Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Been looking at this one....looks good...good reviews.....just wondering if any of you has any real world experience with it.

Thanks in advance for any info!

Peace - TC

If you are looking to take really close pictures of your reptiles, I recommend Sony's DSC-H1. I just recently did a lot of research on camera and I went with the canon powershot S2 IS.

You might want to check out www.dpreview.com Its a very good site on digital photography with lots of reviews. Your camera is rated 4 stars. Not bad..

Good luck

Frank

$400 ish out the door.

Thanks for the input.

What did you use for those pics?

TC

I will first say that I am extremely Nikon biased. I have owned Sony (f707), Konica Minolta (g400), and many Nikon cameras. I always favor the Nikons.

To fit within your price range I would reccomend the Nikon 7900, which runs $339 from amazon. Leaving you $60 for a 512mb SD card.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0007KQWEQ/qid=1122264303/sr=8-2/ref=pd_bbs_sbs_2/002-7687513-9711267?v=glance&s=photo&n=507846

Keep in mind with most all cameras in the sub $400 range, you will have low light focus problems. I reccomend, for boa shots in particular, taking pictures outside in sunlight. See my website, the majority of the shots there were taken with a Konica Minolta G400, which focuses horribly in low light. Outside it does great however:

www.topnotchboas.com

I have had little to no luck taking pics outside. I've seen so many good pics outside, but my skills are deplorable, and my boas end up with no real color outside. I would love to be able to take more natural outdoor pics...but, even if you were to talk photo lingo to me, I would probably think you were speaking Greek.
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Signature file edited; [phw 9/26/04]

I have the 775 and the 4800. The 4800 is supposed to have much better macro capability, but I can not get the color to come out right in nearly half my pics...they have a bluish tinge???
The Nikon 775 is nearly a point and shoot, which is about all I can really do. I guess maybe the 4800 requires more adjustment or knowhow??
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Signature file edited; [phw 9/26/04]

The 4500 is the last of the swivel body coolpix line. It is said to have some of the best macro capabilities out of most any point and shoot cameras out there. Point and shoot simply refers to digital cameras that are not SLR's. With SLR's you cannot use the LCD screen to frame the shot (you must use the viewfinder), so they arent as "point and shoot" friendly.

Its hard to go wrong with any Nikon camera IMO. Ive had nothing but good luck with each model i've tried.

You are getting a blue tinge eh? That actually, is an easy fix. The white balance setting on your camera is off. It is most likely set to auto and it is getting confused as to which white balance to use. Figure out how to manually set your white balance and it will fix the tinge. There should be options like: cloudy, direct sun, flash, etc.

Regarding shooting outside: My best tip would be to shoot in either all sunlight (make sure there are no 3rd party shadows in the frame) or in all shade (preferably when its sunny out). Use macro mode and frame the shot with as much boa as possible. If your white balance setting is correct this should yeild excellent shots.

Hope this helps!

-Ryan

I will have to try the white balance on the other camera, though it would be a pain to have to do it before each picture...

I'll work on my outside pics...perhaps I will get the hang of it.

Thank you.
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Signature file edited; [phw 9/26/04]

For instance, if you are going to take a bunch of pictures of the boa in the shade, set the white balance setting to "shade". It will stay on that white balance setting until you switch it off. If you are going to take a bunch of pictures in the sunlight, set it to "direct sunlight" or "sunlight".

Make sure if you are taking shots in the shade, that there are no spots of sunlight coming into the frame. If there is, it will cause overexposed spots (ie too bright). And vice versa, if you are taking shots in the sunlight, make sure there are no shade spots. The purpose of doing that is to get a consistant level of light accross the frame, which allows for better exposure.