Take alot of pictures & photography advice.
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If you are going to plop down coin for a digital (non-SLR), I suggest sticking with the good stuff from Canon or Nikon, my first choices, or Olympus, Sony and a handful of others. Digital Photography Review is an awesome resource with lots of really detailed reviews.
If you want to buy an SLR and learn real photography, Canon and Nikon have great entry-level bodies and kits that generally include a 28-80mm lens. Buy a second long zoom and you've got great possibilities for outdoor photos.
Digital SLR's are still pretty expensive, but they're getting pretty amazing. That D60 I mentioned is stunning, and the hope is that Nikon's forthcoming D100 will be just as good. Both are cool from the standpoint that they use the existing line of lenses.
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Jeff - Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com, Sillynonsense.com
"As far as I can tell it doesn't matter who you are. If you can believe, there's something worth fighting for..." - Garbage, "Parade"
I really like it a lot, unfortunately I don't know a whole lot about cameras, so I can't really compare it to anything else. I love having a rechargable battery! :)
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SFEG awaits The Flying Coaster-coming in 2002!
Jeff said:
I just took the leap and ordered a Canon D60 to compliment my existing Canon lenses. After years with my ancient, all-manual Nikon F, then the last four or five years with my Canon Elan IIe, my only problem has been film consumption. At an average 8 rolls per outting, that gets expensive, so I can justify the cost.
Sorry mate, but nothing beats the old manual SLR. I've got an Olympus OM somewhere around, and it takes the most awesome photos. The only camera I'd recommend over it is some of the Kodak top end SLR digitals, that set you back around 15 grand. Kodak, whether you like it or not, have the best digital technology, and their prosumer SLRs use Nikon and Canon housings. So really, if you want a good digital SLR, and want your money's worth, the Kodaks are the way to go.
I have an assortment of cameras, digital and film. If you are after true value for money, get a mid-range Kodak digital, although they are making them more "user friendly" recently, which I personally hate. Nikon is the way to go if you know what you're doing, and want good photos.
If you've got good exerience with photography, I'd go with a Canon digital SLR. I think mine is around 6 megapixel, and takes all Canon lenses and accessories.
Mind you, I don't think I've taken an SLR to a park in about 2 years. I always take my Kodak compact, it might not be showcase quality, but I rarely get them printed, and even my (very) old DC215 is good enough to resize them for web use. And anyway, its weatherproof, which came in handy once on a nasty log flume.
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So what if the best coaster in Australia is a second hand Arrow?
http://www.totalthrills.com
*** This post was edited by auscoasterman on 5/9/2002. ***
I have 2 digital cameras. The Olympus C-2100UZ and the Hewlett Packard Photosmart 215. The Olympus is a bit big so i usually end up bringing the HP with me because it fits easily into my pocket. The HP's only 1.3MP but the picture quality is amazing. the picture that you see in my CB Member Profile was taken with that.
So id have to recommend an HP or Olympus Camera as ive had amazing luck with both. Also Kodak makes a nice digital camera. Alot of many friends have them and have been very satisfied.
EDIT: I also took all of these pictures except that of my Season Pass w/my HP Digital Camera. There from The Great Escape...how do they look?
http://home.nycap.rr.com/greese1/GEscape424.html
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John
Albany Entertainment:
http://home.nycap.rr.com/albanyent
*** This post was edited by CalvinJ23 on 5/9/2002. ***
Sorry mate, but nothing beats the old manual SLR. I've got an Olympus OM somewhere around, and it takes the most awesome photos.
I totally disagree. Photographers capture good images, not the cameras. I liked my Nikon F, but I would never go back to manually focusing, setting the aperature and shutter. While the technology can do great things in the right hands, regardless of sophistication, it still comes down to the person behind the lens. Look at Joyrides... Joe shot the majority of that stuff with a point-and-shoot.
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Jeff - Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com, Sillynonsense.com
"As far as I can tell it doesn't matter who you are. If you can believe, there's something worth fighting for..." - Garbage, "Parade"
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Coaster M and M
Ride On!
I totally disagree. Photographers capture good images, not the cameras. I liked my Nikon F, but I would never go back to manually focusing, setting the aperature and shutter.
I totally agree with you on the photographer part. However, I have seen way too many pictures ruined by the auto-exposure. It's just too easy to fool it. If I want to make sure that I get the picture I still go manual on the settings (or aperture priority). And I can focus with a split-prism faster than my auto-focus.
