In article , Charlie
Pridham writes


I have a Fuji finepix 5700 and would have to agree with the above, I
generally leave it set to Auto but I use the two macro settings a lot for
close ups and its a lot better than my previous camara a Kodak. Best
thing I did was put a 1gb card in it so I have it on the highest quality
setting and can still do several hundred pictures which means I always
take several shots using different settings and then discard all but the
best!
Find a flower and have a play


Been there, got a t shirt Charlie
The batteries last about 2 hours then I have to change them It uses
immense energy to show the picture on the screen at the back! I am
forever having to run out to the kitchen to put new recharged batteries
in so the woodpecker or the red kite have flown to outer Mongolia before
I get back to the harden

It is not exactly a camera you can slip in your pocket either, well not
unless you have poacher pockets in your coat, AND it weighs a ton. By
the time you unravel it check the batteries are working (hardly
spontaneous) and focus etc everyone has become so self conscious that
you can not take a quick on the hoof snap. AND people assume that you
are really a Brilliant Photographer in the David bailey class as it
looks so super duper, so they ask all sorts of questions about light
meters and shuttering and lens stuff and I haven't got a clue what they
are on about
--
Janet Tweedy
Dalmatian Telegraph
http://www.lancedal.demon.co.uk

"Dave Hill" wrote in message
...
On 19 Nov, 13:19, Sally Thompson
wrote:
On Mon, 19 Nov 2007 11:52:43 +0000, Sacha wrote
(in article ) :



On 19/11/07 11:46, in article
t, "Sally Thompson"
wrote:

On Mon, 19 Nov 2007 10:27:40 +0000, Janet Tweedy wrote
(in article ):

Some of you post amazing close ups of flowers and panoramic views of
gardens. What camera do you sure?
I listened to an experienced photographer some 2 years ago and got a
Fuji finepix 602 but it is incredibly complicated for what I want to
do
, what with macro switches, manual controls, close up and fast and
slow
speed settings etc. It is also heavy and quite bulky though I have no
doubt to an experienced photographer it is the Bees Knees.

Would like to get a new camera (flog the old one - we're not a 2
camera
household!) something I can use on flowers plus getting panoramic
views
of gardens and our club shows etc to put in the newsletter. (As
Editor
and printer I have to resort to drastic measure sometimes to get
content
for the pages!)

Brother suggest a Panasonic dmc tz3 and the original friend who is
also
photographer says to consider a canon umix 750

Any recommendations?

Janet

Whatever you get, it is worth its weight in gold to get a tripod. I
have a
standard one and a mini, fold-up one which fits into a handbag. Also
if you
are doing close-ups, get a friend to stand out of shot and hold the
flower
still :-)

We have a Panasonic DMC-LZ5 but that's now about 2 years old. We're
very
pleased with it and it has a setting for taking e.g. flower close ups.
There are probably newer models. But I agree about the tripod. My
hands
are shaky at the best of times (family trait) and my son has begged me
to
get a tripod. ;-)
Sally, can you tell us where you got your fold up one? That sounds
extremely useful.

Tony bought it for me as a present some years ago, and thinks it came
from a
local camera shop, Capital Cameras (we were then in Sussex); they don't
seem
to have a web site that I can find easily. There is absolutely no
maker's
name on it, but it looks a bit like the Manfrotto MN709B Digi Tabletop
Black
Tripod shown on the Park Cameras web site:
http://www.parkcameras.com/ProductDetails/mcs/productID/880

It's available in quite a few other places as well, for instance:
http://www.camera-
shop.co.uk/acatalog/Manfrotto_Digi_Tripods_with_Integral_Head.html
(watch
the line wrap) so you could always shop around - or ask in a good camera
shop.

Mine measures just over 7 inches in length collapsed, and the retractable
legs pull out more-or-less sideways so that it's only about 7 and a half
inches extended. It's absolutely brilliant to give you that extra bit of
stability, and very lightweight (like you, I have a back problem, so
don't
like toting around lots of heavy clutter).

