oldapostle
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posted on September 27, 2000 05:26:05 PM
Being new to Auctionwatch it is clear that
many of you have vast experience with
selling items on-line.
I would assume that many of you use a
digital camera for your photo's.
I am looking for a digital camera that gives
the best close up picture.
A zoom lens would probaly not be used much.
I was told I should get no less than a
2 megapixel camera.
Any suggestions about manufactures or a
specific camera would be apprieciated.
Oldapostle
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jeanyu
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posted on September 27, 2000 05:28:58 PM
Ouch ouch ouch! Another digital camera thread. Me ---have a lousy Kodak that takes just so so pics. Look to a Sony--they are wonderful for zoom pics and closeups.----Ouch!
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mauimoods
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posted on September 27, 2000 05:30:17 PM
I have a cheapy AGFA, that I got from the AOL store for 223.00. Works fine, and Im pleased with it. If you want the best of the best, I hear Sony has them. Myself, I will keep my cheapy
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valerie47
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posted on September 27, 2000 05:30:19 PM
I'm on my 5th digital camera. I can tell you what NOT to get:
Any Vivitar camera
Polaroid Digital Cameras
Hewlett Packard C300
I finally broke down and bought a Sony Mavica FD73 and I am thrilled with it! I also needed it for close-up pictures and it does an EXCELLENT job for close-ups. There are also no cords, etc - since you just put a floppy disc in it and take pics and then put the disc right in your computer! I bought mine at Walmart for $498. In my opinion this is the BEST camera for the money. I've seen more expensive Kodak cameras that don't do as nice of a job.
____________________________________
The only place you'll find success before work is in the dictionary.
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jenniphant
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posted on September 27, 2000 05:40:19 PM
If you're just going to be taking pictures for eBay, there's no reason why you need greater than 2 megapixels. Get greater than 2 megapixels if you're going to take family and vacation photos with plans of compiling a nice digital photo album. If it's just for eBay, stay on the cheap end. I bought a Fuji MX-1200 on eBay for about $220, including rechargeable batteries. It takes FanTAsTic close up shots. I'd even venture to say that it's close up shots are better than its regular ones. But, if you don't want to take my word for it try http://www.camerareview.com They've got the dish on most of the cameras out right now, and the Fuji gets pretty high marks the last time I checked.
[ edited by jenniphant on Sep 27, 2000 05:43 PM ]
[ edited by jenniphant on Sep 27, 2000 05:44 PM ]
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jenniphant
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posted on September 27, 2000 05:41:53 PM
edited for a massive brain fart.
[ edited by jenniphant on Sep 27, 2000 05:45 PM ]
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thedewey
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posted on September 27, 2000 06:07:46 PM
I just bought a Fuji MX-1200, and absolutely love it! I looked at quite a few different cameras and compared their features with their prices, and the Fuji was the best I could find for the money. I got mine on Amazon for $239. It's a 1.3 megapixel and came with a 4MB SmartMedia card. Takes 4 standard AA batteries (I use rechargeables).
The MX-1200 was an upgrade from my Fuji DX-10, which is still going strong even after 18+ months of use (and which I'm giving to my sister).
The close-up shots are especially fantastic! I sell jewelry-related things, so I needed a camera that could handle close-up photos well.
I would recommend getting the SmartMedia floppy disk adapter to go with it, as well.
Another happy Fuji customer!
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kleavitt
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posted on September 27, 2000 06:56:55 PM
I went through this same message exercise some months ago (seems like this thread repeats every month). I looked at all of them. Tried out the $1000 Kodak and finally settled on the Sony FD73. Many thousands of pix later I can state with conviction that the Sony is the BEST way to go for many reasons:
1. You don't need the gigapixel resolution for auctions.
2. The absolute ease and simplicity of using a floppy disk for our type of pix just can't be beat. I can take a few shots, and in seconds, with no special input devices/connections or software, check out my pix directly from the floppy. When I am ready to work with a batch I simply copy from disk to folder in seconds. I could even go from disk to image hosting directly if I wanted to. This is a great feature.
3. I bought the optional wide angle lens. This gives fantastic closeup zoom capability. I use the zoom constantly to get just the image I want in the screen. We also took a vacation trip to London this summer and used the zoom constantly. The pix were of super quality.
Need I say more??
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CleverGIrl
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posted on September 27, 2000 06:59:09 PM
Thanks, folks. Yet another topic tailor made for me. The Fuji sounds wonderful. Not quite in the market yet, but will be soon (I hope).
