Digital camera ???

[isawlogs]

It's time to get a camera ....I'm thinking that its time for a digital but dont know anything about them  :P... Can any of you help with what I should be looking for  ??? What is the price of one  ???

[Tom]

Mines aging and an old model but it is an olympus D-340R and has done a good job for what I've asked of it.  It is a point and shoot that we gave about $300 about 4 years ago.  It uses a "Smart Card", as opposed to a disk, which I read with a card reader on my HP printer.  I can use a cable and plug it into my computer also.

Here is an old thread on Digitals

https://forestryforum.com/cgi-bin/board/YaBB.pl?board=general;action=display;num=1069949617;start=18

[rbarshaw]

A good place to look is Best Buy. They can advise you. Prices range from $29.99 to Beyond most peoples reach. I got an AIPTEK DV 3100 for $119, it seems to meet most of my needs, still learning to use it for the finer points, it is easy to use.

[Texas Ranger]

I dropped and destroyed our $1700.00 professional Sony.  Went to Ebay and found the same camera, bought it for $202.50 on bid.  Of course, it is dated technology, but one I am familiar with, and am satisfied to use.

[etat]

I just bought a Kodac Digital DC280 off of ebay.  I shopped very carefully, and emailed the owner before buying.  The camera was about two years old and well taken care of.  He sent me copies of pictures he had taken with it.  It came with a hard case, all cables and software, battery charger, and extra new batteries, and extra photo and close up lens.  He said he was selling because he was upgrading to a later model and I believed him.  It also has a card that you can take a LOT of pictures on.  You can download them on a computer and then resize them with a number of programs, some free, some you have to buy.  InfraView, and ImageForge is a couple of pretty good ones to try, there may be others but I used these because they'd let you try them for free.  I am going to purchase one of them and get the avalable upgrades as soon as I make up my mind which.  You can crop, rotate, resize, a whole bunch of things.  Tom gave me some really good tips before I started learning but it's still kind of complicated to me.  I always save the orginal picture because sometimes I mess em up a bunch.  As long as you save the original picture you can always start over.

This is my son Jamie, my daughter-in-law Michelle, and my new grandson, RYAN



This is Ryan and it is the same picture, just closed in and a circle around him, a little better job of optimizing as the actual picture was too light, something about the way I had the flash set.




And here's the latest.  It was taken through the glass of the nusery with the camera held right against the glass and the lens right between the chicken wire stuff in the glass, no flash, and set for florscent lights.  I took a BUNCH of em just to get a few good ones. This one all I had to do was resize and crop and save using the settings on imageforge.



Older reviews on the DC280 indicate that there are other camers that do a lot better job of taking inside pictures.  Somewhere on this forum there was a link to a picture and story of fireman fighting forrestry fires, and a bad outcome.  The story said that this is what kind of camera the photographer used, so I figgured it was good enough for me.  It's pretty heavy and I'm sure there are others that are newer, lighter, and better, but I'm happy, especially compared to what I had.

Try to size pictures according to the tips on this forum, and as you are dealing with pizels try to crop out anything but what you want the final picture to be. This will make the final quality of the picture better as you won't waste your pixels on junk.  Then try to save them at as close as possible to the maxium of 15000 bites, without going over.  These are all tips I received from Tom.

I spent many many hours trying to learn what Tom was saying.  If anyone wants any help if you'll send me an instant message I'll try to help and pass on what I have learned even though I am far from expert..   Again, Thanks Tom.

[Haytrader]

Mine is a Kodak DC3200. It came with a printer and all the cables to hook to the puter plus photo paper to make pictures.
All purchased at Wally World for just over $200 on sale.
I think after the sale they discontinued them.. >:(
If I was getting another all I would want different is zoom.

[Engineer]

I have a Fuji Finepix S602Z, which was $699US new, and may be out of most casual users' price ranges, but it's an absolutely *awesome* camera, with far more features than I'll ever use.  I bought it to replace a Canon film camera, and the picture quality is stunning - better than the film in most cases.

Jon

[Bill_B]

I just purchased my first digital camera Kodak 6340. Walmart had it on sale under 250. I have posted photos to the forum and used Irfan- view to resize.  Irfan-view is free.

[rebocardo]

One of the most important things is does it work with your operating system and computer. Might be iffy on an older system. In that case, an older Sony that uses floppies is ideal. Actually, I like the idea of using floppies rather then memory sticks, especially in the woods.

If you are taking pictures of stuff just for E-Bay and such, 640x480 will be enough. If you are doing family memories, then get a camera that does true color, has a LCD viewer, and will work with a photo printer without being attached to a computer.

[DR Buck]

Owned and operated 5 digital cameras over the last couple years.   What you are willing to pay will determine which camera you should buy, so I won't suggest any specific one.  But here are a few points you should consider:

1.  Make sure it uses standard batteries.  Stay away from anything that uses custom or proprietary battery packs.  AA NM hi 1800 MA work well for most all that use AA batteries.