--
Sally in Shropshire, UK
Burne-Jones/William Morris window in Shropshire church with conservation
churchyard:http://www.whitton-stmarys.org.uk

Strange that no one has mentioned a Mono Pod, a lot less to lug
around.
David Hill

I was going to but dismissed it as 'unstable' for close photography where a
tri pod would be firmer.

Mike


--
www.rnshipmates.co.uk for ALL Royal Navy Association matters
www.rneba.org.uk. The Royal Naval Electrical Branch Association.
'THE' Association to find your ex-Greenie mess mates.
www.iowtours.com for all ex-Service Reunions. More being added regularly
"Navy Days" Portsmouth 25th - 27th July 2008. RN Shipmates will be there.

In article ,
says...
On 19/11/07 12:42, in article , "Nigel
Cliffe" wrote:

Sacha wrote:
snip
Sally, can you tell us where you got your fold up one? That sounds
extremely useful.


You'll find mini tripods in any camera shop (be it Jessops or the local high
street) for less than £20.

snip of useful info


Thanks for all this, Nigel. I'll take a trip into Totnes and see what I can
find there.


Liz may be rubbish at removing spiders webs but she makes and excellent
tripod!!
--
Charlie Pridham, Gardening in Cornwall
www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of national collections of Clematis viticella cultivars and
Lapageria rosea

On 19/11/07 13:15, in article ,
"Martin" wrote:

On Mon, 19 Nov 2007 11:52:43 +0000, Sacha
wrote:

We have a Panasonic DMC-LZ5 but that's now about 2 years old. We're very
pleased with it and it has a setting for taking e.g. flower close ups.
There are probably newer models. But I agree about the tripod. My hands
are shaky at the best of times (family trait) and my son has begged me to
get a tripod. ;-)

We have a Panasonic DMC-FZ7, it has a feature for those with shaky hands.
We are pleased with it.

Yes, ours has a facility for shaky hands which does help a bit.


--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove weeds from address)
'We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our
children.'

In article ,
says...
In article , Charlie
Pridham writes


I have a Fuji finepix 5700 and would have to agree with the above, I
generally leave it set to Auto but I use the two macro settings a lot for
close ups and its a lot better than my previous camara a Kodak. Best
thing I did was put a 1gb card in it so I have it on the highest quality
setting and can still do several hundred pictures which means I always
take several shots using different settings and then discard all but the
best!
Find a flower and have a play


Been there, got a t shirt Charlie
The batteries last about 2 hours then I have to change them It uses
immense energy to show the picture on the screen at the back! I am
forever having to run out to the kitchen to put new recharged batteries
in so the woodpecker or the red kite have flown to outer Mongolia before
I get back to the harden

It is not exactly a camera you can slip in your pocket either, well not
unless you have poacher pockets in your coat, AND it weighs a ton. By
the time you unravel it check the batteries are working (hardly
spontaneous) and focus etc everyone has become so self conscious that
you can not take a quick on the hoof snap. AND people assume that you
are really a Brilliant Photographer in the David bailey class as it
looks so super duper, so they ask all sorts of questions about light
meters and shuttering and lens stuff and I haven't got a clue what they
are on about

Puzzled over the weight as mine is much lighter than my 35mm slr camara
and lighter than the Kodak digital it replaced.
Very puzzled by the battery issue as I bought mine in June have taken
over 500 pictures and never changed the batteries. The only thing I can
think is you are transferring the pictures direct from the camara? I am
now able to take the card out and bung it in a slot in the computer so no
battery power is needed, either that or the batteries have had it.
I use the screen at the back rather than view finder as well but always
turn off after taking pictures.
But would agree that it does not slip into a pocket, I tend to leave it
around my neck but you do look a bit of a tourist!
--
Charlie Pridham, Gardening in Cornwall
www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of national collections of Clematis viticella cultivars and
Lapageria rosea

