Photographing your work

[icewolf08]

We use 7 & 8 mega pixel point and shoots with good result (on a tripod). However, if you are looking for great pictures at a bargain barn price, consider buying a used Nikon or Canon film camera and scan the finished photo. Digital cameras have only recently achieved "film quality" and, depending upon the quality of your scanner, you can get a great result.

Finally, since the whole world is going digital, these cameras are pretty cheap. Unfortunately, they lack the primary feature of digital that you can shoot all the pictures you want for free. However, if you are trying to populate a portfolio, you don't necessarily need to shoot by the hundreds.

Tim.

While I still have a place in my heart for film, and I can still run my own darkroom, and it is how I learned photography, I would not suggest it as an entry point in this day and age. I switched almost exclusively to digital years ago because even then finding a lab that did a good job coupled with the cost of working with film just wasn't worth it. Sure, buying a film body is less expensive, but when shooting for theatre where you have to deal with color correction, white balance, film speeds, etcetera digital is farm more cost effective, and the learning curve to achieve good results is much easier.

 

[sk8rsdad]

While I still have a place in my heart for film, and I can still run my own darkroom, and it is how I learned photography, I would not suggest it as an entry point in this day and age. I switched almost exclusively to digital years ago because even then finding a lab that did a good job coupled with the cost of working with film just wasn't worth it. Sure, buying a film body is less expensive, but when shooting for theatre where you have to deal with color correction, white balance, film speeds, etcetera digital is farm more cost effective, and the learning curve to achieve good results is much easier.

I concur. We switched to digital 3 years ago when we had to drive 40 km to get the last 1600 ASA film available in any store nearby.

 

[tcahall]

I absolutely agree that digital is the best solution. We have been all digital for five years. However, the issue at hand was trying to get some photos for a senior portfolio on a budget. If this is something that you are going to be doing every week, or month, any investment in film is crazy. However, if you need to get a great shot on a budget and don't know when you will need to do it again, it is a low budget, one off solution.

Tim.

 

[ruinexplorer]

Once you are all set up with a camera, lens, and tripod you can start to think about actually getting the shots. If you don't have some basic photo knowledge, now is the time to pick up a book ad do a little reading about things like lights metering and white balancing.

Alex, maybe you could recommend some good books for beginners. While there are many books out there (never impressed with the Dummy books), not all of them have the best knowledge base for our application.

 

[icewolf08]

Alex, maybe you could recommend some good books for beginners. While there are many books out there (never impressed with the Dummy books), not all of them have the best knowledge base for our application.

I'll have to look into that and get back to you all. The last real photo texts that I used was in high school. However, there is much knoledge to be gleaned from a lot of the photo publications that I get including: Digital Photo Pro, Popular Photography, and Aperture (to name a few). I'll poke aroun d and see if there are any good current books.

 

[propmonkey]

i recommend the forums on flickr.com

 

[MidnightsBrokenToe]

Do tell what you have chosen.

I talked to the woman who owns the camera shop in town and she recommended the Canon Powershot A590 IS. It's a point-and-shoot camera, really, but from what I was told and from the reviews I read, the consensus was that it has good manual control and performs fairly well in low light. It's one that I could easily afford and I also got a used tripod to go with it. I can't afford a DSLR camera right now, so I'm hoping this one will serve me well until I can.

 

[icewolf08]

I talked to the woman who owns the camera shop in town and she recommended the Canon Powershot A590 IS. It's a point-and-shoot camera, really, but from what I was told and from the reviews I read, the consensus was that it has good manual control and performs fairly well in low light. It's one that I could easily afford and I also got a used tripod to go with it. I can't afford a DSLR camera right now, so I'm hoping this one will serve me well until I can.

Not a bad choice, though in the point and shoot world I would look at the Canon G10 as it has a few more professional features that will give you more exposure control and can shoot in RAW. I don't know if the $500 price tag is outside the range you want to be in, but it is much less expensive than a lot the dSLRs. Also worth looking at is the Nikon Coolpix P80, with a 18X optical zoom (~27-480mm) at $400 is a great buy. Now, if you already bought the camera, my comment is moot for you, though if you haven't, and you have the budget, you might consider it. However, this could be useful for other people looking for cameras.

As with all technology purchases, I recommend getting the most for what you are willing to spend. The photo industry is no exception, as it is progressing every day. Just some thoughts.

 

[MidnightsBrokenToe]

Not a bad choice, though in the point and shoot world I would look at the Canon G10 as it has a few more professional features that will give you more exposure control and can shoot in RAW. I don't know if the $500 price tag is outside the range you want to be in, but it is much less expensive than a lot the dSLRs. Also worth looking at is the Nikon Coolpix P80, with a 18X optical zoom (~27-480mm) at $400 is a great buy. Now, if you already bought the camera, my comment is moot for you, though if you haven't, and you have the budget, you might consider it. However, this could be useful for other people looking for cameras.

As with all technology purchases, I recommend getting the most for what you are willing to spend. The photo industry is no exception, as it is progressing every day. Just some thoughts.

I haven't purchased the camera yet, because my paycheck has to clear. Once it does I'll have a budget of about $400. So I'll look into your suggestions as well. Also, earlier today I put freshly charged batteries into my other "dinky little digital camera" and pressed the power button. The lens opened up and then closed, and the screen on the back flashed blue, beeped, then turned black. Don't know what that's about.