posted on March 26, 2001 12:11:50 PM
What is a good camera to purchase just for the purpose of listing auctions. Not into e-mailing photos or printing them out. Just want a camera that will be easy to get the photos on e-bay. What can I expect to pay? Thanks in advance for your help.
Lou
posted on March 26, 2001 12:17:01 PM
If you have a camcorder, you can get a Snappy for about $100. It does the job. I used one for 2 years and was happy with it for this purpose.
then I got a Sony Mavica FD73, about $500, and am even happer with that. but you don't need this quality for ebay.
posted on March 26, 2001 12:37:00 PM
I bought an Olympus for $300.00 and am very happy with it. I know there are cheaper ones out there, but you get what you pay for. If you go much cheaper, find out what kind of close ups you can get with the camera first. A fuzzy pic is better than no pic, but sometimes not by much.
posted on March 26, 2001 02:19:46 PM
Just a word of advice, make sure you get a camera that has good optical zoom qualities and don't rely on the digital zoom. While you will not be able to get as close to your subject when using just optical zoom your picture will be 10 times clearer and detailed. Look at my photos and you can see that with a $400 2 year old Sony Mavica I do just fine. Good luck...oh and the best you can get for the cash is a Nikon Coolpix 990. But expect to spend at least $700.
Chris [email protected]
BJB International
Got Jewelry?
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posted on March 26, 2001 05:51:41 PM
For auction pics you really dont need anything top of the line. Agfa has a line of low-end cameras that actually take a good pic. No fancy features. No LCD screen. But prices from as little as $100 to $150 for a 1.3 megapixel which is more than enough for auction pics and even decent family pics. These cameras have USB connectivity, compact flash expansion and double as web cams.
posted on March 26, 2001 06:22:51 PM
For most of my pictures I use a $35,000 professional video camera hooked up to a Snappy card. Definitely not for everyone though If you do have a relatively good video camera, you can get a used Snappy on eBay for under $30. I'd look for a 2.0 version. The 3.0 Snappy's will cost you a bit more and it's the same unit as a 2.0, with a software upgrade.
I'm in the middle of testing several mid to higher-end digital cameras. I'm fairly impressed with the Sony Cybershot, Nikon Coolpix 950 & 990 and Kodak 4800, but they may be out of the price range that you're looking for. I've never been a fan of the Mavica (ducking for cover)
A good inexpensive camera is the Olympus D-490 (if you can still find the D-340R around, those are inexpensive and really take nice closeup shots) Good on batteries too. One drawback is that they do not connect to your computer via USB port, so transferring images can be a little slow.
posted on March 27, 2001 06:06:15 AM
Hey Folks, Thanks for the responses and opinions. Excuse my ignorance but, What the Hell is a "Snappy"?! I have a Sony CCD-TRV65 video camera "Handycam Vision" Hi8 Will I be able to use the Snappy on it? My manual says nothing about it. Thanks again!
Lou
posted on March 27, 2001 06:10:43 AM
Go to ebay and read some of the auction listing descriptions for the snappies for more detail, but basically its a device that attaches to your pc but accepts standard video cables from vcrs, camcorders, etc, such that you can capture video and still images from those sources.
The advantage of the snappy is that it worked well, was easy to use, and sits OUTSIDE the PC, so installation is a snap (hence the name...), compared with, say, buying a new "TV in" video card and getting that working...
[ edited by captainkirk on Mar 27, 2001 06:14 AM ]
posted on March 27, 2001 06:26:20 AM
What is a fair price to pay for this item? Is the 3.0 the newest version available? There are a few going off today that are at 35-40 now.
posted on March 27, 2001 06:26:42 AM
What is a fair price to pay for this item? Is the 3.0 the newest version available? There are a few going off today that are at 35-40 now.
posted on March 27, 2001 06:31:33 AM
That's a tough question. The best advice is to search on completed auctions and see how they are running. As always, the longer you can afford to wait, the lower you can bid, waiting to win one at a good price.
If you are happy with using your camcorder to take your pics and if you don't want to upgrade your video card and if you don't like messing around with pcs then certainly $35-$40 is fair - i do believe they sell for around $100 new/retail.
The only other alternative would be, if you wanted to watch TV on your PC, woudl be to upgrade your video card to a "TV in" model and put that $40 you were going to spend on a snappy towards that.
