Ok Roger, I'll bite... which camera? I been eyeing Casio's on eBay...
The
Casio EX-F1 that I have is selling for more than I paid for it! It's probably the only electronic device I've ever bought that went up in value.
I haven't looked at the current Casio cameras recently, but I don't think they offer anything like the EX-F1 any more.
I posted something about choosing a camera, but I can't find it now. I did run into a good thread on
Taking Static Shots of Rockets which I'm mentioning now so I don't forget about it. It would make a good thread starter (hint, hint).
Anyway ... choosing a camera .... hmm ... this might be better as a new thread, too.
The number one thing is probably obvious - how much do you want to spend? That will help you decide which types of cameras to consider. Real SLR digital cameras are pretty expensive. Small "point and shoot" cameras can be very inexpensive and still take very good photographs.
Consider what you want to do with the camera? Are you going to use it just for photographing rocket launches or do you want to also use it for day trips or vacations where you might want to carry it in your pocket? You're not going to fit a DSLR or large P&S in your pocket - unless you have really large pockets. Carrying even a small DSLR camera around all day can be tiring. Plus you often need to also carry a flash, extra lenses, cleaning cloths, etc. Small cameras aren't going to capture magazine-cover lift-off shots, but they can take really nice photos, are easier to use, and are easier to carry around.
The two basic categories of digital cameras are Digital Single Lens Reflex and Point and Shoot:
DSLR - larger, heavier, more expensive, interchangeable lenses, optical viewfinder, more manual control
P&S - smaller, less expensive, usually fixed lens, usually LCD with no viewfinder, often little manual control
SLRs are fairly uniform in size and shape. But, P&S cameras range from cheap toys with fixed-focus plastic lenses to expensive cameras that look much like DSLRs and may have interchangeable lenses.
Use a site like dpreview.com to get an idea of what's available. Narrow your selection to a few cameras and don't agonize about it too much. There are so many cameras available that you could spend a lifetime trying to find the "perfect" one for you. But, all the major manufacturers make quality cameras. So, if you can quickly narrow your choices to a few that you compare, you'll save a lot of time and anguish.
If you can, try to check the cameras out in person - nothing beats lifting the camera and looking through the viewfinder to see if you're comfortable with it.
As far as features specific to rocketry photography ....
Look for a camera with an optical viewfinder. All SLRs have optical viewfinders - that's one of the things that makes them an SLR. The viewfinder of an SLR actually looks through the lens so you have a better idea of what the camera will image. If you haven't used a digital SLR before, you might find it odd that you can't look at the LCD to frame your shot (though there are a few SLRs that accomplish that trick now). But, looking through the viewfinder is the right thing to do when photographing a rocket launch.
It's hard to see an LCD screen in bright daylight. So, an optical view-finder (which is getting hard to find on P&S cameras) is almost a must. My Casio has a viewfinder, but it's actually a small LCD and, even though you can see it in daylight, it's not very useful because the resolution isn't high enough. That's why I mainly use the camera for lift-off shots and seldom aim at things in the sky.
Look for lots of glass! A bigger lens is better. As jeff explained before, the more light the camera's sensor can see, the better. All that light comes through the lens. The amount of light getting into the camera is more important than the number of megapixels on the sensor. And cameras with larger lenses tend to have larger sensors which result in photos with less noise. Of course, a camera with a larger lens is going to be larger. So there may be a trade-off. If you're looking for a small, easy-to-carry camera, you're not going to get one with a really large lens.
If you have
lots of money and are looking at an expensive DSLR, do as much research (or more) when choosing your lenses as you do choosing the body. You can easily spend several times as much on the lens as on the body of the camera. I recommend setting a limit on how much you are willing to spend and buying the best lens (or lenses) you can get at that price.
Do you already have lenses you can use? If so that can influence your choice of brand of DSLR to buy. I have several Canon EOS lenses, so, if I were looking for a new SLR, I'd probably get a Canon so that I can use the lenses I have. If you already have a lens, you can buy the camera body by itself, saving a few dollars toward a future purchase of a better lens.
Consider how many frames per second and how many frames total the camera can take in "burst" or "continuous" mode and how long it takes it to "recover" after that. Oh, also look at the shutter delay. One of the challenges of photographing rocket launches is that they seldom take off right when the countdown reaches zero. Capturing that perfect lift-off photo is often a matter of luck. With most cameras, you'll usually get a picture of the rocket sitting peacefully on the pad or a photo of smoke. But, if your camera can quickly take a series of photos and keep taking them at a fast rate for a few seconds, you have a better chance of getting one or more nice lift-off shots pretty much every time.
I'd look for a camera that can maintain at least six or seven frames a second for a couple of seconds. After taking a burst of shots of the lift-off, it would be nice if the camera is available quickly to take more photos during the flight. Most reviews of cameras will report how many frames per second the camera can take and for how long. But, I'm not sure if they normally report on how quickly the camera recovers after the burst. If you're considering a specific camera, you might use the dpreviews.com forums to ask owners of that camera about how fast it recovers after taking a burst of pictures. My EX-F1 takes several seconds to save the pictures to the memory card after a "burst," which is a minor annoyance.
A few cameras, such as the EX-F1 and some of Casio's other P&S cameras, have a feature where the camera actually takes photos as you hold the shutter half-way down then, when you fully depress the shutter, the camera saves the buffered photos from the last fraction of a second and continues to take and save new photos as you hold down the button. I'm not sure if there is a standard name for this feature, so it's hard to search for it. But, consider it a bonus if a camera you are evaluating offers it. It's really a great feature for rocketry photography.
Do you want to record videos also? Since most cameras include video features, it's not really a discriminating factor. But, it might push you towards a DSLR if you'd also like to get a really good video camera for free. Professional videographers are often choosing to use DSLRs instead of dedicated video cameras (at least for some applications). If you're interested in recording high-quality video as well as taking still photos, you might consider investing in one of the new DSLRs (or a high-end P&S with similar video capabilities).
Because cameras now are basically powerful computers with some hardware attached, there are many interesting features offered that you may use to help decide on a camera. My wife's Canon P&S will warn you if someone's eyes were closed in the shot you just took. Jeff mentioned HDR (I'll let him explain). There are cameras that have built in support for helping you take HDR images. There are cameras that will automatically stitch together images into panoramas. Some cameras have GPS to allow them to "geo tag" images. I don't think any of these kind of features are "must haves" but they could be used to decide between two choices of cameras.
-- Roger