Reptile & Amphibian Forums

What camera would you suggest i buy to take pics of my geckos. I'm thinking i'll buy one this pay, but i'd like to know details about the cameras people are using: the amount of zoom it has, the megapixels, anything you can tell me about what type, brand etc. of camera.

Is having a 2 MegaPixel camera Ok, is 3X zoom good? And does the docking port that you plug the camera into so you can download the images to the computer come with it or is that separate? Do you have to buy a whole new drive thing instead to plug in the cards for the camera? (((can you tell i'm camera illiterate???))) LOL

Thanks for the help
Red
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Crested Gecko Zeek:1.0, Ziggy and Zeus
LEOS: Boo: 1.0 normal , Bronx & Nala: 1.1 blizzard,
Lily: 0.1 patternless, Abby: 0.1 albino, Zoe: 0.1 reduced pattern, Dot: 0.1 hypo
New Girls: Flame, Karma, Bubbles and Bell pics coming soon
Chip: 1.0 papillion (small dog)

About digital cameras:

2 MP will work, but these days the price of a decent 3 or 3.2 MP are very reasonable. I would not suggest a 2MP; go for 3 or more.

There's 2 kinds of zoom: Optical, where the lenses themselves move to bring the subject closer (or further) and digital zoom which uses software to bring the subject closer. When shopping for a digicam, you only want to look at Optical Zoom. You'll rarely use digital zoom, as it makes you photos grainy and fuzzy. Most digicams these days come with 3X optical zoom. Just know when you're looking that many cameras are advertised as having something like 10X zoom. This is usually 3X optical and 3.5X digital. The only number that counts is the optical.

As for the "docking port" ... most digicams connect to a PC via a USB cable, and most computer built after 2000 or so will have USB ports. Especially with new operating systems, such as Mac OS X and Windows XP, getting the pics off your camera and onto your PC is a breeze. Some lines of digital cameras, such as Kodak, have a docking port, which is basically the same USB cable connected to a nicer-looking device that you can sit your camera in.

The other way to get your pics onto your PC is with a card reader. All digicams take some sort of removable memory. The popular types are CompactFlash (types I and II), SD (SecureDigital), Memory Stick (made and used mostly by Sony) and xD. Once you know what kind of memory your digicam takes, you can get a card reader for about 20 bucks. You simply plug the card reader into a USB port on your comp, take the card out of the camera, pop it into the reader and the card will pop up like a new drive on your PC (in a Windows system). Then you can just copy and paste the pics like you would from any old folder.

You're going to want to get at the very least a 128 MB card. Digicams normally come with a 16 MB card, but that's generally only good for 3-8 pics or so, esp. if you put your cam on the higest quality ... which you would want to do.

Another thing to consider is batteries: Digicams drain batteries so you want one that takes rechargeables. Most digicams come with their own, specific to that camera, rechargeable battery. These are good and last long but the disadvantage is that if the battery dies on you, you're done till you can recharge it. Other cameras (ex: Canon Powershot line) take regular AA size batteries. So you should buy a good set of rechargeable AA's (1800 maH or higher), but you can always pop in duracells in an emergency.

I have a Canon PowerShot A70 ... its not the smallest out there but it has a lot of functionality. It's 3.2 MP, 3X zoom and expandable in all sorts of ways. Not the newest, not the best, but excellent for me.

Good luck, let me know if you have more questions.

Joel

PS: I would only buy a digicam from a company that actually makes cameras: Canon, Kodak, Pentax, Sony ... I wouldn't buy a Toshiba or a Samsung - they're probably not bad, but they're jumping on the digicam bandwagon rather than having a history of making cameras.
PPS: If you want a very small camera, the Pentax Optio S is incrediblly small ... it fits in a can of altoids and has very good specs.
PPPS: Taken with my digicam ... some quality is lost due to resizing to fit KS's 250KB limit.

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2.5 Leopard Geckos
0.1 Ball Python
0.1 Okeetee Corn Snake
1.0 Blair's Phase Gray Banded Kingsnake
0.0.2 Crested Geckos

I have a Nikon coolpix 2100. Not to expensive but it does kill batteries like crazy. I'd say no matter what digicam to go with, get some good recharchable batteries, it's just cheaper that way. I guess I just felt like throwing my two centes in, LoL.
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-Kristen

0.7 Leopard Gecko (Buttercup, Beaker, Beauty, Blaze, Bubbles, Blinkers, and Squiggles {yeah I broke with the B's, but her head has black squiggles on it!!!})
1.1 Fat Tail Gecko (Bell and Bowser)
0.1 Deformed Leopard Gecko (Gimpy)
0.2 Leopard Geckos that lives at my boyfriend's house, but whom I still pay for food...lol (Dexter and our blizzard, Starlight!)