2.  Get as much 'optical'  zoom as you can afford, 3x or better.  Digital zoom is a waste.  

3.   Get something with at least 3.2 mega pixels.  This will allow you to print 5x7 prints that should look good from any of the low end photo printers like the cheaper Epsons.

4.  Look for something that uses smart media (SM) or secure digital (SD).   These are not as expensive as other media formats and readers for your computer are fairly cheap as well.  Get a couple at least 128 MB.  The last thing you will want to do is run out of media space (film) when you are away from the computer and can't download the media and clear it.  Beware, Sony cameras use a proprietary media that is more expensive than most other formats.

Any of the Minolta, Cannon, Toshiba and Fuji Fine-pix are decent cameras and take great pictures.  As I said, its all in what you are willing to spend.

Good Luck Looking,

Dave

[DextorDee]

My first digital was a Kodak DC 3200 great camera really simple. Cameras have come along way since that one.
Also got a Fuji 2650 with 3x optical bought on sale at Bestbuy. Not impressed with this one. Bought the girl friend a Canon with 3xoptical great camera uses compact flash .
Best advice I can give is shop around, compare,campare and compare some more digital cameras are like computers. They got a new bigger better one before ya can get out the door.
Agree with DR Buck about memory, batterys ,digital zoom don't even be concerned with digital zoom or 10 zealon megapixels.
I also been looking at the Kodak 6340 waitin on the price to drop.
I luv digital cameras jus git ya some extra memory and a pack of AA batterys and shoot away, ya can always delete whatch don't want.
Whew I'm done ;D
Good Luck
Ken

[Jeff]

Make sure it uses standard batteries.  Stay away from anything that uses custom or proprietary battery packs.  AA NM hi 1800 MA work well for most all that use AA batteries.
 

I gotta disagree with that, at least with our application. We had a very forgetable camera before we got this sony, and it ate regualr batteries. The rechargable battery pack that we got with the sony mavica, plus the back-up has been all we need. It can be charged in the car, or a hotel room and they will take a couple hundred photos on a charge if you dont mess with the display and movie playback functions to much.

[SwampDonkey]

All good advice, BTW

I have a HP 618 digital with 2.1 megapixel. I've had it 3 years now. Its been a good camera, although I think its a little hard on battery power. The regular Duracell and Energizer die fast in this. I use a rechargeable Energizer battery for digital devices and they last alot longer. When you use the realtime video display your battery meter goes.....blimp in a few minutes. So I only use realtime video when pluged into AC and doing closeups, closer than 4 feet. There is a CF card slot, USB slot and DC slot. Also there is a audio capture button, however I've never figured it out and the manual doesn't explain how it works either other than to say push and record after you take a picture. It was pricy when I bought it back then and I see HP have new 5.x megapixal cameras for under $500 CDN. I picked up some Tiffen lenses and lens mounting bracket at Best Buy in Knoxville TN on a trip down there 2.5 years ago. They are a nice set of lenses and worth almost as much as the camera. That's the way prices seem to work out on lens items. The camera has red eye reduction, flash, night flash , auto focus range settings(macro-infinity), timer, remote. I'de buy another HP if the need arrises. This unit sure has been handy for my management planning work and the landowner sure likes pictures of his/her woodlot when your describing what each of his stands are comprised of. Get alot of praise for that. Comes in handly for before and after shots of some of our work also. Absentee landowners are especially gratefull for the shots when you submit to them a monthly progress report. Makes the owner feel he's right there on sight.


cheers all

[DR Buck]

Jeff,

I started out with the Mavica FD-90 and it worked fine.  I had 3 battery packs at $45 each. I could get around 70-80 picts without the flash per recharge.  Problem come in when you're not somewhere to recharge, like the Australian outback or even a weekend Boy Scout camp.   I've averaged 8000 picts a year since I went digital back in '97 and the convenience of being able to stop at any drug store for those 'emergency' AA batteries can't be beat.   My latest camera, a Minolta Dimage 7, eats regular alkaline AA batteries, but with 1800 MA and higher NM hi batteries I get about 80 flash pictures per recharge.  Best thing is I pay around 80 cents per battery and get 100 recharges.

[isawlogs]

I really appreciate all of your input on this I have not yet decided on what to buy  :P. Seems like it is harder to decide on what camera to get and with what then it is for me to get a car... : ??? At least with the car I know where I stand or at the minimum think I know where . ;D
 I've been reading this post over a few times ( 4or5) and still I 'm not quite sure of a few things
 : pixels.... 2 or more and what do they do  ???
 : optical 3x  ??? ???
  
  to make this easy ;D ;D  not necessarily to have a brand name but what are to basic requirements needed in a camera
 I"m thinking $ 200.00 $300.00 range
 Ebay is fine with me (dont need to be new )
  I would like to be able to take pics of pics that I have and maibe print some 8x10
  As far as the puter goes its fairly new(1 year) and it is   equal to a pent 4  Its run with win xp
 I would like to take time to thank those of you that are helping me with this  8) as I'm getting into this digital thing with blinders on I have no clue as to what to get... ;) ;) ;D ;D

[Tom]

Pixels kinda equate to the little dots in a picture in the newspaper.  The more little dots, the more apparent sharpness the picture will have.  My Olympus has 1.3 megapixels and will produce an 8x10 if care is used in framing the picture when it is shot so that minimal cropping is required.  Even though it is capable of the higher pixel count, it has 3 other options of lower pixel count that allows more pictures to be shot on a card without emptying it. You sacrifice sharpness for quantity of pictures.

