Affordable Camera, what's your favorite?

[wyb2]

Originally Posted by Sandibar

Problem is, you don't get a good camera in a 200 $ phone.

True, that's why I said with a cell plan. Very few people pay (at least upfront) the sticker price on a new phone. If we are talking about someone who would otherwise not own a cell phone at all, then the numbers are very different.

[FutureStories]

Originally Posted by Lake-Effect

My wife now has an iphone 6; it takes really good photos, even low light, and you can get them with the same amount of memory as the average camera. I imagine there are Android phones that are also as good.

So, it's more day and day; I don't know that you will get that much more "camera" for $200.... but the camera will have more photo options, better flash and hopefully better optics.

I expect that a $200 'regular' camera will take better pictures than a $200 'waterproof' camera, if quality is paramount.

You want rechargeable batteries, especially if you can recharge from any USB port.

I've gotten 9 reliable years out of a small Canon camera that was CDN$300. I wouldn't hesitate to get one again.

I've got an iPhone 6s+ or whatever. But the pictures don't turn out nearly as well as with my coworkers Nikon cool pics. I've tried! I've handled huge social media marketing campaigns from my phone with editing apps. But for photographing a boat a point and shoot is much more effective.

As for my budget, I'm sitting $200 aside for a point and shoot so I can spend the rest of my money on things like running rigging, new tanks, head, hoses, teak and holly sole, and couple sailing lessons so the girlfriend can take the tiller (my just do it teaching mentality doesn't sit well with her)

Once I've sold a few more boats and gotten further in my refit I'll break out the checkbook and buy better equipment for my photography/blog/vlog interest. For now I'm simply asking what point and shoots people like (and almost more importantly which they DISLIKE) so I can stop stealing my co-workers everyday.

And if waterproof is a good idea given my overall. I like the rugged factor more than anything, and knowing when I have the rail in the water and hit some chop when it bounces around the cockpit I'm not freaking out about a camera. Or if I sacrifice too much quality with a waterproof phone.

[FutureStories]

And against the phone thing.

I like the removable memory from the camera to make it easy to move pictures around the office.

My phone is an iPhone so it doesn't have removable memory and the extra step is annoying to me and I have a ton of music on my phone.

Nothing will make me contemplate it as an option. Chalk it up to make stubbornness

[fallingeggs]

I'll forth the iPhone 6/6s. Within its limits, they take fine photos and videos. What are those limits? High contrast, low light, and zoom. With the fixed aperture, the depth of field (the ability to blur the background) is also very close to the phone. But if you don't try to make it do things that it shouldn't do, you really can be happy with the outcome. There are cheap apps that allow you to take manual control over the exposure and focus, for when you progress to this level (which comes quickly).

I haven't looked, but I'd guess you can pick up an iPhone 6/6s on eBay for a fraction of their price new. No water proof case is needed; just don't drop off the boat! Plus, it can double as a phone (gasp!).

Whatever camera you pick, you'll need some editing software. Adobe's Lightroom Elements is a good choice, for example. Editing software allows you to correct exposure and white balance issues that can be tricky to get right at the time the shot is taken. Even if you shot with the perfect exposure and white balance every time (unlikely even for professionals), the pictures can still benefit from some editing to the color to reflect the "mood" you're trying to set. Perhaps if you're taking "for sale" pictures, the colors should be adjusted to "pop" a bit more.

If any of the above is Greek to you, I'd suggest reading up a bit (really, it is just a bit) to get the basics of photography done. It sounds like it's now part of your job!

Edit: Ha, I see you hate the phone idea, but I'll keep the above here anyway. But I maintain that the iPhone 6/6s can take as quality of shots as any other sub $300 camera, if you know what you're doing.

Also, as an alternative, check out a Sony RX100 (versions 1 through 4 are out). One on eBay might be fetching around $200 for an early model). These will blow away any "tough" camera.

[Sandibar]

Originally Posted by wyb2

True, that's why I said with a cell plan. Very few people pay (at least upfront) the sticker price on a new phone. If we are talking about someone who would otherwise not own a cell phone at all, then the numbers are very different.

Right. Different country . I've only ever bought my phones upfront here in Finland, like most people here do.

