Keldyn buys a Digital Camera

[.KICK]

Now Keldyn can finally take pics of himself to show us :woot:

was thinking the same thing, but what will he show first :p

[Spyder Veteran]

ok I bought a Canon Powershot A70 today. I absolutely love it! I've uploaded a few pics to share. these are not bandwidth friendly. almost 1mb and 2046x1534 (or something like that haha)

anyways.. this is the first picture I took when I got home, prior to reading how to use the camera.

https://www.neowin.net/staff/spyder/example1.jpg

this one is a pic that I took shortly after figuring out how to use the autofocus and the AFiF technology. reason the background objects are blurry is because I made the mouse the focus

https://www.neowin.net/staff/spyder/example2.jpg

And this one is the most recent.. I wanted to see what I could do after I had read a little bit.

This one isn't perfect either because the flash went off..it goes off automatically if it thinks it needs to. I need to figure out how to make it not do that hehe

https://www.neowin.net/staff/spyder/example3.jpg

All of these were taken on the largest picture setting, but the quality wasn't set to the highest. I have it set on "fine"..it can still go to "Super Fine"

So yea..there ya go!

[+StevoFC MVC]

very nice (Y)

[aem4162]

I never had a camera of my own. I always thought it wouldn't be worth it because whenever I used mom's or Lisa's cameras the pix always had a finger (usually mine) in the shot or it was blurry or crooked or upside down or dark or light or whatever.

Have fun with whatever camera you get, Keldyn. :)

[phantomAI]

Spyder you recommend the A70 over the Elph S230...? How small is the A70, I know it's not as compact as the digital Elph...I also know that the A70 uses standard batteries.

[Spyder Veteran]

Spyder you recommend the A70 over the Elph S230...?  How small is the A70, I know it's not as compact as the digital Elph...I also know that the A70 uses standard batteries.

the elph's cost more..but the minimal extra features wasn't worth it to me. i don't know enough about the s230 to recommend anything over it.. all i know is that the a70 takes excellent pictures and is $100 cheaper than the s230. i was trying to get a good quality camera for less money

how small is the a70? um...the size of my palm. i dunno if that says anything. when i went and got it, there were definately smaller ones but i wouldnt want anything smaller..my hands are too big and i'd fumble around with it.

it comes with alkaline batteries but i bought a set of NiMH batteries for it and a charger. works for me!

[altezza Veteran]

I went to department store few days ago. Saw the Canon A70 and I like the way the camera designed. The price is not that bad around $650. Some shops sell the same camera for like $550-$600. For now I'm still happy with my Fujifilm 2600Z camera.

[Keldyn]

Hey Spyder. Nice purchase there (Y).I just wanted to make a quick observation on some of your shots. In the first there is alot of chromatic aberration around the branches of the trees. (purple fringing) This is usually a result of the camera not adjusting the white balance enough to compensate for light, saturated areas (the sky). Were you able to improve on this later or has this been consistent with other shots? What about the controls? Is most of it pre-selections or can brightness, white balance etc be manually adjusted? Problems like purple fringing can often be remedied by playing about with white balance and observing how bright the backdrop of your shot is.

When I was trying this camera out in the store I was only allowed to take a couple shots and it was quite dark in there.

Let us know how you are going with it. I may just save myself a few hundred dollars cash and go with the a70 instead.

[Keldyn]

This is the Olympus 300. Oh so sexy. What do you think? Best of all it is weather proof.

I scanned these myself.

[Keldyn]

Closed...

[xplatinum]

http://www.epinions.com/

for all your review needs.

Review of the Olympus 300

Digital Camera Buyers Guide

[BxBoy]

Damn, I wanted to get the Canon Powershot A70 from Dell for $220, but I was too late.

[aleni]

what do u think about casio exilim x3? im getting this soon.

[altezza Veteran]

what do u think about casio exilim x3? im getting this soon.

Not bad but I'm only questioniong the brand credibility...I mean Casio is not usually digicam maker...it's more to watch maker. So maybe I also question the reliability and the quality of that Casio camera.

