Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ok, I've looked at so many cameras now that my brain is fried.
In the 5.0 Mega Pixle range who's is best? I don't want a DSLR but a high end point and shoot with manual functions would be best.

Kodak
Minolta
Olympus
Canon
Nikon?

Hey! You forgot Sony! Check out the DSC-H1. It made the cover of Popular Photography's August magazine. I still think for herp photography, that the Sony DSC-F828 is the best point and shoot. The infrared nightframing feature let's you see and focus in total darkness, then fire's the flash for a full color picture. You can also shoot a black and white image using just the infrared, in the nightshot mode. This does not startle the herp. 8 Megapixels, and a 28-200 zoom doesn't hurt either.
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Lamar, Debbie, Nathaniel and Iggi :>~

I agree with ig_daddy mostly. I bought the F828 upon his recommendation. 3 things made me buy it: nightshot / nightframing features are invaluable; the "body" of the lens rotates so you can do water surface level shots without having to actually get IN the water; the eight megapixels are ideal for wildlife photography for those situations where you can't get close to the animal before it escapes.

Keep in mind that I like to do a lot of amphibian photography, which I feel is far more demanding than most reptiles. You have to be out at night and you have to get up close. Sony is the only manufacturer that offers a night vision feature. I purchased an extra infrared eliminator that will easily shoot a beam that only you can see with the camera, up to 80 plus feet. My biggest disappointment with the camera was with the macro feature, you have to be about 2 feet away, and having a crisp photo is not guaranteed. You basically have to rely on the large picture size to be able to zoom in to the subject. I recently overcame this problem by buying a close-up lens ($50) that is absolutely wonderful! I pretty much have the camera I want with the Sony F828.

One of the other features that I have started to use is the video taking. You can take very smooth video up to 60 frames per second, twice as fast as any other digital camera I know of. Keep in mind that at eight megapixels, you are getting better resolution than 35mm film. I did a lot a research before I bought this camera and it is being touted as the best digital non-SLR camera on the market. It is not too complicated for a novice like myself to use, and I find myself using many of the features available. One thing I do like about this camera, much like with buying an expensive car, anytime you whip it out people's eyes always get bigger. It is a very attractive camera.

One other thing I would like to point out that you won't get anywhere else. This camera will take a CompactFlash and a Sony memory stick at the same time. This has many advantages if you do a lot of traveling and can't get to a computer to download all of your photos. Right now I have 512 MB CompactFlash, and I plan on buying a memory stick soon so that I can fill up one card, flip a switch and fill up the other. This basically gives you the option of buying two smaller memory cards and using them without having to stop and switch them out.

I bought my camera for $800 from Best Buy online, since I bought a lot of accessories I went ahead and got the credit card and got no interest for six months. I realize this may be a lot more than what you are prepared to spend, but I started my search for a new digital camera just like yourself. I started low, but then I let the features decide what camera I buy as opposed to the price range. Right now I know that I have the best digital non-SLR camera you can get and although I don't feel it is THE PERFECT camera for herp photography, it is pretty darn close.

Here is the best review available
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/sonydscf828/

Here are some links to pictures I have taken with this camera
http://colchicine.8m.com/BVD/BVD1.html
http://colchicine.8m.com/NNP/NNP5-29-05.html

And here are the types of photos I took before I got the close-up lens
http://colchicine.8m.com/RNWR/RNWR.html

I took the photos of the Kingsnake, copper head, black racer, and green snake in this link
http://fwie.fw.vt.edu/VHS/2005springmeeting.htm

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"I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully."
Governor George W. Bush, Jr.

"Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us."
Calvin and Hobbes (Scientific Progress Goes 'Boink', 1991)

That's why the professional herp photographer, Bill Love, bought a Sony F828 as well. Try the Sony on the 640 fine mode for video. It requires a Memory Stick Pro, a 80X Compact Flash card, or Microdrive. I have a Hitachi 4 Gig Microdrive, that allows me to take 51 minutes of video. I have a 512Meg memory stick as well. This allows me to take 30 fps video, and 8 Mpixel pictures with the same camera. This saves space when traveling.
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Lamar, Debbie, Nathaniel and Iggi :>~

After using the camera for a few months, it is time to go through the manual again and make sure I learned everything I can. I didn't even realize there was a fine mode available for video, I have been using the standard which I am pretty happy with. I hope to have some of my videos up on the web sometime soon and will post here. I am glad to see that someone else has had the same idea as me, buying a 4 GB micro Drive. The only problem is that the more accessories I buy, the more worried I've become about standing in the middle of a swamp and dropping the camera with $500 of accessories on it!
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"I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully."
Governor George W. Bush, Jr.

"Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us."
Calvin and Hobbes (Scientific Progress Goes 'Boink', 1991)

Then an accessory to buy would be the Ewa Marine underwater housing for the F828. Speaking of accessories, I put a 25 year old Canon 199A speedlight onto the Sony F828, selected "Hot Shoe" for the flash menu, and it worked fine! It's nice to use bounce flash.
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Lamar, Debbie, Nathaniel and Iggi :>~

That is great. I always thought there were only cases available for WAY too much, but to find out that PVC bags can go down to 100ft! Only problem is that I can't find one for the DSC-F series. Can you provide me with a model # or a link? thanks
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"I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully."
Governor George W. Bush, Jr.

"Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us."
Calvin and Hobbes (Scientific Progress Goes 'Boink', 1991)

>>That's why the professional herp photographer, Bill Love, bought a Sony F828 as well.

I read a recent post on another forum where he came back from using it in Mexico saying (Bill Love's exact words) "The Sony is a fine camera, but I now wish I'd gone with the Nikon D70 for a variety of minor reasons".

