Posted: 1/19/2004 6:53:10 PM EDT
|
$400.00 to spend and I want a digital camera. Don't know much about them but I love the 3.5 floppy camera that we have at work. All of these other storage types are sooooooo expensive. Could legally (moraly correct) get all of the used floppys that I want from work just by asking for them. Just love this edit feature! Anyone have any Ideas? |
|
3.5 Floppy cameras (Sony Mavicas) are all POSes. In fact, Sony doesn't even make them anymore (opting for mini-CDRWs instead). 1.44MB is too small to store pictures of any reasonable quality. The 3.5FDD cams generally run 640x480 resolution (0.3MP) which is barely e-mail quality... You should be looking at a 2.0 megapixel (hardware) digital camera, which will need a minimum of 32MB memory... A floppy cam at that resolution would get about 2 pictures per disk, max... Get a good memory-card camera, anything with 2.0MP or better will do... To give you an idea, my 1.3 megapixel camera fits about 16-20 pictures per 8MB memory card. P.S. Most people DO NOT buy lots of memory cards. You use one large card, and offload to your PC when full... So it's not that expensive, and you don't have to carry 30 floppies with you just to shoot a decent amount of pictures... |
|
You'll need to get some idea about the resolution of the image you want to take. This will determine the number of megapixels you want. I take pictures and e-mail them and print a few. I need less than 3 megapixels to do that. Just because a camera is made with more megapixels, it doesn't mean you should spend that much. You'll also need to determine how much zoom do you need. For indoor party shots you don't need much. The amount of zoom will also have bearing on the size of the camera. Does it need to fit in a pocket or do you expect to hang it around your neck. |
|
get a Sony, it uses rechargable AA batteries. You can always use regular AAs if you need to (which you could get anywhere, such as a museam gift shop while you are taking pictures there. I have a 64mb memory stick, and can take about 400 pictures on it. I would get the current 3.2 megapixel sony and spend the extra money on a case and bigger card. My girlfriend has a Canon S400 which is very nice, and small, but was $450 my 2 cents |
|
[blue]We use a Sony at work and I'm not impressed at all. Photo quality is poor (darker pics and a bit "unclear") and the thing is slooooow. I've had great luck with Kodak digital cameras. Currently own a DX3900 from Kodak and it rocks! Check 'em out. . .[/blue] |
|
This topic comes up a lot, so here's the canned response: The number of pixels has become relatively unimportant, since virtually all cameras now have more resolution than you'll ever need. Generally, unless you're shooting photos for full-page magazine advertisement layouts or huge posters, 2 megapixels of resolution is all you'll ever need - you'll simply never notice any difference with a higher resolution at any reasonable print size. The kind of battery the camera takes is very important. Some cameras with a proprietary battery will only charge the battery when it's inside the camera – which means you can't use the camera until after the battery finishes its charge. Also, proprietary batteries tend to be expensive, which means you can't afford to buy a few spares. However, cameras that can accept AA cells are very nice, since you can easily afford to carry buy a couple extra NiMh 4-packs and a charger for well under $20. This means that there's never any justification for missing a shot due to dead batteries. Also, in a pinch, these cameras can accept ordinary AA alkaline cells, which can be purchased anywhere. The memory format is also important. You want a format that will store at least 64-128 MB of images. Personally, I like CompactFlash – It's super-cheap (roughly 50-100 percent less than Memory Sticks or SmartMedia), is available in larger sizes (up to several GB for the microdrive-based products), and is sold just about everywhere. Check ebay for some super prices on CompactFlash. Finally, give extra consideration to any camera model with a good OPTICAL zoom. Most cameras have a digital zoom, but this scheme merely discards most of the pixels around the periphery of the image in order to give the illusion of being closer to the subject. The result is a blurry, low-resolution image that's no better than you could do by blowing up the image afterwards with a image editing program on your computer. By contrast, an optical zoom magnifies the image BEFORE it reaches the image sensor, so you still get the benefit of the sensor's full resolution — Zoomed-in images have just as much resolution as ordinary ones. A 4X optical zoom is a good starting point for low-price cameras; some models boast as much as 10X (which is nice for photographing wildlife). |
|
get a canon powershot a70, they run 299 on down.. that will leave $100 for a larger compact flash card(comes with pathetic 16mb) and a NiMH battery and charger kit. the powershot is 3.2mp with 3x optical zoom, i have one and can not say enough about it.. i got my pops one, played with it and loved it so much i picked one up. It is fairly fast, and small enough to be put in your pocket, and also has the ability to take add on lenses. forgot to add.. the battery life on this thing is amazing.. with NiMH rechargables, i can go 200-400 photos with everything on. |
|
Canon Powershot A80. Uses AA Batts, 4 Megapixel, small, 3X Optical Zoom, 3 minute video recorder with sound, manual settings, user programable settings, flip out rotatable display, manual focus, focus assist LED for low light, excellent reviews, $339 + $7 shipping from ebay seller: "cordesales", Cord Camera. Otherwise $400 at Best Buy & Circuit City. If you want really tiny, the Canon S400 Elph. Like a pack of cigs, maybe smaller, similar features. |
|
Just make sure you check internet prices before you walk into a store and buy the camera. This site seems to have a very good price comparison. [url]http://dcviews.dealtime.com/xPP-Digital_Cameras[/url] The Sony DSC-V1 has 5mp and 4x optical zoom. Best Buy has it for $599, you can get it for around $440 from several internet dealers. |
|
Quoted: Fuji FinePix 2800 6x optical zoom!!! Awesome color reproduction Uses AAs [url]http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00005QI59.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg[/url] [url]http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00005QI59/102-7551265-3238530?v=glance[/url] |
|
I do a lot of stuff for the internet and also for my catalogue so I need pretty hi res. I use an Olympic, I think it is like 4.3 megapixel. I paid around $500 for it a couple of years ago, sure they cost less now. It has a regular zoom of 6X and a digital that goes to 10X, but I never use it. If you are doing detail stuff make sure it has a Macro zoom as well as an adequate regular zoom. Just like a film quality the lens quality is very important, garbage in garbage out, regardless of the number of pixels. Denny |
| Got the Kodak DX4530 w/ docking station for my wife for X-mas. She loves it. It's got a reasonable amount of internal memory, plus you can get plug in cards for it if you need more. All you got to do to get the pic on your computer is drop the thing on the docking station and press a button and it downloads via the USB port. The camera battery recharges while it is sitting on the docking station. You can also power it with AA rechargeables, AA lithiums, or Li camera batteries if your away from your docking station for a long time. The part my wife likes best is that you can e-mail the pics from inside the viewing software that comes with the camera. See a pic you like, just press on the e-mail button, put in an address and off it goes, automatically rescaled and at screen resolution. |