Travel Technology - Best camera for taking inflight photos...

OK, Im sure this has been discussed before, but I did a search using the term 'camera' and after searching thru 15 pages didn't find an answer.

Here's what I am looking for:

I am looking to buy a dig camera that takes great inflight photos. I am not a fan of most of the 'meal setting' pics I see online. Most of the pics come out too dark... or are a yellowish color. So that's my number 1 concern: quality inflight photos.

Because I have a tendency to lose stuff bigtime, I am NOT looking for a high end product. Just a reasonably priced dig cam that will result in NICE PICS WHEN PLACED ONLINE.

And I would like for it to be reasonably small. The smaller and more compact, the better.

TIA.

You can fix things like bad coloring with a photo editing tool. There are countless programs out there that can assist with that.

I think the real problem with in-flight photos is that, unless you want to use a flash, the internal lighting is generally so poor that you need to have your camera's shutter stay open longer to take in more light. But, since a plane is often moving left/right and up/down during flight, your pictures may come out a bit blurry/fuzzy since that extra shutter time will allow for things to shift in the picture. Even a tripod doesn't help much here. My recommendation would be to get a very good point-and-shoot pocket sized camera and look for one that has some presets for low-light conditions without flash use. Chances are they will be set up to give you the optimum picture and then you can make any color adjustments in post-processing.

I think Nikon has a line of cameras with a bunch of presets like that, so you may want to check them out. Good luck!

What SchmutzigMSP said.

Most cameras will have a setting to compensate for indoor/incandescent/flourescent lighting. That should be at least as much a factor as camera quaility.

Think everyone's right on target - would like to recommend a specific model, the Lumix (aka Panasonic) DMC-LZ2. Street price is about $180 USD but what makes it special is the optical image stabilization which limits blur while taking longer exposures. Only downside is no optical viewfinder. Not the smallest package, but with 6x optical zoom it also makes a fine Disneyland type trip camera too.

Many digital cameras that are one notch up from point and shoot (for example, Canon A-series) allow you to change the sensor's sensitivity, by adjusting the ISO setting. Higher values mean you need shorter exposures. Use the lowest value you can get away with, but for the issue at hand, use a high value (800 say).

Downside? Increased sensor noise (more or less equivalent to grain in high speed film).

>that's my number 1 concern: quality inflight photos

Most name-brand digital cameras with lots of manual over-rides will take good in-flight photos - It doesn't matter if they're Nikon, Canon, Kodak, Pentax etc. The secret is to read the manual / buy a book / take a course and learn what all the settings do - That's the secret to quality photos - Knowing how to use the clever settings that come with most good-quality cameras:

- Learn what white balance & color temperature is and how to use it to your advantage
- Learn about flash, fill flash and when to use it
- Learn about focus / autofocus, and how to lock the focus
- Learn how to "take a meter reading" and then lock it
- Learn how to use "macro mode"
- Learn about aperture / shutter priority mode and when/why to use them
- Learn about depth-of-field

etc. etc. etc.

Cheers,
Geoff Glave
Vancouver, Canada

Ugh. Now all that's complicated. Im just a point and click... and mebbe move 1 or 2 knobs kind of guy.

...would like to recommend... the Lumix (aka Panasonic) DMC-LZ2. Only downside is no optical viewfinder.

Oh I like this one. The reviews are pretty good and the price is spot on. Currently comparing it with the Cannon A520/610/A620.

According to a NY Times article a couple of months ago, the best digital cameras are Canon A610 or Fujifilm Finepix f10. Both can be found at under $300.00 and you can get an idea of how much they cost by comparing prices at www.nextag.com. I've been looking to buy a digital and these 2 are some of the most reliable ones out there according to the reviews at www.cnet.com. This is a website featuring the latest in electronic products with an objective pros/cons analysis.

