 Poster: A snowHead
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I was thinking of picking up a digital camera for capturing those moments on the slopes. I know little about photography and have very little patience when it comes to technology, although I am reasonably computer literate. I was thinking of picking up a nice slim-line camera which would fit in a pocket easily as opposed to being laced round my neck (very uncool  ) lol. Would a compact camera give a high quality image especially with all that glare when compared to one with a huge protruding lens.
I was thinking of spending no more than £250 and was considering the Minolta X1 , Sony dsct7 or something similar.
Also would these cameras stand up to the enevitable face and body plants into powder as well as the less than soft hard-pack and ice.
I really want to capture those views and not come out with a camera which only works at birthday parties ie; indoors.
Thanks guys
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I don't follow Point & Shoot digital cameras. You want to look for one that has a beach / snow setting that will adjust the white balance and exposure for bright and blankish conditions, I think the Nikons offer this function. Also look for as much optical zoon as you can get, digital zoom isn't very good.
And little film clips are great fun too!
My wife has a slim Casio job and has a really sleek Case Logic case for it, it's great as it offers really good protection but doesn't bulk the camera up!
Good luck.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Edmundh009, Try and stay away from Sony, they are expensive and they lock you in with their choice of memory cards, but that's not to say they're not good. You can only use Sony memmory cards and they're double the price of standard branded MMC/SD cards if not more.
I have a Canon IXUS50, very small, great shots, 5 mp, 3 x optical zoom and good quality video. Now there is the IXUS55 model which should be even better.
http://www.pixmania.co.uk/uk/uk/152825/art/canon/digital-ixus-55.html
Get a High-Speed 1Gb MMC card if you want take video. It's surprising how good the video quality is considering it's not a video camera, and that the camera is about the height and width of credit card (but about 1cm in depth)
If yuo want to good site for Digital Cameras with reviews from the experts then check: http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canonsd400/
This is a photo taken with my IXUS50 looking at some hills in Elviria, Marbella, and it's been scaled to 40% of it's original size to get onto the web.
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I use a Canon Powershot A95 right now but have used a IXUS300 previously. If you look at my Blog you can see how that works, the shots are stepped down in resolution using BatchConvertor though. I've recently got a Canon Eos 350D which I've not taken out skiing so far.
The A95 seems to be standing up well to being in a softcase in my pocket just fine. The battery life seems excellent as well, the IXUS ran the battery down very quickly whereas the rechargeable AA cells I use for the A95 last many days.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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I recently acquired a Panasonic DX9. Reasons for that one over other ultra-compacts were Leica lens, Optical Image Stabilization and double the battery life of the others (except the Casios). It has a bunch of "scenes" - beach, snow, fireworks, indoors, etc. that control settings optimally for you in these conditions. It's small and was quite happy case-less in my pocket in Vd@I the other weekend. No face plants occurred though.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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Chizz5056, aren't quite the David Bailly, mind you were is the snow!!!! 
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I have just ordered a casio z120. I already have a canon ixus 40 which is fantastic (even if it is only 4MP) and the casio is just a 2nd camera (one cam for a family doesnt cut it). The little casio is a brand spanking new model, it has a whoping 7.2MP CCD, 3x optical zoom, image stabilisation (perhaps not as good as the panasonic high end option), it uses ubiquitous SD memory and, my fave, it uses AA batteries. It is currently £150 from curries/dixon/pcworld, this is the cheapest price in the UK and also one of the cheapest prices I can find on the internet as a whole. Absolute Billy bargain
Adam
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buns, sounds like it! Also, will admit, my tiny panasonic only accepts own battery. (I think all the ultra compacts are the same). Colleague just acquired canon Ixus 750 - looks good too.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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David,
I was going to get an ixus 55 or the likes just to keep batteries and such common, but saving £70 and getting a higher spec cam (if a tiny bit bigger) seemed a good way to go!
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Don't get _too_ distracted by the number of pixels. 3M pixels is fine for 'snaps' that are going onto a computer screen, and normal size prints.
Anything more than 5M is going to be severely limited by other factors like the quality of the lens used, quality/size of the image sensor, the fact that most cameras save images compressed as jpg, and unnecessary unless you are doing large 'blow ups' of portions of the picture, and ev
If you're at all interested in composing shots, get a decent optical zoom - 3x is pretty much a minimum, and if you don't want your 'action' shots to be simply black dots ona white background, consider one of the 10 or 12 x zoom cameras (Canon S2 for example).
Of course, you have to trade off size/weight/functionality.
Also - if you want to get those 'deep blue sky' photos, you'll need a polariser... some of the bigger P&S cameras (like the S2) will take an adapter that can hold a filter... you're getting a bit more involved here, and you can always just hold the polariser in front of the camera lens.... again, depends how keen you are!
