Ok, I love going to air shows. I love taking pictures at air shows. I hate my camera. It's a cheap $30 camera. Now I have a decent paying job and money to afford a nice camera. Now, which path should I go, 35mm or digital?

I want to be able to take pictures of fast jets in motion. Some are pretty far away, so I want something that will get in close enough to get a recognizable picture.

I bring this up because last weekend I went to Fleet Week in San Francisco. I had this perfect spot for the show and was watching the Blue Angels perform. Out of the corner of my eye, I see this really fast moving thing along the water, I turn my head and see a navy blue F-18 screaming along the bay, no more than 25-30 feet off the water. There was an amazing wake and an even more amazing display of the humid air/water spray around the jet. It looked as if this jet had a fuzzy shield around it. I quickly pulled up my camera and snapped a picture of it.

Monday afternoon I drop off my film at Walgreens for their quick one hour service. I pick up my pictures, eager to see how that photo came out. Well, you can see the wake, and you can see the jet... you can sorta make out a fuzzy mist right behind the jet, but it is all sooooo small. I am disappointed, but I didn't expect much better from my crappy camera.

Any of you have any suggestions?

 

 

I don't think that there's much you can do. Keep in mind that you were pretty far away and the camera tends to "flatten" everything.

As for 35mm or digital, I would say digital all the way. I used to be a big time photo junkie, and it used to cost me a fortune to develop everything. Most of the time, I only ended up keeping half the pictures that I took. Talk about a waste of money.

With a digital camera, you can tell exactly what the picture looks like and if you want a hard copy of a photo, just do it at one of those online places like snapfish.com or iphoto.com.

 

A camera that could zoom would have gotten a pretty nice picture of that. I am much closer than that picture makes it look. I could easily see the tail numbers on the jet and the thrust of his afterburners.

 

Go digital all the way! You can pick out which pictures you want printed out at cosco for like 20 cents or even wal-mart for like around 30-40 cents. Plus you can take all the pictures you want, so no worry about the film. Get a bigger memory card and you can even take 100+ pics if you like!

 

The Pentax IQ 200 Zoom (35mmm)is a great choice. It has the
largest Zoom lens on a point and shoot and it's very easy to use.

I use it at races and vacations. It's compact, light, and does
everything for you. If you're shooting outdoors in daylight you'll
never have a problem. However, in lower light the larger
lenses on a SRL collect more light and produce a better picture.
But.. you'll have to lug around all those big lenses. For the stuff
you're doing the Pentax will be fine and you really be able to
zoom in on your subject.

Do a search on the Pentax and you'll find some reviews or go
go Amazon.com and read the user reviews. It really is the best
35mm point and shoot.

 

get one of the digitals that takes standard lenses if you're serious bout it.

 

What Unabagler said... I'm hoping to get a Canon D60 or EOS1Ds next. Right now this all I have is my poor little S30:



visit http://www.dpreview.com and find out what fits the bill for you!

 

Sony Digi Cam

Think this would be a good camera? For that price, it better be

 

I think that it depends how "into it" you are or are going to be. I would cast a vote for digital as well. I have a 35mm SLR as well as a point and shoot digital. My biggest regret is that I didn't get an SLR digital. For the $800 you're looking at spending, you can probably pick up a new olympus E10 off ebay. It might take you a little while to use it, but if you want something that will offer you full control over the photos you're taking, it can't be beat. Just my thoughts.