# Work camera



## thinkpainting/nick (Dec 25, 2012)

In need of a good point and shoot digital camera for work... My cannon finally sh#t the bed...


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## RH (Sep 7, 2010)

I bought the Canon Power Shot S110 about a year ago. Takes great pics and has nice wide angle and low light capabilities. It goes forever on one battery but it does eat up the photo card space pretty quickly.


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## George Z (Apr 15, 2007)

The nice ones don't fit in my back pocket. 
Phone cameras will do for work for me and you can talk to people with them.


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## Hines Painting (Jun 22, 2013)

I needed an underwater camera for my trip to Hawaii this past June, so I bought one for "work". Then I decided that wasn't good enough, so I bought a new DSLR for "work". But, honestly it is too much hassle to remember either of them in the morning. 

My Nokia Lumia 920 takes excellent photos, in low light or otherwise. And as much as you have to dumb pictures down for the internet, anything else would be overkill.

http://i.imgur.com/n9e09we.jpg

That's a sample from my phone. Didn't want to post directly because it's huge.


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## Epoxy Pro (Oct 7, 2012)

I have a Cannon Powershot that is going on 7 yrs and works great, my phone has better pixls but I prefer my stand alone camera.


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## thinkpainting/nick (Dec 25, 2012)

George Z said:


> The nice ones don't fit in my back pocket.
> Phone cameras will do for work for me and you can talk to people with them.


I've taken tons of great photos with my phone but not good enough for print and other marketing that I do.


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## PatsPainting (Mar 4, 2010)

I use a Nikon D3000 slr. It's a great camera. I just need to learn more about it to take better pictures. I have had it for 3-4 years now. 

Pat


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## Hines Painting (Jun 22, 2013)

thinkpainting/nick said:


> I've taken tons of great photos with my phone but not good enough for print and other marketing that I do.


If you are going to use it for print marketing, then I think I would go with an entry level DSLR.


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## thinkpainting/nick (Dec 25, 2012)

Hines Painting said:


> If you are going to use it for print marketing, then I think I would go with an entry level DSLR.


This is a shot of finished side of house we did a long while back with SW REsilance...I have the before shots as well. I took with a Cannon Powershot in large file format so when customer clicks on a landing page or I send a photo it look good crisp clear...


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## PatsPainting (Mar 4, 2010)

Finish Pictures should always have a nice blue sky in the background.

Pat


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## epretot (Dec 17, 2011)

cdpainting said:


> I have a Cannon Powershot that is going on 7 yrs and works great, my phone has better pixls but I prefer my stand alone camera.


Well, I would stop using whatever you used in the "how would you fix this" thread.


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## epretot (Dec 17, 2011)

PatsPainting said:


> Finish Pictures should always have a nice blue sky in the background.
> 
> Pat


So that's why your lines look so crisp...photo shop.


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## PressurePros (May 6, 2007)

An entry level micro 4/3 would be a good choice, Nick. You can pick up an Olympus EPL-1 body for $150. Smaller and lighter than a CMOS DSLR camera but durable. 

Lenses are what makes a camera and the nice thing about the m4/3 cameras is that the basic lenses are pretty cheap. A wide angle fast prime can be $400+ but you get pro level shots if you understand the basics of exposure, ISO and shutter speed. Even if you just run and gun, they are leagues above any point and shoot for not much investment.

When I travel, I always have my EPL-1 with me.. this was up in Cape Cod. Its very hard to find a point and shoot with this type of clarity and color. You can click here and see the full size image. 


P1010963 by KenFenner, on Flickr


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## PatsPainting (Mar 4, 2010)

epretot said:


> So that's why your lines look so crisp...photo shop.


Nope. just skill and talent there 

Pat


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## Damon T (Nov 22, 2008)

Hines Painting said:


> I needed an underwater camera for my trip to Hawaii this past June, so I bought one for "work". Then I decided that wasn't good enough, so I bought a new DSLR for "work". But, honestly it is too much hassle to remember either of them in the morning. My Nokia Lumia 920 takes excellent photos, in low light or otherwise. And as much as you have to dumb pictures down for the internet, anything else would be overkill. http://i.imgur.com/n9e09we.jpg That's a sample from my phone. Didn't want to post directly because it's huge.


The phone pic didn't show up. The camera pic of the red lot cabin has great color and definition. 

I hear you on it being hard to remember to bring the camera to work. I used to leave one in the truck until I forgot to lock it did it disappeared one night. Fortunately it was just a couple hundred dollar point and shoot, but I liked that camera!


