Looking at Buying a New Camera

Neon Aurora

Neon Aurora

New Member
Messages
1,376
Location
New Mexico
My current cheapo camera is just not cutting it when it comes to accurately displaying the colors of my geckos. I've started to look at some cameras, but to be totally honest, I have no idea what I'm doing. I was hoping to get some recommendations from people here. I'm not really sure about my price range yet, but I can't spend a small fortune at anything.

I know there was a thread on this earlier and I did look at it but I really know nothing about what I need to be looking for in a camera for this purpose.
 
DrCarrotTail

DrCarrotTail

Moderator
Messages
3,590
Location
Ridgewood, NJ
I use a nice point and shoot for my gecko pics. The exact model I have is a Canon PowerShot ELPH310HS. I bought it about 5 years ago so there may be a better model available now but it was a fairly high end one back when I got it and still does what I need it to do wonderfully. I also have a nice Canon EOS 70D DSLR but I've found its too bulky and heavy for me to use while trying to snap pics of small things that run away quickly...haha. It does take better pics when the bitty ones cooperate though!
 
Neon Aurora

Neon Aurora

New Member
Messages
1,376
Location
New Mexico
Oh, how funny. I currently use a Canon PowerShot ELPH150IS. The problem I have with it is if the lighting is not absolutely perfect (like outside in the sun), the pictures are terribly grainy. I see so many beautiful pictures people post on this forum and it makes me want a nicer camera.

I looked at the fancier camera you posted, but that is way out of my price range! If that's what it takes to get a nice camera, I might have to just start saving up and buy one later down the road.
 
DrCarrotTail

DrCarrotTail

Moderator
Messages
3,590
Location
Ridgewood, NJ
The fancy camera was definitely a leap for me. Not worth it for taking gecko photos - worth it if you take pics for a living or want to learn to take awesome photographs and have money to burn...haha.

I use a photobox with lots of light and a white background so I can easily white balance my pics to make sure the colors are not distorted as the canon powershot tends to mess with them sometimes and I want people to be able to gauge the real colors of my geckos as best as possible from the pics I take. One of the major issues I had when taking pics to start was being too close. Sometimes if I back off and crop to the size I want later I get better pics than trying to take a perfect picture and I never use the digital zoom - all that does is pre-crop your picture rather than giving you more pixels and often results in grainy images. I also use my cell for quick pics. If you check out my website and instagram you can get an idea of how my methods work :) Best of luck finding a camera that works for you!
 
Neon Aurora

Neon Aurora

New Member
Messages
1,376
Location
New Mexico
Could you give me more details on your photobox? Perhaps it isn't my camera that is lacking, but my techniques as taking good pictures. What is the box made out of? What kind of lights do you use? I've found that only natural sunlight will display my geckos' colors accurately, but even that washes out my tangerines if it's too bright (and it often is way too bright, living in New Mexico).
 
DrCarrotTail

DrCarrotTail

Moderator
Messages
3,590
Location
Ridgewood, NJ
My photobox is a bit high end! It's a small Home Depot cardboard box with a white sheet cut up and ductaped over holes I cut in the sides and over the top and white posterboard cut to fit the inside. I did buy three super bright "real white" bulbs off amazon but I have them in a reptile heat lamp fixture and two desk lamps from Walmart...haha. I'll upload a picture of it if I can figure out how :p
 
geckolabs

geckolabs

New Member
Messages
327
Location
Virginia
I use a canon rebel t3 with some lens adapters. The settings are very easily adjusted, and even auto settings work fairly well while you get used to tinkering with the manual settings.
 
Neon Aurora

Neon Aurora

New Member
Messages
1,376
Location
New Mexico
Oops, I somehow totally missed these posts. Lisa, I sent you a PM thinking that you hadn't seen my most recent post here asking for a picture, so you can probably just ignore that. =P my bad. So the inside is white post board, the outside is white sheets?

Dillon, that camera looks more within my price range. The pictures you post always look very nice, so I might think about getting one of those in the future.

My hope is that the photobox will make my point and shoot work okay for now and I can use that while I save up for something a bit more advanced. I would like a nice camera anyways for taking pictures of other stuff, too.
 
DrCarrotTail

DrCarrotTail

Moderator
Messages
3,590
Location
Ridgewood, NJ
Yup outside is white fabric I picked up cheap at Walmart and inside is a piece of Walmart posterboard. I am not a walmart fan in general but their cheap crap poster board doesn't shine as much as the stuff from Joanns or wherever so it makes the pics turn out with a bit less glare or shiny spots on them.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Visit our friends

Top