Quote:
Originally posted by wsjb78
Oh well, I'm just collecting specific models right now... and do some research of them online. After my exams I'll cut that down to about 5 cams I'd say and then go to a shop and try them all out there... in direct comparison...
Any good advice for the field testing?
|
Yes.
Whatever model you pick, if it's in the prosumer market, try to shoot 200 full-size high res jpeg pics at a rate of one pic every three seconds and see how the camera behave.
DPReview.com does not mention thermal behavior of the camera.
My fave models, from specs only, is the Minolta DImage7Hi for it's wide angle, bright lens, and fast frame rate. I need very little bellzanwhislez because most of the time, I shoot in full manual mode. But I have no idea if the camera can handle the heat of a sustained shooting and retain it's image integrity.
It will get hot. Well, no, that's a mis-saying. It will get
HOT .
You will most likely be able to cook eggs on the compactflash card.
The batteries will also be too hot to handle, most likely.
When you do that, check out if the color balance remains stable. Many cheap cameras have their white balance shift when they are overheating.
ALSO
check of if there are pixels or groups of pixels that suddently appears funky or saturated at some color.
The trick to find them easily: shoot a black card, shot a white card.
Do so with the camera cold, do same with the camera hot (after 200 frames, at 15-20 frames per minute)
Some will show up on the black image, some other on the white image.
Shoot a standard grey or color card when cold and when hot, and look for color shift.
In any experiments, try to vary only one variable at the time. I.e. shoot under same lighting condition ( I suggest a halogen spot, 3200K), preferably with a single light source (be sure not to cast shadow on your target or let other ambiant light sources of different color temperature screw up your tests.
Do not use natural light for tests, for it varies with the slighest whimsical cloud passing by.
Threaded Mode