Proud owner and operator of a Powerbook G4! Why use windows, when I can use Panther? It even sounds better.

Since i plan on using the camera alot, rechargable is pretty much the only way to go, or i'll be spending as much for batteries as i was for developing film LOL. Thankyou, i appreciate the advice
Red

>>I have a Nikon coolpix 2100. Not to expensive but it does kill batteries like crazy. I'd say no matter what digicam to go with, get some good recharchable batteries, it's just cheaper that way. I guess I just felt like throwing my two centes in, LoL.
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>>-Kristen
>>
>>0.7 Leopard Gecko (Buttercup, Beaker, Beauty, Blaze, Bubbles, Blinkers, and Squiggles {yeah I broke with the B's, but her head has black squiggles on it!!!})
>>1.1 Fat Tail Gecko (Bell and Bowser)
>>0.1 Deformed Leopard Gecko (Gimpy)
>>0.2 Leopard Geckos that lives at my boyfriend's house, but whom I still pay for food...lol (Dexter and our blizzard, Starlight!)
>>
>>Proud owner and operator of a Powerbook G4! Why use windows, when I can use Panther? It even sounds better.
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Crested Gecko Zeek:1.0, Ziggy and Zeus
LEOS: Boo: 1.0 normal , Bronx & Nala: 1.1 blizzard,
Lily: 0.1 patternless, Abby: 0.1 albino, Zoe: 0.1 reduced pattern, Dot: 0.1 hypo
New Girls: Flame, Karma, Bubbles and Bell pics coming soon
Chip: 1.0 papillion (small dog)

Thankyou for the crash course on cameras hehe, i'm so out of the tech loop. I do have USB ports on both computers so i'm good there. I just had thought that every camera had to have a docking port thing to sit the camera in. I've got a web cam and i tried to install it on the newer computer (P4) hoping to take better images but the computer wouldn't accept it...its old LOL.

The picture you posted is amazing, even having been resized for Kingsnake. Thats the type of thing i really want to do. I'll be going out next week to look at cameras. I get paid tomorrow but i'm going out with the family for the day then doing double shifts all weekend....seems like time is what i have least of these days.

Thanks again
Red
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Crested Gecko Zeek:1.0, Ziggy and Zeus
LEOS: Boo: 1.0 normal , Bronx & Nala: 1.1 blizzard,
Lily: 0.1 patternless, Abby: 0.1 albino, Zoe: 0.1 reduced pattern, Dot: 0.1 hypo
New Girls: Flame, Karma, Bubbles and Bell pics coming soon
Chip: 1.0 papillion (small dog)

I have the canan powershot A70, same as the person above. I have a 64MB card for it and when I have the pictures set to the highest detail, meaning largest file size, I can still fit almost 40 pictures on the card. However, I have the detail set so high because I am taking a Photoshop class at school and we need that high detail. For what you'd be using the camera for, leaving it in the default quality settings that it comes with, you'll be able to get well over 100 images on a 64 MB card. Also, get a camera that uses compact flash. This is the most widely used memory out there. Therefore many generics exist and you can get it for cheaper. xD and Memorystick (by olympus and sony respectively) are way over priced compared to the same sized compact flash card.

The canon powershot A60, A70, A75, and A80 are all great cameras, the higher the model number the better. The general rule of thumb for pricing is about $100 for every megapixel. 3MP = about $300 This goes for most cameras, until you reach the professional grade ones.

For batteries, I highly recommend the Rayovac 15 minute I-C3 recharging system. From what I can tell, they are about the same price as other rechargables, BUT and a bit but at that, you can recharge the batteries fully in 15 minutes. Very convinient. The research that I have done shows Wal-mart to have the cheapest prices on these batteries.

I hope that wasn't too much info all at once, if you have any other questions, feel free to e-mail me at stones@wit.edu

Sean

I have a Kodak Easyshare DX4530. It is 5.0MP and has 3x optical zoom. Supposedly 5.0MP is 20"x30" print size, I don't know though. Anyways it does eat batteries like candy so like everyone else said get rechargables. Also I have the docking station for the camera it print awesome 6x4 pics in about 1 minute, it's very simple to use, and it recharges your batteries when it sits on it.

