Camera recommendation

[waldenbound]

I'm in the market for a new camera. I'm just looking for a simple, point and shoot, that's easy to upload on forums and blogs. If the image can be resized in-camera, that's a bonus.

I see there's Wi-Fi cameras now. Sounds easier to upload, no cables. It's just with the cameras I've had in the past, there's software with too many options that I would never use. Too many folders, too many weird names. Here's file 20154879.jpg. But, I just want the picture of the bison I took at Yellowstone! I'm looking for simple.

Anybody have a recomendation?

 

[TMG51]

I'm a fan of "bridge" cameras. They're still point-n-shoot, but have all of the optional manual settings you'd have on a DSLR. You can choose to use them or not so it's a great way to learn if you're not familiar with those settings.

I have an older one, a Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ28. There are plenty of new versions but for the money I'd get a slightly older model.

Haven't used the wifi cameras. But my experience with these things is that they can be more finicky than cables. And do you want to be reliant on using wifi/data for large image transfers on the road?

Instead of cables and fancy software, I suggest getting a card reader (they're cheap). Take the card out of the camera, put it in the reader, and access the files like you would when plugging in a thumb drive. It's direct, faster to transfer, and no cables or silly software.

You could do this with any camera if you don't like the bridge camera idea.

 

[Optimistic Paranoid]

+1 on the bridge cameras.  I have a Panasonic FZ50 and I love it.

A bridge camera looks like one of the old SLRs, but the lens is not removable and interchangable.  In the case of the Panasonic FZ50, it has a lens designed by Leica and it covers a range of 28 mm to 400 mm.

 

[SternWake]

I too prefer to use a wire to transfer files to laptop, not that my cameras present the other option. I can slide a SD card into my laptop, but the photos downloaded via this method were put into another folder it took me a while to find.

So I stick to the USB cable method.

There have been a few times where I took a photo on my DSLR and wanted to forward it to someone else via my phone in a timely manner, but this requires firing up the laptop, transferring it from camera to laptop, then forwarding it to my Phone via bluetooth, which takes some time as they are big photos. Then when I go to send it it gets compressed anyway.

My last P&S camera was a canon A640, and I very much liked it, but one day the flash quit working.

 

[TMG51]

There have been a few times where I took a photo on my DSLR and wanted to forward it to someone else via my phone in a timely manner, but this requires firing up the laptop, transferring it from camera to laptop, then forwarding it to my Phone via bluetooth, which takes some time as they are big photos.  Then when I go to send it it gets compressed anyway..

For that I either a) transfer the picture to my phone when connected as a mass storage device via USB or b) use pixdrop.com to send it to their number. (Or c, take the picture with my phone to begin with.)

 

[Optimistic Paranoid]

The problem with using a wire to transfer pictures is that if the camera's battery isn't fully charged when you do it, if it dies in the middle of the transfer, files will be corrupted and may well be unrecoverable.  When you move the card physically to a card reader, there is no danger of that happening.

As far as your pictures all having names like 1234578.jpg, well, all digital cameras do that.  They start at 00000001.jpg and just keep counting their way up.  You'll probably see the same thing with wifi transfers, too.  It's up to you to come up with a system to rename them, or a system to file them so you can find them easily, like separate folders.  Under the pictures folder, there's a folder labeled 2017, and under the folder labeled 2017 there's a folder labeled Yellowstone. Or a folder labeled Wyoming and a folder labeled Yellowstone under THAT.  etc.  And in the Yellowstone folder, there could be folders labeled geysers, animals, etc.  It's all up to you how simple or elaborate you want it to be.

Or there are programs that use user entered keywords to keep track of all the pictures in one big folder.  If you really want to get into it:

https://www.amazon.com/DAM-Book-Dig...p/B00F8N5BJE/ref=mt_kindle?_encoding=UTF8&me=

 

[waldenbound]

Ok, I got some parameters to consider and think about. I think it's time to go to Best Buy and see what they have. I want to keep this simple. Just keeping track of my iPhone photos is frustrating enough.
Thanks everyone.