There are two types of zoom.  One is optical zoom and one is digital zoom.  

Optical zoom is the same thing you use on a film camera.  The zooming is done with the glass lense and the image on the film is the stated density whether the image was zoomed or not. It's just that a digital camera has sensors in stead of film.

Digital zoom does nothing but crop a small portion of the picture before it is shot to be stored on the storage device.  that means that the densityof the entire picture is one thing but the density of the cropped out part has a density no greater than its part of the whole..  Kinda like cutting a picture out of the newspaper and then cutting a part out of it.

[isawlogs]

Tom
  Are pixels that important .. Do they have anything to do with the amount of pics that you can take  ???

[Tom]

Yes but more importantly they relate to how much definition you get in your picture.  Why have a big picture if you can't tell what it is?  Storage capacity depends on the number of Bytes in a pixel.  A byte is a term for the computer storage definition and is composed of bits. A certain number of bits (switches that are on or off creating a binary system) make up a byte which represents a number, letter, color, etc. These numbering systems, binary, octal, decimal, hexadecimal, etc are used in computers to maximize storage.  

Not being a techy I'm not able to explain it any better than this.  More pixels is a good thing.

Let me go learn a little more techy stuff and see if I can explain it better.  I'll be right back. :D

[Tom]

Ok!  I'm Back and I found just the thing.  This little write-up is good and explains how to shop for a camer and even gives pictures.  Now we're getting somewhere. :D

http://www.photo.net/equipment/digital/cameras/basics/

I hope this solves some of the questions.  Come back when you finis it. ;D

[isawlogs]

I just went and did some reading  :P  The pixels are for resolution ...and the more memory the more you can store pics
 I think that I' m learnen a bit....

[Tom]

Here is another site that may simplify the understanding of digitals.

http://www.shortcourses.com/

[isawlogs]

  Thanks  Tom
  I'm reading that book and when I finish  I'm sure I'll know what I need .
 How did you come on to this site  ??? I've been looking for something like that for a wile . It's great tells you everything in plain  english that even I can understand (my english is not real good takes foreever to write having to go to dictionary and back ) Would be a lot easyer if I good write it in french and push a buton and translate it ...
 I have a lot of pics that I would like to put on the forum and  once I get the camera it should be easier....Was going to get a scanner but a wile back  Jeff talked me out of it , seeing that you could take a pic of a pic and post...
  If you count the price of film developement  the trip ther eand back then the film itself  the digital does not take long to pay off ...

[Tom]

I think your English is pretty good.  It'll get better too.  Has to since you are writing on the forum.  It's harder in print than to talk so you'll be getting pretty good at this before long.

If you can only have one device, Jeff's right.  There is still a use for a scanner and you may want to get one of those later.  I have one that has helped me to save some of my old family pictures.  It even has a device on it that allows me to copy slides.   Copying these old pictures and then using the software to retouch scratchs and folds has been a chore but it is certainly rewarding.

[Jason_WI]

Those cheap wally word cameras like the aiptek use a CMOS imager and don't work well at taking pictures in low light or indoors.

I have a 3 year old EPSON 850z that is 2.11 MP. I have printed out 8x10 pics and they look great. It has 3x zoom, hot shoe, uses 4 AA batteries, and compact flash or micro drive. I spent 720 on it and another 150 for a add on lens set that I can take pretty good closeups with.

Jason

[Stump Jumper]

We are still looking also bought one from Meijers think is was samsung did 3.2 megapixels was not happy with the color quality.  One thing nice is the 30 day money back guarantee try it and if you don't like it take it back.

 Depending on what you will be using it for is how many pixels you want.  I like to do pictures up to 8x10 so I need the higher pixels and better quality haven't found one to meet my needs in my price range yet.

[isawlogs]

I'm still reading the link that Tom posted ... It's a great peice to read lots of info I'll have to readf it a couple of times to really understand everything on there .... Then I'm sure I'll be able to make the write choice of what I want ....

[mhasel]

Really good advice here, optical zoom is the only way to go, digital just zooms in on the pixels and makes the image appear out of focus if you go far enough. I have been watching the Olympus C7XX line, they have a huge 10X optical zoom, removable memory card and can either use rechargeable or AA batteries. Anyone looking to purchase should check out

http://www.buydig.com

They have some of the best prices that I have found, I haven't purchased from them but they will get my consideration when I do finally decide.

Mike

[Slofr8]

I just bought one and did my research here.

http://www.imaging-resource.com/DIGCAM01.HTM

[East_West_Dan]

Thanks Tom for the great links.In a few days an Olympus 520 should will arrive in the mail and they will help me figure out what to do with it.

