What digital camera do you like?
With Circuit City selling off inventory...I was thinking of getting a new one that takes good launch photos, maybe close ups as well...
Well, that's a good question... Here's what I got...
I got me a Fujifilm Finepix S2000 HD for just over $200 at Best Buy. It's a 10megapixel camera, one of the DSLR-like "prosumer" models, not a point and shoot. Looks like a DSLR but with a non-removable lens. It has a 13.5 frames/sec burst mode at 3 mp, a 33 picture cache for the burst mode, and 50-something megabytes onboard memory (excluding the memory card). It's got all the autofocus goodies on it but can be overridden manually for composing shots if desired. The lens is a 12x optical zoom, which is pretty good considering. It can also record video in HD and display at full HD resolution. I basically wanted a digital version of my old Pentax K-100 manual wind, manual EVERYTHING 35mm SLR, for vacations and family stuff, that could also do rocket launches, and without having to spend a fortune and not having to change lenses all the time. After researching it, this seemed to be a good fit. I'm eagerly awaiting out next launch!
There's also the camera that the Fuji S2000 HD is replacing-- the S1000... you can find them at Walmart for about $150-170. I was looking pretty hard at one. They have a decent burst rate and cache, about 11 frames/second, but can only hold about 15-18 pics instead of 33 like the S2000HD, since it has only about half as much internal memory (excluding the card). I looked at an S700 on closeout, but they are PITIFULLY slow in burst mode (no burst to it, more like a regular 35 mm autowinder, not a FAST one! The memory is pretty bad too, only about 6-7 pics on burst mode before it's full and has to write it to the card. But only a little over $100.
Now, if I won the lottery, I'd get me a Casio EX-F1... 1000 frames/second burst rate... WOW!!! The super-slo-mo 'movies' I've seen from these things are AMAZING!!! But, it's a $1000 camera
Definitely above my pay grade. Now they DO make a slightly cheaper version, that can do about 800 frames a second IIRC, but it's still a $500 camera... slightly better
The exciting thing is, that Casio has just come out with a point-n-shoot version with the same high-speed capabilities... but it's not cheap-- $350 which was close but still out of my budget. Plus, I wanted something with a good optical zoom lens, and a point-n-shoot ain't it...
Search on yahoo or google and you can find a LOT of stuff about these cameras, including some amazing slo-mo vids from the EX-F1...
Hope this helps! OL JR