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eventer
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posted on September 27, 2000 07:16:53 PM
I bought an "inexpensive" one to begin with thinking it would be enough. WRONG. I should have bitten the bullet & paid the price for a good one in the beginning.
Have the Sony FD90 now & doing a very happy dance. I now photograph stuff I used to spend hours scanning. The first weekend I had it...saved me HOURS in photo generation time...THAT alone was worth the added expense to purchase a good camera.
My advice...don't skimp...pay the bucks now & get something good. It WILL be a case of pay it now or pay it later.
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magazine_guy
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posted on September 27, 2000 07:20:51 PM
Mavica.
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ondahouse
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posted on September 27, 2000 08:09:08 PM
Close-up with a mavica FD83
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Julesy
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posted on September 27, 2000 08:18:14 PM
Ditto on the Mavica recommendations. It will pay for itself.
This is a close-up taken of the content marking on a platinum bracelet.
Is that clear, or what?!
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ericahayes
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posted on September 27, 2000 09:12:21 PM
I've had my Sony Mavica FD81 for 18 months. You can't beat it. Slip in a floppy, take a picture, edit on your computer and you have your auction picture in a minute. The battery lasts a long time without recharging. The floppy holds between 10 and 27 pictures depending on what quality you want. Don't mess with any other brand but Sony.
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thedewey
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posted on September 27, 2000 10:33:37 PM
FWIW, here's a couple of photos I just took with my Fuji MX-1200 (normal room lighting, it's nighttime outside, no photo enhancements).
(I hope I did that right!)
Is there $250-worth of difference between the photos? IMO, there's not. (In fact, I'm personally not seeing any difference in clarity at all.)
I know the Mavica's a great camera and is popular with a lot of people, but one shouldn't overlook other brands as well. 
Just wondering ... does the Mavica have an LCD screen? IMO, an LCD screen's worth $100! I love the LCD screen on my Fuji. Much easier for close-up shots.
Edited to add: P.S. It does even better in sunlight!
[ edited by thedewey on Sep 27, 2000 10:36 PM ]
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thingsold
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posted on September 27, 2000 10:33:59 PM
Sony! Sony! Sony! Mavica Mavica Mavica
I use the sony mavica fd-91 since last christmas. Just sold it and buy sony mavica fd95. Absolutely the best all around digital camera. You see the image display before, during and after recording the image. Most cheap digital camera you only see the image after recording. NO guessing. You know exactly what you are going to get BEFORE you press the button. NO cable hook up to transfer image file. Just pop the diskette in the computer. Excellent close up to may be 1" from lens. FD95 retail about $1200.00. I bought mine for $900.00 on the Internet (not auction). Highly recommended.
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atozbiz
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posted on September 27, 2000 10:48:18 PM
All Sony mavica has LCD screen. Sony FD91 and FD95 has 2 LCD screens. The internal viewfinder LCD work like the camcorder where you look in with one eye without being affected by the bright surrounding light. You look at the interanl LCD close to you face just like a regular camera. Your arms don't get tired for holding the camera AWAY from your face. The large external big LCD screen work just like other LCD screens. You can have both the internal and external LCD at the same time or turn off the external one.
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honestjonstoys
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posted on September 27, 2000 11:30:45 PM
I use a Mavica FD7, great for close ups but I am having problems with medium range shots of 1-1/2 to 3 ft. Can't seem to get the focus right. I may have dropped it one to many times, it is going a bit wonky.
--------------
Don't take life so serious, it ain't nohow permanent.
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Borillar
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posted on September 27, 2000 11:53:16 PM
I use the 3.3 Megapixel Nikon CoolPix 990.
Great colors, great detail. Many digital cameras can take colorful shots. But just you try a shot where the foreground and the background has little contrast suh as in this pic:
This camera has the highest rating for non-professionals.
edited for syntax
[ edited by Borillar on Sep 27, 2000 11:55 PM ]
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quazz
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posted on September 28, 2000 05:16:51 AM
Taken with a Nikon 900s - Could get closer still with a macro lens from Nikon.
[img]http://www.legend-design.com/watchcock.jpg
[/img]
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abacaxi
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posted on September 28, 2000 05:44:37 AM
oldapostle -
I'm using a Sony Mavica FR83 for industrial photography. The advantages of the Mavica are SUPERB optics (there is a striking difference in sharpness between the platinum mark photo and the penny photos) and that you can just keep changing the floppies as you fill them up. I shot five floppies full yesterday (100-150 pictures) and didn't have to stop to download or recharge.
If you shoot pictures for others, you can just hand them their floppy and get rid of them.
As for the zoom not being useful, it's surprising how often I use the zoom to get close to a mark or meter inside a machine, or to crop out distracting detail in the camera so I dont' have to do it later.