Personally I love taking meal pictures and avoid using flash whenever possible. I use a 35mm. SLR which is great since it gives me great control with different settings. If you fly in Y, the distance between you and the food tray may be too close so a macro lens feature allowing close-up shots will help. Overhead lights will always cast a yellowish tone on your pics and in my case I use an 80A lens to compensate. Knowledge is power and the more you know about photography and your new camera, the better pictures you will take. Ultimately the only critic that you need to satisfy is yourself.

>Ugh. Now all that's complicated. Im just a point and click... and mebbe move 1 or 2 knobs kind of guy.

It's certainly not like 1935 where you have to pack around a light meter and flashbulbs - A good camera will give you good "point and click" results 90% of the time - But if you want the other 9.9% you have to put some work into it and actually learn what is going on when you push the button on your camera.

Cheers,
Geoff Glave
Vancouver, Canada

I'd highly recommend Canon A610, it had digicII processor and its very fast.
I've used, Nikon, Olympus, Fuji, kodak, Sony and the best quality I've
seen in point and shoot is in Canon and some olympus.

A610 is a bit heavy compared to some of the other compacts
but you can choose anything from Canon and it will be great.
Make sure you pick one with DigicII processor.

A610 takes 4 AA batteries and it takes a lot of shots before the
batteries run out. Some of the smaller camers come with Li-ion
batteries.

I pick A610 because of its manual functions. When I cant carry my SLRs
and countless lenses, I carry this.

Among SLRs I'd recommend Canon or Nikon.


you can find more details at www.dpreview.com ( I hope thats the site )

You can find more details at www.dpreview.comSteve's Digicams (http://www.steves-digicams.com) also seems to be pretty good.

Canon 1DsMkII with a 580EX. I bet that will get you some great shots of airline food. ;)

Seriously, any digicam that you learn to use properly, plus good skills at Photoshop-like apps will be sufficient for web viewing. The basics of lighting, shutter speed, aperture, etc. are more important than the actual camera. I've seen great photos from a Trea 640x480 camera phone, when done right.

I use a Sony DSC W-1 and to be honest find it is a little susceptible to blurring without the flash in low-light conditions such as those on aircraft.

Some of the best inflight photos I've seen were in this trip report (http://www.airliners.net/discussions/trip_reports/read.main/65730/) and the guy said he uses a Fuji FinePix F10. Scroll down to the meal ones in particular and you'll see what I mean :)

There have been recommendations on the Canon A series in this thread. They are great cameras, and I have had three of them.

BUT...there is an ongoing sensor problem, where just after warranty expiration ( :eek: ) the sensor dies. Canon is well aware of the problem, and offers a low cost upgrade-replacement policy for this, but you might want to do a search and some research.

I used to own a Fuji Finepix E550 (until it disappeared at an airport). I took a number point-and-shoot pictures of meal services and out-of-the-window views that all came out well without the need for a flash. I'll be getting the new model of the Finepix range E900 *hopefully* in time for my next flight in just over a week. I'll take some cabin shots so you can see how they look.

I've read and heard the Fuji F10 and F11 can be a bit hard to keep still given their size so often result in blurry pics.

I've read and heard the Fuji F10 and F11 can be a bit hard to keep still given their size so often result in blurry pics.

No more than other cameras their size ('compact' in my opinion, as the F10/11 are a tad larger than the ubiquitous ultracompacts). Larger cameras such as the Fuji E series are certainly more stable, but no longer pocketable.

Among compacts, the Fuji F10/11/30 have the advantage of superior high ISO performance due to their proprietary sensor, with the F10/11 still yielding decent pics at ISO 800 (less noisy than the ultracompacts using the well-regarded 7MP Sony CCD at ISO 400).
That buys about two stops over a normal CCD, about the same as a camera with image stabilization (like the Lumix compacts, which unfortunately use noisy Panasonic CCD's).

I am quite pleased with the Fuji F11 as a travel camera, mostly for its low-light performance. Its main shortcoming is strong purple fringing in high contrast situations.