Good all-in-one digital camera

Agoston Horvath

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Hi,

I'm looking for a digital camera with the following traits:
  • mpeg4 movies (or similar hight quality-low disk space format), with voice recording
  • voice comment on pictures
  • no noticeable noise at iso800/1600 (at least, not mucs; it's for indoor, no flash pictures, eg. temples) or an IS which can do the same trick (although I doubt it)
  • wide angle (28mm or so); i'm not interested in zoom (more then 98% of my pictures have been shot at the widest angle)
  • decent image quality; no noise, sharpness all over the picture, good white balance and colors
  • 8 megapixel sensor
So far i've been unable to locate a camera which could do ALL these. DSLRs would be nice, but -as far as I know- none of them can shoot movies, which I do have a need for.

Is there something like this on the market?

Thanks.
 
Yeah, I've seen that, looks good for me too.

However, it can shoot motion jpeg only. Which is much worse than mpeg4. Takes a lot of storage space too.

I'm also not impressed with the 10x optical zoom; a smaller, lighter body with 3x would do a much better job for me.

Also, the 235.000 pixel EVF makes me pull my hair. A simple optical viewfinder has much more detail than 200+ Kpixels, does not consume the battery and is much cheaper.

So, I think I will have to pass on this one. :(
 
As far as I know, what you want cannot be achieved in one device. You'd be better off splittting and getting a cheaper still camera and a cheaper camcorder, rather than spending £600 on a camera that does both not nearly so well

Also ask yourself if you really need 8 megapixels or would 5 do the job as well?

As for the 800/1600 ISO requirement, you've limited yourself there to one of the Fujis, or an SLR. No way around that.

--
-Andy
http://www.caerphoto.com
 
You will have to compromise somewhere.

You want high ISO performance (DSLR) and MPEG4 movies (digicam)

You also want 8mp. That limits your choices to DSLR or the prosumer digicams Like the Sony 828 or Canon Pro 1.

The pro digicams will do your mpeg's nicely but your limited to ISO 400/800 and 800 looks pretty bad. You can clean it up in software but the results nowhere near as good as a Canon 250D/20D/1D etc etc.

Maybe one day one of the OEM's will offer a DSLR size sensor with the benefits of low noise and build it into a digicam type body that will do movies and have a EVF viewfinder....ther's a market for it somewhere.....but not the mass market.

Price/performance point rules the roost in the digicam sector and to make such a hybrid - if technically possible - would produce a camera that would (probably) have to sell at $1,000 + to be feasible.

OMP Portfolio
http://www.onemodelplace.com/photographer_list.cfm?P_ID=58653
 
Hi,

I'm looking for a digital camera with the following traits:
  • mpeg4 movies (or similar hight quality-low disk space format),
with voice recording
That limits you to a very few cameras. Not many ar eusing Mpeg4.
  • no noticeable noise at iso800/1600 (at least, not mucs; it's for
indoor, no flash pictures, eg. temples) or an IS which can do the
same trick (although I doubt it)
Again, vert few cameras achieve ISO800 without noise. Even the Fuji F10 has mixed opinions of the quality of it's ISO1600 images. IS can only do so much, if your shutter speed isn't fast enough you will still get motion blur.
  • wide angle (28mm or so); i'm not interested in zoom (more then
98% of my pictures have been shot at the widest angle)
Unless you are happy to use an add-on lens there are maybe only a couple of non SLR digital cameras which have 28mm equivalent.
  • decent image quality; no noise, sharpness all over the picture,
good white balance and colors
  • 8 megapixel sensor
Now you are asking for the virtual impossible. A compact camera means a small sensor. Lots of pixels on a small sensor means noise. Trying to get high ISO as well just makes it more so.
So far i've been unable to locate a camera which could do ALL
these. DSLRs would be nice, but -as far as I know- none of them can
shoot movies, which I do have a need for.
It's not suprising really since you have conflicting requirements.
Is there something like this on the market?
No.

You might be best suited with a DSLR for stills and a digital camcorder (or a small digicam) for movies. But that's against your requirement for compactness.
 
Thanks for the reactions - I've came to the same answer, alhough I don't understand why DSLR makers can't include a decent movie support in pro cameras. I don't need a separate movie camcorder, mostly because I wouldn't use it that much. But sometimes it comes handy, since you can't record 10 seconds of fun in a single picture, and I haven't even mentioned the fun factor of sound.

Looks like I will have to go with fujis new 9MP compact; it can do iso800 well, is sharp and good quality, wide angle and can do 640x480@30fps with sound (format is mjpeg tough).

Or I will go with a canon 350D equipped with a single sigma 18-200 lens. I would really miss movie mode if this would be the case.
 
Thanks for the reactions - I've came to the same answer, alhough I
don't understand why DSLR makers can't include a decent movie
support in pro cameras.
If you think about how an SLR works, you'll understand why they don't shoot movies or even give an LCD preview of still pictures -- it's the mirror, the very thing that gives them the superb through-the-lens viewing facility. Imagine it flapping up and down 30 times a second!

--
Mustafa
 
Well, you're right that a dslr works different - however it's still possible: just keep the light going to the sensor (so you won't be able to use the viewfinder while shooting movies, dang), and display what's being recorded on the tft screen.

Of course digicam companies won't integrate new features like this until they are forced to do so by the competition.
 
Of course digicam companies won't integrate new features like this
until they are forced to do so by the competition.
I think you do them a disservice -- they would do it if they thought customers would want it and would be willing to pay the price. My opinion (as an enthusiastic shooter of movie clips on my S70 and the owner of a 20D) is that DSLR owners would not be interested enough.

Stand by for Canon to prove me wrong in the very near future! LOL
--
Mustafa
 
Well, you're right that a dslr works different - however it's still
possible: just keep the light going to the sensor (so you won't be
able to use the viewfinder while shooting movies, dang), and
display what's being recorded on the tft screen.
Frequently discussed, but here's an approximate run-down.

Not if you're using a full-frame-transfer CCD. Possible if you're using an interline-transfer CCD, or a CMOS, if memory serves. The circuitry for live video takes space on the chip that might otherwise be used strictly for imaging so generally the CCD users have opted to maximize still image quality and forgo video.

It'll also heat up more and drain more power. More heat, more imaging noise, worse image quality, fewer shots before the battery drains.

It'll may also force you to do AF off the chip using contrast-detection (slow, as in most non-DSLRs) instead of the dedicated phase-detection systems normally used. At least if all light is going to the imaging sensor, which may not be necessarily true if a redesign is done.

Technically doable, 'tho, as long as one accepts those trade-offs. One could attempt to reduce certain of these trade-offs by adding complexity, e.g. a secondary imaging sensor and an additional mirror to allow one to switch between the OVF and the second sensor, which would receive the light that isn't being sent to the AF sensors, as was discussed some time ago.
Of course digicam companies won't integrate new features like this
until they are forced to do so by the competition.
Bear in mind that for video, there's a cheaper route -- the dedicated digital video cameras. In light of that, it makes sense to optimize the high-end cameras for use as still image cameras and sacrifice video.
 

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