Camera n photography forums
 

Hi all,

I am in need of a list of some of the best and active forums with respect to cameras !

I am planning to buy a camera for nature photography costing around $600.
I need some professional guidance for buying it !

I could have searched Google for it, but since i don't have any technical knowledge about cameras, there was a probability of mis-guidance !

Thanks !

Moved to General (not a Linux question)

Specifically for digital cameras, the best one a few years ago was: http://www.dpreview.com/

Also, Yahoo used to have many good groups.

I have not been to any in several years.

I did post it in the general forum, but I did not know that some other general forum also exists !

Thanks for the information !

I too am looking at upgrading my camera
though I am more interested in astro-photography

three things are needed
four if you can get it
* lots of pixels
* good quality lenses
* a sturdy, preferably wooden, tripod
* and you can get it - a remote control


floppy

Wooden tripod? They don't make such things anymore.

who is "they"
Mercedes Benz,Rolex, Neil Diamond, The Wiggles ???

he should find one or make one


floppy

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q...US235&ie=UTF-8

Found 2 sources without even trying.......

Lot's of pixels?----no, you need "enough" pixels. "Enough" is generally determined by the print size and viewing distance.

Once you have enough pixels, more does nothing for image quality**. To improve quality from here, you need larger pixels--eg with a full-frame sensor.


**In the early days ( < ~4 Mpixels), there was some advantage in having a higher pixel count and then down-sampling to "enough"---the re-sampling reduced color artifacts caused by the Bayer filter. With sensors now at 8 Mp and larger, color artifacts are not as big an issue.

ummm... you mean resolution
I would still say go for lots of pixels
print size and distance are important - no argument there
but with more pixels - it will will be easier to digitally manipulate, enhance etc, the downside being needing a fairly capable computer to manipulate such large files.

however you raise the issue of filtering
anishakaul - you will need a brand of camera that has a good range of lens accessories :- filters, hoods etc


floppy

The pixel count sets the upper limit on resolution. Once you have "enough" pixels, then other factors dominate. Within any given design, there is always a balance, and improving any particular parameter will not help overall performance. There have been quite a few articles recently arguing that there is too much marketing emphasis on the pixel count.

For nature photography, think also about panorama stiching SW (free) and Printers (expensive)

I couldn't understand what is panorama stiching . I am not technically sound in camera things.

I don't know how much difference can be seen in the quality of image in case I purchase a camera costing $600 and a camera costing $450.

Kindly guide !

panorama stitching takes several pictures of the same general location (eg, you are at the beach and you take a picture of the right, center and left) and joins them into one, usually they dont look that great IMHO.

Thanks for replying !

What's the fun in taking the pictures right, center and left and then joining them into one ?

What's IMHO ?

Making panorama pictures from a closer distance (with less expensive lenses) if needed.
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=imho

IMHO = "In My Humble Opinion"

Stitching is used whenever you want a field of view that is larger than what the camera provides---or if you want to get extremely high resolution. For example, many digital cameras have a "wide angle" limit equivalent to a 35mm lens on a film camera. To get a wider view, I routinely shoot 2 or three pictures and stitch them.

There are MANY situations where stitching is the only way to get the picture---eg if you are close to a tall building.

The premier tool is Panotools, which has at least 2 really good GUI front ends: PTAssembler (Windows) and Hugin (Linux) For some really good examples of what can be done, go here:
http://www.tawbaware.com/index.html

Well--that might be a function of the CONTENT of the picture, don't you think? Look at the site above and then see what you think.