posted on April 25, 2001 07:48:32 AM new
I am looking for suggestions on which digital camera to buy.
I believe it will make my life easier in many ways, and I want to know what everyone thinks about the various models out there...
Please, if you have a digital camera, let me know which model you have and what you think about it...
posted on April 25, 2001 07:55:33 AM new
I just bought a Kodak DC3200 a few weeks ago, it was only $300CDN with a $75 mail in rebate so quite low cost for a 1 megapixel camera. It has some nice features, 2x digital zoom, built in flash, holds up to 25 pictures and has a color LCD display on the back. The picture quality is great. However it does have a few drawbacks, I can't get good pictures of small objects, like tags on plush toys for instance, and if I want to take pictures of the kids with it they have to be completely still or it blurs. However for general ebay usage its excellent and if I need close ups of small tags I just use my webcam.
I suppose it all comes down to what you want to use it for and how much you want to spend.
posted on April 25, 2001 07:56:03 AM new
Sony Mavica FD90......LOVE IT!
Super great macro. Very easy to use.. Versatile in that I can either use 3.5" floppies or memory stick with the floppy adapter (can get way more pics on the mem stick!)....No massive battery use because it has the infolithium rechargeable. It comes with one and I bought an extra.
Great pics for auctions and great quality also to use in real life
posted on April 25, 2001 08:01:31 AM new
I like my Konica but it is hard to simply recommend it to another person without knowing their level of photographic/computer expertise. Some wonderful cameras are very complicated.
I purchased a mega pixel camera and found that I don't use the highest resolution so I bought more than I needed, and I wish it had more flexibility to change or modify the exposures and shutter speed.
As is so typical in electronics today, there is little cross-brand capatability which makes sharing tips and advice difficult, and every camera is a new learning experience.
Competition is good, but I am not buying any more electronics unless the format involved is standardized. So no handheld or cellphone or bookreader for me.
posted on April 25, 2001 08:02:04 AM new
Sony Mavica 75 at Sam's Club Is only $329 worth going with a member for the super price.
Easy to use and best of all 3.5" floppies.
Joe B
posted on April 25, 2001 08:07:23 AM new
Something I'd like to add: Your decision should also be contingent upon what kind of things you are going to be shooting. In my case I sometimes sell fine jewelry and needed something that I could get super macro so I could shoot the hallmark stamp on a piece of gold or platinum. For that you need something that allows you to focus from an inch away from the subject. My first dig cam could focus only from 8" or further and that didn't allow me to take good jewelry pics.
posted on April 25, 2001 08:27:56 AM new
Thanks for the great info!
I have looked into the Mavica 75, and I noticed it says "1/4 inch CCD"
What is that?
good or bad?
The Mavica 75 is not for photo quality pictures, right?
posted on April 25, 2001 10:24:34 AM new
I don't have much digital camera experience, but I'll offer what I can.
I have a Umax AstraCam 1000 for my home eBay pictures... I bought it because it was the cheapest digital camera I could find that sounded like it could do a decent job for what I need. I got it for only $80! It can take some decent pictures for eBay, but doesn't allow you to get to close or things are out of focus. You also have to hold extremely still when taking a picture. Because of this I usually take 2 pictures for each picture I want, incase one doesn't come out good. You can hold 45 pictures in the camera in higher quality mode or 72 (I think) in lower quality mode. I've never tried the 72 one. When you're ready to download your pictures you connect it via USB and download through their software. Not too bad.
If it matters to you... The first one of these cameras I bought messed up on me after about a week and a half, so I returned it and got another. No problems yet on the new one. Hopefully, I won't have the same problem as the last one.
I also use a digital camera at work. It is a Ricoh RDC-5000. I think it may have been $300 or so when it was new a year ago or so, but I'm not positive because I didn't buy it. It has a 2.3 zoom, but if you zoom you have to hold real still or the pictures come out blurry. It also has a color LCD screen on the back... This thing uses regular AA batteries I think, and eats them up like crazy! That's the biggest downside to this camera. When you're ready to download your pictures to your PC, you can connect the USB cable and access the camera is another drive. Very handy.
posted on April 25, 2001 11:45:37 AM new
It depends on what you plan to shoot and how many photos you plan to take. For auction pics you dont need anything fancy. Even a 640 X 480 camera which you can find for under $100 will work. But if you want to take family photos, these won't do. The next step up is a camera that will do an adequate job for both purposes. Agfa has a line of cameras in the $150 range which will do fine. They are 1.3 megapixel, USB ready, compact flash expandable and double as webcams. If you want to get into real photographic quality, like vacation photos, you will want to look at 2+ megapixels and up. You can find these in the $250-$400 range. For "best value" Kodak has a 3+ megapixel that is now selling in the $400 range after the $100 rebate.
As for the Mavica, using a floppy disk may sound convenient, but you give up a lot in photo quality for that convenience. The average high res photo takes over a meg. A floppy only has 1.4 meg. How does Sony fit several photos on to one floppy? Heavy compression. The more compression, the more quality you give up. For auction photos it's fine, but so are cameras which cost a whole lot less. For vacation and family shots it won't hold a candle to a "real" camera.