Dan

[shopteacher]

I'm still using my Nikon 700 that I bought about 7 years ago. That thing takes some great pictures though. When you take the picture it's 16" X 22" so when you resize it ( I use adobe photoshop) the picture comes out nice and sharp and clear. You could probably pick one of these up today for peanuts. I think I paid about 600.00 when I bought it. It's very easy to use and I've never regretted buying it. thought about buying a newer one several times, but just can't see the need. This one does everything I wand and need and I'm 100% satisfied.
 If you can't afford a new camera and would like an older one get one of these.

[Larry]

Now that we have the digital cameras figured out anybody have a good recommendation for software?  I have old versions of M$ Photo Editor (which I like for a simple program) and Adobe Photoslop but I can't get either one to run on my new XP box.  The free trial on Pain Shop Pro 8 just expired.  I like it also and just about ready to buy but thought I would get some opinions before I reach for the CC.

Also been running GIMP and it will do some really neat things but I am having a very hard time learning how to use it.

[SwampDonkey]

Larry:

Goto Kodak's site and pick up their free Easyshare software

http://www.kodak.com/eknec/PageQuerier.jhtml?pq-path=2/3/9/150/130&pq-locale=en_US

[mhasel]

If you want to spend a few $$ for a good product try Adobe's Photoshop Elements, it has all the features you need for most chores without the full blown price tag.

http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshopel/main.html

Mike

[isawlogs]

If i where to have my 35mm pictures develloped and put on a cd I could post them wright  ??? This is hypotheticly thinking as to wether I can get a picture from a cd to the forum  Until I get my digital camera .....

[Ianab]

Yes Isaw, that can be done.
Just load the image from the CD into your photo program, resize it as necessary, save the resized image and post it like normal.
Same thing for scanning a normal photo.

ian

[etat]

Here's how I do it.

First I use Image Forge, you have to download it on your computer.

Open Image Forge.

Click on File, and Click on Open Image After Resizing

A menu will come up, find and click on your picture

A popup will come up asking how you want to resize your picture

Choose Pixels, Choose 350 for the width, Choose maintain poportional size, and click ok,

The picture will open on image forge, you can click on the sizzors, then choose rectangle or circle or custom, and outline and crop your picture  Any time you mess up, and you will, click undo, the pictue will go back and you can try again.

You can also lighten, darken, or mess with the colors

Go to file and click on 'save as'

Choose jpeg, progressive and preview....the default setting is 80 percent

preview the picture and check the the picture, and the  bites, you gotta get them down to just under 15000.  Each time you check it click ok, this will allow you to change the percentage, or save the picture.


Some pictures you can go up percentage wise, better pictures you will go down percentage wise

Once you achieve just under 15000 bites rename your picture, (this way you will be saving the original) and click save.

Your picture is now ready to post on the forrestry forum, and you will have saved it with as high quality as possible.

There are as said other programs such as infraview, but I can get more accurate bites and size with imageforge.

Once you do it enough to get it all in your head it's easy as pie.


The image below was resized, cropped, lightened up as the original picture was very dark, and then saved as,... with as close to 15000 bites as I could get it.  In this instance 14628 bites.



It doesn't show up really well, my camera doesn't take the best pictures inside when using flash, but the cat's name is kit-kat, and she has one blue, and one yellow eye.  The picture would have been better taken by daylight, or I could have lightened it up just a little more.  The problem with this was each time I lightened it there was degrade in the colors of the eyes, which are actually bright yellow, and bright blue.
sort of depending on which mood the cat is in.

[isawlogs]

I was looking for this post ...  ;D   I would like to thank Tom for helping me decide on what camera to buy ....   ;D ;D ;D  Even though it took a whole yeaar to make my mind up . I finaly took the dive into my  pocket and got me a digtal camera .
  I got a cannon PowerShot A85  4 mega pixels  3X optical zoom 3.6X  it came with a 32MB compactFlash card
I 'll be trying it out tomorow .    8)

[Furby]

Way to go!
We'll be waiting! ;)

[footer]

Here is another great site on digital cameras. http://www.dpreview.com/.
They have a section on camera reviews, and most importantly, there is the forum section that is broken down into manufacturers. After you buy one there is also a wealth of info there on every thing to do with digital photography. There is even a printing forum and a retouching forum. You can learn a lot there.

[isawlogs]

 Yep .. going to try it tomorow ... going to put a timber frame up .. There is snow in the forecast ... so there might be some snow snakes out there to be willing to have a picture taken .... or bites of them ..  ;D

[DextorDee]

Way to go isawlogs I am very much a Canon fan I don't think you will be disapointed with the Canon A85 . I have a A60 and love it, gonna upgrade later but I think I will stick to the Canon brand. Will be looking out for dem pics..

Ken

[rebocardo]

The most important thing to remember about digital cameras is they are a commodity that will be obsolete as soon as you buy them.

In two years you will not be able to sell it for even 1/2 of what you paid for it and in 4 years it will be worthless, except to you.

