Widescreen Digital Camera

[combatcolin]

Very intrested in a new Digital Camera that can take wide aspect shots that will look good on my nice big Dell 24"

Unfortunatly i can't seem to find many companys that sell them.

Fuji offer one, the F810, but i can't seem to find many more.

Any advice?

 

[bartelby]

Er, why not just use a normal digital camera and crop the image to the correct aspect ratio?

 

[combatcolin]

1920 * 1200 res images (or better) and NO fiddling with Photoshop unless i want to.

Jessops, a big UK camrea store, had only 1 camera that took wides aspect images, the aformentioned Fuji, and that was £300.

On line its about £240, but i would like to see some competition.

 

[RedTomato]

No need to fire up Photoshop. Preview can crop it for you.

Or set up an Automator action to automatically crop all photos in a folder to the right size. Quite simple even if you've never done it before. Start up automator and work through the example given - it even includes cropping.

.. REdTOmato ..

 

[Graeme]

I have the Sony Cybershot DSC-P200 7.2mp camera and it can take somewhat wide aspect shots. It can do 3:2 at 7mp. I looked at a picture I took with it on my Dell 24" and it's only a little narrower than the screen. It could work, and these pictures are a lot bigger than 1920*1200, they are 3072*2048.

-Graeme

 

[Applespider]

How many perfect desktop images do you take that won't need even slightly cropped for composition etc?

I'd buy a camera more for its ability to take good, clear, noise-free images and accept the trade-off of having to crop/resize to get desktop images.

You could set up the appropriate ratio as a custom-ratio in iPhoto, duplicate the pics you want on your desktop and crop accordingly.

 

[roadapple]

Panasonic 8mp 16:9 Lumix DMC-LX1 $485 - http://panasonic.co.jp/pavc/global/lumix/lx1/index.html

or same camera redone as the $800 Leica D-LUX 2- http://www.leica-camera.com/digitalekameras/dlux2/index_e.html

 

[macOSX-tastic]

my £250 sony DCS W12 can take pictures at a 3:2 aspect ratio, the same as the 15" powerbook. handy for when i see a picture i want for a desktop and want to retain the quality of 5MP.

 

[hermitizer]

panasonic lumix lx-1

I know it's mentioned above, but I highly recommend the lumix lx-1. Have had it for a little over a month now, and it is one of the few cameras that takes 16:9 natively instead of artificially cropping the image. Throw in 8MP and optical image stabilization and it's pretty great. Got mine from buydig.com for around $485...

btw, some reviewers (dpreview.com etc) complain about noise issues from the lx-1, but I havent't noticed too much of a problem yet.

 

[ibilly]

pretty sure that the display widescreen of the PBs, and most computer lcds is 3:2 where the 'square' one is 4:3. cinema wide, the realllly short one is 16:9.
i know that the leica (or panasonic w/ leica lens?) does true 16:9, but many cameras shoot 3:2. I reccomend the Canon Powershot line. I love my S80, which takes great pics and has a built-in wide angle lens (more useful than many people realize!).

 

[combatcolin]

I'll have a gander at the camera, not sure which are availble in the UK.

Should be able to get the Fuji i was intrested in for less than £300 if i haggle in Jessops.

 

[nutmac]

Use previous hints to crop high resolution 4x3 (1.33:1) or 3x2 (1.50:1) images instead (widescreen Macs are 16:10, or 1.60:1). Limiting yourself to widescreen cameras will leave you with few decent cameras.

 

[ibilly]

Use previous hints to crop high resolution 4x3 (1.33:1) or 3x2 (1.50:1) images instead (widescreen Macs are 16:10, or 1.60:1). Limiting yourself to widescreen cameras will leave you with few decent cameras.

OK
so it's a little bit more complicated.
I don't think that there are any digital cameras that shoot in the 16:10 aspect ratio. All the iMacs, the Cinema Displays, and the 17" Powerbook are all 1.6
the 15" PB is 1.5 (or 3:2)
the ibooks and the 12" PB are 4:3 (1.333)
I'd go for a camera that shoots in the 3:2 (1.5) ratio. though the leica/panasonic that shoots 16:9 WIDE screen natively is a cool option if you're into that sort of thing. Personally, I don't have a widescreen TV, and it would still require cropping to fit your display. I guess the question is: do you want to crop from the top/bottom, or from the sides?

 

[roadapple]

So what did you decide?

 

[matticus008]

OK
so it's a little bit more complicated.
I don't think that there are any digital cameras that shoot in the 16:10 aspect ratio. All the iMacs, the Cinema Displays, and the 17" Powerbook are all 1.6
the 15" PB is 1.5 (or 3:2)
the ibooks and the 12" PB are 4:3 (1.333)
I'd go for a camera that shoots in the 3:2 (1.5) ratio. though the leica/panasonic that shoots 16:9 WIDE screen natively is a cool option if you're into that sort of thing. Personally, I don't have a widescreen TV, and it would still require cropping to fit your display. I guess the question is: do you want to crop from the top/bottom, or from the sides?

I would really hate to be confined to strange aspect ratios in my photography. Getting prints would be a royal pain because almost all photos would have to be cropped. Creating a desktop wallpaper is a minority task, and pixel ratios are so variable now that you don't want to be stuck in a widescreen format that has an uncertain future.

Take films for example. There are at least three different ratios for "widescreen" DVD releases these days...and sadly, no one sells the 2.35:1 display that would truly make movies like Lord of the Rings absolutely stunning! Then again, I wouldn't want to work on such a wide display because of the close-range ergonomics of the thing. Sitting back and watching a movie versus working in Word are horses of two very different colors.

 

[combatcolin]

In the end my parents surprised me and bought the Fuji F810 £270, very generous of them.

Very quick to start and gives much better movies than my older camera.

When to my sisters a few days ago, play visist my 5 week old and 3rd nephew, in the end took 220MB of pictures of video clips.

When it gets a bit warmer i'll get out more and start to take some "proper amatuer" pics and learn more.

Bought a 1GB XD from http://www.play.com for only £55, they normally go for £85.

Just need a case, bought a proper Fuji from eBay and waiting for it to arrive.

All in all very happy, sits on my desk with a cool little cradle, just a shame you need a power cable as well to charge the battery, it should do the charging via USB, but, as i said, very happy.

 

[combatcolin]

I would really hate to be confined to strange aspect ratios in my photography. Getting prints would be a royal pain because almost all photos would have to be cropped. Creating a desktop wallpaper is a minority task, and pixel ratios are so variable now that you don't want to be stuck in a widescreen format that has an uncertain future.

Take films for example. There are at least three different ratios for "widescreen" DVD releases these days...and sadly, no one sells the 2.35:1 display that would truly make movies like Lord of the Rings absolutely stunning! Then again, I wouldn't want to work on such a wide display because of the close-range ergonomics of the thing. Sitting back and watching a movie versus working in Word are horses of two very different colors.

I bought the widescreen camera as i always think ahead.

I currently own the big Dell 24", fantastic monitor, but 5 years down the line i'll sell it and buy, well - whatever is availble then, at least 30" maybe more.