As for the convenience, I find it a lot simpler to shoot 70 high res photos with my 64mb smartmedia card, connect the camera to the usb cable and download the photos in seconds. No fussing with floppy disks, worrying about sector errors, waiting a long time as the files copy. In my opinion, even the "convenience" of a floppy disk isn't what it's cracked up to be.
posted on April 25, 2001 11:55:35 AM new
It really depends on what you want to use it for.
The Mavica that so many people love is great for auctions.
So is the Polariod PCD640 (costs less than 200 dollars at Wal-Mart)
I came here with the same question a few months ago. I decided on the Olympus 490z.
Not only does it take great pictures for auctions, it also does a great job on "regular" pics also. I costs about same as the Mavica, I have seen it on sale for less, but then the Mavica probably goes on sale from time to time also. It uses a Smartmedia Card.
I love it. It beats the Mavica hands down IMO, but then I needed it for things other than auction photos. The quality of the photos is wonderful!
posted on April 25, 2001 12:33:31 PM new
I just bought an HP PhotoSmart 315.
2.1 MP
2.5 x digital zoom
8 MB card
Cost $299 at CompUSA (and pretty much everywhere when I checked it out)
This camera is great for family photos as well as auction pics as long as you don't need fine detail work for jewelry. But it came with a catalog that features attachments for the camera if you need one for fine detail.
BTW, when I asked about the Mavica that so many here love, the man at CompUSA told me that the standard is going to the compact cards, not the floppy disks. That influenced my decision.
posted on April 25, 2001 01:47:35 PM new
Last December I bought a Fujifilm Finepix 1400Zoom for $285, larger SmartMedia storage for $40, ac adapter for $15 and 4 AA rechargable NiMH batteries with a charger for $15, total $355. This is a 1.3 mega pixel camera with optical zoom and macro mode, it takes good auction pics and adequate snapshots. Also it is a USB device so downloading pics is fast.
Caveat: I have four other USB devices (scanner, printer, webcam and mouse) all installed effortlessly. However, my installation wizard could not detect the intstallation file for the USB driver on the cd rom and the manual installaction instructions were inadequate, making the process very frustrating. I called Fuji technical support- 100% useless! I finally got the driver installed, but really don't understand what I did and how I did it!
[ edited by iowaantiques on Apr 25, 2001 02:02 PM ]
posted on April 25, 2001 02:02:39 PM new
Last December I bought a Fujifilm Finepix 1400Zoom for $285, larger SmartMedia storage for $40 and 4 AA rechargable NiMH batteries with a charger for $15, total $340. This is a 1.3 mega pixel camera with optical zoom and macro mode, it takes good auction pics and adequate snapshots. Also it is a USB device so downloading pics is fast.
Caveat: I have four other USB devices (scanner, printer, webcam and mouse) all installed effortlessly. However, my installation wizard could not detect the intstallation file for the USB driver on the cd rom and the manual installaction instructions were inadequate, making the process very frustrating. I called Fuji technical support- 100% useless! I finally got the driver installed, but really don't understand what I did and how I did it!
posted on April 25, 2001 09:18:10 PM new
Sony Mavica fd73 taken with a zoom lens. I think this camera does a great job for both auction & other photographs. For ease of use it's hard to beat.
Above are links to digital cameras review sites I liked when I purchased my camera a few weeks ago. If I can suggest one thing, buy locally at a store where they will let you exchange the DC if you are not completely satisfied with it. In ten days, I exchanged two cameras to upgrade the quality. If I had bought online, I would have been stuck with my initial purchase.
I started with a Kodak DC3200 (1.3 MP but poor macros min focal point is 2 feet). I exchanged it for a Kodak DC215 Millenium(1.0 MP, more controls and better macros but dark and grainy inside pics). The cheaper DC3200 beat the DC215 on inside pics hands down. I exchanged it and upgraded to a Kodak DC4800 (3.1 MP). It costs more, but came with a rechargable battery, AC power adapter and USB connection. Kodak is giving a $100 rebate (plus my local store matched a $50 price difference of a small competitor that offers no service ). Kodak also gives an adapter to add lenses on the camera. I checked out the lenses and the prices are reasonable. I found two 32MB noname CompactFlash cards for $20 each. Each can take 66, 3.1 MP photos in high compression.
For the best quality of family pics, it can save them uncompressed in a TIFF format. Each pic is around 10MB. The normal pic's quality is more than acceptable for eBay pics. It's only weak point is the macros since it has an auto focus. Battery life is an issue for some, but not for me. I just recharge it every day. The min focal point is 8 inches, but from the reviews and posts I've read it is vastly improved by adding the 7X or 10X lens. You can even combine the 7X and 10X lens to make it 17X.
). Kodak also gives an adapter to add lenses on the camera. I checked out the lenses and the prices are reasonable. I found two 32MB noname CompactFlash cards for $20 each. Each can take 66, 3.1 MP photos in high compression.