In five years you will probably not be able to buy media for it. So, whatever you pay for the camera, pay according to what use or money you can make with it and enjoy wasting your money on it just like you do on a new car :-D

[chisel]

Isaw,

Good choice w/ the Canon Powershot A85. I love my Powershot A60 (last year's model), and my dad bought the A75 for his wife for Christmas.  Both are super cameras.

Here's another site for reviews if anyone is interested:

www.stevesdigicams.com

[Jeff]

I bought our my sony mavica mvc-fd92 almost 5 years ago. Its probably low tech for nowadays at 1.6 mega pixels  but I would never trade it. Every picture on here that is attributed to me was taken with this camera. Also the video clips. My camera uses floppys or memory stick.  I can transfer pictures from one to the other on the camera. If we are together somewhere I  can give you a copy of a picture on a floppy while keeping a copy for myself on the stick.  I gave over 400 dollards for it way back then and it has been one of the best investments I have ever made.  I only use photos for web applications, so 1.6 is far better then I even need.

Although it is over 4 years old, I don't consider it outdated and if it broke and I could find another just like it, I would.

[isawlogs]

 I got to try my digital camera yesterday and I'm really pleased with it ..  I even managed to get a few pics in my album ... of the timber frame we put up .
Rebo
A lot can be said of alot of things that we buy today ..  I was one of those that also had bought a beta recorder way back when ...
I'm happy with what I got even though it is not my first choice it does have the fitures that I was looking for .. optical zoom and compactflash memory card ... And to tell you the truth if it does last five years I'll be really suprised ... I usualy have an incident with a camera long before that ...  ;D ;)

[MULE_MAN]

My wife got me a Sony 4.1 Mega Pixels Cyber-shot for Christmas  It came with a 16 MB card
for $179.00  They have really came down it price. I got 128 MB Memory stick , So I can
take a pile of picture's with the thing.  ;)

[Ernie]

Hey there CKTate.  What a beauty!! It sure is great being a Grandpa.

Good luck

Ernie

[rebocardo]

The newer Sony system with mini CDs looks nice, though I am still saving for my Sony Mavica camera because I want to use floppies for media. Pretty steep price though. Most of the used ones on E-Bay are junk and start with "works well except the floppy is flakely". Well, if the floppy does not work, what good is the camera  :D

[Paschale]

Thought I'd bring this to the top again, since I'm thinking of buying a digi camera here pretty soon for some trips I'm taking over the summer.  Plus it sure would be nice to be able to easily post pics to the Forum!  I'm thinking about buying mine used on Ebay, hopefully from someone who's itchy to get the latest technology.  The biggest concern I've got is memory, since I'll be in Thailand for about nine days this summer, and certainly don't want to run out of room on the memory stick.

This thread has been helpful reading.  Any other thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

[asy]

This is my son Jamie, my daughter-in-law Michelle, and my new grandson, RYAN

He's so CUTE!!!

Don't you think it's about time for update photos?!

asy :D

[Furby]

Paschale,
Just get a laptop as well..........no worries!  ;D

[Ianab]

If you are on holiday you can usually find a place that will write your pics to a CD then clear the memory card(s) and start again.
The beauty of the digital camera is you can take 100s of pics for practically no cost  8)

[asy]

Paschale,
Just get a laptop as well..........no worries! ;D

This is a GREAT idea, however, if it's cost prohibitive, there's a cheaper way out. It involves Ian's idea taken a little further.

Before you leave get yourself a GMail account. It's an email account which can take 2gb before it fills up (That is unless you already have an unlimited email account)

Go to a photo shop and ask them to write your photos to CD, Then go to an internet cafe and plug the CD in and email the contents to yourself.

That way, even though you are travelling with the CD's, you have a backup on email.

(Or you could email them to a friend and get them to clear them daily, or something. Point being, if your luggage gets lost, you still have the photos!).

asy :D

[rebocardo]

I bought a used Sony Mavica on E-Bay and I am happy with it. Uses floppies and each holds 16 hi res (which in this case means 640x480?) pictures. The newer ones use a custom mini CD-R or CD-RW instead of 3.5 HD floppies. I like the floppies because they are cheap (or free sometimes) and universal. Whatever camera you get, make sure you have a universal power supply/adapter or that you have a supply of batteries for the camera for out of the country use.

[Buzz-sawyer]

I was recently given the olympus
camedia d-395........
I believe it cost about 100 bucks....FANTASTIC!!!   
A FEW of the features...self timer, in camera picture editing , color features On screen review of pics and editing it will shoot video too but no sound with it....plus way more cool things!!!
I added a memory card So NOW it will take 156 High resolution Pictures before the need tp down load.the software is easy and not glitchy....I never take the memory card out of the camera simply down load every so often and back up on CD.
I owned a high end camedia and the newer ones are 3.2 meg pix and have all the high end features

[Ernie]

We use Alf's Sony handycam video camera with a 128 K memory stick for pics, the stick holds about 700 pics and automatically downloads into the computer as we plug it in.

