Suitable Pocket camera for Railfanning?

Suitable Pocket camera for Railfanning?

I'm looking for a reasonable priced pocket digital camera. I want one with
a decent lense with a low aperture.

I'm interested in one with a good range of shutter speeds with less spacing
than say a film slr with 1/250 and the next increment being 1/500. I would
also like to burn at least 5-8 fps to the flash card in one burst.

Is there one out there with all the settings fully controllable by the
user?

thanks
bill

--
---
William O'Hara
www .N1ey,com - Amateur Radio and Railfan Blog
www .yahoogroups,com /group/illinoiscentral - premier discussion list re:
ICRR

Re: Suitable Pocket camera for Railfanning?


"William O'Hara" <whoohara@yahoo,com > wrote in message
news:Xns9A9BB66C1D6D7KB1IUB223223n1eyLOCK@216.196.97.136...
> I'm looking for a reasonable priced pocket digital camera. I want one
> with
> a decent lense with a low aperture.
>
> I'm interested in one with a good range of shutter speeds with less
> spacing
> than say a film slr with 1/250 and the next increment being 1/500. I
> would
> also like to burn at least 5-8 fps to the flash card in one burst.
>
> Is there one out there with all the settings fully controllable by the
> user?
>
> thanks
> bill
>
> --
> ---
> William O'Hara
> www .N1ey,com - Amateur Radio and Railfan Blog
> www .yahoogroups,com /group/illinoiscentral - premier discussion list re:
> ICRR

I think the rest of us would be looking for a camera like that too.

Rudy Benner
VE3BDR

Re: Suitable Pocket camera for Railfanning?

> I'm looking for a reasonable priced pocket digital camera. I want one with
> a decent lense with a low aperture.

Which brands are you considering?

> I'm interested in one with a good range of shutter speeds with less spacing
> than say a film slr with 1/250 and the next increment being 1/500.

That is a standard half-stop exposure change.

> I would
> also like to burn at least 5-8 fps to the flash card in one burst.

You seem to be describing a Canon 1D Mark III.

> Is there one out there with all the settings fully controllable by the
> user?

There are several compact cameras with manual controls, but they usually
cannot shoot at more than 1 fps without reducing the resolution and the
exposure time. You may be waiting quite awhile for a compact camera
that can support faster fps rates when using short exposure times. If
you want at least 5-8 fps and the buffer to support those bursts, you
should be considering a Canon 1D Mark III or similar dSLR.

Re: Suitable Pocket camera for Railfanning?

On Mon, 12 May 2008 07:04:58 +0000, Alexander Rogge <a_rogge@yahoo,com > wrote:
: > I'm looking for a reasonable priced pocket digital camera. I want one with
: > a decent lense with a low aperture.
:
: Which brands are you considering?
:
: > I'm interested in one with a good range of shutter speeds with less spacing
: > than say a film slr with 1/250 and the next increment being 1/500.
:
: That is a standard half-stop exposure change.

Is it? Doubling the speed halves the number of photons hitting the sensor.
That's a change of a full stop, isn't it?

Bob

Re: Suitable Pocket camera for Railfanning?

> : That is a standard half-stop exposure change.
>
> Is it? Doubling the speed halves the number of photons hitting the sensor.
> That's a change of a full stop, isn't it?

I was referring to the 1/350-1/500 half-stop. I am not sure which
modern cameras have a full-stop shutter speed option, although older
35-mm cameras had such a dial setting.

Re: Suitable Pocket camera for Railfanning?

Alexander Rogge wrote:
>> : That is a standard half-stop exposure change.
>>
>> Is it? Doubling the speed halves the number of photons hitting the
>> sensor.
>> That's a change of a full stop, isn't it?
>
> I was referring to the 1/350-1/500 half-stop. I am not sure which
> modern cameras have a full-stop shutter speed option, although older
> 35-mm cameras had such a dial setting.
Where did the 1/350 come from. The OP wrote 1/250 and 1/500.
Allen

Re: Suitable Pocket camera for Railfanning?

Allen <allen@nothere,net > wrote in news:482dedb4$0$30524
$4c368faf@roadrunner,com :

> Alexander Rogge wrote:
>>> : That is a standard half-stop exposure change.
>>>
>>> Is it? Doubling the speed halves the number of photons hitting the
>>> sensor.
>>> That's a change of a full stop, isn't it?
>>
>> I was referring to the 1/350-1/500 half-stop. I am not sure which
>> modern cameras have a full-stop shutter speed option, although older
>> 35-mm cameras had such a dial setting.
> Where did the 1/350 come from. The OP wrote 1/250 and 1/500.
> Allen
>

No... The OP wants cameras that can do exposures at 1/320 or 1/400.

thanks

--
---
William O'Hara
www .N1ey,com - Amateur Radio and Railfan Blog
www .yahoogroups,com /group/illinoiscentral - premier discussion list re:
ICRR

Re: Suitable Pocket camera for Railfanning?

> I am not sure which
> modern cameras have a full-stop shutter speed option

It appears that Leica still uses the whole-stops on the shutter speed dial.

Re: Suitable Pocket camera for Railfanning?