Joe
jsc230@psu.edu

.. a Canon Power Shot S-10, with only 2.1 megapixels. It is pretty old-school, and has the plug-in directly to my computer. For me, the key for good pics (especially gecko reds and oranges) is the lighting. I do not use the flash, and take my shots during the late morning when the natural sunlight comes through the side window in the room.

When you initially try out your camera (of course you will read the manual first... hehe), take shots of the exact same subject (I use crayons) using all the different settings, and write down what you did for each frame. When you download them and see the pics, you will know where to begin and can optimize from there!
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Marcia McGuiness
Golden Gate Geckos
www.goldengategeckos.com

I have an Olympus Stylus 400, It's 4 megapixel with 3x optical zoom. One of the things with most digitals is that you can also get a power chord to just plug into the wall and recharge it, so when you're putting pics onto your computer you can just plug it in. Otherwise if the batteries go dead you have to take them out alltogether and can't use the camera for anything until they're done charging. I love my camera, it happens to be water resistant, which mean it can be used in the rain...and it also means that if it gets dropped in the water and taken out really quickly it will probably be ok...lol If you're clutzy that's a good thing...hehe Anyway, its small and takes good quality pics. The only disadvantages to it that I've noticed are that the LCD screen is small, which makes it difficult to tell the picture quality before you upload the pics; and to look at the pics on it you have to turn it off and then push a little button to turn on just the screen. Although that is a battery saving feature because it means you can turn on just the screen. One neat feature is that to turn it on all you have to do is slide the front cover over...its cool...lol It's also pretty...its silver with gold on the front cover lol Anyway...there's the skinny on my camera...I've taken all the pics I've posted (including the ones in my profile) with it. Here's a couple of them.

All I did to this closeup was crop the edges some

If you want to see some other pics I've taken with it go to my webshots album... community.webshots.com/user/stinauiuc There's even pics of the foaling I got to see yesterday at about 4 am...lol If you don't know what foaling is.....go to my album and find out hehe
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Christina

2.3 leos
-0.1 tangerine het rainwater albino w/jungle background (Blinkers)

-0.2 jungles (Vahz & Skissor)

-1.0 tremper albino (Spitfire)

-1.0 tangerine rainwater albino (Bronx)

I would suggest doing some research on cameras as well as listening to other people on what they use. "http://www.dpreview.com" and "http://www.steves-digicams.com" are good places to get info on cameras.

Try not to lose your head on too many technical details, but look for important things like the lens quality, CCD quality (ultimately determines what the pictures look like), and easy of use (not fun to fiddle with your camera just to get a quick shot).

Generally I think Nikon cameras are good for macro-photos if pics of your leos is all you're going to do, but some also excell in scenery and fast shots as well.

I use a Cannon S400, it has a small size that's easily pocketable (you never know what a good shot rear's its head), the images are pretty sharp, and the colors are pretty well replicated. Also uses rechargeable batts and a compact flash card, but this little camera will cost you, even though it's dropped considerably in price. I like it alot generally as long as I'm not taking pictures in dark places, for more professional shots I use a Pentax SLR.

-Lemur 6

Thankyou Thankyou Thankyou!!!!!!!!!

I knew this was the place to come to ask about this. So many options in cameras i have my work cut out for me looking but now i feel better prepared.

I do have a professional grade Minolta SLR camera and i love it. I've done many hours of test shots (i've got a huge box of photos to prove it LOL) and i wrote down what i did etc. so i could repeat it. Theres only one picture i took that was a total oops that turned out so great and i'm kicking myself for not writing down what i did. I just took the camera out to take shots of my grandmothers flowers and came out with a pic so amazing its something i would love to publish lol.

I'll be heading out camera hunting next week, hopefully Tuesday, and since i was able to install my printer i'll most likely print out what all of you have said to take along with me hehehe.

Thankyou so much.....
Red
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Crested Gecko Zeek:1.0, Ziggy and Zeus
LEOS: Boo: 1.0 normal , Bronx & Nala: 1.1 blizzard,
Lily: 0.1 patternless, Abby: 0.1 albino, Zoe: 0.1 reduced pattern, Dot: 0.1 hypo
New Girls: Flame, Karma, Bubbles and Bell pics coming soon
Chip: 1.0 papillion (small dog)

If you are familiar with SLRs get the Canon digital rebel.
$899 with 6.3 Megapixel.

