Best Camera

[Gary Daughters]

What small camera is best for taking golf course photos?  I'm thinking easy access/storage(pocket)/operation.. also quality.

[Tim Martin]

Check with Joe Bausch. He takes very high quality photos with a small point and shoot camera.

[Phil_the_Author]

Gary,

Evidently whichever one I am NOT using...

[Tim Bert]

Gary - Canon S90 for me. I think they are on S95 now but essentially the same. A little more expensive than some of the point and shoots but it has a couple of dials that make manual settings easier, and it is the best low light point and shoot I have ever owned.  I have been pleased with the photo quality for a camera that fits comfortably in my front pocket during a round of golf.

[Mike Nuzzo]

The Canon elph wide angle - I don't know the newest model.
I've been using the 870 for years now.
All of the Wolf Point photos on my site are from that camera or the older 500 which still works great.

When I told some very, very good golf photographers what camera I used, after showing them my pictures, they were very surprised.
Cheers

[Jeff Taylor]

Sendxor technology has so greatly imporved that any modern mid-level or above point and shoot can do the job. More importantly, you want some control of depth of field and you must have good glass.
Happy hunting.

[Phil McDade]

Gary:

Some suggestions from GCAers on this thread from a year-and-a-half ago:

http://golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,40752.0.html

[Jud_T]

Gary,

I just got the Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS7.  This is their smallest, lowest price model which has the Leica lens.  I think it was about $250. I really like it.  The zoom and the HD video are very good. 

[Ed Oden]

Just curious, has anyone tried any of the new mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras?  They are an intriguing option which could potentially be the best of both worlds (i.e., compact like a point and shoot but with image quality comparable to a dslr).  Then again, I could just as easily see them being the worst of both worlds (i.e., bigger than a point and shoot and not quite capable of matching dslr performance).  Anyone have any thoughts?

[Dan Herrmann]

Don't do anything till you hear from Joe Bausch.

[Sean_A]

I don't think it makes a hill of beans of difference so long as one is comparing in similar price range and has done a bit of homework.  Good golf photos rely overwhelmingly on good light.  If you can get a camera that guarantees that - buy it Dano.

Ciao

[C. Squier]

Canon G series.

[Tim Bert]

I'm sure everyone realizes this already but asking Aidan Bradley or Joe Bausch what camera they use is sort of like the strategy of asking a gold glove outfielder what brand of glove he uses.  It's not going to make your pictures look like theirs.  A good professional photographer could use half the point and shoot cameras on the market and most of us would probably never know the difference. 

[Andy Troeger]

For golf photos I love my Canon PowerShot SX120 IS. It has a 10x zoom and seems to do well even in low light, within reason of course. Its great for outside shots...good but not great for inside. Fits in my pocket too.

[Marty Bonnar]

As a young student, I owned a Russian-made 'Zenit' SLR, which was quite possibly the Nadir of my camera-owning career.

oh yes,
FBD.

[Tony_Muldoon]

As a young student, I owned a Russian-made 'Zenit' SLR, which was quite possibly the Nadir of my camera-owning career.

oh yes,
FBD.

Heavy weren't they?   Back problems started about then.





I would look at how bright the screen is.  If it's a bright day can you see what's on  the screen?

[Brett_Morrissy]

G'day Gary,
I went thru this exact exercise before my trip to the states in July last year.

I ended up choosing the Canon: IXUS 130 IS in Black.
26 -112 mm wide angle lens - fantastic for golf course pics, and with capacity to shoot in panoramic, perfect for golf courses!
Image stabiliser is also a great feature, partcularly if shooting in the wind.
4 x optical zoom, 14.1 megapixel camera with a fantastic High Definition HD video capability as well.

This camera is so tiny, I am not a fan of lots of stuff in my pockets when I play, this easily and comfortably sat in my left pocket the whole trip, and on busy courses was able to shoot very quickly because of it's size and simple operation.

I took over 1500 pics in 14 days. Hardly a bad photo amongst them.