The way I'd look at it would be to maybe buy one, see if it worked for me, if not, sell it, and all you lose is shipping cost and some time. better than spending $300 on a digital camera if your current camcorder will work just fine!
[ edited by captainkirk on Mar 27, 2001 06:33 AM ]
posted on March 27, 2001 06:37:51 AM
Thanks for the info, however I would much rather watch tv on my 61" Proscan than my 17" Gateway monitor! I just this week purchased a Olympus 140 point and shoot camera for $195.00 so right about now the snappy is looking pretty good!
posted on March 27, 2001 06:43:39 AM
One nice thing about the "tv in" video cards is that you can keep track of, say, a sports event via a "picture in picture" mode on your monitor. You can list items on ebay and watch the Yankees, for example.
For sure if I had a 61" TV I wouldn't be watching tv on my PC monitor just to watch tv there!
I first bought an "inexpensive" camera & it did okay (not great, but okay) for most of the stuff I had.
As I began to branch out into other areas, it wouldn't do..not enough zoom & other features.
I ended up sitting it on the shelf (where it remains today) and going w/a Mavica.
I'm not saying you have to go w/a Mavica, but look to the long run aspect of your business, not just what you want to photo now when deciding on capabilities.
Sometimes buying above what you need now may save you $$$ down the road.
posted on March 27, 2001 07:05:24 AM
The Mavica pays for itself in a very short time.
It does not "eat" batteries--it uses a rechargable battery, which is a big savings. I splurged & got a second one, so while one is charging the other is in the camera.
Ease of use: pop in a floppy, take pictures, pop floppy into your computer for cropping, etc. No messing about with cables or adapters for tiny chips, etc. Saves you a lot of time--and time is money as they say.
posted on March 27, 2001 07:05:33 AM
Let me offer a slightly different view of eventer's philosophy, at least with respect to digital cameras.
The price/performance/feature curve of digicams is sharply improving - the prices for a given kind of camera are almost falling as you watch. When you are talking about that kind of curve, I think it makes more sense to buy what you need for the short-term future only, and take the money you save and later, if you need something better, you can probably come out far ahead, especially if you can sell the old model for a decent amount (which, for digicams, since the market is far from saturated, you can).
Its like harddrives - a year ago you'd pay through the nose for a 40Gig harddrive, so unless you needed one right away, buying a 20Gig HD and replacing it this year made a lot more financial sense, since they are selling dirt-cheap these days (relatively anyway), and you can sell that 20Gig for a big chunk of what you'll pay for the 40Gig.
For many kinds of equipment, by the way, eventer is very correct - buying "too low" can be inefficient and costly.
You did not indicate what you kinds of items you need pictures of. If relatively small flat items, a cheap scanner will do better than a camera. Scanner takes longer to capture picture than camera. But, no need to adjust for lighting or whatever else.
posted on March 27, 2001 07:56:17 AM
You may want to take a long look at the Kodak DC-4800. It's a 3.3 megapixel camera, giving great resolution. Kodak has just dropped the price - I've found it online for $465, and if I'm not mistaken, there is a $100 rebate on the camera through the end of April. $365 for a 3.3 megapixel camera is a steal.
I've reviewed the DC-280 in the past, and wasn't too impressed with it's ability to take close-ups or low-light pics. But there is a vast improvement in this model.
posted on March 27, 2001 01:21:31 PM
Vidpro2--thanks for the tip on the dig cam models. I have a Kodak DC240 & am saving for my next big dig camera. i've been looking at lots of reviews on the web .
I test drove my friends Sony cybershot S70 & was so impressed with it. But I just can't seem to get into the Mavica (sorry!). The cybershot seems to be a better one with the 3.3 mega-pixels.Just my opinion.
When you mentioned the deal you can get on a kodak dc 4800..MY!MY!!! Can't wait to look into that!
I guess i can go without all the bells & whistles of the cybershot for the price of that kodak ! What a deal!
This will be my 3rd camera upgrade.Bought a cheap model for $150 & ended up selling that on ebay to upgrade to a kodak dc240.
Its been good for regular picture taking but with volume of pictures i take & auctions I have weekly, this one is dying...& it needs to go soon..
All these guys who posted the stuff above are right spend more $$$ now save $$ later.