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## Hines Painting (Jun 22, 2013)

The red log cabin is my phone pic


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## thinkpainting/nick (Dec 25, 2012)

PressurePros said:


> An entry level micro 4/3 would be a good choice, Nick. You can pick up an Olympus EPL-1 body for $150. Smaller and lighter than a CMOS DSLR camera but durable.
> 
> Lenses are what makes a camera and the nice thing about the m4/3 cameras is that the basic lenses are pretty cheap. A wide angle fast prime can be $400+ but you get pro level shots if you understand the basics of exposure, ISO and shutter speed. Even if you just run and gun, they are leagues above any point and shoot for not much investment.
> 
> ...


I used to take a ton a photos and I learned allot about photography back in the day before digital. I just don't have it in me anymore so ill continue to look for a decent PS. Great phtos Ken! Here's one I took in 1976 or 77 of late great Freedie Mercury and Queen in Frankfurt while we were on leave from our regular duties in the US Army. I took this with my iPhone of the original which is in my photo album since then. I used to have a killer zoom lens with my old 35 mm. Back then security was all bikers who searched you on the way in to concert and they did not bother with cameras so lots of good photos were gotten.


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## thinkpainting/nick (Dec 25, 2012)

PatsPainting said:


> Nope. just skill and talent there
> 
> Pat


Lol I just realized you added that in....nice Pat...


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## thinkpainting/nick (Dec 25, 2012)

RH said:


> I bought the Canon Power Shot S110 about a year ago. Takes great pics and has nice wide angle and low light capabilities. It goes forever on one battery but it does eat up the photo card space pretty quickly.


This was taken with my old Cannon Powershot. Not bad if I give it to Pat could have a nice blue sky...


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## daArch (Mar 15, 2008)

If you are not needing the high quality of a good DSLR able to take RAW format, there are many very devcent P&S's that are suitable for web publication and/or reminding yourself of the particular details of a job you are estimating.

I would suggest one with a super wide angle capability. I had an old pocket size Kodak with a 19mm equivalent lens. It shat the bed finally and I found a Samsung HZ30W at Wal-mart,for under $200. They prolly don't make it anymore, but it has a 23mm equiv capability. When I was looking for the replacement for my Kodak, it seemed like a lot of manufactures were producing pocket P&S's that had super wide angle lenses (less than 26mm equiv).

I'd visit your local Wal-mart, Best Buy, or even BJ's and see what they have. If you see something that strikes your fancy, hit the internet and see what the reviews say.


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## PressurePros (May 6, 2007)

thinkpainting/nick said:


> I used to take a ton a photos and I learned allot about photography back in the day before digital. I just don't have it in me anymore so ill continue to look for a decent PS. Great phtos Ken! Here's one I took in 1976 or 77 of late great Freedie Mercury and Queen in Frankfurt while we were on leave from our regular duties in the US Army. I took this with my iPhone of the original which is in my photo album since then. I used to have a killer zoom lens with my old 35 mm. Back then security was all bikers who searched you on the way in to concert and they did not bother with cameras so lots of good photos were gotten.


Awesome, Nick, I love old film shots. Growing up, my best friend's dad owned a camera shop in Philly. We used to shove camera bodies and big lenses into our boots with wide bottom jeans. They would pat down at the spectrum but never go below the waist. I still remember shaking like a leaf standing in line. I'd make a terrible drug smuggler. I'd be the sweaty guy with the darting eyes and shaking hands walking through the airport.

To get back on topic, its going to depend on your ultimate goal for the shots. Sensor size determines how your low light shots are going to look. Any cell phone camera will take good outdoor shots. My HTC one has a larger sensor and takes very good pictures. A point and shoot will have a little larger sensor than a cell. From there a micro 4/3 goes up to an APC (I have a Nikon D7100 I use for shoots) and for the ultimate, a full frame sensor. I rented a Canon MkIII full frame and that camera is phenomenal. At $3000 for the body and $2000 for a lens, it should be. DSLR's are big. Point and shoots are fine but indoors, imo, they suck at low light. Noisy and grainy. 

If you are just posting on the web, any modern camera is going to have more than enough resolution. The EPL-1 is, for all intents and purposes a higher end point and shoot with a bigger sensor. It gives you the added benefit of interchangeable lenses. So you can get an idea of size, here is one with a 17mm lens (35 mm equivalent). I have heard great things about the Canon EOS SL1. its also a small camera that packs a big punch. 










Comparison to a full size DSLR.


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## PatsPainting (Mar 4, 2010)

Ken, Bill and all other camera guys. I have a Nikon d3000. The lens that comes with it is the 18mm - 55mm one. It's a nice lens and is pretty good at wide angle shots. But even at 18mm it's not enough sometimes. Was wondering if it would be worth it to invest $400-$500 for 11mm-16mm tokina? Would stepping down to a 11mm make a difference? 