I own the Canon D30 and I am happy with it.

Regards,

Terry
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Terry Brashear
1.0.0 High Yellow
0.1.0 Lavender
0.1.0 Hypo Carrot-tail
2 eggs incubating
http://www.naturepixels.com/gecko

Basically you're just going to want to get the most expensive camera you can afford...you generally get what you pay for with digitals...just try to find the highest number of megapixels and optical zoom you can find. Since I'm sure your going to be using it on reptiles you'll be doing a lot of closeups...so try to make sure it either has really good optical zoom and takes really good pics from really close. Try searching online for digital camera comparisons...I did that when I was looking at cameras for my grandpa to get me (of course the camera he got me is completely different from the ones I was looking at...lol but hey, I have a digital, I'm not complaining!). If you do a search you can find some REALLY good and informative comparisons.
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Christina

2.3 leos
-0.1 tangerine het rainwater albino w/jungle background (Blinkers)

-0.2 jungles (Vahz & Skissor)

-1.0 tremper albino (Spitfire)

-1.0 tangerine rainwater albino (Bronx)

I think its going to take me a while to find one lol, theres alot to learn about them but your advice about the MP and optical zoom is great.....thats what i'll focus on. The pictures i've seen you post are amazing so you must have a good camera. I hope whatever camera i do decide to use takes ones just as great
Red

>>Basically you're just going to want to get the most expensive camera you can afford...you generally get what you pay for with digitals...just try to find the highest number of megapixels and optical zoom you can find. Since I'm sure your going to be using it on reptiles you'll be doing a lot of closeups...so try to make sure it either has really good optical zoom and takes really good pics from really close. Try searching online for digital camera comparisons...I did that when I was looking at cameras for my grandpa to get me (of course the camera he got me is completely different from the ones I was looking at...lol but hey, I have a digital, I'm not complaining!). If you do a search you can find some REALLY good and informative comparisons.
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>>Christina
>>
>>
>>2.3 leos
>> -0.1 tangerine het rainwater albino w/jungle background (Blinkers)
>>
>> -0.2 jungles (Vahz & Skissor)
>>
>> -1.0 tremper albino (Spitfire)
>>
>> -1.0 tangerine rainwater albino (Bronx)
>>
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Crested Gecko Zeek:1.0, Ziggy and Zeus
LEOS: Boo: 1.0 normal , Bronx & Nala: 1.1 blizzard,
Lily: 0.1 patternless, Abby: 0.1 albino, Zoe: 0.1 reduced pattern, Dot: 0.1 hypo
New Girls: Flame, Karma, Bubbles and Bell pics coming soon
Chip: 1.0 papillion (small dog)

well...not every pic I take is great...lol I take a lot of pics and probably only a quarter of them are good enough for me to use for anything...lol Although I am pretty picky. It also takes a while to get used to using a digital and taking a lot of pics...I'm getting better at it, and the number of good pics out of all of them is improving...you just have to figure out how the camera works...the problem with my camera is that it doesn't take great pics from a very short distance...and if you want to get really close you have to zoom out or the focus doesn't work right...its kind of annoying. I wish I'd been able to pic my camera, but my grandpa decided to go to a camera store and asked whoever worked there what he thought would work for me not really knowing what I wanted or what I was going to use it for...lol I like to take closeups of things so I wish the camera was a little better at that...but its not bad. It definitely works better than a regular camera and I'm glad I have it. lol You definitely need to think about how you plan on taking pics...I really recommend doing the search for comparisons...when I was searching I even found some that compared the cameras on closeups.
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Christina

2.3 leos
-0.1 tangerine het rainwater albino w/jungle background (Blinkers)

-0.2 jungles (Vahz & Skissor)

-1.0 tremper albino (Spitfire)

-1.0 tangerine rainwater albino (Bronx)

I've been looking at cameras online. Man theres alot of them hehe. I've got to be careful though, i have to keep to Canadian sites so i know whats available to me and the prices. The picture of Bronx you have at the bottom of your signature is the one i really like. What i want to do is take closeups like that plus shots of my setups. I hope to get shots that represent the geckos colours as best as i can, but the gecko room is down stairs with very little natural lighting. I like the crayon idea from Marcia McGuiness @ Golden Gate Geckos. I'll be playing with it alot once i do get it

