Choosing and Using a P&S Camera

This instructable will show you what to buy and how to use it. I use my $89 Samsung S630 to take a lot of my photos. The picture below was taken without any special equiptment.

Step 1 Choosing a Decent Camera

Although you may want that new shiny DSLR camera you have to take into account if you have enough experience to operate it. If you are like most people a P&S camera will work just fine. My current camera was bought in a hurry. We were in Florida at Beaches 'n Cream eating our Kitchen Sink (a large bowl of ice cream that can be split among 8 people). Then my sister reaches over the table and spills her water all over the table. My mom had just taken her camera out of its waterproof casing. And you know the rest. She bought me a new camera so we could still have those special memories in Florida. Anyway we went to Circuit City and bought the cheapest camera we could find.

I'm not saying that this is the best way to choose a camera but it worked for me. My suggestions would be to check out all the cameras in your price range, play with them until the guy running the camera department starts looking at you with curiosity. Try taking pictures of your thumbnail if you are going to use it for macro. Take pictures of that shoplifter running out of the store to see if it blurs at all.

See steps 2 and 3 for more in depth explanations of what you might want to look for.

Comments

[guitarman63mm]

My Kodak Z1275 is a little beast of a camera, surprisingly it's full of features, I love taking little avant garde shots with it, as they come out in such high resolution (12mp) The best P&S I've bought as of yet.

[armyboyzahy123]

where did u buy that tripod for a dollar

[coreyjune12]

I got it my local Dollar Store, I was surprised when I saw it there, and it has worked nicely.

[Ann_Smileyy]

hi i'm new at this photography. i was wondering is a tripod something your camera stands on... i think so.

[coreyjune12]

yep

[Derin]

can a p&s use the bulb mode?

[coreyjune12]

Most P&S cameras that I have seen can't, but you might be able to switch out the firmware on Canons to make it do that. I was just using the bulb setting the other day on my grandpa's SLR (Canon Rebel XT). I was trying to get the star paths.

[Derin]

I have a kodak and i am about to get crazy and write to kodak thanks for the reply tho

[LinuxH4x0r]

great job!

[coreyjune12]

Thanks

[LinuxH4x0r]

I just got a Minolta XG-A today for $10!!! It also had a second lens and a flash!

[coreyjune12]

Thats a pretty good deal with two lenses and a flash. My grandpa let me borrow his Sears 35MM SLR and he has about 6 Lenses for it. I like digital better mostly because you can take many more pictures without having to print them all out.

[LinuxH4x0r]

Yeah, but mine is a 3.2 mp and I can't make very big prints with it.

[coreyjune12]

I think my first digital camera was like a 1 or 2 MP.

[theRIAA]

the first digital camera i used was my dad's long trashed work camera, it took FLOPPY DISKS!!!

[coreyjune12]

What are floppy disks? ;-) How many pictures could you get on one Floppy?

[theRIAA]

like 10-12 pictures if i remember correctly...

[Ann_Smileyy]

This is a great pic. with such a simple camera. But in the back you notice how it's blurry. which is good. but did you have to do something to make it a blur??? plz answer back . thanks.

[coreyjune12]

I'm assuming your talking about the orange flower. To do this you have to change the depth of field, which on a P&S is as easy as setting the camera to macro. The macro settings get the object(s) in the foreground focused while blurring the background. It does this by adjusting the focal length.

[theRIAA]

did you also zoom in a little?

[coreyjune12]

I never use zoom for a P&S camera, I do however use it for DSLR cameras. The image above was taken without zoom. You could use zoom to see what happens though. Experiment...

[crestind]

Nice Instructable! I suggest the Kodak Z1285. It's got great optical zoom, resolution, features, and is very affordable. The image resolution is phenomenal! Also, Sony point and shoots tend to have high image noise, and Canons aren't worth the premium.

[coreyjune12]

I saw some reviews for the Kodak Z1285 on Expotv.com and they too said it was good. I might just have to get one of those.

I agree with you about the Sony cameras, the Cyber Shots look nice but they don't take the best pictures.

[Labot2001]

Great ible! +1, Fav'd, and +1 vote!

[coreyjune12]

Thanks, since this was my first instructable I tried to make it nice.