Robert Coe <bob@1776,com > wrote in
news:egfk245bfn3rg9ip12bvpec852qpd9usth@4ax,com :

> On Mon, 12 May 2008 07:04:58 +0000, Alexander Rogge
> <a_rogge@yahoo,com > wrote:
>: > I'm looking for a reasonable priced pocket digital camera. I want
>: > one with a decent lense with a low aperture.
>:
>: Which brands are you considering?
>:
>: > I'm interested in one with a good range of shutter speeds with less
>: > spacing than say a film slr with 1/250 and the next increment being
>: > 1/500.
>:
>: That is a standard half-stop exposure change.
>
> Is it? Doubling the speed halves the number of photons hitting the
> sensor. That's a change of a full stop, isn't it?
>
> Bob
>

No kidding... So I must be stupid or something as no want else wants a
decent pocket camera for which you can control the settings and can take
more than one picture a minute?

thanks

--
---
William O'Hara
www .N1ey,com - Amateur Radio and Railfan Blog
www .yahoogroups,com /group/illinoiscentral - premier discussion list re:
ICRR

Re: Suitable Pocket camera for Railfanning?



William O'Hara wrote:

>
> No kidding... So I must be stupid or something as no want else
> wants a decent pocket camera for which you can control the settings
> and can take more than one picture a minute?
>
> thanks

Hardly stupid.

My few-years-old Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX1 goes:

" ... 80 100 125 160 200 250 320 400 500 ... 2000"

Fully controllable, a little noisy, high-quality construction and
lens. A Leica-branded version was much more expensive.

I believe there has been at least one edtion since I bought it, but in
contrast to the one-new-small-camera-every-six-months tenor of my
previous "pocket" camera quest, I haven't encountered a need to try
again.

You could go to Flickr,com and search on "LX1" to see tens of
thousands of examples of the kind of output it generates.

--
Frank ess

Re: Suitable Pocket camera for Railfanning?

"Frank ess" <frank@fshe2fs,com > wrote in
news:4rSdnQX01Mt0eLDVnZ2dnUVZ_qvinZ2d@giganews,com :

> Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX1

What does Unlimited Consecutive Shooting function mean? 3fps is kind of
slow. I know from experience. Can it really do 5fps? Is this only in
JPEG mode?

thanks

--
---
William O'Hara
www .N1ey,com - Amateur Radio and Railfan Blog
www .yahoogroups,com /group/illinoiscentral - premier discussion list re:
ICRR

Re: Suitable Pocket camera for Railfanning?



William O'Hara wrote:
> "Frank ess" <frank@fshe2fs,com > wrote in
> news:4rSdnQX01Mt0eLDVnZ2dnUVZ qvinZ2d@giganews,com :
>
>> Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX1
>
> What does Unlimited Consecutive Shooting function mean? 3fps is
> kind of slow. I know from experience. Can it really do 5fps? Is
> this only in JPEG mode?
>
> thanks

I believe "Unlimited Consecutive Shooting" is something no one has
bothered to understand. I certainly don't. It seems to be a concept
like "There's plenty of room until it's full", which goes without
saying, doesn't it?

My experience is that there is no actual 5fps in this camera. I have
mis-filed (hidden) the Owner's Guide, and won't be able to offer any
authoritative advertising propaganda, but the picture-taking I do with
it is of the nature:
Frame
Press
Focus two three four
Fire and process two three
Repeat as needed.

That's with a SanDisk Ultra II 2GB card. It may go faster with faster
cards.

Yes, slow.

--
Frank ess

Re: Suitable Pocket camera for Railfanning?

On May 11, 4:55 pm, "William O'Hara" <whooh...@yahoo,com > wrote:
> I'm looking for a reasonable priced pocket digital camera.  I want one with
> a decent lense with a low aperture.
>
> I'm interested in one with a good range of shutter speeds with less spacing
> than say a film slr with 1/250 and the next increment being 1/500.  I would
> also like to burn at least 5-8 fps to the flash card in one burst.
>
> Is there one out there with all the settings fully controllable by the
> user?
>
> thanks
> bill
>
> --
> ---
> William O'Harawww .N1ey,com - Amateur Radio and Railfan Blogwww .yahoogroups.com/group/illinoiscentral- premier discussion list re:
> ICRR

If you mean a 5 shot burst mode that is common on even cheap cameras
as its been out for years

Re: Suitable Pocket camera for Railfanning?

ransley <Mark_Ransley@yahoo,com > wrote in
news:1929b8ae-a0c2-4e13-8447-aa199e31002c@x41g2000hsb.googlegroups,com :

> On May 11, 4:55 pm, "William O'Hara" <whooh...@yahoo,com > wrote:
>> I'm looking for a reasonable priced pocket digital camera.  I want
>> one w
> ith
>> a decent lense with a low aperture.
>>
>> I'm interested in one with a good range of shutter speeds with less
>> spacin
> g
>> than say a film slr with 1/250 and the next increment being 1/500.  I
>> wo
> uld
>> also like to burn at least 5-8 fps to the flash card in one burst.
>>
>> Is there one out there with all the settings fully controllable by
>> the user?
>>
>> thanks
>> bill
>>
>> --
>> ---
>> William O'Harawww .N1ey,com - Amateur Radio and Railfan
>> Blogwww .yahoogroups.
> com/group/illinoiscentral- premier discussion list re:
>> ICRR
>
> If you mean a 5 shot burst mode that is common on even cheap cameras
> as its been out for years
>

Not true. Point one out to me. My pentax can only do 3.

thanks

--
---
William O'Hara
www .N1ey,com - Amateur Radio and Railfan Blog
www .yahoogroups,com /group/illinoiscentral - premier discussion list re:
ICRR

Re: Suitable Pocket camera for Railfanning?

You learn something new every day. Until this thread, I had never heard the
word 'railfanning' and had no idea what it meant, which appears to be the
American equivilent of 'train-spotter' or 'anorak' in Aussie / Pomspeak.
Wonder what you call a propellerhead / plane-spotter?

Paul