It isn't a bad camera, it just doesn't give you the flexibility of a DSLR.

This shot was taken with a 300mm lens and a 1.4x converter on a DSLR with a 1.5X 35mm equivalence for a total effective focal length of 630mm. No point and shoot can offer this sort of focal length (without cheap glass attachments). Furthermore, I used an off camera flash with a GN of 118 and an ISO setting of 800. If I had been using a P&S, I wouldn't have gotten the shot and what I did get would have had a LOT more noise.

I'm not suggesting anyone rush out and buy a brand new DSLR, but before I layed out $800 on a point and shoot camera, I would do some careful and informed investigation.
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Chris Harrison
Does anyone else here think that these scrolling signature lines are stupid?

What is the basic difference between the two. From what i gather, point and shoot is a much more user friendly way to go for the novice, yes? Vs. slr which seems to me to suggest, a more advanced camera with features which the average picture taker has no need of, nor the knowledge to use said features, yes or no?
This thread here exemplifies exactly where i'm at. Interested in taking high quality pics of my herps and family (baby on the way)but absolutly ignorant in all forms of digital photography. My problem is, do i go the wifes route and buy a mid grade point and shoot $400-$600 range. Then find out it doesn't take the kind of photos i want or have the options i desire. Which we often don't find out until we play around with the product first, basicly trial and error. Or spend a grand on a camera with so many options i can't figure out how to use half of them. Damn consumerism, if you folks have any other input for me and those like me, keep it coming. I check in here and catch the latest threads, i went to best buys web site after reading this and the previous thread i was posting on to check out the various cameras mentioned. Obviously i haven't reached a decision yet, but a least i'm pointing myself in the right direction. You folks have helped alot. Clint
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0.1 Colombian Boa-(Boa Constrictor Imperator) "Honey"
1.0 Hogg Isle Boa-(Boa Constrictor Imperator) "un-named"
1.0 Brazilian Rainbow Boa-(Epicrates Cenchria) "Houdini"
1.1 Argentine Boa-(Boa Constrictor Occidentalis) "Lacie" & "Oreo"
0.0.2 Green Tree Python-(Morelia Viridis)Biak type-"Smog" & Sorong type- "un-named"

Don't feel bad about taking a month or two to decide on a camera, when you start talking about laying down $1000, it's not unreasonable. I did have an SLR before I bought my current camera, but I got tired of having to carry around multiple lenses and a bag to hold at all that was far too cumbersome for field work. I also got tired of missing once-in-a-lifetime shots because I had to change lenses. I wanted a camera that could do it all, and I only wanted to press a few buttons to do it!

"Point and shoot" cameras can be just as convoluted as SLR's, but my previous SLR had less features than my F828. So you can't go just by cost. Although there will certainly be plenty of features on this camera I will never use, I can honestly say that in the short five months I've had this camera I have had reasons to use almost every button on the exterior. I am a novice, 100% self-taught. I just pay attention to other peoples photos. So you don't need to be an expert to use this particular camera.

I would imagine there are plenty of $4-$600 cameras and that would take just as good photos as mine with the exception of the night shot and rotating body. With this particular camera there are quite a few features that make it a cut above the rest. So even though I can't speak authoritatively about digital cameras in general like several others on this forum, I can honestly say that spending $1000 on a good camera such as this one will be a very rewarding experience.
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"I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully."
Governor George W. Bush, Jr.

"Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us."
Calvin and Hobbes (Scientific Progress Goes 'Boink', 1991)

I've been pricing on e-bay i can get a used one (sony f828) for $575-$700. I've got the wife talked into it as well. Why did you choose the F828? I priced the sony dsc-h1 that was $499 @bestbuy. Then i thought about e-bay. If i can save a few hundred i'd be more than willing to by one (f828) off of e-bay. What other cameras would you recommend that are on the same level as the f828. How easy is the f828 to operate?? thanks, Clint
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0.1 Colombian Boa-(Boa Constrictor Imperator) "Honey"
1.0 Hogg Isle Boa-(Boa Constrictor Imperator) "un-named"
1.0 Brazilian Rainbow Boa-(Epicrates Cenchria) "Houdini"
1.1 Argentine Boa-(Boa Constrictor Occidentalis) "Lacie" & "Oreo"
0.0.2 Green Tree Python-(Morelia Viridis)Biak type-"Smog" & Sorong type- "un-named"

Going on eBay is certainly a good idea. I provided the reasons why I chose the F828 in my previous post, but I would consider the camera to the extremely easy to use. I can't think of the other cameras I looked at, a Kodak and a Canon. Basically, no other camera had the features I wanted except for the F828!

I checked out some info on the H1, and I am pretty mad that Sony couldn't have put the zoom and macro on the F828. 12x zoom and 2cm macro is exactly what I want!! The H1 has some other impressive features but I don't like it compared to my F828 because I can't believe it does not have the night shot feature, it ONLY takes the more expensive memory stick, and it does not have a rotatable screen. But that is just me.

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0507/05070502sonyh1review.asp
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"I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully."
Governor George W. Bush, Jr.

"Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us."
Calvin and Hobbes (Scientific Progress Goes 'Boink', 1991)

If you use macro mode in the wide angle portion of the zoom, you will get close distance macros. The compact flash type II capability of the F828 allows me to use a $170 4 Gig microdrive. I think a 4 Gig memory stick costs as much as the F828!
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Lamar, Debbie, Nathaniel and Iggi :>~

Also, your Calvin and Hobbs quote cracked me up, that is great.