Red

>>well...not every pic I take is great...lol I take a lot of pics and probably only a quarter of them are good enough for me to use for anything...lol Although I am pretty picky. It also takes a while to get used to using a digital and taking a lot of pics...I'm getting better at it, and the number of good pics out of all of them is improving...you just have to figure out how the camera works...the problem with my camera is that it doesn't take great pics from a very short distance...and if you want to get really close you have to zoom out or the focus doesn't work right...its kind of annoying. I wish I'd been able to pic my camera, but my grandpa decided to go to a camera store and asked whoever worked there what he thought would work for me not really knowing what I wanted or what I was going to use it for...lol I like to take closeups of things so I wish the camera was a little better at that...but its not bad. It definitely works better than a regular camera and I'm glad I have it. lol You definitely need to think about how you plan on taking pics...I really recommend doing the search for comparisons...when I was searching I even found some that compared the cameras on closeups.
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>>Christina
>>
>>
>>2.3 leos
>> -0.1 tangerine het rainwater albino w/jungle background (Blinkers)
>>
>> -0.2 jungles (Vahz & Skissor)
>>
>> -1.0 tremper albino (Spitfire)
>>
>> -1.0 tangerine rainwater albino (Bronx)
>>
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Crested Gecko Zeek:1.0, Ziggy and Zeus
LEOS: Boo: 1.0 normal , Bronx & Nala: 1.1 blizzard,
Lily: 0.1 patternless, Abby: 0.1 albino, Zoe: 0.1 reduced pattern, Dot: 0.1 hypo
New Girls: Flame, Karma, Bubbles and Bell pics coming soon
Chip: 1.0 papillion (small dog)

I love that pic of Bronx too...but its actually just cropped from this pic...

That's one of the reasons you want high megapixels!!!!! You can crop and still get great quality!

You can still look at US comparisons and stuff for the actual quality of the cameras...and it would at least give you an idea of the difference in prices between different cameras. Or you could just look for ones you can afford on Canadian sites and then look up those specific cameras on US sites for comparisons.
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Christina

2.3 leos
-0.1 tangerine het rainwater albino w/jungle background (Blinkers)

-0.2 jungles (Vahz & Skissor)

-1.0 tremper albino (Spitfire)

-1.0 tangerine rainwater albino (Bronx)

The cannons are really nice, and worth the money if you have that much to spend. Just remember there to add like $100 (US) to the price of any camera you find because of the accessories you will need to go with it.

I purchased a Fuji A303 recently, and have been using it for all of the pictures you guys have seen lately. I choose it because it is a consumers report best buy, and a bit cheaper that anything else I looked at. It has less features and customizability that I’d like, but it is very simple to use. I plan to buy another, possibly slr style, camera in a year or so. My fuji is just taking care of me till then, prices for these things sure come down fast, and sometimes its worth waiting.

I ended up buying from http://www.digitalfotoclub.com/ they had nice accessory packages (memory, batteries/charger, carrying case, cleaning supplies). Hope some of this helps, spend some time finding what works best for you.

DaveCable

>>What camera would you suggest i buy to take pics of my geckos. I'm thinking i'll buy one this pay, but i'd like to know details about the cameras people are using: the amount of zoom it has, the megapixels, anything you can tell me about what type, brand etc. of camera.
>>
>>Is having a 2 MegaPixel camera Ok, is 3X zoom good? And does the docking port that you plug the camera into so you can download the images to the computer come with it or is that separate? Do you have to buy a whole new drive thing instead to plug in the cards for the camera? (((can you tell i'm camera illiterate???))) LOL
>>
>>Thanks for the help
>>Red
>>-----
>>Crested Gecko Zeek:1.0, Ziggy and Zeus
>>LEOS: Boo: 1.0 normal , Bronx & Nala: 1.1 blizzard,
>>Lily: 0.1 patternless, Abby: 0.1 albino, Zoe: 0.1 reduced pattern, Dot: 0.1 hypo
>>New Girls: Flame, Karma, Bubbles and Bell pics coming soon
>>Chip: 1.0 papillion (small dog)

Fugi are really nice camera's,look into the S3000 or S5000.

they have 6x optical and a in lens view so you can see what the pic is going to look like without having to use the LCD,i took some crazy nice pics with this and didnt have to use macro mode cause the zoom and lens are so good in these camera's.

the S3000 can be found for 250.00 or less and the 5000 for 330.00

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=30-122-018&depa=7

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=30-122-016&depa=7
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1.3 Leopard Gecko's
1.0 Mali uromastyx
0.0.3 Tokay's(adults unsexed)
1.0 Water Dragon