with a card reader if necessary. You can buy a lead with SD card slot for backing up to an ipad/iphone. You could also back up to cloud storage, though at charged per minute internet rates this could be expensive. On my journey home the full memory card stays in my wallet, and the photobank goes in my hand baggage (not my camera bag). That way if anything happens to either the card or photobank I still have a set of images.

Paul S

I have seen here people posting beautiful pictures!!! I am looking to buy a camera for my may cruise but don't know which one :( can somebody help me find one???

I would suggest looking over at http://www.dpreview.com - they have extensive camera tests, and many discussion forums.

A recent group test of 'travel zoom' cameras http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/Q311TravelZoomGroupTest/

A recent group test of waterproof cameras http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/Q311waterproofcompactgrouptest/

Their beginner forum

Picking out a new camera is a very confusing process. There are so many cameras in so many price ranges that cover so many price points!

If you are not heavily into photography then sticking with a point and shoot camera is a good option.

The dpreview web site has some great information but a lot of the reviews and comments there are from serious photographers, both professional and amateur. After spending a lot of time reading comments there I've come to the conclusion that I'm a snap shooter and not a photographer. I love taking nice vacation photos and photos of the grand-kids and family rather than spending time looking for art type photographs of objects and scenery for the sake of the art rather than the memories.

I've found that both Canon and Panasonic make great point and shoot cameras and have heard good things about Sony as well. These companies have lots of models. I think the Canons have the most pleasing colors of these but Panasonic have more features and seem to have lower shutter lag which is handy taking pictures of kids and other things that move around a lot. Within these camera lines you can choose from tiny cameras that don't have as many features but fit easily in a pocket or larger cameras that have a wide range of zoom in their lenses and also have both a viewfinder you can put your eye up to as well as the LCD screen on the back. They also have a model in between that has a fairly big zoom range but no viewfinder (only an LCD screen) and is in between in size and still fits in a pocket even if it is pretty large. I'd take a look at these types of cameras. Within this range of cameras the three I'd look at for Canon are the Canon Elf 320HS (small), the SX40 HS (larger with a view finder) or the SX240HS or SX260HS (in between with wide zoom range). For Panasonic I'd look at the ZS20 for their mid size pocketable camera with a wide zoom range or either their FZ150 or FZ47 for the larger size camera with a viewfinder and wide zoom - I'm less familiar with which of the smaller Panasonic cameras are nice and not too familiar with which models of the Sony line are nice either.

If you want to go a step above the point and shoot range of cameras into a higher quality camera with options to change lenses, but still not have to get heavily into photography to use it, then both Panasonic and Olympus have a line of really nice cameras out that would fit that need. The lower end models in these lines are great cameras which are a step above point and shoot cameras but still have point and shoot type settings that make them easy to use. At the same time you can do some advanced work if you want to learn more about photography with them. They offer a great compromise between the basic point and shoot cameras and the much larger and more complicated DSLR cameras. The pricing on these cameras is pretty good these days too and are being discounted from time to time to a range of about $400 to $500 including a nice mid-range zoom lens. Size wise they'll be similar, or slightly smaller than, the viewfinder type point and shoot cameras. The models I'm talking about are the E-PM1 camera from Olympus and the DMC-GF3 camera from Panasonic. Panasonic has also just announced a newer GF5 camera coming out soon with some subtle improvements which has resulted in the GF3 camera starting to be discounted a bit making it a good value. Because of this discounting of the GF3, the Olympus E-pM1 is also being discounted more to compete. Sony and Nikon have similar lines of the compact system cameras but I like the Panasonic and Olympus models a lot more due to their size, size of the lenses and versatility as well as the quality of photos taken with them.

One thing to keep in mind is that once you get into a decent camera, at the lowest end of the cameras I've talked about above, the biggest difference is the photographer and learning to take pictures. The best camera in the hands of someone who knows nothing about photography and doesn't work on setting up their photos will do far worse than the cheapest most basic camera in the hands of someone who has developed some skills in picking out the scene, angles and lighting of the photos they are taking.

A little more information on your needs, price point, photo ability, what you want to shoot, how big a camera do you want and about a million other items would be useful.

 

DON

I should add 1 thing to my comments -

Good photographers take really good pictures with inferior cameras; bad photographers take really lousy pictures with expensive cameras.

DON