Seems to do the job

[Furby]

I bought a 256k card for mine and it will hold over 400 pics, and they now have 512k cards for it.
All depends on how many pics you will take.
Asy has a REAL good idea when traveling over seas! Ya just never know!

[Paschale]

Good ideas--thanks!  Buzz sent me some pics from his 3.2 Megapixel camera, and they look great.  I suspect a lot of my pics will just end up on the forum anyway, so I don't really need the big 4 or 5 megapixel ones.  Now, if I can get up to 400 pics on one memory stick, I should be good to go.  I suspect those are ad ons later?  How much did that memory stick cost you Furby?

[Ianab]

Also when you are away from home you can reduce the picture size you are taking. If you are only going to view them onscreen or print them out postcard size you can drop the picture size down and get twice as many on your memory card. You can allways switch back to hi-res for the occasional magic pic that you may want to enlarge.

The mpix is only one measure of a cameras quality. A good 2 mpix camera with a better sensor and lens will give better results than a cheap 4 mpix one. This is where bargins can be had in 2nd hand cameras.

I love my 2 mp Panasonic with the 10x OPTICAL zoom. I'd like to upgrade to the new 5 mp version, (and Lil has offered to look after my current camera when I do) but for what I use it for there is no real advantage. :

Cheers

Ian

[asy]

I love my 2 mp Panasonic with the 10x OPTICAL zoom. I'd like to upgrade to the new 5 mp version.

That's what I have Ian, The Panasonic Lumix FZ20.

I love it.

It's so cool, but a little big for a travel point-and-shoot, although you CAN set it to automatic and just click away.

I have 2x256 cards and I can get around 250 photos per card at medium quality.

I don't often fill both cards up in one day, but have been known to

I took 110 photos in 20 minutes just before dinner today, of my kids' hands with paint all over them. It's for a photography competition where the project is 'hands'. it was great fun. Kids had fun with paint, and I had fun too. Here's one of the shots:



asy :D

[Buzz-sawyer]

At the high quality setting..like the onwe I sent, you get 156 on a 256 card ..mine cost around 30 bucks.

[Paschale]

At the high quality setting..like the onwe I sent, you get 156 on a 256 card ..mine cost around 30 bucks.

Hmm...that's not bad.  That's over six rolls of 24 exposure film, which I can't imagine taking anyway.  I'm liking the sounds of things much better already!

[asy]

Paschale,

I think those will be 'famous last words'...

You take SO MANY more photos with a digital...  because you can...  ;D

I mean, why take 1 photo of something and hope it comes out when you can take 10 and improve the odds.

asy :D

[Furby]

Paschale,
The 256k for my camera is running around 50-60$ right now, and the 512k I think is a bit over $100.
Yep, you can buy as many and what ever size as you want later.
Prices vary based on camera make of camera.

I started out taking the pics at a lower pixel setting, but found it just wasn't worth it. Shoot full size all the time! Mine is 3.2 mega pixels.
Asy is right! You shoot waaaaaaaay more pics.............just because you can! Pretty easy to dump the ones you don't want later.

Also take a look at the battery system. I like the AAA as they are advailable EVERYWHERE! You may not have time to recharge at some point and miss some pics. They do eat batteries, but if you use some common sense like turning off the flash when not needed, AAA last for a fair amount of time.

[DanG]

I would have to think twice before using the floppys.  The new computers don't come with a floppy drive.   You have to pay xtra for one.

I'm real happy with my Dimage Z10 camera. It uses a standard SD chip which you can buy most anywhere.  Bought a 128mb chip at Walmart for $14.99, on sale.  I paid $297 for the camera, then the price dropped to $247 about a month later. :'(

One feature I really like is the viewfinder.  It has the view screen on the back of the cam, but you can switch the display to another screen in the viewfinder.  I find this much easier to use, since I have taken thousands of pics in my life looking through that little hole.  I can't get the hang of pointing the camera using the screen.  The cam has 8x optical zoom + 4x digital zoom.

My Dad has a Mavica, and I like my Dimage a lot better.  It's a lot easier to use, and it is easier on batteries, too.  The only feature I can think of, that it doesn't have, is sound on AVI.  I think you get that on the Z1 model, but it wasn't worth the extra hunnerd bucks to me.

[Paschale]

Hi guys,

Well, I think I want to buy the Canon A95 Digi Cam.  Consumer Reports has great things to say about this camera.  Now...I have a question concerning the memory sticks.  Are these fairly standard?  I've seen some package deals with extra memory in them, but if I look at the lowest prices for just the camera on Froogle.com, then look at the lowest prices for memory sticks, and compare that total with the total I see on the "package deals," I think I'd be ahead with buying the camera separately from the memory stick.  Here's the thing I'm concerned about--I just want to make sure that I have the right memory stick.  Perhaps the memory stick for a Canon A95 would be more than the cheapest ones I can find, so those package deals might be OK. On some of the websites, I do see something about complying with the "standard" for memory sticks.  Are memory sticks all the same?  Do I need to worry about this?

Hmm...I might drop in at Best Buy today to try and get some answers too. 

