Best Camera for Online Photos

[Blake Arbogast]

I have tried numerous cameras and have had bad results with each...

- Camera 1: Sony Point and Shoot = created tunnel vision picture
- Camera 2: Canon EOS Rebel = Even on the lowest setting the pictures were to big to upload
- Camera 3: Canon EOS 20D = My personal camera, 8 years old...lowest setting to big to upload

I'm sick of putting my photos through a re sizer before uploading!!! I want the best camera for the job, what are you all using?

 

[Billfred]

We use a Nikon D60 kit, run through iPhoto for tweaks and exporting (and organization--can't forget organization!). Photos get deleted the first of the month after the car was sold (e.g. a car sold January 14th would get deleted March 1 as a measure of protection against a reversed deal), or if the car gets wholesaled or DT'd. Great balance between image quality, flexibility, and usability.

(Oh, and buy two batteries lest you get the camera out first thing in the morning and you realize you forgot to charge the one battery the night before.)

 

[Blake Arbogast]

So you can make the pictures small enough with a Nikon? I called Canon support and they said Automotive Dealers have had this problem in the past and there is nothing they can do.

Geeze wish I would have know that before I shelled out $500 bucks.

CANON

 

[Matt DoCampo]

Here's what you need:

Canon EOS Digital Rebel
Polarized Lens Filter
Lens Hood

You can resize photos in bulk using MS Office Picture Manager. If you don't have that installed on your PC, download FastStone Resizer on your computer. It's free. I know you don't want to resize them, but that's about the only way to post quality images of your inventory is to shoot them in the highest resolution possible.

Shoot your photos.

Dump them into a folder. Open FSResizer, point it to the folder, resize down to around 1024x683 and blast them onto your web provider.

It sounds complicated but it really isn't. You're not going to get much better interms of camera than a Canon EOS Rebel. I have an 8MB XT and that's what I shoot all of our cars with.

 

[Alex Snyder]

Any SLR camera might have issues getting down to the 640x480 pixel size most sites require. I wouldn't want to lug a SLR around myself (and I have carried 40lbs of Canon 1D bodies with the big white lenses around Antarctica, so one body and a small lens is nothing) jumping in and out of cars. We use whatever the just-under $200 Canon Point and Shoot with Image Stabilization there is. I just want a Macro feature, a built-in flash, and up to 400 ISO and I need nothing more for shooting cars around the dealership.

At 640x480 there is not enough of a difference in the image quality to justify a Digital SLR on a dealership lot.

When I'm out shooting stuff like this: Axspot Photography - Images of Alex Snyder then I thumb my nose at a point and shoot (I posted that link of my photography site just to show that I know what I'm talking about on this topic).

This is where you buy your camera: http://bhphotovideo.com

P.S. Yes, when it comes to photography, I'm a cocky bastard

 

[Jarrett]

Kinda involved but we wanted to watermark our used car images before distro to 3rd party classifieds so we ran them through Imagick's library with php scripting and a Unix server.


*Image was in Autotrader.com and is of course is no longer hosted

 

[joe.pistell]

Alex,

The image above is AFU. You are the camera guru here, what's gone wrong and whats needed?

I train the data entry peeps how to shoot pics here, here's what I see:
Overexposed, camera trying to optimize for the dark side of the car. Do I see the flash reflecting in the turn signal? What is that hot bright spot on the front bumper cover, a flash? Looks too large for a flash.

 

[ghen]

Here's what you need:

Canon EOS Digital Rebel
Polarized Lens Filter
Lens Hood

You can resize photos in bulk using MS Office Picture Manager. If you don't have that installed on your PC, download FastStone Resizer on your computer. It's free. I know you don't want to resize them, but that's about the only way to post quality images of your inventory is to shoot them in the highest resolution possible.

Shoot your photos.

Dump them into a folder. Open FSResizer, point it to the folder, resize down to around 1024x683 and blast them onto your web provider.

It sounds complicated but it really isn't. You're not going to get much better interms of camera than a Canon EOS Rebel. I have an 8MB XT and that's what I shoot all of our cars with.

Matt is dead on. Get a great camera with a large lens. The polarized filter is absolutely necessary to make your pictures jump off the screen. You will have to resize your photos but with a good tool that becomes easy . Because I'm an IT guy I took a slightly more complicated software

Batch Picture Resize

It takes some setup, but once you do it correctly you just right click the folder and choose the option you created. I made one for 640x480 and one for 800x600. I usually prefer the latter on our site. Unnnnfortunately we use crappy cameras so our pictures are dull :P

 

[Alex Snyder]

Ghen - You don't want to use a circular polarizer on a car. It puts rainbows on the windows if you don't have your angles right. A polarizer is good for taking the glare off of water, helping clear some things in the sky, and enhancing deepness of colors. BUT it all only works when you're at a 90 degree angle from the sun. I have yet to find a reason to use a CP on a still image of a car. It would help with the background in some situations, but that isn't the focus here.

Joe - the blown out part of that could have been helped by getting a little higher and changing exposure settings for a high sun.

A very simple lesson: The sun is the biggest problem in outdoor photography. Overcast days are the best! If you remain conscious of where the sun is showing on your subject, you'll find a way to take a better outdoor photograph.

 

[Blake Arbogast]

Alex,
Holy crap...nice photos on Axspot Photography - Images of Alex Snyder