Questions Regarding Digital Camera

Hey, I apologize if you received these kind of questions/topics many times before, I've looked through the forum and I came across this link (Link Here) though helpful, I still need more information about digital cameras. I appreciate any reply/feedback/opinions you may have.

#1. I would like to buy a Digital Camera, as this will be my first purchase, what sort of features and specifications should I go for? I'll be using the digital camera for these "activities":

Web-Related
1.1 Taking Photos (Stock)
1.2 Photography/Photolog
1.3 Portfolio (just about the same as 1.2)

Offline
1.4 "Random Shoots"
By random I mean, if anything caught my fancy from afar, I would like to snap it, and still maintain good high-quality shots.

Misc
What are those 5 (or insert number here) Megapixels for?
The Canon IXUS 500 caught my eyes (Link Here) is this a good choice, any recommendation/suggestions?

Once again, thanks for reading this!

It deepened about how many money are disposed to spend for a camera. I understand that you are at first digital camera so you can buy anyone it will surprise you. Please tell me how much you want to spend and I’ll suggest you one.

BTW. A very good camera is Olympus C-750, it makes very good photos, please take a look here and you’ll see.

http://www.myphotobooth.com

The forum is at beginning, it is mine, but you can see some pictures made by me with the camera that I talked you about.

I wouldn't get a Point & Shoot if you intend to take stock.

You'll want a camera that can take at least 6MP images. Most professional Stock agencies/resellers (for example, Alamy.com) require at least a 45Meg image file. A 45Meg TIF file is about 15MP. In order to interpolate that high (with a program such as Genuine Fractals) you're going to need a decent sized image to start with.

The Nikon D100 & D70 take 6.1MP images (3008x2000 pixels). Usually I'll upsize to 12032x8000 pixels using Genuine Fractals Pro, then do a little tweaking, and use Adobe Photoshop's bicubic resampling to knock it back down to 6016x4000 (24MP) then some final tweaking to get about a 70Meg TIF file to go to stock agencies.

Megapixels is the number of pixels that make up the entire image. But, this alone is not the major factor in choosing a camera. I've had better 6x4 prints from a Sony Mavica FD-83 (a 5 year old camera that does 1MP) than I've seen some HP cameras produce at 3-5MP.

It's about the quality of the sensor, and the quality of the lens used in the camera.

If you're wanting to take photography seriously, and want to try to make a living out of it, I wouldn't go for anything other than a Digital SLR (if you're dead set on digital).

This can get expensive. You're looking about US$1500 for a good BASIC digital SLR setup (new Nikon D70 or used Nikon D100, 18-70DX lens, 1Gig CompactFlash, all the way up to tens of thousands of dollars in total for a top of the line DSLR body (Nikon D2x, Canon 1D Mark2) and a good quality lens (like the Nikon 200mm f/2.0 AF-S VR lens for $4500, or the 200-400mm f/4 AF-S VR zoom for $5500), a couple of flashes ($350 a pop for the SB-800), few hundred bucks on filters, etc.

So, I'll ask the same question criserb did. How much are you looking to spend? If you're not looking to spend at least $1,000, I'd forget taking photos for stock. Most of the reputable agencies won't even look at them.

Btw, outside of the Asian market, the "IXUS 500" is called the Canon Powershot S500 (Just for searching prices). If you just want to take snaps, then it's a pretty good camera. But, I'd also look at Nikon & Fuji point-n-shoots in a similar price bracket. The best way to see which is right for you, is to just head down to the camera store, hold them, and see which feels right and takes good quality shots.

Take a few shots, and have a look at them on your screen when you get home. Don't buy the camera straight away, you can never really see how good a digital camera's picture quality is just by seeing the image on the LCD display. Take the pics home from the various cameras, look at them on your screen, do a little more research, then make your determination as to which you want to get.

Hey Axe and criserb, I appreciate all your reply.



Thanks, I've bookmark your site, I'll join one of these days.



Ah yes, thanks for your input Axe! I took photography as a hobby, so nothing professional there.



When I mentioned stock, I never intend to take them the professional way though, I'll use them mostly to make wallpapers and misc graphics for my own personal use. As for my budget, the highest I would go for is (Singapore) $800, the currency doubles, if a product in the US cost 600 bucks then it's SGD 1200 here. But never mind that.



I'll heed your advice on the "holding & testing" of the camera, thanks.

I could help you out I have reviewed quite a few what you think of the new canon 5d?

This topic is nearly 5 years old. I think the topic starter has more than likely worked things out by now and will have moved on.

If there are other questions of a similar nature then you are more than welcome to start a new topic. Considering the age of the topic i am going to lock it now.