As previously mentioned, avoid Sony's due to their expensive memory. AA rechargeable batteries are much cheaper to buy than bespoke ones. Most of the cheaper P&S cameras are pretty much 'disposable', they won't take much abuse. I have a Canon S1 (precursor to the S2), cost me about £300 18 months ago, and survived a trip half-way round the world (my
profile has a link to some pictures taken with it)
If you want video capture, budget for a 1Gig memory card (or bigger), and make sure the camera will do 30 frames per second at vga (640x480 pixels) and read up on the various video capture specs, some formats are better than others.
happy hunting,
h.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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I made a list of the features that mattered to me which were
5 Mpixel (I don't need more)
Good optics
Very short shutter delay
Optical zoom (I don't use digital)
Optical viewfinder (good for bright light and less camera shake)
Rechargeable + normal AA batteries (don't have to carry a charger everywhere)
Good sized LCD
and ended up choosing between a Sony DSCW1 and a Canon A8?/A9? (both now superseded). I went for the Sony because it was smaller and, for me, the fast shutter reaction outweighed the Memory stick price penalty. In retrospect the Memory Stick issue wasn't really a problem because it is a one-off purchase (I download to PC long before it is full) and the spare one that I bought works with my recently acquired PSP!
It is worthwhile reading up on the tests published on the net and seeing how the cameras really perform rather than buying based solely on the spec.
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We haver a Sony DSC200 (after I lost the DSC150). Fantastic camera with superb battery.
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You know it makes sense.
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It is worth considering that a larger sensor in some ways can work equivalent to optical zoom. It allows you to crop and retain a large image....
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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buns,
you're right... but the 'headline' value of sensor pixel count is just one factor in 'image quality'. The second most critical is probably file compression (how many P&S cameras save in 'raw' or uncompressed format? And how many people would want to save 6+Mb files per photo....
Trying to equate optical zoom and digital zoom/cropping image quality is very difficult, as it is hard to keep all other factors equal, but I'm sure I'v read (on somwhere like dpreview) that a 1x optical increase (e.g. from 3x to 4x) zoom is similar to a 1M pixel increase (e.g. from 3M to 4M).
All I was really trying to point out is to not get too hung up on the 'number of pixels'. Other factors like the cameras 'white balance' function (especially the 'auto white balance' which is usually the one most people use), the AF speed, the 'startup' time, shutter lag (although that is allegedly pretty good these days) all make a difference. This also leaves aside ergonomics (can you use the camera whilst wearing ski gloves?), not to mention the user's ability..... but I digress!
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Poster: A snowHead
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Thanks for all the info. I think I may go with a minolta Diamge X1 for around £200. It has had some good reviews. small Size is really what im after. i'l investigate the white balance on it to see whether its suitable. Thanks again.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Edmundh009, the X1 is said to be slow to start, has a long shutter lag and is slow shot-to-shot. jtr above seems to have listed a very sensible list of things to think about. 
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Very short shutter delay
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This was the thing that exercised me most, but have found a helpful website HERE . Also I would add good video mode to JTR's very good list
as a result father christmas is bringing me a Sony W5. I'll be trying it out in video and still mode in 5 weeks time. Can't wait!
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Everyone seems so focussed on batter life, I have a Ixus II which is a 3.2MP camera with its own rechargable battery, I find the key to getting good battery life is to use the traditional viewfinder and turn off the digital display when taking pictures (really foxes most people when you ask them to take a photo!) as well as long battery life you generally get better composed photos as you're focussing on the image rather than the back of the camera.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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You do need to be careful using the optical viewfinder..... often this is not actually what the CCD is seeing....
Adam
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Edmundh009, my brother has the Dimage (it's his second having had it's predecessor two revisions back). He's not that impressed.
stevew, battery life is important to the extent that my Panasonic needs battery out recharging and on lower resolutions the 512Mb card will take more pics than the battery will support.
A 1Gb card would be a waste of time, even if I wanted one.
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stevew, I find camera batteries discharge very quickly in the cold, therefore rechargable AA or AAAs was a criteria when buying my camera so I can take two spare sets up with me. In the end there is the same amount of kit to take on holiday with one because camera specific batteries need their own charger.
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I've got an urgent printer question in Apres if anyone can help...
I use a 300D so a little big for what you want. I never have a problem
with it's battery, do try to keep them warm mind.
If anyone else is shooting in RAW and using an Apple, you probably
aren't reading this If you are and you don't know about it, get Apples
new software called Aperature, it makes shooting in RAW make sense. I love it.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Thanks for the heads-up on the shutter delay. The sony dsc t 7 seems to fair reasonably well in comparison.
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FAQ
