[DigiCam] camera for baby pix

[Adrian Smith]

At 10:59 PM -0500 20/1/04, Tom Nugent Jr wrote:
>
>My wife and I are expecting our first baby at the beginning of April,

Congratulations!


>  and I'd like to get a new digital camera to capture the billions of 
>pictures I'll want to take of our new bundle of joy.  :-)  I 
>currently have a Nikon Coolpix 950, and while it's served me well, 
>it doesn't seem like it would hold up for the demands of baby 
>photography.  In particular, I'd like a camera with the following 
>characteristics:
>
>*FAST startup time (my CP950 takes a long time to turn on and get 
>ready to shoot)

Maybe you need to look for something which doesn't have a really big 
lens to retract/extend. I think some of the ultra-compact models with 
"sliding lens" designs might be quicker but I've never really looked.


>*very small lag time from button push to photo (at least after 
>pushing button halfway for auto-focus)

My Canon S45 seems reasonable is this regard - certainly a lot faster 
than my boss' Sony. I've got two small daughters and what seems like 
a billion photos :)

I've been very happy with it. I wouldn't mind something faster but it 
would have to be considerably faster to make a big difference (and 
then I think we are talking D-SLR territory). The only other thing I 
would like is the ability to add an external flash. My Dad has a 
Canon G3 with a Canon flash and it really makes a big difference.


>*built-in flash should be far enough away from lens to minimize red-eye
>*sort of small - fit in a pocket would be nice, but slightly bigger 
>would probably be OK

These may well be mutally exclusive :)

I've got red-eye removal down to a fine art in Photoshop - takes on a 
few seconds per photo. (Most of my S45 photos are fine but there are 
always exceptions that need some removal).


>*I'd prefer the wide-angle end of the zoom range to be less than 
>35mm at 35mm equivalent (28mm would be great!)

you are limiting yourself to a few models if you want this (the only 
ones I know of are the ones you've already found below)

>*Good color quality
>*Not too expensive -- under $500 or so is preferred
>
>I've done some research at dpreview.com and steves-digicams.com, and 
>can't figure out what to get.  I'm hoping you all on this list can 
>offer some advice!

Also try looking at imagingresource.com (he tends to have timing 
information for startup and shutter presses which might help you to 
get a feel for those on different models).

Try to avoid the forums at dpreview - you will discover so much 
conflicting information (and hyper-critical reviews) that is will 
probably just confuse you.



>
>Some searching turned up the following as some possibilities:
>*Canon Powershot A70 or A80?

Also look at the S45/S50.

Perhaps even the G3/G5 (you might be able to find a G3 at a good 
price because they have been discontinued - if you can find any 
left). These are little bit bigger but the swivelling screen is great 
and if you add an external flash (Canon) you will be astounded how 
much better the photos look.

>*Casio QV-R40 (I wouldn't normally think of Casio, but this camera 
>has gotten some good reviews)
>*Sony DSC-P8 (or now the P52?)
>*Olympus C-4000Z? or C-5000Z?
>*Nikon CP 4300?
>
>I can't figure out what's so different between the Canon A70 and A80 
>(except the A80 has more megapixels) - is there much of a difference?

The A80 has a swivelling screen (and a couple of other minor 
differences, eg more auto-focus points I think; "worse" movie mode?).



>.  Last weekend I had an opportunity to use a friend's A80 at a 
>dance competition to shoot the friend while she was dancing.  It 
>seemed to have an annoyingly long delay between when it auto-focused 
>and when it actually took the shot.  Maybe it was just my 
>unfamiliarity with the camera.

I assume you were doing a half-press to lock the focus and then 
taking the photo? I'm not sure how the A80 should respond in that 
situation (maybe the IR review has more details?).


>
>Back into the more expensive pro-sumer range, the Nikon CP 5400 and 
>the Olympus C-5060Z both look nice because of their 28mm wide-angle 
>lens.  But the Nikon looks like it suffers from being slow...
>
>Anyway.  What are people's thoughts on what would be a good, 
>not-too-expensive camera for getting all those random action shots 
>of a baby (and toddler, as she grows)?  I'm not talking posed shots 
>with a tripod -- I'm talking "quick, grab the camera, she's being 
>cute again!" kinds of situations.
>

There is really no substitute for going into a good camera store with 
a wide range of models on display and  testing them out for yourself. 
Might give you a feel for how "fast" each particular camera is as it 
can be very hard to tell what is a significant difference when 
comparing reviews.



Good luck - let us know how you search is progressing...


Adrian