Looking on the internet and seeing some of the samples it would add allot to the picture, but fooling around with mine going from say 25mm to 18mm, does not seem that much.

Pat


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## PressurePros (May 6, 2007)

PatsPainting said:


> Ken, Bill and all other camera guys. I have a Nikon d3000. The lens that comes with it is the 18mm - 55mm one. It's a nice lens and is pretty good at wide angle shots. But even at 18mm it's not enough sometimes. Was wondering if it would be worth it to invest $400-$500 for 11mm-16mm tokina? Would stepping down to a 11mm make a difference?
> 
> Looking on the internet and seeing some of the samples it would add allot to the picture, but fooling around with mine going from say 25mm to 18mm, does not seem that much.
> 
> Pat


Pat, on that sensor you'll pick up a focal length difference of about 10mm at the widest angle. Its a faster lens than your kit lens so you'll be able to shoot in less light. Its far superior to the kit and would be a good investment. 11 mm is fisheye lens territory so you'll likely get some distortion at the image edges. You can fix that in post procvessing software such as Lightroom. Look at some pictures on Google images so you know what that distortion looks like.


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## daArch (Mar 15, 2008)

PatsPainting said:


> Ken, Bill and all other camera guys. I have a Nikon d3000. The lens that comes with it is the 18mm - 55mm one. It's a nice lens and is pretty good at wide angle shots. But even at 18mm it's not enough sometimes. Was wondering if it would be worth it to invest $400-$500 for 11mm-16mm tokina? Would stepping down to a 11mm make a difference?
> 
> Looking on the internet and seeing some of the samples it would add allot to the picture, but fooling around with mine going from say 25mm to 18mm, does not seem that much.
> 
> Pat



Pat,

I still think in 35 mm equivalence, the old dog thing.

I have one of the 18 - 55 for my D-40. That is 27 - 82mm equiv to 35 mm film. It's a very useful lens.

When I was more seriously into photography, I was really enjoying have a lens in the 21 mm range.

The 11- 16 is 16 - 24mm equivalent (from what I can discover). IMO, that's getting some fun. But I am still a little leary of zoom lenses in that range, but I may be wrong. 

I love wide angle lenses and I think anything wider starts getting into too much distortion. Fish-eyes are fun, but they loose their novelty real fast. I would be quite happy with the 11mm (16mm equiv) 

Do the research about the quality and low light capability. That's a bit of money, unless you seriously have a jones for it. :thumbsup:


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## Epoxy Pro (Oct 7, 2012)

epretot said:


> Well, I would stop using whatever you used in the "how would you fix this" thread.


The picture in that thread I'm not sure if it was the camera or the 8 cups of coffee.


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## thinkpainting/nick (Dec 25, 2012)

PatsPainting said:


> Ken, Bill and all other camera guys. I have a Nikon d3000. The lens that comes with it is the 18mm - 55mm one. It's a nice lens and is pretty good at wide angle shots. But even at 18mm it's not enough sometimes. Was wondering if it would be worth it to invest $400-$500 for 11mm-16mm tokina? Would stepping down to a 11mm make a difference?
> 
> Looking on the internet and seeing some of the samples it would add allot to the picture, but fooling around with mine going from say 25mm to 18mm, does not seem that much.
> 
> Pat


The D3100 ?? There selling for $359 refurbished right now I hea it's a great camera for the money.


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## PressurePros (May 6, 2007)

Nick, I love Nikon's and shoot with a D7100 for more serious sessions. It's still going to be all about lenses but if you are looking at that kind of money for something refurbed, for another $150 you can get the D3200 with the upgraded sensor _and_ an 18mm-55mm lens.

Amazon.com: Nikon D3200 24.2 MP CMOS Digital SLR with 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 AF-S DX VR NIKKOR Zoom Lens (Black): NIKON: Camera & Photo


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## PatsPainting (Mar 4, 2010)

thinkpainting/nick said:


> The D3100 ?? There selling for $359 refurbished right now I hea it's a great camera for the money.


Mine is the D3000, which was purchased 3-4 years ago. I think all the models after mine they changed the sensor. I really have no idea what the sensor is.

It is a nice camera and takes some good photos, It's only 10.2mp. But for online photos I think that is more then enough.

Pat


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## Luke S. (Sep 12, 2013)

I heard Nokia is coming out with a phone that is going to have a way better camera than any other phone in the US market. Anybody know when it comes out?


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## optimal (Feb 5, 2010)

If your looking for a nice budget nikkon lens go for a prime lens. Prime lens will allow for a sharp clean image and will have a low f stop. The nikkon 35 mm lens with f1.8 is a nice lens for the money. Allows you to shoot in low light situations with low iso to create a clean image. 

Amazon.com: nikon 35mm


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