digital camera

[Travis Fulton]

need advice on a new cam. what to look for, would like to purchase one but dont have the foggiest about what kind, pixels,etc. thanx

[gaineso]

I've got an Olympus D-520. Not fabulous, not junk.

Olympus and Nikon seem to have the best optics, with Canon coming in close.

This camera is a 2 Megapixel, meaning that at maximum quality, there are 2 million individual parts (Pixels) to the picture. It also has a Super High Quality that is supposed to make it higher quality by filling in between the spots. I know I can print, on a HP photo printer, 8X10's that I can't tell from a high quality film picture.

For e-mail or most internet posting 640X480 pixels is really pretty good. 800X600 is good for detailed forum or internet posting and anything higher than that starts slowing down way to much because the files are getting too big.

2.5 or 3 to one zoom and 2 Meg is available for $200 to $300 dollars. My camera uses Smart Media cards, available about everywhere and came with a 16 Meg. Also uses 2 AA batteries. One that uses 4 may be a little faster, but will be larger and heavier. Get HIGH QUALTY NiMH rechargeable.

I've got the 16 Meg card, a 64 meg that was about $40 and a 128 that was about $75. On Max Quality setting The 8 will give me about 6 pictures. The 64 is good for 45 and the 128 is good for 90. Then you dump to computer or they make storage devices with portable hard drives.On 640X480, lowest quality the 8 is good for 100 pics, the 64 for 400 and the 128 for 800. So it depends on image quality how much you can put on a card.

It only takes seconds to chage them, so you can carry a bunch. At Max Quality, 1600X1200 interpolated, the 64 and 128 give me 135 shots. That's 3 X 36 exposure rolls and 1 X 24 exposure roll. And then you only print the ones you really want. Keep or ditch the rest on your computer.

One word of caution. Some camera's make a big claim about "Digital Zoom". It's one of the most worthless things you can get. Computer software will do the same thing far better. All the cameras have it. don't use it. Be sure to get at least 2.5X OPTICAL zoom.

Sorry to be long winded, but it is a subject that can get complex. Don't say "This is all I'll ever need". A month later you'll regret. Don't get the absolute best either, unless you're name is Gates and don't know what else to do with your money. $200 to $300 will get a REAL camera, with a lot of great features and capabilities.

My $0.04

[Travis Fulton]

gaineso, thanks for any and all info thats what i am relying on, your personal experience, thanx:D

[airide18]

I have a Nikon Cool Pix 5000,awsome camera,expensive but worth it in the long haul.The key is to get the most pixels for the buck$$$$ and get as much memory as possible for storage,when i bout mine it came with a free 32mb card(great deal).And look for good deals,if you want a good camera for a good price i would go witha Fuji 3.2 megapixel,great deal at $300,came with free stuff to.

[Travis Fulton]

goin to the mall tommorrow to get a cam so any last advise will be greatly appreciated!:D

[airide18]

Try and get the most pixels you can for the cheapest amount.The 3.2 pixel fugi is a freat deal.

[fredsav]

Bad pics, eats batteries. Comes with rechargable batteries an part of a cradle but you can't use them unless you buy another kit which is about a hundred I think.

[airide18]

Travis how much are you willing to sacrafice for one?

[sosmerc]

http://www.steves-digicams.com/hardware_reviews.html

This is a great site for information and reviews.
I have a Sony CD 300 and I am totally happy with it. It stores images on small cd-r's or can use small cd-rw's (rewriteable...can be used over and over again..very slick);)

[AlexD]

If you can, go for a digital videocamera, BUT MAKE SURE YOU CAN ATTACH IT TO YOUR COMP. You can get a fairly good digital camera that you use those new little rectangular puple card things and you can link those up to your comp. If you get a digital videocamera you can also take pics with it. some regular digital cameras, like mine use a "sandisk" that can hold up to 64 mb of memory, mainly for taking pics but you can make a 60 second high quality video. You can take hundreds of pics and alot of videos with 64 mb of space. You can also buy a 32 mb sandisk. Sorry I don't know what kind of camera it is, but with sandisks you don't load it to your digital camera its a little card you put in and take out for loading, or if you don't buy the accecory for the romoval loading you can still load it directly quickly and easily. And the good thing about these is if you do happen to run out of space, just put in another sandisk. If you do get a camera make sure to get an extended warranty. My camera is so faulty that i have returned it once, then they gave me a new one, then it messed up, they finally try to problem solve and realize that is it something wrong with the battery charger, now its fine. I cant tell you what kind of camera it is cause my mom is using it at my brothers v-ball tournament.
Try to get one with sandisk, very useful, that is what i think.
You can reuse sandisks as much as you want, just load the pics on ur comp, and delete off sandisk and its ready to use, like you just bought it.

