Maybe not actually show it - though you could I suppose - but how 'bout telling us what camera you usually use for taking pictures of trains, how it works for you, and why it's your choice.
As the major travel season rolls around for Team Whooz - and lots of other folks, I suspect - I've been kinda dusting off my photography tools and skills that have maybe been getting a little rusty. That got me to wondering about how other AU folks and guests go about their rail photography, beginning with their cameras.
As for myself, I was never much of a camera guy until digital photography came along. Too cheap and too lazy to make a regular habit of buying film, the cost or hassle of processing, printing, and so on. But then I received a hand-me-down Sony Mavica MVC-FD-83 in 2000. A camera so archaic even then that it used floppy disks as it memory/storage medium, it was nonetheless digital, and a revelation (revolution?) to me. No more film hassles, I could shoot all I wanted without shelling out big bucks for film, and I could see the results immediately and redo shots if I didn't like 'em. WOW!
I've been a camera guy ever since, though not as serious, wealthy, or fanatical as some, and certainly not professional.
It wasn't 'til 2004 that I started becoming more involved in rail photography. As part of planning a cross-country, all-Amtrak vacation I bought a Kodak DX6490 camera and a Dell laptop as a sort of matched pair for pursuing photography along the way. That was really the beginning of dedicated rail photography as a hobby for me, and it's a pursuit I continue to enjoy and find rewarding.
No doubt everybody has a good story about how they came to rail photography - pre-digital even - so maybe you'd like to tell your here as well, along with talking about current hardware, its whys and wherefores.
The Kodak EasyShare DX6490 was originally purchased because everything in my research pointed to ease of use, which was pretty important to me, as I considered myself (and rightfully so) pretty much of a digital klutz; not too swift with complex electronics. That, and a 10X optical zoom (excellent at the time), were the main purchase factors, and the camera worked so well for me that when it came time to upgrade I went with another Kodak, the EasyShare Z1015 IS.
Aside from the fact that the 1015's sensor blew out after only 3 months, aboard the California Zephyr while going over the Sierras on the first day of a rail-centric Utah vacation (warranty repair), I was never really happy with its performance. Like the DX6490 it was also simple to use, and for the most part I had no complaints with the photos and videos it turned out. I say for the most part because there were occasions on which it did let me down, for reasons that seemed to have nothing to do with my own ineptitude (always a factor to be considered). There were focus issues like sluggishness, or a strange indecision that made videos useless when the subjects went in and out of focus as the camera couldn't settle on anything. With no real manual option to go to, there were missed or botched shots when the camera wouldn't lock on anything at all.
These cameras were "point-and-shoot," or P&S cameras, in a category that has come to be called "superzooms" or "ultrazooms." (EDIT: Also sometimes called "bridge" cameras, a term I believe is a misnomer, as it implies a middle ground between P&S and DLSR types. Superzooms, for all their features and capabilities, remain squarely in the P&S category due to the small size of their photographic sensors; the heart of digital cameras and the element that collects the light to be processed into a viewable image.) A more advanced - and more expensive - type is the DSLR - Digital Single Lens Reflex - camera, which is also popular for those rail photographers with bigger budgets and who look for attributes beyond those offered by P&S cameras. And of course there are the simple compact and subcompact cameras that many more casual photographers might prefer, those for whom rail photography is more of an incidental thing than a dedicated pursuit. Such cameras might also serve as fine introductory models for those who are interested in trying rail photography as a hobby, but without making a large investment to begin with.
Back on the Whooz front, the Kodak Z1015 was frankly getting on my nerves, especially during the major Ragin' Rails Raid last summer. I was definitely in the market for a replacement, and finally decided on the Canon PowerShot SX40 HS. It's another P&S superzoom, and though I've had it since November there have been no major opportunities to take it trackside and give it a good first workout and get to know the camera better. Soon, though, and thinking about that is what got me thinking about posting this topic to see what others are doing in their photo world as well.
Recently, while looking forward to taking the SX40 out and about bigtime, I started hankering for a smaller, cheaper, camera that I could easily keep with me; a sort of everyday walkaround camera that would maybe help improve and maintain shooting skills without lugging the larger, heavier SX40 all over the place. I chose another Canon, the small and simple A1200. I've been using it for a couple weeks now, and it's working just as intended - I carry it whenever I go out, and when I see something interesting just haul it out of a pocket and snap away. It hasn't been used for any rail photography yet, but as noted at the beginning the major travel season is almost upon us, and I'm thinking the A1200 will come in handy for, say, lesser or simpler shots that don't require the SX40's capabilities.
So show us your camera!! What are you using for shooting trains these days, how does it work for you, and oh yeah, maybe tell us about what kind of camera you'd like to have - a sort of wish thing involving features you'd like to have or be able to afford.