Also, since I'm heading overseas for nine days, you guys who are used to digi cams--how big of a memory stick do you think I should buy?

[Furby]

My 2 cents.

I looked up the Canon A95, don't look bad at all!
It will only use the CompactFlash (CF) card (Type I) memory stick.
The camera should come with a 32mb card, but it is a 5mb camera. I'd just get the camera and buy the memory cards you want as you go.
I like having one big card, but there are lots of times I would like several smaller cards for different subjects.
I also do NOT like handling the memory cards any more then I need to.
All in all, it's nice have a huge card to fill, you'll still have the 32mb as a back up.

Check Meijers for the cards, you have that slip for $20 off this week! ;) They also run sales with sometimes larger discounts the Best Buy and the others. I say get the camera and start learning how to use it, and watch for a deal on the cards. You can always pay regular price for one the week before you leave if you haven't found a good deal.

[Paschale]

Well, I just bit the bullet and bought the Canon A95 from Amazon.  They had a deal to save $30 if you opened up a Visa with them, so I took full advantage of that.  With shipping, and the added on soft case, I bought it for $253, which ain't all that bad.   8)

Hopefully it'll be here by Friday, or at the latest, Monday.  Can't wait!   8)

Furby, good suggestion on using that Meijer card!  I'll have to swing over there this week and see what they have in the way of memory cards. 

[Chris J]

If you're travelling you might want to invest in a couple of memory cards. One, they're not that expensive, expecially if you watch the sales.  Two, if you lose one, you still have the other one.  That's what I did when my wife & I went to Scotland in '02.  I wound taking over 400 photos in two weeks.  I have a couple that might interest y'all, but more on that once I get some more info to go with the photos.

[Paschale]

Well, my digital camera arrived today from UPS.  I took about four or five pictures, and the DanG lense won't retract.  Called Canon technical support, and they told me the error message I was getting made it clear the DanG thing is defective.   >:(  Well, I got a hold of Amazon's customer service number.  Now THAT'S impossible to find on their website.  We should put that thing in the Knowledge Base!!!   :D  Fortunately, they're going to send me out a replacement two-day air, and it'll be here on Monday.  Free shipping back as well.  I was all set to post some pictures this weekend, but oh well.  It'll be here soon enough.   :

PS  Here's Amazon's customer service number.  I'm putting this here for my benefit as much as anyone's--if I ever need to call them again, I'll so a search for Amazon on the FF!

1-800-201-7575

[Bibbyman]

Speaking of memory cards..

When I bought our fist digital camera – an HP – it used the little SanDisk memory card.  It was 16mb.   I thought WOW! 16mb on that little card!

Later I got a Cannon ProShot A20 and it came with a SanDisk card of 32mb.  Extra memory cards were expensive so I was pleased I could use both cards in either camera.   

When we were about to take a long vacation out west,  I thought I'd need more memory cards so I bought another 32mb SanDisk card.  The price over a year's time had went down quite a bit.

A month or so back,  we attended the Wood-Mizer open house in Mt. Vernon,  I took the Cannon and extra SanDisk.  When I got back,  I couldn't find the extra one where I thought it was.  Looked everywhere but concluded I'd lost it.  Well,  I didn't.  I found it in the dryer.   They don't take washing and drying any to good!

So,  I went looking for another SanDisk card.  Found one in Wal-Mart but the smallest size they had 512mb for about $60.   I've never filled a 32mb so I didn't know why I needed 512mb.  I passed.

Today we dropped in at Staples to get some printer ink.  (No wonder they can about give printers away,  they make it up with the price of re-fills!).  Anyway,  they had SanDisks of various mb sizes – up to 1gb!  It cost just under $100.  I ended up getting a 256mb, the smallest they had,  for about $28.   

How could you possibly use 1gb of memory in a camera! 

[isawlogs]

  My thoughts also  Bib ... I just cant see anyone filling one of those cards ... I know I would not trust  a camera with so many pics in it ... Just my luck that it would fall in water or out of the truck once full ... I have two 32MB cards for mine ... and I cant for the life of me fill one up , I would not try ether , rather download them and sort them out when there is not to many in there ...

[crtreedude]

I have a 5 megapixel camera with a 256 meg memory card - I fill it all the time. I get about 100 pictures on it.

Perhaps it is because I am not the greatest of picture takers, so I take several pictures of the same thing hoping one will be good.

1 for the thumb
1 for the blur
1 for the strap of the camera in the picture
1 .... you get the idea.

[Bibbyman]

My Cannon is a 2.1 but I never set it that high.   Just not much need to with the kind of snapshots of the stuff I'm taking.   I guess if you're taking fine photos,  then you could use more memory.

[crtreedude]

I tend to take at the highest resolution because then if I get something in the picture that is far away, I can enlarge it more without losing the good quality.

I had a 2.1 and lost it  :-\ and replaced it with this one which has been great. Sony DSC-V1  I really like it.

It is very easy to use, but also has features that like night shot, etc which really take some remarkable pictures.

