Camera question

[alonewiththemoon]

I am looking for an inexpensive digital camera that can take fast pictures in low light situations.  Basically, I want to be able to take pictures of ferrets and belly dancers, both of whom wiggle around  a lot.  If it can do decent close-ups of small items that's cool too, but the action weasel and dancer shots are what I'm really interested in.  Does anybody out there have any suggestions?  I can't spend much, but if any of you camera people have old equipment you've outgrown and want to sell, I might be your buyer :)

Comments

[spitcurl.livejournal.com]

If you find out what models are best, LMK. I'm a bit shaky with cameras, so I've avoided buying digital just yet, but I'm looking for something similar eventually.


Although a friend told me she takes all photos on action-speed settings, to avoid digital blur. :)

[tisana.livejournal.com]

Well, I don't know how much you know about cameras, but you're looking for something with a high ISO (film speed) if you want to take flash-less low light pics.

I just got a Canon Powershot SD800, which you may want to look into--it has a setting just for kids and pets, which are known to move around a lot. :) It also has something called Image Stabilization, which is useful for high speed films like 1600, which is as high as this model goes. (The SD900 and SD1000, which are already released, have ISO3200, but no Image Stabilization, for some reason, and this is Bad--you'll have enough light to get a pic, but it'll be blurry)

Other brands do have IS of some sort, but may call it something else (vibration reduction, maybe) and if you're not using a tripod, it's a blessing. You may also want to look up a Gorillapod for holding the camera steady for such shots.

[canongrrl.livejournal.com]

your best bet may be a film camera believe it or not - there isn't much in the inexpensive low light world. Most digital point and shoots are coming out with fast speeds (iso 1600 and 3200) but they still aren't going to be good for dancing (ferrets maybe, dancing no - you'll get a ton of blur). The issues with point and shoot that you'll hit is lens speed (most p&s are 2.8 until you zoom - and then they are like 4 or 5.6) which means that your shutter speed gets slower and slower so any movement will blur. anti shake tech won't help this sadly (it will stop your shake from showing which is good).

I would suggest some old film slr and a very fast 50mm lens. Any system will do and I bet that shop near asiana grille would have something cheap.

if you want to go digital, the camera Tisana recommended may be the best out there now - I expect the cameras to drop in price pretty hard as iso continues to speed up so another option would be to wait maybe 4 to 6 months

[alonewiththemoon]

What you say makes sense--and I actually have an old Asahi Pentax (older than me, even) and a collection of lenses. The only difficulty I face is that it has no light meter, and the handheld light meter that I've got only calibrates up to ISO1000, so it's always a bit of a guessing game with faster films. Perhaps with some practice I can get back the feel for it... I assume that developing places must give you digital copies of your prints these days, or at least offer that option...

[canongrrl.livejournal.com]

I haven't processed film in ages but yeah they should - heck almost everyplace scans the negatives anyways!

I can't quite remember the ratio for film/aperture/shutter speed but I think if you meter for 800 then double the shutter speed you will end up with the right setting for 1600 (its all that 1 stop difference thing).

I think this is right at least - but not certain.

[alonewiththemoon]

hee, doing math never occurred to me--I'm sure I can dig that info up somewhere on line. Thanks again!

[canongrrl.livejournal.com]

oh and total aside - for bellydance shows i'm typically at 3200, f2.8 to f4 and trying to keep my shutter speed about 1/60 at 200mm (without image stabilization I couldn't take the photos without a tripod) - its not easy. Anything less then that and there is too much blur. Believe it or not, a better idea may be a cheap handicam video recorder - at least for dance.

[(Anonymous)]

The Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX100 is a point-and-shoot model that uses Leica optics, and has ISO sensitivity of 6400, plus image stabilization. It's ~$400, which isn't cheap, but is still a lot less pricey than an SLR.

http://www.engadget.com/2007/05/21/panasonics-12-megapixel-lumix-dmc-fx100-a-wide-angle-hd-video/


The Fuji FinePix F30 has ISO sensitivity of 3200, and can be found for under $300, because it's been replaced by the F31. It takes very good low-light shots, but the DMC-FX100 is expected to be better.