A "MACRO" feature is what you want for exterme closups like jewelry marks, stamps and coins.
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kateartist
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posted on September 28, 2000 08:23:03 AM
Whatever you choose - becareful who you buy from - there are a lot of really bad mail order camera places that will rip you off in a second. Read the digital camera newsgroup for a list of who to avoid. I know from experience that MP Superstores or Marine Park Camera tried to rip me off. I ordered a digital camera from them and they called me at work the next day and tried to sell me a 'filter set' that the seller couldn't describe in any terms that made sense. I said 'No'. 3 times. Then suddenly the seller gave me a free upgrade to overnight shipping. On a hunch we checked the charge card - they charged us for the filter set too (another 140 dollars). I then started checking on the net and found that this is what a lot of sleezy camera stores do (apparently most of them in NY). If you actually accept the delivery and it isn't what you ordered they hit you with a huge restocking fee.
We didn't accept the delivery and they called and literally yelled at my husband. They told him that they would take the charge off the card. They didn't - at least not until we challenged it with the CC company. Now they are trying to charge us for the shipping - some 30 dollars.
We did order the camera from Sparco.com which took a longer time to come (2weeks), but it was even cheaper and we were very happy them. For a retailed priced 800 dollar Kodak DC4800 (their newest nicest camera) we got it for $640.
Kate
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Borillar
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posted on September 28, 2000 01:04:16 PM
Yes, Sparco.com. That's where we got our Nikon 990 for $850 (list $1,000). The prices are not the cheapest on the Internet, but they also don't jerk you around. We got enough of that online with a different company this late spring and early summer.
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CleverGIrl
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posted on September 28, 2000 01:14:40 PM
THEDEWEY - Wow, I am knocked out by those pix of the pennies. Whew! *I'm* sold. Sign me up
A coupla questions for you:
What's this Smart Card? Is that instead of a floppy? How's it work in this regard? Cables?
Do you have a zoom or macro lens that does this, or just the camera? Did you need anything else IN ADDITION to the camera?
Thanks.
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CleverGIrl
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posted on September 28, 2000 05:23:46 PM
Just bumping the thread, hoping Thedewey comes back to answer my questions.
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valerie47
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posted on September 28, 2000 05:33:25 PM
CleverGrl:
Here's pics of a penny with a Sony Mavica FD73 - $498 from Wal-mart:
____________________________________
The only place you'll find success before work is in the dictionary.
[ edited by valerie47 on Sep 28, 2000 08:19 PM ]
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thedewey
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posted on September 28, 2000 05:34:14 PM
Here's a photo that I took with my Fuji during the day today, indoors, using better lighting (indirect sunlight).
Not too shabby, eh?
Clevergrl - A Smart Media card is a little thin card that fits into the camera, and is essentially the "film", so to speak. It's about 1/3 the size of a credit card, and is about the same thickness. My camera came with a 4MB card. The bigger it is, the more photos it'll hold. 4MB is fine for my purposes.
To get the photos off the Smart Media card, you can either use the serial cable that comes with the camera (hooks into the back of your computer), or you can get a floppy disk adapter (costs about $50-$60; the Smart Media card fits into it, and your computer can read it just like a 3.5" floppy disk). I think you can also get a Smart Media card reader as well, but I haven't used one of those. I have a floppy adapter (love it!).
I didn't use anything "extra" to take the close-up photos. The camera (Fuji MX-1200) comes with a macro (close-up) feature already built in. You just flip a button to change it between close-up mode and regular mode. The camera takes great photos straight out of the box. Simple to use, too!
(No, I don't work for Fuji! LOL!)
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oldapostle
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posted on September 28, 2000 07:03:42 PM
Thank You > Everyone
A special thanks to those who provided
the pictures.
Also the warnings on were to buy.
Have no fear in spending the money, now
that I see the quality.
Hope I can return the favor someday.
Thanks Again
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valerie47
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posted on September 28, 2000 08:20:19 PM
Another place you can check for digital camera recommendations (or almost anything else for that matter) is:
http://www.epinions.com
____________________________________
The only place you'll find success before work is in the dictionary.
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CleverGIrl
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posted on September 28, 2000 09:18:06 PM
Val, yes, your photos of a penny are great. But not at twice the price .-)
Thedewey -- thanks so much for the add'l info. I am SO impressed with your camera. I had been under the impression that I needed to sock away %500 or more for a good camera, and I'm just THRILLED to learn I can do it for halvsies. Thanks. You too, apostle, for starting the thread I needed.
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