El Cheapo digi-cam with hotshoe and manual focus?

[johnw436]

I'm an amateur and am now beginning to dabble in studio lighting. I shoot

primarily medium format.

 

Lately I have been experimenting with various lighting setups / ratios and a

digicam would be a tremendous leap forward in convenience. For my purposes, I

really don't need much. Honestly, a 1 MP camera with a hotshoe that will allow

me to make manual settings, i.e. f/5.6 , 1/60, would be perfect. All I need

is a quick and easy preview to see if I am on track. I don't care one iota

about image quality or tonality. I know exactly what my image will look like

on the film I use... if I get my setup correct. All I need is a digital

practice rig to test my setups.

 

I already have a Polaroid back which is quite useful just prior to a real

session just to ensure everything is in order, but it is too slow, expensive,

and cumbersome for multiple setups where I'm simply trying angles of my

reflector, etc.

 

I see Panasonic Lumix' on KEH all the time in the $200 dollar range. That's

actually cheaper than a good flash meter and offers a real preview. Is there

something better suited to what I need that I may be overlooking? I had

thought of the old Sony Mavica but can't remember if they allowed manual

settings or not.

[thomas_hardy1]

I used the playback screen on a Canon 20D to determine if lighting setups was ok. The images on the cameras preview screen looked good but on the computer they were horribly underexposed. I then learned to use the histogram to judge exposure.

 

I guess you could use a cheapo digicam, but make sure everything is "calibrated". The image in the preview screen looks like the computer screen, which then looks like properly exposed film.

 

What would really help is that the digicam has a histogram to judge exposure. Exposure is the main problem....you're right about previewing lighting angles, ratios etc.

 

Having a laptop handy to look at the images somewhat on the fly would be better than using the small screen on the camera I would think.

[don_e]

John,

 

If you mean the Panasonic Lumix FZ10s on keh.com for $200, they fulfill your criteria.

 

Good Luck,

 

Don E