Digital camera help

[skylineGTR_guy]

I'm in the market for a new digital camera in the $350.00 range and I've come across these two that seem like good buys but then again I'm not much of a camera buff so I thought I'd ask you guys

It's between the FUJI FinePix S5000 and the Minolta DiMAGE Z1. Which of these would you choose and why? Do you know of any other digital camera in this price range that would be better? IF you know anything about digital cameras please give me pros and cons of each.

Fuji
Minolta

Aso one thing I noticed is that the fuji says it has a 3.1 mega pixel *effective* size but it can do 2,816 x 2,120 resolutions which are 6.0 megal pixels....what the hell does effective size mean? anyway after rebates the Fuji S5000 comes to 325 and the Minolta Z1 comes to 314. So which is the best bang for my buck?

 

[Solid Fro]

From just looking at the specs, the Fuji is the best. Better shutter speeds, xD format, and a RAW file format.

If you have no interest in photography, these cameras might not be what you're looking for. They are more advanced than normal 'point and shoot' digital cameras.

You might want to read over these digital camera sites:

http://www.dpreview.com/
http://www.steves-digicams.com/

 

[skylineGTR_guy]

Originally posted by Viper Zero
From just looking at the specs, the Fuji is the best. Better shutter speeds, xD format, and a RAW file format.

If you have no interest in photography, these cameras might not be what you're looking for. They are more advanced than normal 'point and shoot' digital cameras.

You might want to read over these digital camera sites:

http://www.dpreview.com/
http://www.steves-digicams.com/

Thanks for the info I'm buying a more advanced camera because I want to get into photography but just didn't know where to start.

 

[GilesGuthrie]

In the customer reviews for both products, users mention the Olympus Camedia C750UZ, which is the digital camera I just bought, and which is excellent. So, I voted "other", and went with the one I knew!

I'm quite a fan of the xD memory card. As long as you don't have really chubby fingers (they're tiny!) it's a really good format, with fast write times (useful for continuous shooting) and low power consumption. So, based on that, I would vote for the Fuji, from your two picks. It (the Fuji) can also save uncompressed images, which is something you may need in the future.

Whichever you get, take time getting to know it. I'm a reasonably experienced photographer, and it took me a while to learn to navigate around the menus. Be patient, because otherwise you'll just get annoyed and you'll lose your investment.

Oh, and don't mess about with the 16MB card you get free with the camera. Go buy a 256MB one instead.

 

[skylineGTR_guy]

Originally posted by GilesGuthrie
In the customer reviews for both products, users mention the Olympus Camedia C750UZ, which is the digital camera I just bought, and which is excellent. So, I voted "other", and went with the one I knew!

I'm quite a fan of the xD memory card. As long as you don't have really chubby fingers (they're tiny!) it's a really good format, with fast write times (useful for continuous shooting) and low power consumption. So, based on that, I would vote for the Fuji, from your two picks. It (the Fuji) can also save uncompressed images, which is something you may need in the future.

Whichever you get, take time getting to know it. I'm a reasonably experienced photographer, and it took me a while to learn to navigate around the menus. Be patient, because otherwise you'll just get annoyed and you'll lose your investment.

Oh, and don't mess about with the 16MB card you get free with the camera. Go buy a 256MB one instead.

Thanks for the help. I'm glad the xD has fast write times, The lag inbetween picture annoyed the hell out of me with my old camera. I guess the Fuji has a rapid photo feature which would be kinda cool becasue I could set it off during a storm and try to catch some lighting, or a good shot of the humming birds in the yard. I'm pretty good at getting through the menus so I'm sure I'll figure it out.

I wasn't even going to bother with the 16 MB I would just keep it as an emergency kind of thing. Either way, when I go on vacation I take my laptop so I can unload anything I need but I'll go with the 256. Especially If I need to take video which is a memeory hog.

So what is this raw format? I read on a site that it takes up to six megs per picture. What are the advantages or raw vs saving as jpeg?

Thanks

 

[Solid Fro]

RAW has no compression, while JPEG does.

 

[skylineGTR_guy]

Originally posted by Viper Zero
RAW has no compression, while JPEG does.

So the quality is better then, but how evident is the difference between the two? Do you have a link to any samples showing the difference?

 

[GilesGuthrie]

Originally posted by Viper Zero
RAW has no compression, while JPEG does.

It's a bit more specific than that. Yes, RAW saves the data uncompressed, but more importantly, JPEG is a lossy compression, meaning that data is actually removed from the image during the compression. Yes, it's supposedly data that the human eye cannot make out, but the human eye is pretty damn sensitive, and I prefer to use the lower levels of JPEG compression.

My 4.0MP camera generates 2.7MB files at top JPEG quality in full resolution. They're almost indistinguishable from the RAW image. Which, incidentally, will not fit more than one on a 16MB card.

 

[sUn]

I recently bought a Casio 4.0MP digital camera with 3X Zoom. It's awesome, it takes 2.xmb pictures at full resolution. It's fantastic! Which camera do you have Giles?

 

[skylineGTR_guy]

Originally posted by sUn
I recently bought a Casio 4.0MP digital camera with 3X Zoom. It's awesome, it takes 2.xmb pictures at full resolution. It's fantastic! Which camera do you have Giles?

Hmm... I'm in need of something a little better than 3x zoom, I didn't even know casio made cameras lol. How much did you pay for it and is there anythign you don't like about it.

Speaking of not liking things, I'm leaning towards the fuji, does anyone have any things about the fuji that they don't like?

 

[TurboSmoke]

try the Sony cybershot 5Mpixel...quality is excellent.

 

[GilesGuthrie]

Originally posted by sUn
I recently bought a Casio 4.0MP digital camera with 3X Zoom. It's awesome, it takes 2.xmb pictures at full resolution. It's fantastic! Which camera do you have Giles?

Olympus Camedia C-750UZ. 4MP, 10x Optical Zoom. Plus a whole bunch of "proper camera" features, such as aperture priority, shutter priority, manual setup etc.

 

[sUn]

Originally posted by skylineGTR_guy
Hmm... I'm in need of something a little better than 3x zoom, I didn't even know casio made cameras lol. How much did you pay for it and is there anythign you don't like about it.

Speaking of not liking things, I'm leaning towards the fuji, does anyone have any things about the fuji that they don't like?

It's an excellent bang for the buck.

It was $279.99, the price compares against 3.2 mega-pixel camera's. So far, I've had no problems. I'm using a 256mb card, and on full resolution I can take about 125 shots, and on 1600x1200 I'm ready for about 180 shots. 👍

It's fantastic. I've had no problems with it whatsoever.

NOTE: I mean $279.99, in Canadian dollars.