General Music Chat

It seems a shame to let that Minolta and glass just sit idle. You could shoot slides and have them scanned - it's pretty cheap these days. Here is one place I found:

http://www.photoandsoundsaving.com/slide_saving.asp

I can't vouch for them, as I scan all my own slides (I have two Nikon slide scanners). Go for the highest resolution possible for the scans - it does make a huge difference.


With a good tripod you should be able to get some great shots with the Minolta and the long lenses.

I'm once again gonna show my ignorance - I assume when you speak of "glass" that you're talking about lenses.

I've never even tried to work a real camera, with multiple lenses. I'll bet it can get pretty complicated.

I just wanna take quality pictures with good color, as easy as possible.

Can you suggest a digital camera that does that, consistantly, in many kinds of light?

There's so much to learn, & I'm gettin' old fast, guys! I feel the need to do something new & cool, & I like taking the pics, lately. Is there a site that could help me learn the nuts & bolts of it all, that you would recommend?

I had a small Pentax similar to the K1000. I believe the K1000 took its place. 50mm fixed lens. I took the best pictures of my life with that camera. I loved it. Then I sold it to off set the price of my Canon Elan. I wanted to buy it back, but they had dropped it and sprung the door.

Big mistake on my behalf. I had been taking a pair of Canon A1's to Sturgis a couple of years in a row and thought I really liked them, and that is what tempted me to sell my Pentax and get the Elan. I love the Elan, but never could get the sharpness of that little Pentax. Because of lens aberrations I always preferred to purchase low power zoom cameras. In the 3-10 X range. It may be just a stigma but I still would like a 50mm for my Canon Elan. But the good glass has always been out of my price range. There were just too many guitar toys out there that I wanted.

I'm once again gonna show my ignorance - I assume when you speak of "glass" that you're talking about lenses.

I've never even tried to work a real camera, with multiple lenses. I'll bet it can get pretty complicated.

I just wanna take quality pictures with good color, as easy as possible.

Can you suggest a digital camera that does that, consistantly, in many kinds of light?

There's so much to learn, & I'm gettin' old fast, guys! I feel the need to do something new & cool, & I like taking the pics, lately. Is there a site that could help me learn the nuts & bolts of it all, that you would recommend?

Yup. "Glass" means lenses.


If you want simple, what you want is a “Point And Shoot” digital. There are just too many models coming on the market daily to suggest one in particular.

The best site for reviews on digital cameras is:

http://www.dpreview.com/


Like most things, quality/features depend on how much you want to spend. I would stick with a good name brand (Nikon, Canon, Pentax, etc.), get as many megapixels as possible, a real glass lens (some are plastic) and buy from someone with a good return/service policy. You might also want to shoot video, which is a whole other can of worms.



If you want to learn how to shoot good pictures, the site I linked to has both a tutorial section and a forum that are very comprehensive.

I had a small Pentax similar to the K1000. I believe the K1000 took its place. 50mm fixed lens. I took the best pictures of my life with that camera. I loved it. Then I sold it to off set the price of my Canon Elan. I wanted to buy it back, but they had dropped it and sprung the door.

Big mistake on my behalf. I had been taking a pair of Canon A1's to Sturgis a couple of years in a row and thought I really liked them, and that is what tempted me to sell my Pentax and get the Elan. I love the Elan, but never could get the sharpness of that little Pentax. Because of lens aberrations I always preferred to purchase low power zoom cameras. In the 3-10 X range. It may be just a stigma but I still would like a 50mm for my Canon Elan. But the good glass has always been out of my price range. There were just too many guitar toys out there that I wanted.

The K1000 was the choice for every photography class in the country at one point. Built like a tank, simple to operate. You should be able to find one easily on Ebay or CL.

My K1000 bit he dust long ago, the film advance locked up one day, I had to retire it. The Minolta I have now is the only one that would touch it. I guess I need to dig through my pile and see if I can get a good scanner to work, I have a lot of good pictures I took with it.

Just tried to get some more pictures yesterday, hoping to get a few more uploaded to Flickr today. Missed a couple of dragonflies that would not sit still, don't have any pictures of either and sure wanted some. Also missed a Giant Hornet today, couldn't wade through the thick blackberry bushes to get close enough and he wouldn't move into the clearing. Really wanted a shot of that, don't have a good shot of a hornet either.

Also got a decent shot of a wasp yesterday, but don't know what it is, nothing close in my books. I'll be posting that one for sure. Similar tot he Potter Wasp, but still quite different. I hate not being able to look up what I'm seeing...I've tried some online resources, but looking up flowers on line is almost impossible. So far I haven't even gotten close to a couple I would really like to identify.

EDIT - Ok got a few new ones up, it's raining gotta scoot.