It will also take movies with sound. I am experimenting with those.

My ownly issue is that it doesn't take good pictures of me - I am still ugly... ;)

[SwampDonkey]

Man, I was looking at the Canon DSLR Camera [EOS 90D] with 18-135 mm and touch screen flip video, 32 mega pixel, but sure can't justify $2 grand. :D :D It's a pro camera, not the cheaper consumer type. ;)  Anyone got one? ;D

[Walnut Beast]

Leica cameras probably wouldn't be for you then 10k-20k. I love the Binoculars Leica makes had several 

[btulloh]

SwampDonkey, I went through that same thought process a couple years ago and had the same conclusion. Plus you still need a long lens to go with it - another 2 grand. Just too much $$ for my needs. A few weeks later I was in Costco and the had the lower end Nikon DSLR package with 2 lenses, bag, battery for about $650 which I bought to try out.  Not a pro camera or lenses at that price obviously but amazingly good and plenty good for me.  Even the lenses were pretty decent, which was surprising. All in all I was happy with the camera and it has served me well without paying the pro price.  

The lens mount is the same as the good lenses if I want to add some better quality lenses, but the ones that came with it are pretty darned acceptable for me.  Might be worth trying out the consumer version. 

[Hilltop366]

It's the sensor and the lens that get you the picture quality, sometimes the same sensor is available in lower cost camera bodies with less gismos and a few less frames per second.

Even the consumer type and intermediate camera bodies will take great pictures. A low usage last generation camera are often bargains too but no warranty. 

I'm using a older Nikon D3300 (2014) it can take very good photos, the next level up (same sensor) would have given me better weather protection which would be nice and a few more bells and whistles that I did not need.  The Nikon 55-300 lens was not great so I got a Tamron 150-600 last year it is way sharper although too big sometimes, Still have the 55-300 and the kit lens that is very good for closer stuff.

[Larry]

 A little over a year ago I decided I wanted a DSLR. Having a history with film SLR's I made the decision I wanted top quality equipment but did not want to spend high dollars since I wasn't sure if I would stick with it. I reached out to a girl that teaches photography at the college level and also works as a pro. She gave me a short list of cameras to search for in the used market. I found a Nikon D650 with two lenses, tripod, camera case, filters and other stuff for $600. The original owner thought it was too complicated and it had less than a 1,000 clicks on it. (clicks can be found on the internet by putting the card in the PC)

I found I liked taking pictures and decided to take some photography courses to improve. Our library offers free courses and I've also taken a paid course. In this journey I made friends with the manager of the local chain camera store. He told me that DSLR cameras are sorta like a dead horse. Nikon and Cannon are not putting R&D money into the DSLR. In store sales for the new mirrorless cameras are increasing at a rapid rate at the expense of the DSLR.

The bright side is now one can find super buys on top quality used DSLR equipment. My store manager friend tells me he has sold used DSLR in near new condition for great prices.

I've bought another lens and some other stuff, all used, from B&H Photo. Prices were good and items were accurately described.

So, what I'm saying is you might consider the used market.

[21incher]

Man, I was looking at the Canon DSLR Camera [EOS 90D] with 18-135 mm and touch screen flip video, 32 mega pixel, but sure can't justify $2 grand. :D :D It's a pro camera, not the cheaper consumer type. ;)  Anyone got one? ;D

That's the camera  I use. Only went with  it because I have EOS lenses when I upgraded to 4K videos last December. I love it for tripod shots and videos but it's  not the best for perfect handheld shooting. The stabilization is not the best and I will probably get a gimbal soon because of the limits of stabilization by internal cropping. It is a very  heavy camera with that lens also but has one of the best auto focus systems available on a low cost camera. I would have gone lightweight  mirrorless If I didn't have the lenses.  It is supposed  to be Canons last DSLR camera. I really like it but will probably never figure out  how to fully  utilize all the functions. My next  camera  will probably  be an I Phone professional  ;D. 

[SwampDonkey]

Thanks for the discussion. I'll probably eventually find something in the $600-800 range. I'm not rushing because I have an FUJI Film FinePix for now. It does weird stuff, the modes change on their own like it has a mind of it's own. :D

[Machinebuilder]

DanG it

you made me start thinking about a camera upgrade.

I have  a lot of money invested spent on Canon EF lenses. I started looking at SLR bodies and then looked at the mirrorless bodies.
It does seem that the SLR is on its way to history, its design is still basically a film camera with a digital sensor.
They still have advantages in SOME stituations.

From what I am reading is the mirrorless are better for video, I don't shoot video.

I can get an adapter to use the Canon EF lenses on the mirrorless body.
It's a good thing because the lenses made for the Canon RF mount on the mirrorless bodies are all the high end and quite expemsive.

If I were looking at a system that I did not want to use my existing lenses I would probably be looking at the Sony cameras.
The last point and shoot camera I bought is a high end Sony and I am very happy with it.

I am thinking about the Canon EOS RP, It's a intermediate mirrorless body that gets good reviews for photography and is less $$$ than an equivalent SLR body