Digital camera for launch photos?

I have an olympus 2020 which also has a slow reaction time... BUT...

if yours is like mine, you can push the button down half-way, and it sets the focus and aperture, and you hold it there (the green light will be lit). Then, when you push it the rest of the way, it takes the picture instantly.

Some of the "trick" to getting a good launch pic with a digicam is reaction time. Most cameras don't take a pic the instant you hit the shutter. What you do is hit the shutter the first instant you see fire. That way you'll have a nice pic of it about half-way up the launchrod. If you wait to shoot until your bird is underway, you've waited too long.

I've been looking at the Super Zoom digital cameras for some time now. Latest fantasy is the Panasonic Lumix (Leica lense) 12x optical zoom with OPTICAL stabilization. Models FX10 and now FX15 and FX20 (or maybe its Zx of Fz or something like that). But nothing but the SLRs really have instant shutter release like any old 35mm SLR. I'm still waiting...

Bob Kaplow NAR # 18L TRA # "Impeach the TRA BoD" >>> To reply, remove the TRABoD!

Alas, the consumer market defines "instantly" as in 2-5 tenths of a second instead of 2-5 seconds. Not good enough for liftoff shots.

Bob Kaplow NAR # 18L TRA # "Impeach the TRA BoD" >>> To reply, remove the TRABoD!

My year old Kodak 3mp camera has a 4 shot burst that makes lift off shots a brease.

this year, the same camera is a 4mp model. easy to use, uses a standard sd-card and has many modes that make it my recomened choice to many.

What model? Approx. price range?

~ Duane Phillips.

best buy has them as easy share 4 mega pixel cameras

they run about 299-329

The Canon EOS 10D is awesome for lift-off shots. But it's hardly in the "inexpensive" range -- body goes for about $1100.

-Kevin

Now THAT'S cool... Sounds expensive, though. :-(

Eldred

My Kodak EasyShare works the same way. Even though I have a Minolta Maxxum SLR, I haven't taken it to a launch yet. I can put the digital in my jacket pocket, prep and launch rockets, and pull out the camera when I need it. The SLR would be a lot more difficult to work around, even though I'm sure it would take better pictures. Besides, I don't have a good enough scanner to digitize shots. How good are the CDs from Ritz Camera?

Eldred

Good.

I tried one of those stupid memory stick/chip/crap cams from Best Lies and took it right back to the store and bought a Sony Mavica somewhere else. Slap in a standard floppy and get a JPG pic without any techo-shamans doing mojo in the store's tech-aid dept, or praying to the programming gods, just to get your pictures back out of it. Need more memory for more pix? Slap in a new disk and off you go again. One model even does video MPG files, again it's on a regular floppy disk....wish now I'd paid the extra money for that feature! The newest ones use mini-CDs.

Chuck

they suck

sony missed the boat on that they tried to squeeze lots of images on each floppy meaning they use really really high compression

second floppies fail over time (as little as months) for no apparent reason. they are VERY unreliable/

want proof ? find some 5 year old floppies with data on them/ see how many still work

now the CD mavicas are pretty darned nice!!!

You mean like those ancient AOL floppies I have a case full of. Never did get the 695 I was trying to collect, but ended up witha about 300 of the suckers...

Bob Kaplow NAR # 18L TRA # "Impeach the TRA BoD" >>> To reply, remove the TRABoD!

Why were you trying to collect 695 AOL floppies?

Eldred

I'd say about 99.5% of the ones I have. But then again, I take care of my stuff. You probably couldn't ask my dad the same question.

CD Mavicas?!? With the matching price tag, I'm sure... :-(

Eldred

I've been using the Kodak EasyShare 6490 for the last season and it's been great for liftoff shots.

Practically all the liftoff pics on my site were taken with it. They've been condensed some for size so you can't get a true idea of the quality of the pics but they're very good.

The camera is 4mp with a 10x optical zoom, has auto settings or manual if you know what you're doing.

But the best part is the 6 shot burst mode. 6 shots over 2 seconds. I wait until i see smoke out the bottom of the motor then hold down the button and somewhere in those six shots I get a good liftoff shot over 90% of the time..

Jason