Digital Cameras

[Anonymous]

Just bought my first digital camera. 2.0 megapixel, E-vision megapro. Are these things any good for quality rail photography? I'd like to hear from folks who have tried these cameras out in the field. If need be, I still have my trusty old Minolta 35mm.
Thanks, Todd C.

[Anonymous]

I've just bought one myself and have been using it as an aid to painting watercolors, snow scenes, old barns, flowers etc. reference pictures. I print these out at 8 x 10 on a HP Deskjet printer and found the definition to be excellent. I'm sure the results would be just as good for railroad photography. A tip! take along a spare battery and charge them up before you go out in the field.

[RudyRockvilleMD]

First, you should keep your trusty Minolta 35 mm camera unless you only want to take still shots. In my experience, even with a 3.2 megapixel camera, the shutter release delay is too long to photograph even a slow moving train. By the time the shutter was released the train moved down the track. Eventually we might see digital cameras with an almost instantaneous shutter release at a reasonable price that is competitive with a film based 35 mm SLR camera.

[Anonymous]

It may be that I am not fairly well versed in the other digital cameras out there but I have found the Olympus line of digital cameras to be very well suited to taking pictures of any train. The only problem is shutter speed drops off real fast when the light disappears, but in anywhere decent light all it takes is a little prefocusing to get pictures with color and detail that rival the best film or slide shots period!
ConnottonValley2652
[e-mail]

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the input guys. I hadn't even thought about the shutter delay. It does seem to take several seconds to react.
Todd C.