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What kind of Camera does everybody use?

Started by AsphaltPlanet, March 03, 2017, 11:22:41 AM

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AsphaltPlanet

Exactly as the thread is titled?  Post what kind of camera you use for highway photos.
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Max Rockatansky

#1
Mostly an IPhone 5 for day time shots since it is easy to take panos and moving pictures with....probably not what anyone was really expecting I would venture.  I do a ton of edits after I down load my pictures to clean them up but really it can show sometimes that I'm not using that great of a camera behind the wheel.  I use a Nikon (I have to look up the model when I get home) to take night and distance pictures (which I finally found my storage bin the other day). 

MNHighwayMan

The only camera I own, my mobile phone camera (Samsung GS5). Would rather like to buy an actual camera for the purpose, but money.

jeffandnicole

I use my LG v10.  It can take a bit of time to get the app going though...and the pics aren't always as clear as I've wished.

oscar

Nikon D810. Expensive, but I love the full-frame sensor (helps with wide-angle shots, especially of bridges) with lots of pixels to work with. Too bulky to use behind the wheel, but then I always pull over and stop to take road photos.
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AsphaltPlanet

Quote from: oscar on March 03, 2017, 11:48:51 AM
Nikon D810. Expensive, but I love the full-frame sensor (helps with wide-angle shots, especially of bridges) with lots of pixels to work with. Too bulky to use behind the wheel, but then I always pull over and stop to take road photos.

One of the camera stores up here in the great white north had really, really good deals on Nikon 810 cameras during boxing week.  I was pretty tempted to pick it up, as it's a really well reviewed camera.  I would like to make the move to full frame myself.  Cost has really been the hindrance.  The reason that I didn't pick up this model was I was concerned about its operation from a moving vehicle.  Most notably, I was concerned about how the jostles of driving would impact the image sharpness on such a large sensor.
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slorydn1

#6
My Samsung Galaxy S5, my wife's LG (not sure what model) or a 12 year old Kodak Digital camera (don't remember what model that is either).
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Ian

I use my Nikon D5100 for almost all of my road photos, and more often than not, I'll use my telephoto lens (Tamron 70-300mm, which works wonders for those shallow depth-of-field shots) for them as well. I'm looking to get an upgrade though in the near future, as I've had this camera for about 5 years or so, and it's starting to show its age.
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Roadgeek Adam

My Nikon Coolpix L840 does me wonders. Yes, it's a point and shoot, but I don't need an SLR or DSLR. This is basically what I would consider top of the line when it comes to P&S.
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Duke87

My primary camera is a Canon SX50. It has most of the important control features available (can manually set focus, ISO, exposure, aperture, and flash) as well as some other nice features (auto-HDR, 50x optical zoom), but it's still consumer grade and is not an SLR.

It can do 99% of what I'd like it to be able to do. Its only real annoying limitation is that at any exposure greater than 1" it locks the ISO into 80, which makes it very difficult to get good pictures outside at night.

I've considered springing for an SLR for a while, but I have trouble justifying the expense to myself. Especially since I have a history of having cameras break approximately every 2 years, so I'd expect it to be a recurring expense.
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AsphaltPlanet

Super zoom point and shoot cameras like that have image sensors with small dimensions, relative to other larger cameras.  The small sensor size is what allows for such significant magnification from what is, relative to an SLR, a much shorter lens.  The biggest problem of course with a camera that has a small image sensor is that it won't, due to it's small size, be able to gather the same amount of light as a camera with a larger sensor, such as a mirrorless or dslr.

All that said, the biggest limitation to a super zoom point and shoot camera will always be it's low light performance.
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vdeane

The vast majority of my photos are from my 10 year old Kodak EasyShare C653.
Please note: All comments here represent my own personal opinion and do not reflect the official position of NYSDOT or its affiliates.

DaBigE

When I'm not using the camera on my Galaxy S5 or S7, I use a Canon Rebel T3 with 4 different lenses (18-55mm, 55-250mm, 75-300mm, compact macro 50mm), which is my first digital SLR camera. My only regret is not getting the one with the flip-out rear display. One of these days I might actually have time to learn how to use more of the camera's features and be able to take even better photos.  :pan:
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MarkF

I use an iPhone 5s and a Panasonic DMC-ZS35 super zoom point and shoot.  For video I use a GoPro Hero4 Silver.

kurumi

iPhone 6 (sometimes that's all I have with me) and a Canon G12, which is portable but good enough for my amateur skillset. The aperture and shutter speed modes are good for bracketing shots in tough conditions.
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Road Hog

iPhone 5s, which works great close-up in static conditions. It does have a "fish eye" effect really close-up, I discovered, so when that happens I have to use Photoshop to distort the edges to neutralize the effect.

