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View Full Version : which 8m digicam?



sky
02-22-2004, 06:32 AM
yea,
atm we're throwing around names of various new 8m cams. real slr are out of the question atm so it's gotta be a compact one - well they call those compact, but they aren't really ;)

k.
first candidate is the sony dsc f828 (http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity/eCS/Store/en/-/USD/SY_DisplayProductInformation-Start;sid=qY-gntJvwfqgnJJXBJGqlZ1_SH5LUYmK_Jo=?ProductSKU=DSCF8 28) - has been 1st candidate for a long time. but lately i've seen a lot of reports on purple fringing and aberations, so i'm not too sure anymore whether this cam is really worth the buck. it's the cheapest of the 8m cams in my range so far, but then again it's been out for some time now. also it comes with one of the best lens-setups (carl zeiss).

2nd candidate is the nikon coolpix 8700 (http://www.nikonusa.com/template.php?cat=1&grp=2&productNr=25515) . dunno really why, but atm this is my personal favorite - gut feeling or something like that. optical setup is quite good, some good features - only usb 1.1, but i can live with that - get an external usb2 cardreader and there you go. this cam is reported to have less purple fringing than the sony. this one has a wider focal range than the others, but starting at 35 mm compared to 28 mm of both the sony and the canon - but reaching up to 280 mm compared to the 200 mm of both the others.

3rd and last candidate is the canon powershot pro1 (http://web.canon.jp/Imaging/pspro1/index-e.html) which is - as i understand it - the latest addition to the market of 8m semi-pro customer cameras. this one probably has the best lens-setup - at least given what canon themselves state ;) as it comes with an "L" type optical setup. "L" designating canons topline piece and thus marked with a red ring - usually put on optics in the "couple g's"-range ;).


of these 3 the sony ccd has the smallest size thus resulting in more graining than his two competitors. also the sony ccd is a first regarding the setup of the 2x2 color matrix used. where most any (digital) camera nowadays uses r,g,g,b for those 4 sensors, sony has its own way going r,g,e,b - where "e" stands for emerald. some detail that'll create trouble when trying to work on your raw pictures with standard editing software - since those expect the r,g,g,b and not the emerald type - so that has to be taken care of with converting tools supplied by sony or other sources.

so my question to you people is has anyone had the chance to test all of these cams? (maybe preproduction testing as the canon isn't quite released yet - at least over here). or does anyone have opinions on those cams?


---
all of the stuff written here is based on what i've read in various sources, so it's not god-given facts or my unbiased opinion. - just to keep from falling into the bad-intel and thus dummy-trap ;). especially in the technical parts regarding ccd, lenses yada yada...

lalPOOO
02-22-2004, 09:39 AM
I havn't used any of the 8m cameras, but I do have a nikon coolpix 5700. I'd say go with your gut feeling. You might also want to buy it at a physical store, we went through about 3 cameras before getting one without any dead pixels in the ccd, and if we had to go through that online... yeesh.

Twisted
02-22-2004, 01:26 PM
I agree with the coolpix, the coolpix line has a lot of good comments

Soulburner
02-22-2004, 01:32 PM
Twisted, love the avatar!

:rotf:

sky
02-26-2004, 01:18 PM
well i hate to admit ;) but we got the sony.. i didn't get to do the final decision. so yay now we have an 8mp sony dsc f828. it's fast, that's for sure... image quality, we'll see. so far no fringing, but lotsa grains. hm i guess reducing/removing the autosharpening option will do the pics good. i like the camera so far.. plenty of blinky blink and stuff.. we'll see if she can deliver what sony promises.

lalPOOO
02-27-2004, 08:52 PM
Well it looks like I may be upgrading to the 8700 for close to free, so I'll tell you about it when I get it.

Kurupt
03-03-2004, 01:30 AM
canon powershot pro1 - Hands down, Canon makes the best digi cams... Check out some fourms that do alot of stock photo art. Every is using Canon Cams.. I also use one and love it

sky
03-03-2004, 02:00 AM
ah well, kurupt, too late :(.. anyway so far the sony is doing ok. i mean, once you tune the sharpening effect down the pics get really usable :D... stupid sony guys put some edge-enhancing in it and set it to "normal". i dare not imagine it being set to "+", since it already produces premium bull on "normal". tune it to "-" and all is well