Some thoughts on getting a CAS Camera

[Marshal Halloway]

Howdy folks!

Our pard, Rawhide Rio asked some questions the other day about our pictures here in Cas City and about using a digital camera.

Since Mark Quigley is a contributor to our site with his CAS pictures, I called him about giving us some advise. He has some interesting articles about this topic in the Cowboy Chronicle and we now have the first article for you to read in Cas City. The rest of the articles will come later.

Click on the picture below to read about what he has to say about getting a CAS Camera and come back here for comments and share your own experience taking CAS pictures.

Photo Credit: Mr. Quigley Photography

[Big John Denny]

I just found out my old Brownie camera won't work for CAS action shots.

[Big John Denny]

I guess those throw away Kodak's are no good either. Though I did have a pard use one to take a picture of me with the Elk I shot in Colorado with my .54 Cal Renegade.

[RRio]

Very Cool! Thanks, Marshal!

RRio

[Calamity Jane]

This is my (home made) CAS camera - and it's period correct!

[Badlands Walker]

Well, bein' an avid photographer for over 20 years, I think I can shed some light on this topic.  I personally am a Canon man. I have used Canon cameras since 1970 and have yet ever had one fail me.  Canon is a major leader in the world of photography with many years of experience.  I recommend a digital camera with 3 mega-pixels or more to shoot good quality photographs.  If you can afford a camera that has 5 mega-pixels or more, it's a much better camera & will give you excellent photographs.

I have a Canon EOS Rebel 35mm that I use all the time.  This is an excellent camera & has a minumum of 6.3 mega-pixels.  I have a lens that has a range of 24mm - 300mm which will pretty much photograph any thing you want to shoot.  For much of CAS shooting though, the speed capability of the camera is much more important than the number of mega-pixels the camera has.  Mega-pixels really only has to do with the clarity of your pictures & is real important in the event that you wish to do a lot of enlargments of your photos.  The more mega-pixels you have, the larger & clearer the photograph can be printed.

Unless you are looking to be a professional photographer, there are several digital cameras out there that are moderately priced.  Canon makes a smaller digital camera that has 3.2 mega-pixels & it's called the Canon S1 IS.  This is a great smaller camera but looks very much like a 35mm format camera & has a fixed power zoom lens.  There are optional lens attachments for this camera that can be purchased.  I also have one of these cameras that I carry at all times.  There has never been a case where this camera was not capable of taking the shot I needed.  The camera has a MSRP of $499.  If you shop around, you can find a better price then that.

The Canon EOS Rebel 35mm camera with the 24mm - 300mm lens & power battery grip (two batteries for longer shooting time) will run in the neighborhood of $1,500.  Yes, there are many other brands out there such as Nikon, Kodak, etc... but for my money, Canon is the only way to go.  I hope I have shed a little more light on this topic & good shootin' out there! 
                                           

[Silver Creek Slim]

That's great. Thanks, Marshal.

Slim

[Brazos Bucky Smith]

Howdy,

Thsi is really interesting!  I'm an old 35mm, automatic exposure kind of guy.  The digitals are more cornfusing to me than the computer!  This info by Mr. Quigley is most enlightening.  Thanks.  marshal, if you do include some kind of acceptance of digital format for pictures on CAS City I will have to bite the bullet and give a digital a try.  With Mr. Quigley's information I feel a little more knowledgable to go find one.

Incidentely, the photo and that great looking leopard appy are fantastic.

Brazos

[Cuts Crooked]

I will add this to Marks comments in the article above: The Chronical prefers that you NOT do the touch up work on yer pics. Send em in "as is" and let them do it. As some of you know, I occassionally write fer The Cowboy Chronical and Tex has made it very plain that he would prefer to make any needed adjustments while working from the original photo, whether digital or the old fashioned stuff, than trying to straighten out what you have made of the pic in an attempt to make it "better".

And frankly, Tex or whoever does the work, is very good at dealing with less than perfect pics! I once sent in a group photo that was taken in a poorly lit dining hall, using less than adaquet flash... it was the best I had to work with. When it appeared in The Cowboy Chronical it looked GREAT!

[tarheel mac]

Calamity, I really like your camera.  I assume it's 4x5?  I had an old Speed Graphic once and loved it...I really like the large format rigs, the negs always seem so super sharp..

Don't have a digtal camera...I guess I should buy, but my old 35mm Pentax with its two lenses does fine for now...

[R D Henry]

I talked with Mark and the "crew" about 2yrs ago at Railhead, and they are all super cool folks, and very knowledgable. In spite of the fact they're "working", they're not too busy to answer a few dumb questions from an amateur.

I bought a little Olympus C-5000, 5meg digital a year ago and love it! For what it was intended to do, I'm very pleased with the end result. The little guy is very compact, with zoom, and takes some outstanding pictures, once you master the settings.

[RedHeaded Stranger]

The biggest drawback to using a digital camera for action shots is the shutter delay.  Try getting your granddaughter to hold that cute pose, I have lots of photos of sides of heads.  So my wife wanted a new camera and decided on a Cannon EOS10D.  It is an SLR camera and has no shutter delay and has 5 megapixel resolution.  It is a little pricey at about $2500 for the camera witha 28-135mm lens with image stabilization.(2 years ago)  It has all the bells and whistles that she wanted and simple enough for the less technological member of the family(me).

[Pretty Mean Shawme]

This is my (home made) CAS camera - and it's period correct!

I love your camera!

[Col. Riddles]

I bought a Fuji SLR 3000 about 19 months ago. It takes great pics. But after a recent vacation it would not download the pics to my PC. Tried it on my lap top and my neighbors PC. So I boxed it up & sent it back to Fujis repair facility in Edison NJ. They had it for two months and charged me $79 to re-solder the female plug on the side of the camera where the USB cord plugs in. If they have so many cameras being returned for repair that it takes two months to repair one with such a simple problem I cannot recommend Fuji.

[RRio]

Just practicing with our Canon A95.



What'cha think?

[Badlands Walker]

Nice photograph Rio!  Looks like Canon came thru once again!

[Ol Gabe]

Outstanding article!
What with a plethora of camera/printer packages out there in the marketplace at Best Buy's and Wallyworld's, what is the general consensus on the quality of KODAK EASYSHARE and how well does the HP Digicam match up to the rest mentioned in the article? Anyone have any experiences, good or bad, with the HP camera, they seem to have a lot to offer with a printer package, etc.
Hope to get some interesting comments.
best regards and good shooting!
'Ol Gabe

[Badlands Walker]

Have a good friend who has the whole HP set-up & says he wouldn't trade it for the world!  He does some real nice work I might add.

[RedHeaded Stranger]

Once you decide on a camera that will do everything you want, the next step is a good photo manipulation program.  I have been usung Digital Image pro 10 and am real impressed with it.  It is easy to use and produces great results.  Then a good printer and paper.  I have always gotten good results rom the Epson family of printers.  Using a Photo R300 now  it can also print labels directly onto the CD or DVD.  No sticky labels to come off and munch up your CD/DVD drive.

[Col. Riddles]

I got mine from Electric Sam  http://www.electricsam.com/shop/home.aspx They beat Target by $100 on the same camera. Unfortunately they're located in New Orleans & it looks like they're shut down for now. No telling when or if they'll be back in business.