Need help picking a digital camera $30-50 budget

4 years 10 months ago #647157 by morgothaod
I'm looking to buy a camera from ebay to take photos on a nature trail (Gopher tortoises, birds, alligators).  I tried using my phone but in the sun, I can't see my screen.  Another issue I had on the phone is when zooming in on the animal, the image quality looked bad.  Not sure if it is user error or my phone Moto E5 Play.  When not zooming in the pictures look pretty good.  Here are some examples:








A camera I was considering (Based on price, zoom, and having a view finder) was a Fujifilm FinePix S Series S2100HD 10.0MP Digital Camera.  Do you think I'll be able to zoom in on something with it and have a clear picture?  Do you see any other cameras within my price range that would be good for me?  Thanks!


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4 years 10 months ago #647291 by KCook
If the camera is in working order the images will be good. But with a cheap camera that old there is always a risk that it will develop some problem.

Kelly

Canon 50D, Olympus PL2
kellycook.zenfolio.com/

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4 years 10 months ago #649386 by dpoehlman
The reason your cellphone photos don't look good zoomed in is because it utilizes digital zoom.. which is no different than snapping the picture and zooming in on your screen.  You're essentially viewing a portion of the sensor and therefore are looking at fewer pixels.   A camera with an optical zoom (where the lens actually moves and magnifies the image across the entire sensor) will take far superior pictures because there is no loss in megapixels. 

I used a Fuji FinePix S5700 for many years and loved it.  The colors were great and it took a whopping 7 megapixels with a 10x optical zoom.  It did have issues with some chromatic aberration (purple fringing) at full zoom in bright light... but it'd beat a cell phone any day.   The menu system was clunky but you could actually put it in different priority modes and experiment with exposures. 

I'd say go to Flickr.com and search for S2100HD and see what sort of pictures people are taking.  I think you'll be impressed. 


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