I have 1400 to spend what to get?
I have 1400 to spend for our school year book committee so what equipment should I get..I need two camera so i was thinking a good point and shoot..uneducated teachers and kids will be using the camera plus I need other stuff...help
(2) Canon 20d, (1) canon 30d, 70-200is 2.8, tamron 17-50,canon 50mm 1.4
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OK, I gather this is for a school. Tell us more about why the school has decided to spend $1400 on 2 cameras?
How will the cameras be used? (I read about the 'year book' application but will these be used at events or in the classroom or ...?)
What post-processing, if any? (Computers, software?)
What age students?
Will the teachers work with the students or will students be allowed to use the cameras by themselves?
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Ok this is an elementary school.... I need to get two camera's, memory cards,
photo printer, adobe elements 5, photo paper, card reader the librarian got a grant so she is given it to the yearbook committee......thanks janis...I think most of the time the teacher will be taken the photos
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hardware as well--Apple for example offers some educational discounts).
As for cameras, you might want to find a water resistant p&s. Something
that's a bit more rugged and tolerates rough handling. That way, you could
let the kids shoot some pictures with much worry about damage.
What size prints do you need to make? You might consider using a service,
like SmugMug to host your shots. Then order what you need. This might
save you a bit of money as you wouldn't need to purchase consumables like
ink and paper.
Let us know what you end up with.
Also by printing what exactly do you mean? Making a rough of the book or the actual print run?
Since this school year is almost over, I hope you don't feel rushed into purchase.
I would also contact local businesses to see if they might "match" any of the grant. I would not tell them it is for the yearbook project, just that is it for the school. It is amazing how sometimes businesses will match a grant but they will not donate spntaneously.
Do also see if any stores would be interested in donating the software. That can stretch the fund considerably.
Contact all of the major camera manufacturers and see what they might have for educational discounts. Start with Olympus. Stress the fact that you have limited funds (don't tell them how limited) but would be interested in giving them published and written credit for any consideration. Deal with the marketing and/or sales departments.
Also contact B&H, Adorama and KEH to see if they have any used cameras they could sell at a school discount.
Ask the parents of the children, in a simple memo, if they have any card readers to donate. A lot of people upgrade card readers and hold onto the old reader.
In short, try to leverage the fund into more than it is and shoot for maybe 4 cameras instead of 2. See if you can use the original grant as "seed" money to something bigger.
As far as which cameras to purchase I would choose cameras with the following properties (factoring in costs and availability, of course):
Short zoom ranges. While longer zoom lenses are convenient, they tend to be much more expensive and I doubt that they would be as usefull in a school and classroom environment. The flashes of most P&S cameras won't reall cover much distance indoors as well, so I suggest staying with a 3X zoom or so. Keep it simple.
CF and SD cards. Try to stay with either of these two types. They tend to be the least expensive per unit storage. Also stay with 1 and 2 gig cards, which are quite reasonable now.
Low light capability. Since I am guessing that most of the shots will be indoors, low light is a must. I suggest that right now, FujiFilm leads the pack. I am very pleased with the Fxx series from Fuji in typical indoor situations. They are much better than other cameras that I have seen for indoor use. Right now, I can find the FujiFilm F40fd for $180USD and they are very good indoor cameras. If you want to purchase something now, these would be very good choices (IMO). Unfortunately they use proprietary batteries, but you can get very inexpensive third party versions.
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I'm thinking the same thing. Have a look at the Olympus 1030SW point-and-shoot; you can get three or four of them for your budget. They're 10MP, 28-100mm equivalent, and just about everything-proof. Imagine getting photos of the swim team from underwater. They're not going to win the Image Quality Of The Year award, don't have image stabilization (conflicts with the 6-foot drop rating), and take xD cards, but they'll survive just about anything.
It may not be the best choice for the only camera type to own, but it's a great second or third.
Why spend your valuable funds on a program? Gimp and its "lite" companion: Seashore are freeware. Need to know how to use them? Manuals and other references on the net. Gimp has a user group one could inquire of and learn from. Both are multi-platform. And for the whole class or whole school, look to panorama shots: hugin--also freeware. Personally I prefer Photosphere which does not only panoramas, but HDRs as well; but is for Mac only.
Or the Canon XT (not XTi); Canon has a green rectangle setting which is automatic everything. Perfect for those who know nothing about cameras, plus there remain all the others. Nikon is excellent too, but I'm not aware that it has such a feature. However one can be generated by a custom setting?
However why limit your consideration to the "big two"? Olympus, Pentax, and Sony also have good wares, and many models have anti-shake devices right in their bodies. If water resistance is a matter of concern, then Pentax's K200 which is sealed. Far as I know, none of the others at the entry-level have that.
All I am recommending is that you begin to think outside the box. There are other possibilities that are not on everyone's lips, but which in *your* case might be preferable. There are sales on this very forum; and of course the famous/infamous? e-bay. You also can consult other photo fora in the hopes of uncovering additional deals. Some places, whether by policy or just good-heartedness of the owner will cut you some kind of deal seeing who you represent.
There are photo deals you would not be able to equal by purchase of equipment. One was mentioned: Smugmug. There are others who charge little per picture printed. A printer, ink, and photo paper are real money, and sooner or later something will go wrong. Doing for yourself entails inevitable waste (I *know* from long experience).
Get library books (well-chosen titles) for concept. I bought a book by Kodak back in the early '70s that is still available on the used market, and for a song. One copy at Amazon was only $6. I bought another one "mint" for $16 very recently. The title is: "Picturing People" by Don Nibbelink. In my mind it is superb, since most of the instruction is the pictures themselves. His point is that just a little education can lift ho-hum photography into the genuinely interesting category where posing people is concerned. He's right.