"Charlie Pridham" wrote in message
T...
In article ,
says...
In article , Charlie
Pridham writes


I have a Fuji finepix 5700 and would have to agree with the above, I
generally leave it set to Auto but I use the two macro settings a lot
for
close ups and its a lot better than my previous camara a Kodak. Best
thing I did was put a 1gb card in it so I have it on the highest quality
setting and can still do several hundred pictures which means I always
take several shots using different settings and then discard all but the
best!
Find a flower and have a play


Been there, got a t shirt Charlie
The batteries last about 2 hours then I have to change them It uses
immense energy to show the picture on the screen at the back! I am
forever having to run out to the kitchen to put new recharged batteries
in so the woodpecker or the red kite have flown to outer Mongolia before
I get back to the harden

It is not exactly a camera you can slip in your pocket either, well not
unless you have poacher pockets in your coat, AND it weighs a ton. By
the time you unravel it check the batteries are working (hardly
spontaneous) and focus etc everyone has become so self conscious that
you can not take a quick on the hoof snap. AND people assume that you
are really a Brilliant Photographer in the David bailey class as it
looks so super duper, so they ask all sorts of questions about light
meters and shuttering and lens stuff and I haven't got a clue what they
are on about

Puzzled over the weight as mine is much lighter than my 35mm slr camara
and lighter than the Kodak digital it replaced.
Very puzzled by the battery issue as I bought mine in June have taken
over 500 pictures and never changed the batteries. The only thing I can
think is you are transferring the pictures direct from the camara? I am
now able to take the card out and bung it in a slot in the computer so no
battery power is needed, either that or the batteries have had it.
I use the screen at the back rather than view finder as well but always
turn off after taking pictures.
But would agree that it does not slip into a pocket, I tend to leave it
around my neck but you do look a bit of a tourist!
--
Charlie Pridham, Gardening in Cornwall
www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of national collections of Clematis viticella cultivars and
Lapageria rosea

Charlie I go along with all you say especially battery business. I don't
think I have EVER run out of battery. As far as weight and convenience is
concerned, the Fuji 610 slips into my shirt breast pocket, so I guess it
must be a lot smaller than others we are talking about.

Just weighed it on the kitchen scales. 'Just' under 8 ozs 'old money' ;-)

Mike



--
www.rnshipmates.co.uk for ALL Royal Navy Association matters
www.rneba.org.uk. The Royal Naval Electrical Branch Association.
'THE' Association to find your ex-Greenie mess mates.
www.iowtours.com for all ex-Service Reunions. More being added regularly
"Navy Days" Portsmouth 25th - 27th July 2008. RN Shipmates will be there.

On 19/11/07 13:45, in article
, "Charlie Pridham"
wrote:

In article ,
says...
On 19/11/07 12:42, in article , "Nigel
Cliffe" wrote:

Sacha wrote:
snip
Sally, can you tell us where you got your fold up one? That sounds
extremely useful.


You'll find mini tripods in any camera shop (be it Jessops or the local high
street) for less than £20.

snip of useful info


Thanks for all this, Nigel. I'll take a trip into Totnes and see what I can
find there.


Liz may be rubbish at removing spiders webs but she makes and excellent
tripod!!

Oh yummie. A match made in heaven. ;-) You old romantic, you!

--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove weeds from address)
'We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our
children.'

On Nov 19, 1:36 pm, Janet Tweedy wrote:
In article , Charlie
Pridham writes

I have a Fuji finepix 5700 and would have to agree with the above, I
generally leave it set to Auto but I use the two macro settings a lot for
close ups and its a lot better than my previous camara a Kodak. Best
thing I did was put a 1gb card in it so I have it on the highest quality
setting and can still do several hundred pictures which means I always
take several shots using different settings and then discard all but the
best!
Find a flower and have a play

Been there, got a t shirt Charlie
The batteries last about 2 hours then I have to change them It uses
immense energy to show the picture on the screen at the back! I am

They do chew batteries quite a bit faster in macro mode with the LCD
screen continually updated. Especially if the thing is using flash as
well. But most modern digicams should last quite a bit longer than
that with a decent set of batteries. My old Canon Ixus is good for a
few hundred still shots with a fresh set and my DSLR is even more
frugal.

