Cameras and quality. What do you use?

[Sea Turtle]

Hello there!

I was just wondering about what cameras you guys are using. Most of my pictures, ones that don't have a date in the corner, I have taken with my 6 year old Samsung Tocco Lite phone, and they seem to be coming out alright. But I've noticed that many people have better quality images than mine. I would also be interested in a possible upgrade to a camera so I can get more pictures and better ones. This is why I ask you guys what you're using and whether you have any preferences, or if the pictures I have are ok and I don't really need to get a camera at all.

Thanks guys

[Donegal Bay.]

Your photos look fine to me Sea Turtle. Compact digital cameras take good images and a lot of them have decent zoom.In low light digital SLRs usually take better images but are a lot more expensive and might not stand up to life at sea.

[martin johns]

Hi Sea Turtle,

Your photos look great considering they are taken with a phone.
I keep a small Panasonic TZ30 handy in my van for everyday use. It has a 20x optical zoom which is always very useful when photographing boats.
When I am taking more serious photos or at events like trawler races I use a Nikon D300s DSLR but that is a bit too valuable to get knocked around with everyday use, around 2K for the camera & lens.

[Davie Tait]

As the lads have said a small compact digital camera is fine for normal use , saw a Fuji 14mp camera with a memory card recently for around £50-£60 brand new.

I use a Nikon D3100 DSLR with a 28-55mm lens and a 55-300mm lens but thats £450 worth for a 14mp camera , with all things look at the optical zoom first , the higher the optical zoom the better the image will be. Once you start using digital zoom you loose quality at a pretty rapid rate the more you zoom in. The reason a DSLR will produce far better results compared to a compact is simply due to the lens quality they pretty much use the same optical chip.

There's nothing wrong with the quality of the photos your uploading they're easily as good as any I've ever taken with my camera phone ( better in most cases ). There really isn't a need to spend an awful lot of money to get good quality photos around the harbours and coast.

[Sea Turtle]

Thanks for the replies guys! I was thinking about something cheap which I can leave with the boat so I don't have to cart it round and very often end up forgetting it , like yesterday...

I can then always have a camera with me just incase the chance for a good shot come around, like yesterday... (you have no idea how mad I was when I forgot my phone last night. Went out to do some new engine trial on the Sole at about 6PM and went past Mountbatten Pier and missed 6 day trawlers coming in. 2 of which we went right past. 6 great shots missed )

I just had a quick look on eBay at some TZ20's and they seem to look good. 16x optical zoom and the right resolution for taking picture to put up here. They're also compact, which is perfect if I go on holiday or to a different port for the day.

Thanks for the help guys!

[Sea Turtle]

I now have a FinePix S3500 which was brilliant on my trip to Looe today. Look in the recent pictures and see the difference!

Thank you all for the help!