Which of these two cameras is better for taking pictures of lightening?

by mikebaird

Nikon Coolpix P90 12MP Digital Camera with 24x Optical Zoom, 3″ LCD
http://www.walmart.com/Nikon-Coolpix-P90-Digital-Black/ip/10928333

or
List EOS Digital Rebel Xs Black 10.1 MP Digital SLR With 18-55-IS lens and 2.5″ LCD
http://www.walmart.com/Eos-Rebel-Xs-Slr-Digital/ip/10669032

Answer by Charles
Of these two cameras simply lightened for pictures? Get outta here.

Answer by Cleo
Hmm. As an SLR lover I would say go for the digital SLR camera rather than the digital, but the coolpix does look excellent. If you really care about going into photography and you reckon you’ll benefit greatly from a professional camera and are up for learning all the settings then get the SLR – if not, and you’re just really up for taking photos of lightning, get the digital. Both will have quick enough shutter speeds to get the picture, it just depends on you as the individual.

Answer by qrk
The SLR will be simpler to catch lightning pictures and give you better results due to sensor area, f-stop adjustment, and manual focusing. The P90 is an advanced point & shoot which earnings it has the controls required to catch lightning images.

To catch lightning, you need to shoot in manual mode. At ISO 100, you can start out with an f/11 aperture. Any set the shutter speed to bulb mode or 30 seconds. Bulb mode is much better since you will want to terminate your exposure just after the event. In general, if an event doesn’t occur within 1 small, close the shutter and restart the process. Use a wide zoom background since you won’t know where the lightning bolt will come from and events do cover a large part of the sky.

If you get the P90, you may have problems with making the aperture small enough (larger f-stop numbers). The smallest aperture on most point & shoot cameras is around f/11. You will need to set your ISO to 64 and hopefully you can get an aperture small enough so the lightning bolt won’t severely overexpose your image.

Best to use manual focusing. It’s hard for a camera to focus on a dark sky. A SLR will be much simpler to manual focus than a P&S camera. I like to use autofocus and focus on a street light a block or two away, then place the camera on manual focus.

In post processing, you will want to play with the levels control to bring up the dimmer parts of the event. It’s reasonably incredible to see all the small stuff that makes up a lightning event.

BTW, a tripod is a nice business to use, but you can hand hold your camera or bench it on a table or wall. Hand holding your camera will sometimes bring out fascinating things about a lightning event. It is not one flash, but a series of flashes that make up an event. With enough camera shake, you can see the individual strokes that make up an event.

What do you reckon? Answer below!

Proud of that New Leather Jacket


Image by chemisti
Learn how to light at Strobist.

SB-24, camera left @ 1/2 power, triggered by Ebay wireless slave
SB-600, camera right @1/4 power, triggered by optical trigger
both fired into 43" convertible umbrellas on light stands, both about 4′ up and ~60 degrees from camera axis in front of my fireplace in my home.

Nikon D50, Manual – settings below
Nikon Digital 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G ED AF-S DX Zoom

Nikon D50
2007/01/12 19:34:22.5
Compressed RAW (12-bit)
Image Size: Large (3008 x 2000)
Lens: 18-55mm F/3.5-5.6 G
Focal Length: 40mm
Exposure Mode: Manual
Metering Mode: Center-Weighted
1/80 sec – F/5.6
Exposure Comp.: 0 EV
Sensitivity: ISO 400
Optimize Image: Custom
White Balance: Flash
AF Mode: AF-C
Flash Sync Mode: Not Emotionally involved
Auto Flash Comp: 0 EV
Color Mode: Mode IIIa (sRGB)
Tone Comp.: Normal
Hue Adjustment: 0°
Saturation: Normal
Sharpening: Normal
Image Comment: JLW-
Long Exposure NR: Off

3x digital zoom, 10.0 megapixel, Light Sensitivity: ISO 100, ISO 800, ISO 400, ISO 200, ISO 80, ISO 1600, ISO 3200, ISO auto, Shooting Modes: Frame movie mode , Digital Zoom: 4 x, Optical Zoom: 3 x ,
Zoom lens – 6.2 mm – 18.6 mm – f/2.8-4.9, Min Focus Range: 11.8 in .. Im buying a new camera soon. Yet, i dont have the money too buy one thats, 2000$ , i want one that takes apparent pictures. but would one with that, be a excellent camera?

Answer by Elvis
refer to the link below

http://www.google.com/#hl=en&source=hp&q=digital+camera+buying+guide&aq=0&aqi=g7g-m3&oq=digital+camera+buying+&fp=7960896364bf1ed8

Answer by Petra_au
Specs don’t really mean anything. What matters most is the actual camera make and model. So, which camera were you thinking of buying?

Answer by Vintage Music
Back up. How much are you spending. All that additional gibbirish earnings nothing. Not only how much ya spending, you want tiny camera, fully auto or larger with lots of zoom or what?

Give your answer to this question below!
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