10,500 feet is way the heck up there!

Great site. Thanks. I have a lot of reading to do...

Michael

"Rick Poole" wrote in message
news:L3Kjb.573595$Oz4.546350@rwcrnsc54...
Michael,
I've been researching digital cameras for the past year or so waiting
for
the right combination of features, performance and price to replace my
Canon
A2. The price of all the DSLRs ruled them out immediately. The
performance, mainly focus times and focus accuracy ruled out most of the
others. However, there have been a few new ones mentioned on
http://www.dpreview.com that have greatly improved the focus times, focus
accuracy, and startup times. I think I remember one of the newest ones
mentioned having a 10x zoom. For sports you really need one with fast
focus
times and accurate focusing and maybe even continuous focusing. I thought
the Minolta DImage A1 would be the leading candidate for me but the
focusing
was too slow and occasionally indicates focus on the subject but it would
actually focus somewhere else. It also eats batteries at an amazing rate!
Checkout the dpreview website, it has a ton of reviews and links to a
large
amount of information on digital photography.

Rick Poole


"Michael 182" wrote in message
. net...
I know, I know - it's way OT, but I'm about to spend significant money
on
a
digital camera, and it seems like the people in here may know more than
any
advice I'm getting from friends. I posted over on alt.photography, but
it
is
a pretty quiet newsgroup.

So, here are some parameters:

$1,000, including enough memory to make the camera useful

10x or greater zoom for youth sports - soccer and basketball

ability to increase zoom for wildlife, nature photos - maybe attach to
my
Kowa TSN 822 scope

use for pictures in my 182

What else should I be asking? Is this enough info to make a decision? I
am
leaning toward the Fuji S-5000. Any opinions?

Thanks,

Michael

"Michael 182" wrote ...
So, here are some parameters:
$1,000, including enough memory to make the camera useful

10x or greater zoom for youth sports - soccer and basketball

ability to increase zoom for wildlife, nature photos - maybe attach to my
Kowa TSN 822 scope

use for pictures in my 182

What else should I be asking? Is this enough info to make a decision?

Well, my answer is: It depends on your quality standards.

Within your budget, I guess you can find a decent "prosumer" digital (i.e.
with a fixed zoom lens) that is good for normal size enlargements in good
lighting conditions. But if you want the ability to do make really big sharp
enlargements (or part-frame crops) and get noise-free (grain-free) pictures
also in less bright conditions, you need to look at a digital SLR. The Canon
300D is a breakthrough camera is this area, but with a decent memory ( for
example 2 pcs 512 MB CF cards ) it still exceeds the $1000 mark including
lens. On the other hand it delivers as good pictures as almost any 35 mm
film camera, unless you would use the very best professional lenses and
films.

The prosumer cameras have some drawbacks compared to the dSLR: The image has
more noise (or"grain") especially at high sensitivity settings used in low
light. There is often a noticeable shutter delay, which makes action shots
(sports, wildlife) harder. The viewfinder (optical or electronic) is not as
good. On the plus side, it is more compact and with a flip-out LCD
viewfinder it enables shooting from uncommon viewing angles.

Hope this helps.
/Nils

"Michael 182" wrote in message
. net...
I know, I know - it's way OT, but I'm about to spend significant money on
a
digital camera, and it seems like the people in here may know more than
any
advice I'm getting from friends. I posted over on alt.photography, but it
is
a pretty quiet newsgroup.

So, here are some parameters:

$1,000, including enough memory to make the camera useful

10x or greater zoom for youth sports - soccer and basketball

ability to increase zoom for wildlife, nature photos - maybe attach to my
Kowa TSN 822 scope

use for pictures in my 182

What else should I be asking? Is this enough info to make a decision? I am
leaning toward the Fuji S-5000. Any opinions?

You'll love the S-5000
I just bought one recently.
Fantastic Camera for the money.
Mine - complete with extra memory card and camera case was - $1049
Australian
10x zoom is outstanding.
2 x digital makes it even more so.
Through the Lense.
Up to 6 megapixel because of the "Super CCD"
Extra lenses available for wide angle and greater telephoto is you use the
supplied adaptor.
Takes standard AA batteries, so if you ever have flat batteries, more can be
got from any local store, and rechargeable AA's are cheap.
Uses XD memory card, so the camera can store what it just took very quickly,
and be ready for another shot quicker. XD is the quickest form of card.
Total flexibility from TOTAL MANUAL, to totally auto, and all between.
Quality of the shots is amazing, but ignore the camera when it says it wants
the flash, most of the time it doesn't need it, the shots are great without
it.

It's not pocket sized, but is small enough to carry around easily.

Trentus

Just looked up the S5000, looks like you can get one for $329USD. Might
have to upgrade.

Trentus wrote:
"Michael 182" wrote in message
. net...

I know, I know - it's way OT, but I'm about to spend significant money on

a

digital camera, and it seems like the people in here may know more than

any

advice I'm getting from friends. I posted over on alt.photography, but it

is

a pretty quiet newsgroup.

So, here are some parameters:

$1,000, including enough memory to make the camera useful

10x or greater zoom for youth sports - soccer and basketball

ability to increase zoom for wildlife, nature photos - maybe attach to my
Kowa TSN 822 scope

use for pictures in my 182

What else should I be asking? Is this enough info to make a decision? I am
leaning toward the Fuji S-5000. Any opinions?


