Ragdoll Cat Forums

Hey guys, I'm thinking of purchasing a new camera. I'm envious of the beautiful shots you all are sharing of your babies, while I'm only able to catch a fuzzy streak of moving furr. For some reason when I bought my Sony, I thought it was the best option b/c it was double anti-blur, Zeiss Face Detection, Full HD 1080, blah blah blah. Whatever I buy must be easy to learn and use, as I tend to buy and put in the closet. We still have videos in our cam-corder from our 2007 vacation. I never learned how to put them onto discs. I'd really welcome your suggestions, since I'm completely camera challenged to the point of say the "Photographic Moron" catagory, so don't be afraid to talk basic. I won't be insulted.
Thank You,
Kat

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I've been thinking back & remembered, I was having seizures & taking some medication that made it really hard for me to reason at the same time I got those other cameras.
I think it would be much easier now that I'm functioning again, so I'm apologizing to myself. I am probably able to learn something requiring a much higher skill level.

Kat,What kind of price range and do you want to be able to change your lensDSLR,,, or are you thinking of a point-and-shoot compact digital camera ?
I own a sony a300 .
I all so have a little point and shoot canon digital power shoot SD 870 ,,it is older I'm sure there are better ones out there today.
Wilson did alot of camera shoping I'm sure he has so good advice along with some other forum people.
I all use paint shop pro to neaten up my sloppy pictures.

Oh, thanks Linda. I was looking at the Nikon SLR D5000. I'm not sure how diffucult it is to use for a novice, but I've seen some of the pics on here and they blew me away. I was also thinking of photo shop, which I had some years back, but I'm wanting to show how beautiful my boys eyes are and how large they are, which isn't represented in the shots I take now. I have a gazillion grandchildren & my far off shots at graduations, beauty pageants and talent shows are just sad little dots.

I have the D5000 and so does SheRae (AKA frog8629 AKA Dakota's mom). I looooooove my camera. But it does take some practice and reading the manual. Let me know if you have specific questions about it!

NikonD5000 is a great camera and what I like about it is it has video built in it.
Lindsey always has great shoots and it looks like it take great videos too.
We have a camera speciality shop in my area maybe check and see if you do.
I know if we buy the camera from them they offer free lessons on any camera you buy.

Mine is the Canon EOS 400D and I like it. The main negatives are that it doesn't have video and I don't think it has the anti-shake thingy on it but I do get some great shots, along with lots and lots of useless ones!! but unfortunately that's down to the operator not the camera

One thing to consider is that if you want a dslr with interchangeable lenses some brands are far more expensive than others and they are not generally interchangeable between one manufacturer and another. However sometimes you can pick up a bargain whereby a camera will be on offer with 2 lens included.

Happy shopping!!

I have actually been using the camera I bought Tim for his birthday, and I have to say it is really easy to use and I get some really good results. It's the canon powershot A480 it was less than £100. I enjoy photography so much in particular taking pictures of Coco and Snowdrop that I am considering buying a DSLR. I think you would be happy with compact digital camera with at leaser 10 mega pixels.

Thanks so much everybody. I'm mulling over the fact that maybe I need to actually read the manual for my sony before I invest in something new. My husband was fooling around this afternoon and took a picture of the kitchen cabinets from in the living room and they looked so close I was amazed. Also he told me I was using the auto programed setting which takes a long time making all the necessary adjustments and by the time it shoots, Bubba is in the next room! There is no telling what I don't know about this little camera. I'll find the book and get back to you folks.

Basically, there are 2 types of digital cameras in the market, ie. the Point-N-Shoot (pns) and the DSLRs... PNS are very small and compact and light, as compared to DSLRs... DSLR has many knobs and manual functions that you can play with, unlike pns where it is mostly "auto" mode... Also, for DSLR, you can change to different kind of lenses to take good pics in different environment/condition, unlike pns where you have one fixed lens only... So, first of all, you have to decide which type of digital cam that you are looking for, before proceeding with checking out the different models available...
I hv bought a pns (point-n-shoot) camera few months ago, Panasonic Lumix LX3, just for taking pics of my ragdolls. Hahaha... I would highly recommend this pns becoz it has very large aperture, ie. F2.0 (in fact the largest for pns in the market now), which means that you can take clear and sharp pics in low light environment without using flash... Also, with larger aperture, it means you can take clear pics at a faster shutter speed, which is very good for taking pics of our forever moving pets... LX3 has shutter speed of 1/2000sec, which is very fast... Another pns which is LX3's equivalent is the Canon S90, which has a F2.0 and 1/1600sec.. If you are looking for a good camera to take pics of your pets, then these 2 pns is worth considering... Pricewise is also quite affordable, ~USD$300-$400. Some reviews of the LX3 and S90 are as follow :-

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0807/080721...niclx3.asp
http://www.cameralabs.com/reviews/Panaso...x_DMC_LX3/
http://www.photographyblog.com/reviews_p...mc_lx3.php
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/review.../lx3.shtml
http://www.dpreview.com/news/0908/090819...andson.asp
http://www.steves-digicams.com/camera-re...eview.html
http://www.photographyblog.com/reviews/c...90_review/
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/review.../s90.shtml

For a side-by-side comparison, you can go to this website and check them out :-
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/sidebyside.asp (select and add the digital cameras that you would like to compare)

Last month, I bought my 1st DSLR, Pentax K-x, as my b'day gift... LOL... The image quality is amazing! I really love it very much... And the price is very cheap as compared to other brands like Canon and Nikon... I paid for this K-x at USD$560 only, which comes with a 18-55mm kit lens! This K-x is the cheapest entry level DSLR in the market now, and it has won the "Best Entry Level DSLR" award for TIPA 2010.. Also, there are over 100 colours to choose from, you will be spoilt for choices... I bought the white colour K-x, perfect!
But, there are many other good entry level DSLRs too, eg. Nikon D3000/D5000, Canon 550D/500D, Sony A230/A330... My suggestion is that you have to go to the shop and have a hands-on "feel" of the DSLR and try it out, before you know whether you like it or not... Hehehe..
But, I hv to admit that I am still a noob in DSLR world, and is still learning how to take good pics using a DSLR... Have to learn from experts like Linda and Lindsey and Teresa and others..... Hehehe... You can check out this K-x below :-

http://www.tipa.com/english/award-detail...ry%20Level
http://www.photographyblog.com/reviews/p...kx_review/
http://www.psfk.com/2009/12/100-differen...eries.html
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/pentaxkx/

OMG, I am so camera illeterate! haha I have no idea what you guys are on about... I use a LUMIX that I won in a Hungry Jack's contest...