Camera

[Tarsemina]

Anyone know a good but relatively cheap camera. Because, I need a better camera, I was trying to take a picture of one of my WIPs to post, however, it was  like a red, flesh, and yellow blob in my viewfinder. So, anyone know a good but relatively cheap camera?

[Cranky Dog]

"Relatively cheap" is way too vague of a term here.

 

What's your budget? Are you looking at something in the 100$ range? 300$? 500$?

 

I think any modern camera that allows you to have white balance is all you really need for something that will be posted online.

 

And interestingly enough, there are tons of old high end digital cameras that can be found really cheap on eBay. They may not have a gazillion megapixels, but have plenty of control to offer. Be aware that though camera bodies lose their value quickly, camera lens stay expensive for a long time.

[Doug Sundseth]

A good cell phone can take miniatures photos that will show everything you want to show and more. Often way more.   (The small sensor size and small lens allow very good depth of field.)

 

For more, including examples of cell phone photography, see this thread.

 

Otherwise, nearly any camera built in the last three or four years should be fine if you use it right.

[Cranky Dog]

It's also probably worth asking what camera are you using right now?

 

And I also agree with Doug regarding modern cell phones. My current smart phone (Nokia Lumia 920) is about three years old, and I'm still amazed at the quality of its pictures for such a small sensor/lens combination. And I also own several thousand dollars worth of digital camera gear which wouldn't make that much of a difference on a monitor.

 

One thing I quickly realized is to know when *not* to use a flash. Most of my pictures looked far better without the flash.

Edited June 7, 2015 by Cranky Dog

[Tarsemina]

Okay, I have a flip phone and a digital camera from around 2008. So yeah.... and my budget is probably around a 100 dollars or so, preferably less than that.

[Cranky Dog]

Even with that budget, if you're willing to go used, there are some good DSLR kits out there on eBay from Canon, Nikon, Olympus, Pentax, etc.

 

They may not have tons of megapixels or super-sensitivity, but could have been quality cameras a couple of years ago.

Edited June 9, 2015 by Cranky Dog

[Tarsemina]

Okay thanks!

[Slashhamster]

Okay, I have a flip phone and a digital camera from around 2008. So yeah.... and my budget is probably around a 100 dollars or so, preferably less than that.

Nothing necessarily wrong with a digital camera from 2008!     The Nikon D40 DSLR I use was released in 2006, and it still works perfectly.  We recently gave an old point and shoot from probably 2002 or so to my daughter, and other than the battery not holding a charge well, it also still works just fine.

 

Before dropping a bunch of cash on a new camera, you may want to figure out why your photos aren't coming out.  If it's a technique problem, a new camera is not going to help, and most likely just frustrate you further.  The thread Doug linked has some good pointers that may help you narrow down what the problem is.

 

Most of the 'advances' in modern digital cameras in the last 8-10 years really don't have a lot to do with picture quality, and more to do with various extraneous features (often of questionable utility).

 

[Tarsemina]

Alright, thanks!