You'll love the S-5000
I just bought one recently.
Fantastic Camera for the money.
Mine - complete with extra memory card and camera case was - $1049
Australian
10x zoom is outstanding.
2 x digital makes it even more so.
Through the Lense.
Up to 6 megapixel because of the "Super CCD"
Extra lenses available for wide angle and greater telephoto is you use the
supplied adaptor.
Takes standard AA batteries, so if you ever have flat batteries, more can be
got from any local store, and rechargeable AA's are cheap.
Uses XD memory card, so the camera can store what it just took very quickly,
and be ready for another shot quicker. XD is the quickest form of card.
Total flexibility from TOTAL MANUAL, to totally auto, and all between.
Quality of the shots is amazing, but ignore the camera when it says it wants
the flash, most of the time it doesn't need it, the shots are great without
it.

It's not pocket sized, but is small enough to carry around easily.

Trentus

What's with the 3.1 megapixel/6 megapixel effective stuff?

What is it. 3.1 or 6?

mike regish

"Newps" wrote in message
news:XPAkb.595628$cF.260005@rwcrnsc53...
Just looked up the S5000, looks like you can get one for $329USD. Might
have to upgrade.

Trentus wrote:
"Michael 182" wrote in message
. net...

I know, I know - it's way OT, but I'm about to spend significant money
on

a

digital camera, and it seems like the people in here may know more than

any

advice I'm getting from friends. I posted over on alt.photography, but
it

is

a pretty quiet newsgroup.

So, here are some parameters:

$1,000, including enough memory to make the camera useful

10x or greater zoom for youth sports - soccer and basketball

ability to increase zoom for wildlife, nature photos - maybe attach to
my
Kowa TSN 822 scope

use for pictures in my 182

What else should I be asking? Is this enough info to make a decision? I
am
leaning toward the Fuji S-5000. Any opinions?


You'll love the S-5000
I just bought one recently.
Fantastic Camera for the money.
Mine - complete with extra memory card and camera case was - $1049
Australian
10x zoom is outstanding.
2 x digital makes it even more so.
Through the Lense.
Up to 6 megapixel because of the "Super CCD"
Extra lenses available for wide angle and greater telephoto is you use
the
supplied adaptor.
Takes standard AA batteries, so if you ever have flat batteries, more
can be
got from any local store, and rechargeable AA's are cheap.
Uses XD memory card, so the camera can store what it just took very
quickly,
and be ready for another shot quicker. XD is the quickest form of card.
Total flexibility from TOTAL MANUAL, to totally auto, and all between.
Quality of the shots is amazing, but ignore the camera when it says it
wants
the flash, most of the time it doesn't need it, the shots are great
without
it.

It's not pocket sized, but is small enough to carry around easily.

Trentus

Did you find it harder or easier to navigate visually at that altitude?


"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:53_ib.777467$uu5.134981@sccrnsc04...
I've spent a fair number of hours droning along at 10,500 feet in the
MidWest. (For you mountain-flyer-types that think 10.5 K is LOW, that
altitude is a lot different here in Iowa, cuz it puts you almost two miles
above Mother Earth.) It's usually quite boring, and is something I
normally do only en route.

However, I've never actually maintained that altitude *over* an area I was
familiar with. This past weekend we were on our way back from
leaf-peeping
in Wisconsin, and the visibility was just stunning -- crystal clear, azure
blue skies, with no humidity and temperatures in the upper 60s -- so it
seemed like a perfect time to get some aerial photos of Iowa City.

(I've been trying for some time to get a picture for our website that had
enough scale to show the whole area, and our position in it -- but have
just
never had the right opportunity.)

A few things I discovered:

1. Two miles up is actually TOO high for good photography with a standard
Canon Elph digital camera. The pictures I found to be best were taken
around 8,000 feet as we slowly spiraled down to land.

2. The kids thought it was great! With hundreds of hours in the air over
the last nine years, my kids are old pros that only rarely look out the
windows anymore. At 10.5K over familiar territory, however, they were like
newbie passengers again, squealing and pointing. We were all amazed at
what
we could see.

3. Spiraling down from 2 miles over the airport takes a LONG time! I
tried
to maintain a nice, easy 300 - 400 fpm descent, which meant circling the
airport for twenty minutes in order to land!

4. It was fun watching the landing pattern from a "God's Eye" point of
view.

It's not something you would normally think of doing, but if you get a
chance viewing your home turf from WAY up high is kinda fun!

(And you can take a peek at the picture I selected for our opening webpage
at www.AlexisParkInn.com. It's really shows our position relative to the
airport and other important local attractions. For our potential guests,
this picture really is worth a thousand words...)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Did you find it harder or easier to navigate visually at that altitude?

Easier -- especially over areas I was familiar with...

And with visibility the way it was, we could almost always see SOMETHING we
were familiar with, even from 50 miles away...
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Jay Honeck wrote:


And with visibility the way it was, we could almost always see SOMETHING we
were familiar with, even from 50 miles away...

You know that's an everyday thing out here, seeing something more than
50 miles away.

You know that's an everyday thing out here, seeing something more than
50 miles away.

Well, from October through April it's pretty much that way here, too.

Spring and summer can get quite hazy and humid, however, sometimes giving
you that "flying inside a ping-pong ball" effect...
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"