The one thing that little digicams really don't like is being left in
videoclip mode with live updating. That absolutely hammers the battery
and after a few minutes mine goes into thermal shutdown. Case very
warm.

Another good way to ruin batteries is to leave the camera attached to
a PCs USB port for extended periods acting a disk drive. It represents
a fair drain on the batteries when USB is active.

forever having to run out to the kitchen to put new recharged batteries
in so the woodpecker or the red kite have flown to outer Mongolia before
I get back to the harden

It is not exactly a camera you can slip in your pocket either, well not
unless you have poacher pockets in your coat, AND it weighs a ton. By

Well built ones are often dense but small. I personally like the Canon
minature Ixus cameras for a pocketable device with advanced macro
closeup. Minor irritation is that smallest size means custom battery
pack.

You might be well advised to ask on rec.photo.digital for a camera
suitable for the sort of wildlife and close up photos you want to do
with a good zoom lens (soem now 10x and of good quality), but which is
simple enough to understand and use easily. Some of them now are very
powerful but have steep learning curve if it is being used mainly to
record some other hobby rather than for amateur photography as a
hobby.

This is one situation where going to Jessops and playing with a few
likely candidates is more likely to get you what you want than
visiting any number of review sites. The spec may be fabulous, but if
the buttons are too close together and fiddly for you to use then it
doesn't really matter how good the optics are.

Regards,
Martin Brown

On 19/11/07 14:43, in article ,
"Martin" wrote:

On Mon, 19 Nov 2007 14:16:21 +0000, Sacha
wrote:

On 19/11/07 13:45, in article
, "Charlie Pridham"
wrote:
snip


Liz may be rubbish at removing spiders webs but she makes and excellent
tripod!!

Oh yummie. A match made in heaven. ;-) You old romantic, you!

You can wrap this one around your assistant's head
http://www.getsalt.com/news.php?id=226

3 kilos of revenge. ;-)
--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove weeds from address)
'We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our
children.'

On 19/11/07 15:29, in article ,
"Martin" wrote:

On Mon, 19 Nov 2007 14:48:08 +0000, Sacha
wrote:

On 19/11/07 14:43, in article ,
"Martin" wrote:

On Mon, 19 Nov 2007 14:16:21 +0000, Sacha
wrote:

On 19/11/07 13:45, in article
, "Charlie Pridham"
wrote:
snip


Liz may be rubbish at removing spiders webs but she makes and excellent
tripod!!

Oh yummie. A match made in heaven. ;-) You old romantic, you!

You can wrap this one around your assistant's head
http://www.getsalt.com/news.php?id=226

3 kilos of revenge. ;-)

http://gorillapod.nl/

http://gorillapod.nl/images/action11.jpg

http://gorillapod.nl/images/action09.jpg

Amazing that's the Cahor we used to buy direct from the vineyard.

I really, really hope Charlie knows better than to show these to Liz. I can
just imagine her reaction to being asked to wear a tripod on her head! Can
I buy this in UK, I wonder. Might be a rather good present for someone.
--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove weeds from address)
'We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our
children.'

In article ,
says...
On 19/11/07 15:29, in article ,
"Martin" wrote:

On Mon, 19 Nov 2007 14:48:08 +0000, Sacha
wrote:

On 19/11/07 14:43, in article ,
"Martin" wrote:

On Mon, 19 Nov 2007 14:16:21 +0000, Sacha
wrote:

On 19/11/07 13:45, in article
, "Charlie Pridham"
wrote:
snip


Liz may be rubbish at removing spiders webs but she makes and excellent
tripod!!

Oh yummie. A match made in heaven. ;-) You old romantic, you!