Pictures quality matters a great deal if you want more $$$ for your items.
VIDPRO2--visited the auction bytes page..WOW!
I am excited to read the articles. Thanks for the tip & I've subscribed to their newsletter.
posted on March 30, 2001 12:01:12 AM
I just bought a camera and it uses CompactFlash memory. I use a USB reader.
Can the memory card be inserted and removed from the USB reader while the pc is still running or do I need to shut down first? I'm puzzled because I read some USB devices can be plugged in without shutting down the computer.
posted on March 30, 2001 03:42:36 AManonymouscoward You should be able to remove the USB device while the computer is running. USB devices are designed for hot swapping, which means that once you have installed the device, you can add and remove it while the computer is on.
Just to prove it to myself (again), I added and removed 3 different cameras, and a Kodak picture card reader. Worked like a charm.
posted on March 30, 2001 03:52:41 AM
I have an Olympus D400 Zoom, which takes fine pictures of most things. A little dark, but I can compensate. But I sell lots of linens and it takes horrible pictures of linens. It's like it can't find anything to focus on or something. Does anyone have a good camera for linens or have any hints for getting better photos?
posted on March 30, 2001 04:27:51 AMscrappycat The D-400 is actually not a bad little camera from most reviews that I've read. I would try this (if you haven't already):
Display your linens hanging on a wall so that they are parallel to the lens of your camera. If your camera does not have a manual focus setting (and I don't believe the D-400 does) and you are draping your linens over a table or some surface that's perpendicular to the camera, it's going crazy trying to figure out what point it should focus on. The result is a very blurry shot.
If you're really in a money-spending mood, check out the Sony F505V Cybershot. It has a Manual Focus mode (and a Carl Zeiss lens) that would be perfect for you. The downside? $1000 and eats batteries like Rosie pops Twinkies.
posted on March 30, 2001 06:20:34 AManonymouscoward if this is a Kodak USB picture card reader you can take the picture card out of the reader while it's still plugged in to the USB port.
posted on March 30, 2001 06:33:06 AManonymouscoward we use a SanDisk Image Reader that is connected via USB to our system. It takes the compact flash cards.
We use this reader as if it were another floppy drive. It added a drive letter to our system, Drive F in our case. I plug and unplug the CF cards just the same as I would use a floppy disk. This reader was one of the best pieces of hardware we've ever bought. The camera software and serial port connection is so slow.
We've also used the CF cards to share some medium sized files with someone who also has a reader like ours. Our CF cards are 8mb and 16mb.
I can also use the CF's cards in my portable system if necessary with a pcmcia adapter that the CF card plugs into. It also creates a drive letter, in this case a temporary one. Works great.
Yes, you can remove USB devices and smartmedia/compact flash cards from the readers without shutting down as long as you are certain that they are not in the process of reading or writing.
To improve the quality of your photos, visit mediachance.com and download the colorcast program which is freeware. It lets you adjust the brightness, contrast, color etc. I have corrected incorrectly exposed photos with this program. Just a tip: save the result as a BMP if you are going to crop it. If you save it as JPG, it becomes compressed and loses a little quality. Then you crop it and lose even more quality.
My tip for photo transfer is I don't use the software that comes with the cameras to transfer. Usually they must load at startup and sit in your system tray even when you are not using them. Some of them display every photo and take a long time. I just plug in the usb device (camera or reader depending on which model I am using) and go into a file manager (my computer, explorer, etc) where the camera or reader shows up as just another drive. I go to the directory containing the photos, hit ctrl-a to select them all and ctrl-x to cut them to memory. I then go to my C: drive to the directory where I put the photos I am working on and hit ctrl-V to paste them there. They are pasted into this directory and erased from the smartmedia or compact flash card. When copying is over, I can disconnect the camera or remove the card.
posted on March 30, 2001 09:05:32 AM
I won an Ixla with the software for $50.00 and it is fine for pics for auctions. If thats all you plan on doing and you dont want to pay alot..look into Ixla. By the way..They take pretty good outdoor pics.
If you do have a relatively good video camera, you can get a used Snappy on eBay for under $30. I'd look for a 2.0 version. The 3.0 Snappy's will cost you a bit more and it's the same unit as a 2.0, with a software upgrade.