[Cotemar]

Originally Posted by FutureStories

Questions:
1. Is waterproof/resistant worth it or useful I'm afraid spending money on one that isn't is prone to accidental water damage? Same with durability... I'm not always graceful while sailing in heavy winds.
2. Rechargeable or regular batteries?
3. What are your favorite models.

Answers:
1. No I don't have room to expand my budget by and more than $50(200 is already a stretch) I will probably but another camera down the road, if you're gonna suggest a $600 camera be sure to back it up with listing your boat with me :P

I have posted hundreds of boat photos using an Olympus Tough Stylus camera.

1) Its small
2) Its waterproof
3) It does videos
4) You can get them for under $200
5) It does great closeups (Macro shots)
6) It has removable / Rechargeable batteries
.
.

[foufou]

I have a 13mp camera in my $100 windows phone. And a 128 gigabyte micro sd card. Enough to hold ten movies! I also have a Fuji waterproof point and shoot 12 mp. Was about $150. The phone has dominated my use because it's almost always in my pocket. And the ease of e mailing.

[Secondwind410]

We bought the knock off version of the go pro called andoer off eBay.com for about 40$ and its 4K video and comes with all the attachments that you would need! Great camera, just as good if not better than our silver go pro! Cheap and if you loose it's not huge money lost! Comes in many different colours too!

[fatherchronica]

We have had a Fuji point and shoot, waterproof camera onboard for 4 years and use it more than our Nikon 3200. Mostly because it fits in a pocket, and no risk if we get drenched some way or other. Also, I put a homemade bracket on a 1x2 stick and I can mount the camera to it and set the timer and stick it underwater and look at hulls and such. We loaned to an idiot in Mexico a few years ago and he promptly lost it overboard where it spent 3 days at 15 feet in silty mud before it was found and it never missed a beat.

[Skededel]

This is a little off topic but bear with me. It seems to me that the make of camera should be of less interest to a broker than focusing on the proper staging of the boat that is for sale. It is simply amazing to me how the majority of boats for sale on yachtworld are so poorly presented. We just went through the process of buying a used boat and it was simply mind blowing the number of times we encountered photos that were mismatched, out of sequence, out of focus, duplicates, etc. Often times the photos showed boats that were messy or otherwise not well staged. Rarely was the problem the camera used to take the photos! My guess is that with a limited budget a cell phone can do the job. I'd spend the time and money honing skills and learning how the best brokers display their boats for sale (see Swiftsure Yachts for an example of how to do it right!).

[wyb2]

Originally Posted by Sandibar

Right. Different country . I've only ever bought my phones upfront here in Finland, like most people here do.

In the states we prefer and signing up for long term obligations and amassing debt. "But the first payment was so low!"

Sorry, back to the thread.

[Lake-Effect]

Originally Posted by FutureStories

I like the removable memory from the camera to make it easy to move pictures around the office.

My phone is an iPhone so it doesn't have removable memory and the extra step is annoying to me and I have a ton of music on my phone.

Especially with Apple I believe the photo upload is just about automatic to their cloud, or you can transfer off the phone via wifi. Much easier than messing with the SD card...

Even with my "camera" camera... I seldom pop out the SD card. I just hook up the camera to the computer with a USB cable, then drag and drop. Faster, less risk to the camera and card.

You do what want, of course...

[TeddyDiver]

People have different opinions what makes a camera affordable. IMO 200 is too little to get it done. Let me explain. To get good pictures of the interior you need quite wide angled optics and good low light performance, not so much megapixels as the pictures are mostly online. For that purpose a good action camera would be ok and in your budget. But... for the outside pictures you need an other one with longer optics, just becouse the perspective with ultra wide angle would be totally wrong. Thou such cameras are cheaper..

[Lake-Effect]

Originally Posted by Secondwind410

We bought the knock off version of the go pro called andoer off eBay.com for about 40$ and its 4K video and comes with all the attachments that you would need! Great camera, just as good if not better than our silver go pro! Cheap and if you loose it's not huge money lost! Comes in many different colours too!

Cool! I just bought something similar. ("4k", with the "30m" case and all the mounting bits)... was CDN$60 delivered. From following some forum instructions I adjusted the focus and it got better.

The construction isn't very reassuring, but so far so good. How is yours standing up? And the waterproof case?

[Celestialsailor]

Buy an ebay used camera. They are usually lightly used if at all. I have a Canon SX170. Great camera, $100 used.