[Travis Fulton]

would like to keep it under 500 ?? if possible!

[airide18]

Well with $500 you can buy awsome Dig-cameras!!!!Sony would be the easiest buy,I think they have 5.0mega pix for $500 or so,but a 4 mega pix will take awsome pics.

[Rickracer]

....it came with 4 megs onboard, and I bought a 16 meg compact flash card memory for it at the same time. It was almost $300 total. I am pretty satisfied with it, with one major exception. It has NO zoom, and that's almost necessary for taking pics of boats at speed. All these pics were taken with that same camera. http://www.screamandfly.com/screamandfly/florida_hot_boat_2000.htm
I usually capture at maximum resolution, then I can cut out what doesn't need to be in the pic, but zoom would make it a lot easier to get a quality shot without having to edit later. You should be able to score a pretty nice cam for $300 to $500 today.

[Brack]

Wifey got a Kodak EasyShare CX4300 3.2 mega pixels with the dock for Christmas,
It has 16mb internal memory,....It takes super pic, Great little camera,

My 2 cents, for what thats worth..........:D



Brack

[airide18]

Best buy has a great deal on the sony cybershot 4 mega pixel for $499 with $50 rebate or at circut city they have the Olympus 4.0 for $449.There are tons of great deals on digital cameras,you should have no problem finding a 4.0 mega pixel cam for under $500.

[Travis Fulton]

i think i will try best buy and circuit city both, thanx;)

[airide18]

The prices at either one will be the same the only differnce bettween the 2 is inventory,some will carry differnt brands,if you go to circut city and want a camera that is $400 at Best buy and its $425 at Circut city,they will match or exede that price.

[Travis Fulton]

thanx airide, maby 1 of thoes places will have the best deal!

[gaineso]

I got my Olympus D-520 (2 megapixel and 3x optical zoom) at CC for $250. The add a couple sets of high capacity rechargeable batteies and charger and a 64 meg and 128 meg cards and I'm over $400.

I can take the equivalent of 7 24 exposure rolls at max resolution before I have to download. I can easily make 8X10 prints, and do some pretty good cropping with excellent detail and resolution.

Don't forget that 4 megapixels takes at least twice the storage space of 2. And the included 16 meg card is really only suitable for low res pictures. Even 64 meg will only do 45 pictures at highest res on my 2 meg camera. You've really got to allow for the cost of the necessary extras.

[airide18]

Yeah your right,ive got a 5 mega pix nikon and right now i only have a 32mb memory it only allow 8 pics at the highest resolution.But will take 120 normal pics and they are still great looking pics,i love my camera,i also bought the 3 year plan at best buy,if my battery breaks or i need a new one i just take it in and get enother one,also any thing that happens to it i either get a new cam or have it fixed at no charge,Best Buy has the best buys for sure.

[Travis Fulton]

went to a couple places today but no purchase !! it has came somewhat of an ice storm and the roads are very slick! so i will probally wait until next weekend to make the trip to st.louis that is where circuit city is at.

[airide18]

Well when you do i wanna be the first person to see pics of your ride and your mota.

[Travis Fulton]

as soon as i get it i'll be takin pix of everything!!!!!!! :D

[airide18]

Thats what i did:D Me and my mom looked around for 6 months!!!!And for a christmas present my dad picked me up form school and we went to best buy and he told me he would get me a GPS for christamas if thats what i wanted so i would have it for my boat and i said,well what about a dig camera so i can take pics of my boat and so mom can take pics of whatever she takes pics of:D and he said that sounds good to,so he got hooked by a salesman and we ended up witha $1000 NikonCool Pix 5000 and we got home and showed my mom and she was happy and freaked out at the same time,she was like,ohh,my goshi thought you were just gettin a $300 cybershot.My dad is compulsive,thats why i like shoping with him.:D :D

[Travis Fulton]

sounds like a great dad!!

[airide18]

Yeah my dad is awsome,he always is helping me out and given me tons of advice,and im glad he knows as much as he does about boats!!!!I dont knwo what i would be doing if i didnt have boats as a hobbie

[Daytona19]

This pic done with olympus c 3020 zoom.

[gaineso]

Daytona, that don't look like no Bayliner. How 'bout some more pics.