I would take a wide angle off each tee, then zoom all the way in for driving zone or central feature of each hole, then do the same at approach shot.
I think I paid about $250 duty free leaving Australia, but we are pretty expensive over here.

Good luck.

[Brett_Morrissy]

It may be called the Canon SD1300 in the States

http://www.dpreview.com/news/1002/10020802canonsd1400issd1300is.asp

[Gary Daughters]

Thanks for all the feedback.

I read some plaudits for the Canon G9 and G10 on the other thread.  Any thoughts on those, or have they already been surpassed?

Also on the earlier thread Joe ID'd this as his piece:

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0609/06091403_canon_sd800is.asp

[Richard Choi]

This is a pretty nice roundup...

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/Q210grouptravelzoom/

If you are going to take golf course photos, it is nice to have a wide angle lens as you can fit more into the frame. Panasonic compacts usually have pretty wide angle lenses.

[Matthew Schulte]

Thanks for all the feedback.

I read some plaudits for the Canon G9 and G10 on the other thread.  Any thoughts on those, or have they already been surpassed?

Also on the earlier thread Joe ID'd this as his piece:

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0609/06091403_canon_sd800is.asp

Gary:  Canon is now out with the G12 model.  It is a great camera but a little on the large side.  Far too large to fit in pants or shorts pockets.  

The Canon S95 is a terrific "pro-sumer" compact camera with very little image noise, lots of advanced controls and compact enough to put in your pocket.

[Tom Yost]

I'm sure everyone realizes this already but asking Aidan Bradley or Joe Bausch what camera they use is sort of like the strategy of asking a gold glove outfielder what brand of glove he uses.  It's not going to make your pictures look like theirs.  A good professional photographer could use half the point and shoot cameras on the market and most of us would probably never know the difference. 

Tis true you know!

It is all about the light. 

[Patrick Kiser]

Santa got me the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-TX7 with the panoramic sweep feature.  It's a rather slim and compact camera.  About the size of a thin wallet. 

So far so good, but the thing chews through batteries.  Two other drawbacks...  One has been a very annoying Windows like sound that comes up upon turning the camera ON.  About as bad as turning on a cell phone and there's no way to turn it off.  Second has been the storage card being somewhat of a pain.  Software has been about as good or bad as any typical camera vendor out there.

Panoramic shots are a snap now with no stitching needed at all.  Just click, sweep, then release and you're done.  Very efficient and you're not holding up play.

I have not even tried or used 1/10th of the features and I'm quite impressed with what they've been able to cram into this thing.

The other camera as many are mentioning would have been the Canon S95.  But you have to stitch for panoramics and I've found that to be an absolute pain.

It's a good time to pull the trigger on a camera, because prices are dropping like never before.  Everything is going the PDA direction and hand held cameras will become a thing of the past it looks like.

[Matthew Schulte]

Has anyone made the leap and purchased a 3D camera yet?  A friend recently showed me some of his photos taken with a Fuji 3D camera and I was quite impressed.  Apparently the camera takes multiple images at the same time a lays them over one another.  It really works and no silly glasses are required.  Not sure if it is worth being an early adopter on this technology or not.

[Dan Moore]

Sean is right its all about the light but a better camera will let you get better shots in less than ideal light and provide a higher level of resolution in ideal light.  I've used basic P&S from Canon and Nikon with decent results mostly dependent on good light, mid range cameras that shoot raw in my case the Canon G-9 and recently bought a high end Canon  DSLR which just blows the others out of the water, but obviously can't be used much while playing.  I've done it a couple of times but don't recommend it.  

Shooting raw has distinct advantages in that you can do alot to correct for lighting deficiencies.  If you want better than average photos I recommend a camera that shoots raw but you will need some raw preocessing software.   There are several small P&S size cameras that shoot raw to choose from these days.  An interesting very small camera is the Sony Nex-5 which a friend bought.  Little pricy but very small and excellent near dslr quality.  Personally I have been very happy with my Canon G-9 and wouldn't get anything less than that in quality at this point.