Since a lot coaster pics are shot from the ground looking up, back-lighting becomes a major problem. I usally set my exposure at the ground and shoot with that. If you have an exposure-lock on an auto-exposure camera this will work as well.
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Jeff-Jeff
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"Your love is like a roller coasta' baby baby..."
If love is like a rollercoaster, doesn't that mean you should be happy ALL of the time? ;)
Shawn Bailes
110 Drumline
http://www.ohiou.edu/marching110/drumline
Jeff said:
Photographers capture good images, not the cameras. I liked my Nikon F, but I would never go back to manually focusing, setting the aperature and shutter.
You make my argument very well for a manual camera. A manual camera puts the photographer in front because it takes the picture that I tell it to, not the picture that it wants to take. As my earlier post stated, automatic cameras have major disadvantages in exposure and focusing when it comes to taking coaster pictures. I bought an Olympus digital and have spent a lot of time learning how to override all of the automatics.
Auto or manual... it doesn't matter. If you don't understand the exposure theory in either case you'll get crappy images. If you don't understand shot composition, you'll get crappy images. Automatic features are not a hindrance if you understand what they do and how to use them.
I can pound a nail with a hammer or a rock, but it depends on whether or not I understand how to use the tool.
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Jeff - Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com, Sillynonsense.com
"As far as I can tell it doesn't matter who you are. If you can believe, there's something worth fighting for..." - Garbage, "Parade"
A year ago I got a nice SLR, and the difference is substantial. I'm in control now. Instead of 1 out of 10 pictures being awesome before, now it's 9 out of 10. If anyone is serious about taking good pictures, I reccomend getting a nice SLR. Pair it with a good film scanner or photo CD development and you have a real quality that affordable digitals can't come close to.
For me, I also have to take real pictures. I have sold a good dozen of my photos for magazines and book in the last few months, and they often want negatives of scans of film, etc. A digital won't have the quality they often demand. I just sold some pictures to be used in next year's Guinness book, and to British Airways. ( In case anyone is wondering, it's all legit when I sell. Proper releases are purchased by the publishers.)
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- Peabody
*** This post was edited by Peabody on 5/9/2002. ***
I've got a Canon G2 that I really like. See here and here.
I used to have a Kodak DC290 that took excellent pictures, and you could play games on it while waiting in long coaster lines (if it wasn't sunny). :)
Jim Fisher makes an excellent point about letting the camera auto set on something nearby beforehand if you're taking a photo looking up w/ the sky behind. So many ride pics I see on the net are too dark because of the bright sky.
I tend to like pics best that are on a sunny day w/ the sun above but slightly behind you.
...and they often want negatives of scans of film, etc. A digital won't have the quality they often demand.
A year ago I would have agreed with you, but my how times have changed. I bought a very expensive Nikon negative scanner a few years ago, and I love it. It can do about 3,000x2,000 pixels. It's just so damn time consuming.
The Canon D60 SLR I mentioned does about the same resolution. Not only is it good enough for print, but it has already been used for full spreads (that is, two pages across) in Sports Illustrated, among others. This one is the film killer, and it will be followed by Nikon's D100 and more than likely "pro" cameras from both Canon and Nikon.
Wicked Twister media day... all of the newspaper photogs were using Nikon D1's and Canon 1D's. DSLR's are here to stay.
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Jeff - Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com, Sillynonsense.com
"As far as I can tell it doesn't matter who you are. If you can believe, there's something worth fighting for..." - Garbage, "Parade"
Revolutionary said:Most important thing is to try something different than what you've already seen. Zoom in very close to an interesting part of track, take pictures of supports or bolts. Be creative and compose the picture well. A shot of a lift hill smack dab in the middle of the pic is boring, move it off to the side, get low, get up high, do something new. But most importantly, have fun.
This is good! Sometimes I like to look at the mechanics of a ride too. Even a picture of a brake can be interesting.
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So...you can't handle a rollercoaster huh? Well...you ARE the Weakest Link! Goodbye!
Number 1 Batwing Fan!
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- Peabody
I didn't read all the replies, but here are some tips:
Take pics early in the morning or after 4ish...noon-time sun makes horrible pictures.
Use a longer exposure to give the train a blurring effect.
Foreground objects like props and signs can make the picture more interesting.
On-ride pics *generally* don't come out very well unless you're in the front seat.
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