Photography

[WillCAD]

Okay, I take pictures. Most of my pictures are of Disney World; my camera tends to stay in the closet most of the year except on special occasions, and I take more pics at WDW than the rest of the year put together.

My other pics include holidays, parties, family reunions, weddings, and other special occaisions.

I started learning the basics of photography about 4 years ago, from a friend of mine who is a professional photographer. He mostly shoots weddings, but he's used to specialize in pet photography (if you can take pictures of kids or animals, you can take pictures of anything). He's been taking pictures for years, and he's taught me about exposure and film speed and apetures and focal planes and other such nonsense.

Last week I finally bought a digital camera. I hate the idea of giving up my 35mm film camera, which has taken so many beautiful shots of WDW and of my family over the past 4 years, but by going digital I will eliminate the costs of film and processing, and will be able to post my pictures instantly to the internet to share with family and friends. I don't know yet whether I will use the digital all the time or still use the 35mm once in a while, but I searched for the best digital I could afford, with an eye towards making it last a long time.

[Rosebud]

I think photography is a wonderful hobby. Something I've thought of doing for years. I learned some from my 6th grade teacher and he even had us developing film - he was a cool guy.

Lately I thought more and more about really getting into it, because I keep seeing things that I think would be really cool pictures. But then there is the part of me that remembers I'm clumsy and totally gave up even using anything but a disposable camera for quite a few years. Also the fact that I'm too cheap to develope half the pictures I take.

Val took photography in high school and I almost built a dark room in my house - I have the perfect little room in my basement for it. Maybe one day I will...but for now just so many other things I get busy with and spend money on. But if I keep getting that urge...who knows.

[Linda S]

We went digital about a year ago. I have been "into" photography for years and was really worried about the switch. I like having "real" pictures. BUT, what I do is I upload the ones I like to Wal-Mart.com or another photo place (or you can put them on a CD and bring them in) and order actual prints. THEN, I can scrapbook with them too. It has definately saved us money in film/developing. As most photographers will tell you, it takes a whole bunch of pictures to get one good one, so now I only have to pay to print the good ones!

[fantayzya]

Will,

I balked at going digital at first too. Silly me. I'm an addict now. The camera we bought before our 'familymoon' has a permanant home on my desk and the guys just refer to it at 'mom's camera' even though it was supposed to be for the family.

I think I've taken nearly 20,000 pics with it and use it nearly every day, at least in the summer as I take pics to journal what's happening in my gardens.

It's a great tool for doing an inventory of your collections or just of things you have in your home for insurance purposes as well.

Plus, it's great fun to play with the photos.

[TrixyA]

I absolutely love my digital camera. It's so wonderful to be able to take as many pictures as I want without worrying about the cost of developing a bunch of garbage in order to get one or two good pictures. I also love being able to review my pictures on the hotel TV while we're still on vacation. It's lovely being able to make sure that the "must have" shot in front of the castle (or wherever) is good before leaving the location.

Taken this past weekend with digital camera--

http://www.naibara.com/images/butterfly1.jpg

http://www.naibara.com/images/butterfly2.jpg

[WillCAD]

Wow, Trixy, those are GREAT shots.

[TrixyA]

Thanks Willcad. I feel like the brown butterfly is looking straight at me with a "I'll get you my pretty" sort of attitude.

[Mrs.Bear]

Hi Will! :D

As you, we love our 35mm camara, but we are seriously thinking in a digital camara. :wink:

Could you please tell me, what do I have to search in a digital camara? and what do you find on your search? :D

It's nice to "talk" to you again!! :D

Verºoº:minnie:

[mickeefan]

I went digital last year. I purchased a 4 mp camera as I wanted assurance I could get high resolution. I use the higher settings for all my pictures. 1260 x 1040(or something like that).
It did not take long for me to realize that while with my 35mm I usually took around 12 rolls of film on a Disney trip(288 pictures) with my digital I took around 500 last year.
Most of my 2002 pictures on my webpage are taken with a digital. Just click on my www at the bottom of the page.

[Darla]

Will and Trixy,
What kind of digital camera did you buy?
Darla

[LimeGreenCheri]

Trixy,

Those are beautiful pictures! Thanks so much for sharing them with us!

[TrixyA]

I have an Olympus Camedia C-720 3MP Digital Camera w/ 8x Optical Zoom. The 8x zoom is wonderful and I can get some really close shots. But, because of the zoom, the camera is a little larger than some people like. The camera case is about 3x3x6-- so it's not huge. It's just not teeny tiny like some of the digital cameras I've seen.

I love it!!!! This is my second digital camera and it's easy to use, doesn't weigh very much, and takes fabulous pictures that print up to 8x10 with wonderful clarity.

I don't know much about photography and learned this when researching cameras. If zoom is important to you, make sure that you are looking at the optical zoom capabilities of a camera-- not the digital zoom. Optical zoom gives you crisp clean pictures. Digital zoom is no more than cropping the picture and lowering the quality of the end product.

I just noticed on Amazon.com that this particular camera model is no longer available. I have a friend with a more recent model and she also loves it. I think hers is a 730, 740, or 750.

[WillCAD]

Hola Vero! La espalda bienvenida!

I am new with digital cameras myself, but I got lots of good info from others on Disney boards and photography web sites. These are the things I looked when I went shopping for a digital camera:

* 3 megapixel (3mp) or more
* 3x Optical zoom or more (see Trixy's post just above)
* Takes AA batteries, not some special battery (buy 2 sets of rechargable batteries to go with the camera)

* I like cameras that take Compact Flash (CF) cards. Other cards are just as good, but CF cards cost less. If you find a camera that has all the other features, but uses a different card, don't worry, get the camera anyway.


Darla, I wound up buying a FujiFilm Finepix S602. It's a 3.1mp with a 6x optical zoom (great for those shots of the gorillas and elephants at Animal Kingdom). It uses both Compact Flash and SmartMedia cards. So far, I've been very impressed with its picture quality, and I can't wait to take it to WDW in December and put it to a real test.

Other good cameras:

Canon Power Shot A70 - very very popular

Fuji Finepix 3800 - light, affordable, 6x optical zoom, takes new XD memory cards

Fuji Finepix S5000 - new, also takes XD cards, light, 10x optical zoom, similar to my camera but newer and cheaper ($500)

You can't go wrong with a Fuji or Canon digital camera.

[Mrs.Bear]

Thanks Will! :D
I don't know anything about digital cameras and I know how important is for you the photography.Thanks for your advice!! :wink:

Mickeefan, thanks for your priceless comment and for show us your beautiful pictures! :D

Verºoº

[Darla]

Trixy and Will,
Thanks for the incredible pictures and information. That was a great crash course. I've printed out your posts and ready to shop!
Thanks again!
Darla :D