Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Okay you photo experts! A friend gave me her old digital camera when she got a new one, and all I get is fuzzy pictures when I'm taking closeups. After actually reading the manual last night, it turns out the camera doesn't do closeups (2-3' minimum distance from subject) with no zoom function. It's also only a 1 megapixel camera. So, that said, I'm looking at getting one of the following two and would like some input as to which is the better camera.

3 Megapixel CANON - PowerShot A300 Digital Camera TFT, 5.1X Digital Zoom, 2048x1536 Pixels, 3.3 MP CCD, 1.5-inch LCD, 16 MB CF Card, 6.17 Oz

4 Megapixel FUJI PHOTO FILM - FinePix A340 Digital Camera 3X Optical/1.7X Digital/5.1X Combined Zoom, Up to 2272x1704 Pixels, 4.23 MP CCD, 1.51-inch LCD

Anyone familiar with either? Pros Cons? All input is appreciated! Thanks in advance!

Raven

Well my small vivcam works great(see pics on link) , it's those small blue/silver ones that is also a webcam and a video cam. it has indivual settings for sunny,cloudy,inside light and dark. But your not looking for those. It costs 100.00 and worth it.
Link

Those are pretty good. I didn't look at all your pics, but did go through several. The main reason I'm looking for one of the better cameras with a zoom capacity is because of the size of some of my snakes. I've been trying to get good shots of my juvenile Solomon Island & Santa Isabel Island ground boas, but they're so tiny that the camera I have just won't cut it. Even with my baby boas, I'm not able to get crisp clear pictures that show their true pattern and color. Another reason is that I make handcrafted jewelry (wire wrapping and the like) and want to be able to get good pictures so that I can start selling online...also something my current camera won't do justice to. I will say that it seems to take outdoor, wide angle shots well enough. It's just the small detailed stuff it isn't really able to do.

Thanks for the input though, I appreciate all the ideas I'm hoping to get.

Raven

Raven I just went through this and was 'schooled' upon the fact that megapixels mean shmegapixels.. lol
point is, all that more megapixels are good for is when printing huge quality prints. PRINTS. Not pics.

So in other words, if not printing these pics, then all more megapixels does is make a larger pic, which has to be FURTHER shrunk to be able to post. Everytime you shrink, you lose image quality.
Some of these pics are stored in .bmp format. So when I save them as .jpg, the image is deteriorated. Then when I shrink it down to post, it further deteriorates the pic.

A simple 1-2 megapixel camera is more than enough. What is more important is the settings.. the adjustments..

I've been told my professionals that by studying the manual and learning these settings, you can take better looking pics with a $200 1 megapixel camera than you can with most $1000 5, 6 megapixel cameras.

I just bought a Canon Powershot something or other.. I believe it is 2 megapixels and cost less than $200.

It is doing great for me! No, I do not claim to have outstanding photos, but then again I just use the AUTO settings.. lol.. haven't had time to read the manual.

Well, hope this helps!

Take care - Joe
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Thanks and take care - Joe Rollo
'Tis not the stongest of the species that will eventually survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change' Charles Darwin

something else that will make your $200 cam pics look like $1000 cam pics is simple background lighting...
Guys like CE know a good deal about this...

Joe
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Thanks and take care - Joe Rollo
'Tis not the stongest of the species that will eventually survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change' Charles Darwin

I've decided to go with a Canon, though not the original one I mentioned (the Canon Powershot A70 instead). On another forum, someone posted me a link for digital camera reviews, and this one got a pretty decent review, is in my budget range, and seems to be geared towards the digitally challenged (like me! lol). Also, thanks Joe for the advice on the megapixels. I still went with the 3 megapixel capacity because I do want to be able to make decent prints (my pics won't ALL be of snakes...though I dare say the majority will). It's good to know I will have to play around with the settings, resizing and whatnot to get postable pics as well. Hmmm....maybe I should've just rented a photographer?

Raven

Sorry I couldn't reply sooner, I know several of my co-workers who bought that camera, and are very happy with it. The color is predictable and fairly accurate for a camera in the $300 range, and it is relatively easy to use. I own an older Olympus d-510, and it is adequate, but the Canon A70 is definitely better. The newer Olympus cameras are also good. The Sony cameras are easy to use, but a little more expensive. The Nikon line doesn't have anything remarkable to offer until you go above $500, and then they kick a$$.
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Jeremy J. Anderson
No one in the world ever gets what they want, and that is beautiful. Everybody dies frustrated and sad, and that is beautiful.

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Jeremy J. Anderson
No one in the world ever gets what they want, and that is beautiful. Everybody dies frustrated and sad, and that is beautiful.

Very informative post! I ended up getting a 4 megapixal nikon and I'm very happy with it. I was told that 4 megs was the "equivalent" to 35 mm film. Maybe it is-if you're looking to blow up your prints, but for E-mailing pics to friends or posting online, maybe less is more. I have my nikon set to 1024x768 for size, but the pics on E-mail look so small.

np
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www.chrisolsonreptiles.com

Last Christmas I was just trying to get the home computer! lol

Seriously though, I've heard so much conflicting information here in 'the real world' from people about digital cameras and what I would need in one to do what I wanted, that I came here to people I KNEW were using it for some of what I have planned. It was bcijoe's post that saved me from trying to figure out how to afford more megapixels than what I'm actually going to need. After he mentioned that, I began looking for a camera in my price range that would do good quality closeups and be fairly simple to use. I will do some prints, so I went with a bit better than the basic megapixel cameras so that the prints will look decent. I also posted a great link in a post above this one for a website that does reviews on different models of digital cameras. It was invaluable in helping me narrow down which camera would best suit my needs. It also gave me a good deal of first-hand information (from the critic) about the camera and its capabilities - allowing me to choose what is important to me and what is superficial. I can't wait to actually get it now. Be warned, as soon as I learn to use this thing, I'll be posting more of my brood!

Raven

I was having a similar plight around last Christmas. "Snakepimp," (his name is Jeremy Anderson), sold me my digital. He helped me spend the right amount of money because he knew EXACTLY how it was goind to be used. He sold be on the Olympus D-560...it has 3.2MP and 4X zoom. I'm happy with it...

Good Luck, Chris

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www.chrisolsonreptiles.com

np
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Jeremy J. Anderson
No one in the world ever gets what they want, and that is beautiful. Everybody dies frustrated and sad, and that is beautiful.