Need to buy a new digital camera - any recommendations?

[pruetrading]

Hi
I use 2 digital cameras for eBay listing photos, so one can be charging while I use the other one. My hardworking Olympus has just died, and the Samsung is on its last legs, so I need to buy at least another 1. 

Any recommendations? Anyone really happy with what they are using? All my photos are close-ups, and I'd like lots of memory, long battery life and might start using a tripod to reduce the number of out-of focus photos.

Thanks for any suggestions!

[putney32]

prue, I had same prob. when my old, beloved Olympus died,   thought I'd buy something the guy in the shop recommended RICOH.. so sorry I did, hated it

so... now Im back to a trusty OLYMPUS I only use it for eBaying, nothing else, so I got the VR-350 16mp 10xzoom  so far its good for me. (cost under $200 -- cant remember now exactly how much)

[extra-keen]

My advice would be to stick to the well known brands.

I use a fuji for my eBay photos, a Sony for everything else and have found both to be reliable. The Fuji in particular, it is 7 years old and still doing the job well.

[auction_assassin]

I use a Panasonic Lumix

They have a large range of cameras, you will have no problems finding a good one of them to suit your needs.

[patchoo78]

I would buy one where you can replace the batteries. This way you won't have to wait for it to charge..

Will save time in the end so you don't have to go and buy another one when the battery eventually dies

[gemsttonepette]

Any decent brand name digital camera will give you a suitable result. The more you pay, the better the camera will be able to produce a decent picture. By that I mean, it will have a better, sharper lens, it will have a better, more sensitive sensor, & it will offer more inbuilt features with which you can fine tune the camera before you start.

You don't need two cameras if you have a removable battery. You only need two batteries & a separate charger. And the amount of memory has everything to do with the size of the memory card, nothing to do with which model camera you buy. Plus you don't need more than 2 gig of memory, it only takes a moment to reformat the card to empty it out. Or you click on the 'delete pics from memory' button when you download the pictures. 

As for the tripod, you don't need it. The out-of-focus pictures you want to avoid are actually camera shake. When you are using a too-slow shutter speed, camera shake ruins the picture.

Do you have your camera set on A for automatic? Automatic is not suitable for what you are doing. Turn the big round dial on the top to shutter priority (usually S or can be Tv), pick a shutter speed of 250/second, the faster the better, & hold the camera as steady as you can. At 250th, you shouldn't see any camera shake. I try to keep mine on 125/sec as a minimum but I need a smaller aperture to get the maximum depth of field. Photographing flat items like books doesn't require any depth of field at all.

And if there is insufficient light & the camera insists on using the flash, move close to a window. You don't want the flash, it will drain the battery for a start, but it defaults the camera back to 60/second shutter speed at which you will start seeing camera shake. If you practice your holding technique, you will be able to take steady pictures at 1/60. I could hand hold at 1/10 once, not now. 

Talking about your flat depth of field, have you ever tried placing a book in a scanner? A high definition colour scanner should reproduce the cover perfectly. Just a thought. It would save a lot of time & trouble.

[k1ooo-slr-sales]

I use a Canon Powershot compact digital camera that uses 2 rechargeable AA batteries.  I bought a charger at Woollies that came with 4 batteries so I always have two ready to go for when the ones I have been using run flat.

If you are uploading photos to the listing you don't want them to be too 'big'.  The photos I use are only 620x480 in size and run to about 200 KB in size.  If photos are too big they can play havoc with a potential buyers browser.  I know that if a listing takes too long to load pics I hit the back button.  Uploading big pics to photobucket or some other host site is also troublesome.

I use the Auto setting and the macro button when taking close-ups, and if a pic is blurred I just take it again.  Most compact digitals have a dial for different settings, with one of these being a macro setting.  Also, most cameras have the 'half-press' focus process.  Point your camera at the item you wish to photograph, half press the shutter button and let the camera display show you exactly what part of the item is being used for focussing.  I know that when I take pics of my cameras I often do this and will half-press and release then half-press  again until the part of the camera that needs to be in focus is the part that is actually focussed sharply.

Another suggestion I would make is to try to use natural light when taking photos.  Take your photos near a window that can light your item enough to avoid needing to use a flash.  This also means not taking photos at night.

The other good thing about compact digital cameras is that you can get a named brand for under $100 nowadays.

[kopenhagen5]

I have purchased several Olympus cameras and have been terrific.

I like the fact they are shock and water resistant.

The one putney suggested looks good, they now sell for 120-150, mine are stylus range.

[chuk_77]

I use a DSLR canon 550D

has macro, auto, and all other bells and whistles needed.

A tripod wont fix out of focus but will control camera shake

my next point and click will be a samsung smart camera, still saving for that though