As the major travel season rolls around for Team Whooz - and lots of other folks, I suspect - I've been kinda dusting off my photography tools and skills that have maybe been getting a little rusty. That got me to wondering about how other AU folks and guests go about their rail photography, beginning with their cameras.
As for myself, I was never much of a camera guy until digital photography came along. Too cheap and too lazy to make a regular habit of buying film, the cost or hassle of processing, printing, and so on. But then I received a hand-me-down Sony Mavica MVC-FD-83 in 2000. A camera so archaic even then that it used floppy disks as it memory/storage medium, it was nonetheless digital, and a revelation (revolution?) to me. No more film hassles, I could shoot all I wanted without shelling out big bucks for film, and I could see the results immediately and redo shots if I didn't like 'em. WOW!
I've been a camera guy ever since, though not as serious, wealthy, or fanatical as some, and certainly not professional.
It wasn't 'til 2004 that I started becoming more involved in rail photography. As part of planning a cross-country, all-Amtrak vacation I bought a Kodak DX6490 camera and a Dell laptop as a sort of matched pair for pursuing photography along the way. That was really the beginning of dedicated rail photography as a hobby for me, and it's a pursuit I continue to enjoy and find rewarding.
No doubt everybody has a good story about how they came to rail photography - pre-digital even - so maybe you'd like to tell your here as well, along with talking about current hardware, its whys and wherefores.
The Kodak EasyShare DX6490 was originally purchased because everything in my research pointed to ease of use, which was pretty important to me, as I considered myself (and rightfully so) pretty much of a digital klutz; not too swift with complex electronics. That, and a 10X optical zoom (excellent at the time), were the main purchase factors, and the camera worked so well for me that when it came time to upgrade I went with another Kodak, the EasyShare Z1015 IS.
Aside from the fact that the 1015's sensor blew out after only 3 months, aboard the California Zephyr while going over the Sierras on the first day of a rail-centric Utah vacation (warranty repair), I was never really happy with its performance. Like the DX6490 it was also simple to use, and for the most part I had no complaints with the photos and videos it turned out. I say for the most part because there were occasions on which it did let me down, for reasons that seemed to have nothing to do with my own ineptitude (always a factor to be considered). There were focus issues like sluggishness, or a strange indecision that made videos useless when the subjects went in and out of focus as the camera couldn't settle on anything. With no real manual option to go to, there were missed or botched shots when the camera wouldn't lock on anything at all.
These cameras were "point-and-shoot," or P&S cameras, in a category that has come to be called "superzooms" or "ultrazooms." (EDIT: Also sometimes called "bridge" cameras, a term I believe is a misnomer, as it implies a middle ground between P&S and DLSR types. Superzooms, for all their features and capabilities, remain squarely in the P&S category due to the small size of their photographic sensors; the heart of digital cameras and the element that collects the light to be processed into a viewable image.) A more advanced - and more expensive - type is the DSLR - Digital Single Lens Reflex - camera, which is also popular for those rail photographers with bigger budgets and who look for attributes beyond those offered by P&S cameras. And of course there are the simple compact and subcompact cameras that many more casual photographers might prefer, those for whom rail photography is more of an incidental thing than a dedicated pursuit. Such cameras might also serve as fine introductory models for those who are interested in trying rail photography as a hobby, but without making a large investment to begin with.
Back on the Whooz front, the Kodak Z1015 was frankly getting on my nerves, especially during the major Ragin' Rails Raid last summer. I was definitely in the market for a replacement, and finally decided on the Canon PowerShot SX40 HS. It's another P&S superzoom, and though I've had it since November there have been no major opportunities to take it trackside and give it a good first workout and get to know the camera better. Soon, though, and thinking about that is what got me thinking about posting this topic to see what others are doing in their photo world as well.
Recently, while looking forward to taking the SX40 out and about bigtime, I started hankering for a smaller, cheaper, camera that I could easily keep with me; a sort of everyday walkaround camera that would maybe help improve and maintain shooting skills without lugging the larger, heavier SX40 all over the place. I chose another Canon, the small and simple A1200. I've been using it for a couple weeks now, and it's working just as intended - I carry it whenever I go out, and when I see something interesting just haul it out of a pocket and snap away. It hasn't been used for any rail photography yet, but as noted at the beginning the major travel season is almost upon us, and I'm thinking the A1200 will come in handy for, say, lesser or simpler shots that don't require the SX40's capabilities.
So show us your camera!! What are you using for shooting trains these days, how does it work for you, and oh yeah, maybe tell us about what kind of camera you'd like to have - a sort of wish thing involving features you'd like to have or be able to afford.
Canon PowerShot SX40 HS. What are YOU using lately?
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