Which camera?

[Coxie]

I'd like to get into photography but don't really know which camera to buy.  I have only really used point and shoot cameras in the past but would like to buy a digital camera that will fulfill all aspects of photography including underground stuff

I've read a few threads and looked at the various specs online but I'm still not sure where I should start.  From what I can gather the Canon Powershot is the thing to go for with waterproof housing.  As I'm just starting out, should I go for an old model for less money or spend some cash?  :-\

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

By the way what the hell is a slave?!?

 

[martinr]

By the way what the hell is a slave?!?

Slave

 

[teabag]

A slave.
My brother thinks it's me but actually it's the trigger for remote flash that I have to hold for him.  Here's an example (the one he has)  http://www.fireflyelectronics.co.uk/

 

[footleg]

From what I can gather the Canon Powershot is the thing to go for with waterproof housing.  As I'm just starting out, should I go for an old model for less money or spend some cash?  :-\

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

That all depends on how serious you are about taking photographs. If you want to take multiple flash pictures with off camera flashes then you will soon want a serious camera, so buying an old model first and then having to buy a better one soon after is more expensive. Based on experiences and feedback from several cavers who take good photographs, you will find the Canon Powershot G9 or G10 cameras excellent for cave photography with their waterproof housings. If you just want to try it out before committing too much cash and don't worry about taking a non-waterproof camera underground then a second hand Olympus C5050 from Ebay will take good cave pictures. Any flashes and slaves you get to work with it will also work with future cameras you might upgrade to.

 

[ian.p]

a cheaper alternative to the G9/G10 is a camera like the powershot A590
it has enough manual control to alow you to controll aperture and exposure times (up to 15 secounds) and take decent underground pics whilst costing a tird of the price of a G10.
an important thing to make sure of when buying your camera is to make sure you can turn of any preflashes. this means you can use it with simple slave units like a fire fly2(?30) rather than complicated ones like a fire fly 3 (?60).
i would hesitate to sugest buying an expensive camera to begin with as getting the hang of looking after your camera underground is half the chalange so you might as well brake a cheap(ish) camera first!

 

[Glenn]

I carry an Olympus 850SW (waterproof and drop proof according to the TV advirt)  with me as a snapping camera (with the built in flash covered). I just take a small flash gun and a Firefly 3 and it all fits in a small Jessops rainproof bag. I use the auto setting, aim my Scurion to illuminate my target, the camera focuses on that, I turn my head away and take the picture. I usually have to change the flash angle a few times before the exposure is acceptable, but I've captured some good images this (cheap and cheerful and quick) way. A "proper" photo trip though, is a very different story.....

Cheers,

Glenn

 

[jarvist]

The Canon Powershot G5 can be had for around ?100-125 on eBay. While being only 5MP, it has a nice wide (35mm equiv.) large-aperture (F2) lens, and saves to Raw. You have full control over features of the camera (inc. 3 power levels for the flash), and it has a 'pure' single flash as mentioned above in manual mode compatible with the cheaper / more sensitive firefly 2s. It's pretty big though! I have mine in a 1050 peli-case, and had to remove the rubber liner (making in non-waterproof) + take the camera lens cap off to pack it in, and it's still rather suboptimal. Avoid the G7 (no RAW).

The Canon A series are also very good - I have a A520 which fits with a good squeeze in a little Peli 1030 case, with room for a flash slave + spare pair of batteries. It's a tight fit, but is completely immobilised once in and seems fairly shock proof. I've probably done 200hrs+ caving with this powershot in my SRT bag and it's still grinding along. The A520 has a far noisier sensor than the G5, and there is less you can do with noise reduction as it only supports JPEG.
Some later versions of the A are rather dumbed down with manual controls removed, but there's also the third-party CHDK firmware which provides support for RAW, auto bracketing, longer exposure + etc.

There's a very useful comparison table on Wikipedia for the A-series Powershots, with dimensions down to 100 microns(!), and info on the features / sensor size:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canon_PowerShot_A

CHDK Firmware:
http://chdk.wikia.com/wiki/CHDK

 

[Rob]

All of what Javist says above is very useful information, and i don't want to get too off thread, but i would say that for 90% of compact users RAW is an unnecessary extra. I have a G9 and only very occationally use the RAW setting, and I would like to think this has not held my photos back in any way.

Ensuring low ISO values and slightly under exposing all shots, and then using "cloudy" colour setting, gets good enough JPEG results for me.

Get a good, manual camera at the right price. But most importantly get a camera that will be a pleasure to use above and below ground.

 

[MWH]

All of what Rob said, I occasionally used the (hacked) RAW on my G7, generally when I had messed up and ended up with noisy jpegs.

Unfortunatley my G7 just died  so I now need a replacement .

Mark

 

[Coxie]

Wow... thanks for all the info  it appears I have a few dicisions to make  :-\

I went on a trip recently and we had a camera and a couple of slaves working which was really good to play around with.

I'll upload my first shots for scrutiny when I'm set up 

 

[Coxie]

Almost made a decision now... I'm just wondering if anyone knows if a Canon A590 IS can be used with slaves and two flash guns