You can wrap this one around your assistant's head
http://www.getsalt.com/news.php?id=226

3 kilos of revenge. ;-)

http://gorillapod.nl/

http://gorillapod.nl/images/action11.jpg

http://gorillapod.nl/images/action09.jpg

Amazing that's the Cahor we used to buy direct from the vineyard.

I really, really hope Charlie knows better than to show these to Liz. I can
just imagine her reaction to being asked to wear a tripod on her head! Can
I buy this in UK, I wonder. Might be a rather good present for someone.

I am safe in the knowledge that she has no interest in the computer other
than playing card games (not poker!) and doing guide accounts/emails etc.
Although we will often discuss some of the more interesting and topical
threads.
--
Charlie Pridham, Gardening in Cornwall
www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of national collections of Clematis viticella cultivars and
Lapageria rosea

In article 7b8e9a80-2670-4766-a837-
,
says...
Another good way to ruin batteries is to leave the camera attached to
a PCs USB port for extended periods acting a disk drive. It represents
a fair drain on the batteries when USB is active.


Its certainly noticibly better since I changed over to a direct card
reader.
--
Charlie Pridham, Gardening in Cornwall
www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of national collections of Clematis viticella cultivars and
Lapageria rosea

"Charlie Pridham" wrote in message
T...
In article 7b8e9a80-2670-4766-a837-
,
says...
Another good way to ruin batteries is to leave the camera attached to
a PCs USB port for extended periods acting a disk drive. It represents
a fair drain on the batteries when USB is active.


Its certainly noticibly better since I changed over to a direct card
reader.
--
Charlie Pridham, Gardening in Cornwall
www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of national collections of Clematis viticella cultivars and
Lapageria rosea

We have only ever used card readers. We were introduced to this before our
World Cruise as a way of clearing the card off the camera and using it again
and again and again etc.

Since then, only used the card reader on both lap tops :-)

Mike


--
www.rnshipmates.co.uk for ALL Royal Navy Association matters
www.rneba.org.uk. The Royal Naval Electrical Branch Association.
'THE' Association to find your ex-Greenie mess mates.
www.iowtours.com for all ex-Service Reunions. More being added regularly
"Navy Days" Portsmouth 25th - 27th July 2008. RN Shipmates will be there.

"Charlie Pridham" wrote in message
T...

I am safe in the knowledge that she has no interest in the computer other
than playing card games (not poker!) and doing guide accounts/
--
Charlie Pridham, Gardening in Cornwall
www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of national collections of Clematis viticella cultivars and
Lapageria rosea

Charlie. Most interested to know. What programme is she using for Guide
Accounts? I have just started a new business and am in fact doing the first
interim accounts now and using nothing less than an Excell Spreadsheet.
(Throwing up some nasty Tax Liabilities as well:-((( )

Mike


--
www.rnshipmates.co.uk for ALL Royal Navy Association matters
www.rneba.org.uk. The Royal Naval Electrical Branch Association.
'THE' Association to find your ex-Greenie mess mates.
www.iowtours.com for all ex-Service Reunions. More being added regularly
"Navy Days" Portsmouth 25th - 27th July 2008. RN Shipmates will be there.

In article ,
says...



"Charlie Pridham" wrote in message
T...

I am safe in the knowledge that she has no interest in the computer other
than playing card games (not poker!) and doing guide accounts/
--
Charlie Pridham, Gardening in Cornwall
www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of national collections of Clematis viticella cultivars and
Lapageria rosea

Charlie. Most interested to know. What programme is she using for Guide
Accounts? I have just started a new business and am in fact doing the first
interim accounts now and using nothing less than an Excell Spreadsheet.
(Throwing up some nasty Tax Liabilities as well:-((( )

Mike



I am afraid like me she uses an Excell spread sheet, son however uses
Sage, but thats way over the top for whats required here.
--
Charlie Pridham, Gardening in Cornwall
www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of national collections of Clematis viticella cultivars and
Lapageria rosea