Triumphrat

Thruxcapacitor

Riding season is almost upon us here and im looking for a good all around camera to tote along for proof of my misadventures. Im about to break down and purchase a new camera and was seriously considering this one,


Canon sx20 IS

Does anyone have one of these? likes? dislikes? recommendations from any photo guru's? Problem is it's portability, smaller would be better but....

Im looking for a full featured point and shoot. DSLR would be overkill for its intended purpose plus i would like to have HD movie ability.

Catenaccio

I recieved a Canon DSLR for Christmas and love it! It is big and bulky, but can it take a picture! There are many, many members who take excellent pics on this site. I'm sure they'll chime in.

"Calling Mr. Desert, Mr. HiDesert! To the camera thread please!"

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JollyRgr

My wife uses a Canon DSLR (EOS 450D) and it takes brilliant pictures.

Good luck with your search!

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mistermellow001

I think a point-and-shoot comes in quite handy for general use, and would recommend having one regardless of whether you have a DSLR. My problem with using my Canon DSLR on my last trip was that I relied too much on the automatic shooting modes. Consequently, I munged up some low-light shots that I really wanted. The SX20 allows you to manually control aperture and exposure, which is what sets it apart from a point and shoot.

Whatever you end up with, get to know it well before you need to rely on it. I'd also (if you haven't already) look at as many reviews as you can, especially ones with example photos to see if the camera will do what you want. For example, the SX20 might not do extremely narrow depth of field shots like blurry-background portraits. If that, for example, was a deal breaker, then you'd need to step up to the high-dollar DSLRs with inter-changeable lenses $$$. If it does what you want (that a point-and-shoot doesn't), then go for it!

Oh, and I'd also add a tripod into the essential accessories list. Even though the camera has image stabilization, it won't be enough for low-light, long-exposure, etc.

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Guy

"Always be yourself... unless you suck"
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HiDesert

The best bike camera I've ever had was my Canon Elph. Specifically, the SD1000. Took darn good pictures, and it's not much bigger than my wallet, so it slips right into your jacket pocket. Just make sure it's on a lanyard when you slip it right out of said pocket. It's a metal body, but it's still not up to 70mph tarmac contact.

This shot shows off a wide angle feature that some (maybe all, I'm not sure) Canons have; it reapportions the pixels on the sensor somehow to give you a wider shot. Or maybe it just crops it down to look wider.



The small size doesn't do justice to the image quality the SD produced.

The newer Elphs would probably be worth a close look. And there are some cameras out there now in that size range with serious optical zoom, like 10x. But for motorcycling, you probably want bike shots, and bike shots with great backdrops. So wide angle is probably more useful than big zoom capability. Also, the bigger the lens the better. More glass means better pictures, all else being equal. The more light you take in, the dimmer it can be and still get good photos. And the less aberration you'll have, and so on and so forth.

So here's a good choice, from a quick Amazon search; the Canon Powershot SX200IS. 28mm wide angle, image stabilization, good big lens, HD movie, and it sounds like the manual controls are worthwhile.

Don't get hung up on megapixels. Have you ever printed a photo bigger than 8x10? My 4 megapixel Kodak served all through my couple of years living in Europe, and the 8x10s look great. So unless you truly see yourself printing posters, pretty much anything over 4 should do the trick.

Now, get out there and read a ton of pro reviews and general user reviews, and when you settle on one, read the owner's manual. We won't tell anyone.

I use a Canon A590IS as my bike camera now; it's good, but I think the SD1000 produced slightly higher picture quality. My main camera is a Sony DSLR, which I really, really like. And I've got a small case for it that I've used on the motorcycle as well. But not many people are that nuts; convenient it's not. The images can be worth it, though.



Guy is absolutely right about a tripod. A Gorillapod can be a good small-size substitute, too.

Mrs. Nickwiz? Thoughts?

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HiDesert's ride photos

trypcil

Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH1 - it shoots raw 1080 at 24fps on a 12.1 megapixel chip(14 actually) but is 4/3 in size and takes interchangeable lens's! So it's $1300 but you get an excellent still camera and one that can shoot 24p HD footage that you can edit on a MAc - plus you could also shoot a movie - and infact they do! Then there's this - http://www.hotrodcameras.com/ - be good!

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MrsNickwiz

Check out this review, it's got pics attached that you can enlarge and see the quality.

http://www.digitalcamerareview.com/d...powershot+sx20

It doesn't look bad at all, just a bit of green/purple fringing which would annoy me but it depends what you're shooting and how fussy you are. Not a bad price.

I have an old Canon Powershot Pro 1 that I still use when I don't want to bother with the big DSLR and it's a great little camera.

Go and play with one in a shop, and check out as many sample images you can on the internet.

BeHereNow

A photographer was on a plane and had his new camera on his chest. The fellow in the next seat commented on it and said "That looks like an expensive camera, I'll bet it takes good pictures." The photographer smiled, and nodded his head in agreement.
His new acquanatance pulled out a laptop, and and started typing. The photographer asked what the fellow did for a living, and he said 'I'm a journalist.'
The photographer smiled, and commented: "I'll bet that laptop writes good stories."

It always amazes me when the camera gets the credit for good photographs.

IrlMike

Sounds like you're looking for something in what they call the 'prosumer' category - many features of a DSLR but lighter, less bulky. I have an old Konica Minolta A200 which I find very good. The things I like most about this camera are it's rare (for the time) wide zoom range, esp down to 28mm (35mm equivalent) wide angle, & non-motorised 'manual' (SLR like) zoom control. The latter means (motor) noiseless zooming in video mode & makes it easier to precisely zoom to what you want. Not many 'prosumer' types do this, but some do, Fuji make one, possibly one or two other brands also.

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MrsNickwiz

A nice little story, made me smile, I'll have to remember it.

It's true it doesn't take an expensive camera for a photographer to take good pictures, but the more expensive cameras are streets ahead of cheaper ones in areas like noise reduction, detail, sharpness, and getting rid of the annoying green and purple fringing around objects. The main thing that makes a great camera is the lens, some of the big SLRs have terrible lenses on them and some of the tiny point and shoot compact cameras use, Leica or Schneider lenses and produce amazing results.