Category: photography

I ran across these photos from Sebring Raceway and, to be sure, the cars are pretty sweet. Still, I was more struck by the photography — I really like the panning that was achieved there. Some background on panning, for those unfamiliar with it:

Panning is a technique where the camera is moved to follow a moving subject, keeping it in the same position in the viewfinder. It is more effective when the subject is moving across the picture than when it is moving towards (or away from) the camera. It produces a relatively sharp subject seen against a blurred background and can be very effective in giving an impression of movement and speed.

In any case, I’ve tried panning myself, with car photography even. The problem I ran into was that my photos were neither here nor there — either the car would be frozen in time, with even the wheels sharp as a tack (ugh), or the entire scene would be blurred (feh).

For what it’s worth, I downloaded a couple of the images and checked their EXIF data which appeared to indicate that the photographer took the shots at 1/160 second. Is it just that my camera is teh sux0rs while the other guy made use of a sweet Canon 20D? Or are there other panning-specific tips of which I should be aware?

Update 2006-03-23: Link to photos fixed.

I’ve had a Nikon 5700 digicam for a couple years now and it’s served me well. All the same, it’s been getting on my nerves a bit recently as I've been pushing its limits — my current gripe is that there's no way to disable the internal flash while leaving an external flash enabled.

And, while reading Ask MetaFilter, I came across an analogy from kcm which was able to nicely summarize my perspective on the camera:

I was never happy with the prosumer choices like the S2 (I had the PowerShot G2 and G3). Not enough control to justify the size. It’s like driving a PT Cruiser because you need to haul stuff for construction projects but you want a small car to autocross: it sucks for both. […]

Now, I don’t think my Nikon 5700 sucks, but I have been keeping an eye out for an upgrade. The hard part is where to go from there, which kcm comments on as well:

If you DO go for a DSLR, be prepared to have two cameras — one to slip in a pocket, like your Elph, and the DSLR, which is generally too bulky for events where your primary concern is not photography.[…]

So maybe that would be a workable long-term strategy (buying both a compact digicam & a DSLR). The predicament I have now, though, is that I can't afford both of those :-/. Decisions, decisions…

A friend asked me to suggest a digital camera for under $400 which would be good for general use including traveling (no, not it’s not Gary this time). And, while I pay attention to the digital camera market in general, I wasn’t certain of a recommendation just off the top of my head.

So, I decided to check a few of the digital camera websites which I regularly read. My first stop was at the Digital Camera Resource and, conveniently, they have a Digital Camera Holiday Buyers Guide (including a section on under-$400 cameras).

To their credit, the DC Resource folks chose a wide variety of cameras to encompass just about any camera need; however, that also meant that many of their picks weren’t suitable for this scenario. For instance, while several of the sub-$400 picks are 4 megapixels & 5 megapixels cameras, some of them were just 3.x megapixels — sure, they had some extended movie modes and such, but I’d rather use a camcorder for taking movies.

Two cameras that stuck out — primarily for having at least 4 megapixels — were the Canon PowerShot A95 and the Canon PowerShot SD300 Digital ELPH. But, before comparing the two, I also decided to also check Digital Photography Review for their take.

While they didn’t have a guide with specific picks, they do have a list of their Top 20 cameras (determined by user click-throughs per camera). Looking down the list, I could tell that users of the site had good taste in cameras — three out of the top four cameras were digital SLRs in the range of $1000 (or more). The one camera of the four which wasn't a D-SLR? It was the Canon PowerShot SD300 Digital ELPH. And, the Canon PowerShot A95 followed closely behind.

Looking over the two cameras, here’s how they compare:

• Image Size: 5 megapixel (A95) vs 4 megapixel (SD300)
• Zoom: 3x (A95) vs 3x (SD300)
• LCD Screen: 1.8" (A95) vs 2.0" (SD300)
• Included Memory: 32 MB (A95) vs 16 MB (SD300)
• Battery requirements: 4 x AA (A95) vs proprietary lithium-ion (SD300)
• Price: $293 including shipping (A95) vs $356 including shipping (SD300)

So, it looks like the A95 wins on image size, included memory and price. And, I also give it the edge on batteries — while some may not mind a lithium-ion battery, they can be much more expensive than regular AA batteries. And, if needed, it’s easy to pick up another set of AAs while traveling.

Considering that, is there any reason to consider the SD300? Well, the SD300 is part of Canon’s thin & stylish ELPH line (see also the pictures in DC Resource’s review). If they were the same price, it might be a harder choice; but, in my mind, the larger image size along with the lower price would make the A95 the camera I’d go for.

(Though I’d probably go for the A95, I’ll consider both paths for the remainder of this entry.)

Buying the Camera

PriceGrabber is a handy website for comparing product prices across the web and here’re the respective pages for the PowerShot A95 and the SD300 Digital ELPH.

It might be tempting, then, to just buy from the retailer with the cheapest price. However, some online retailers are more reputable than others — and that’s where ResellerRatings comes in handy. Much in the same way that PriceGrabber compares online retailers on price, ResellerRatings compares them based on customer service and reliability. And, starting from the cheapest listed, I looked over the retailers listed for each camera’s entry at PriceGrabber. I found that the retailers with the lowest prices along with above-par service for each camera were BestPriceAudioVideo for the A95 ($293 including shipping) and BuyDig.com for the SD300 ($356 including shipping).

Memory

Though each camera comes with a starter memory card of either 32 MB or 16 MB, neither is particularly useful. At around 1.4 MB for a full-resolution fine-quality photo, even the 32 MB card can only hold a little over 20 photos. Fortunately, spare memory cards are fairly reasonably priced.

And, for memory, I’ve had nothing but good experiences with Crucial — their prices are good and they include free 2nd-day FedEx as well. Each camera uses a slightly different memory card type; but, a 256 MB card should be adequate in either case. For the A95, you’d need a CompactFlash memory card, of which Crucial has a 256 MB card for $33. And, the SD300 uses SD cards, of which Crucial has a high-speed 256 MB card for $43.

Batteries

The A95 uses regular AA batteries and a high-speed charger could save some money on buying fresh batteries each time. The Imaging Resource has a very positive review of the Maha/PowerEx C-204W charger — he even calls it “My new favorite AA Charger”.

Among other goodies, this charger has no wall-brick (just a regular two-prong cord) and it has automatic overcharge-protection to provide only a trickle-charge once the batteries are full. And, as Imaging Resource mentions at the bottom of their review Thomas Distributing has some good prices on C-204 charger/battery combos (about $40 for the charger + 4 AAs).

In the case of the SD300, it uses a proprietary battery. And, though you can’t buy spares at your supermarket, there are generic versions of Canon’s battery which are a bit cheaper. Though stores such as BestPriceAudioVideo and BuyDig are good for cameras in general, I often turn to B&H Photo for accessories.

B&H isn't as cheap as the other guys on cameras, but they have a great selection on accessories and they aren’t priced badly. For instance, B&H sells the SD300 for $369 + shipping (compared with $356); but, if you scroll down that page, you’ll see many of the accessories offered. Among them, the official Canon-brand battery is $50 but a generic version from Power-2000 is $30.

Closing Words

The respective totals would work out something like this:

• A95: $293 (camera) + $33 (memory) + $40 (batteries/charger) = $366
• SD300: $356 (camera) + $43 (memory) + $30 (spare battery) = $429

The A95 has a higher resolution (5 vs 4 megapixels) along with a lower price ($293 vs $356) than the SD300. And, the use of standard AA batteries may also be easier to deal with than a specialty Canon battery. Both of these cameras are competent but I think I would still lean towards the A95.