OracleUsr

Right now, I use a Canon EOS 300D Rebel (the first digital Rebel model to come out) but this summer I plan to upgrade to the EOS 80D.  I use a 75-300mm telephoto lens for road sign shots, though I have not taken any in a while (wife's not a roadgeek so it's hard to justify pulling over to take pictures of signs)
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1995hoo

#18
My regular camera, which I seldom if ever use behind the wheel while I'm driving, is a Canon EOS 20D DSLR. I've had it since March 2005 (purchased it then primarily because we were heading to Alaska that summer). I've been thinking about upgrading to the 80D, especially since right now American Express have a 0% interest promo that would let me string out the payments because I also want to replace the convertible top on my RX-7.

Usually if I have the DSLR with me I have my full camera bag along. I have four lenses for it, a 17—85 mm that I use the most, a 40 mm pancake lens, a 50 mm, and a 70—300 mm "DO" compact lens that I often use for sports photography due to distance from the stands to the playing surface. The pictures I have somewhere on this forum of the total lunar eclipse in 2015 from near the Moki Dugway were taken with the 70—300 mm lens.

If I'm driving I'll use my iPhone 6. Some of my entries in the road sign city name photo game thread instead come from video captures from my DVR 207 dashcam. (The video captures are easy to tell because they're grainier and have a time stamp.)

I've thought about getting a point-and-shoot for when I don't want to bother with the DSLR. My father has a Panasonic Lumix (I don't remember the model number) he bought because he didn't have space to take his DSLR on a trip to Australia and New Zealand a few years ago. It's an outstanding camera and I'd probably get something similar.

Ms1995hoo has a Sony Cybershot point-and-shoot I got her in 2008. I forget the model number, but it's one with a real viewfinder in addition to the screen. We both like a real viewfinder for times when the sun washes out the screen or we don't want to take off our sunglasses to try to see the screen. She sometimes tries (and she usually fails) to take pictures when I'm driving using her iPhone SE.

I have an almost 40-year-old fully manual Minolta film SLR upstairs that I last used in July 2004 on a trip to the Inn at Little Washington.
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Rothman

Please note: All comments here represent my own personal opinion and do not reflect the official position(s) of NYSDOT.

Eth

A Galaxy S6 with a dashboard mount. The voice control on the camera app makes it fairly easy (~90% success rate) to take photos on the move, though quality does suffer a little bit.

wanderer2575

I have a Canon PowerShot with a 20x optical zoom, which lets me get most of my photos fairly easily.  I also usually get good results using it for photos of overhead gantries while driving (I know, that's bad).  Only thing I don't like about it is that it feels like a "toy" camera; it's one of those small rectangular jobs you hold with your fingers and you can't take a good grip on it.  I've gotten into the habit of always putting its strap around my wrist in case I drop it.  Also, it has no sunshade, which causes problems if I'm pointing anywhere near the direction of the sun.

Before this, I had a Panasonic Lumix, which I really liked because it felt like a CAMERA and had a hand grip.  But it had only a 12x zoom, which sometimes caused grief.  Alas, I dropped it (on the floor of the car, carpeted and just a couple feet!) and it hit just right that the optical zoom wouldn't work anymore.  Of course, the American way is that it was cheaper to buy something new than to get that one fixed.

My film camera was a Canon AE-1.  I still have it and several lenses in storage, but it's been more than a dozen years since I've pulled them out.

Thing 342

I used to use whatever smartphone I had on me at the time (and still occasionally use my Nexus 6P from time to time), but now I generally use my Canon  Rebel T6, with a standard 18-55mm zoom lens, and a pair of old film lenses I inherited.

hbelkins

I'm using a Canon SX20 IS digital camera. It has a whole lot of features, including programmable and fully automatic, ISO 3200, manual focus, and a dual viewscreen/viewfinder. I'm quite fond of it. It's an older high-end point-and-shoot, just a step or two below a DSLR.

I also have a little Canon pocket-sized point-and-shoot (A1100 IS, I think) that's handy for when I don't want to lug the big camera around.

Back in the day, I got pretty adept at using a Minolta 35mm SLR camera behind the wheel, but I've gotten so used to using a camera with a viewscreen that I don't know if I would want to try juggling a big camera while driving.


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formulanone

Currently: Canon EOS Rebel T3 (1100D). Occasionally, I'll use my iPhone 6.

Past: Canon Digital Rebel (300D), Olympus C200Z, Kodak Easy Share, Canon EOS Rebel XTi, Canon AE-1, and a cheesy Vivitar 110 cartridge camera.



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