[aleni]

but im already falling in love with the style and shape :p

well, im gonna see others before i decide what wll i buy.

thanks :)

[altezza Veteran]

but im already falling in love with the style and shape :p

well, im gonna see others before i decide what wll i buy.

thanks :)

You should check the digicam review website such as

http://www.steves-digicams.com/

http://www.dcresource.com/

Excellent reviews and might help you decide which one would you like to have. You should find reviews about Casio digicam too :)

[Spyder Veteran]

Hey Spyder. Nice purchase there (Y).I just wanted to make a quick observation on some of your shots. In the first there is alot of chromatic aberration around the branches of the trees. (purple fringing) This is usually a result of the camera not adjusting the white balance enough to compensate for light, saturated areas (the sky). Were you able to improve on this later or has this been consistent with other shots? What about the controls? Is most of it pre-selections or can brightness, white balance etc be manually adjusted? Problems like purple fringing can often be remedied by playing about with white balance and observing how bright the backdrop of your shot is.

When I was trying this camera out in the store I was only allowed to take a couple shots and it was quite dark in there.

Let us know how you are going with it. I may just save myself a few hundred dollars cash and go with the a70 instead.

yeah, i noticed that in the pic too. thats why i wanted to point out that was the first pic i took prior to knowing how to use the camera.

I had it set on auto mode for that tree picture but the sun was actually in the pic, so i'm pretty sure thats why it had a hard time with that shot. otherwise the Auto mode is top notch in my opinion.. I've taken pictures outside under auto mode and the white levels were just fine. but yes, if you turn off auto mode, you can adjust everything manually if you wish.

Thanks for the tips on what to look out for :happy:

I plan on taking some more pictures outside today so I'll post them for you when I manage to do it.

[eSouL]

How much is the price of A70 is your countries? i'm interested too. please post your price in USD so we can compare.

in singapore: SGD500 (USD300)

in malaysia: RM1200 (USD315)

[Spyder Veteran]

ok Keldyn here we go. I resized the images to 50% of their size with PSP8, but made sure there was no loss of quality.. i did this so the file size wouldn't be as big (considering i'm upping them to neowin) hope thats ok. these were still only taken on fine quality ..theres superfine yet.

enjoy.. (still only using the auto setting.. didnt feel like messing around with manual settings. hope this is ok as well)

https://www.neowin.net/staff/spyder/101_0117.jpg

https://www.neowin.net/staff/spyder/101_0123.jpg <-- closeup of a birds nest lol

https://www.neowin.net/staff/spyder/101_0124.jpg

https://www.neowin.net/staff/spyder/101_0125.jpg

https://www.neowin.net/staff/spyder/101_0126.jpg

https://www.neowin.net/staff/spyder/101_0127.jpg

/edit .. its still only spring so forgive the less than interesting flower beds etc lol

the a70 can also take pictures in black&white, sepia, etc. a70 in my country is $499.99 Canadian (before 15% tax)

so in american dollars..um.. roughly $358 USD

[Greenmuncher]

I have a Kodak CX4300 3.1MP, its an awesome camera. I bought some Ni-cad rechargable batteries and I can get about 75-80 pictures at max res (its like 2024bysomething) with LCD screen on and autoflash. I've heard canon cameras are nice

[AOXOMOXOA]

wow all this is great. i'm also looking for a new camera. my dad has a nikon 995 with 3. something megapixels it takes amazing pictures. but it way out of my price range..

[Keldyn]

Spyder, well done (Y) Those shots look pro. Colors are bright, details are sharp, hell I can make out individual blades of grass even! A lot of cameras tend to just mush it all together. No purple fringing, light areas are not over saturated, focus is great. That camera takes some damn nice shots! lol I can only imagine what it would look like on its highest detail settings.

Man, screw the Ixus, I think I'll go with the a70. That is one great camera!

[Spyder Veteran]

you wont be disappointed keldyn :happy: (saves you a few bucks too!)

[Keldyn]

You know, I can't get over the fact all those shots were taken on the auto setting. It handled it flawlessly.

If it were not sunday down here I would go grab it right now. lol.

With the extra cash I'll probably splash out on a large capacity mem card.

[aem4162]

So....when can we expect pix of you????? ;)