 

[MrNoodly]

I really liked the Canon PowerShot ELPH camera I had. Easy to use, great picture quality and color fidelity. Then I dropped it in a river. Oh well.

But if you want something really simple to use, with the ability to resize, adjust exposures, add effects and captions and upload right in the camera, and still have surprisingly good picture quality, you can do that with a smart phone.

 

[waldenbound]

I have the iPhone 6 Plus, but I can't resize photos with it. I just posted a Captain's Log, using Photobucket. I even figured out the resize feature there, but the pictures still look big. I just don't want to annoy people who have limited data and can't look at huge image files.

 

[Moby T]

Check out www.cameradecision.com  Great way to sort out what you want/need.

 

[PathofAsha]

Just got one of these 2 months ago. Great little thing! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01950SVFQ/ref=psdc_330405011_t2_B00UKV5E4Q?th=1

And have a Sony ax6000, transfer photos to my macbook for editing via hotspot, or just edit using various apps on my samsung phone. Both are digital and wifi capable.

 

[MrNoodly]

I have the iPhone 6 Plus, but I can't resize photos with it.

Then get the Resize It Free app.

 

[RVTravel]

If I had an iphone 6, the last thing I would do is buy another camera, but would instead learn to move them off the camera for resizing. Can't be that hard.

 

[eDJ_]

If I were to be full timing,  I'd want a digital camera which uses a SD memory card, and has built in a Digital Projector.   This so that if I were wanting to show others photos of places that I've been in camp in the evening hours I would be able to do so.   Also,  I could place the SD Cards into the slot of the laptop and upload them to a cloud or individual pix to a message board post. 

Nikon has a S1200pj  with digital zoom and 14 megapixel on the market.

There are copies of this same camera,  possibly earlier versions made by 

This would work for me and I mention it as I meet a lot of people who aren't aware of the
projector built in.

 

[waldenbound]

I found another resizing app called Big Photo. I'll work with that and see if I can get my images smaller for posts.
My idea for van living is living more simpler, I really don't want to bring in more technology, even if it is just a camera.

 

[SternWake]

(Or c, take the picture with my phone to begin with.)

I do that too, In addition to my real camera, but as good as smart phone cameras are these days,  They could not capture this:

 

[FALCON]

Just buy my old Nikon D90, slap a 24mm or 50mm lens on it (or a kit lens or old but good zoom lens that you could get for like $50), and leave it in auto.

Get a memory card reader to transfer pictures to your computer. If you don't like complicated technology, you probably won't like setting up and managing wifi for file transfer. Probably just using the file manager (in the view where the pictures show) would be the simplest for you for moving your pictures into folders and naming the folders (and, I suppose, each picture if you want to do that).

 

[TMG51]

Just buy my old Nikon D90, slap a 24mm or 50mm lens on it (or a kit lens or old but good zoom lens that you could get for like $50), and leave it in auto.

Get a memory card reader to transfer pictures to your computer. If you don't like complicated technology, you probably won't like setting up and managing wifi for file transfer. Probably just using the file manager (in the view where the pictures show) would be the simplest for you for moving your pictures into folders and naming the folders (and, I suppose, each picture if you want to do that).

+1, that's good advice and a good deal. I have a D300 and I'm really happy with it.

Of course if you just want a point-n-shoot that's more compact to fit in your pocket that's totally reasonable too. I'd still personally avoid a wifi transfer deal and go with a card reader.

 

[waldenbound]

Well, thanks for the food for thought, but I think I'll just bump along with my iPhone 6 plus. Want to hear the funny thing? I got a camera that's in the bag going to the dump tomorrow. It's an old one though, and I'm in serious downsizing mode.

 

[eDJ_]

Here is a unique camera some of us may want to consider.

The "Air Selfie"  the Drone Cam.  Drone, Camera, and Software that's as impressive as the Air Selfie itself.

[video=youtube]

https://www.kancapos.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/AirSelfie.jpg