posted on May 12, 2002 09:56:44 AM
Well, I might be joining the 21st century and buy a digital camera. I have been using a photo camera, but I figured the money I have spent in the last 3 years on film and processing would have paid for a digital camera by now. (don't laugh)
Anyway, the last time I checked out camera's was over a year ago. So, what works best for you? I need something that would also work for family and everyday photography too.
Any opinions would be very helpful! Thanks!
tfs13
http://www.tfstudios.com
posted on May 12, 2002 10:08:37 AM
My personal opinion is that Sony makes the best Around $600.00 But I am going to buy one from Sam's Club. A Polaroid Digital (I hope this is spelled right) It is $69.-- For that price I will give it a try.
posted on May 12, 2002 10:13:35 AM
you will get sellers who use sony mavica and they love it,recommend it.
i have a sony mavica which does not Zoom and i am looking for a replacement.
just keep in mind a sony mavica is easy to use with floppy disk and produce beautiful photos and most of them do zoom,but it does not look like sony will be enhancing the mavica line ,sony is pouring money into a new line called cybershot.
this means you can either buy a mavica cheap or watch the price go down after you bot it!!
posted on May 12, 2002 10:17:32 AM
I doubt if the polaroid camera will work for close up pictures for ebay. It's fine for taking on vacations. I have that one to monkey around with but I also have a Sony Mavica 75 and just love it. I am only sorry I didn't buy it sooner. I only use the Mavica for eBay only. The advantage of the Polaroid is it is small and easy to carry.
posted on May 12, 2002 10:39:32 AM
I use the Olympus D-340, which I bought a few years ago. It has macro mode, which is absolute must if you want to do any sort of close-up work. I think the current model (whatever replaced the D-340) runs about $300. However, I wouldn't recommend it for everyday use - it seems to be fairly delicate. I use mine only for auction pictures - for vacations and whatnot, I just buy one of those disposable cameras at the 7-11.
posted on May 12, 2002 11:18:16 AM
I have had a Sony Mavica FD-73 for 3 years and I love it. A friend of mine just purchased one on sale for a little over $200.00 so if you shop around there are some deals on them. It has the 10x zoom and shoots on to a floppy disc. Very easy to use and no software to load.
posted on May 12, 2002 11:23:40 AM
This is the one I had also.Sony Mavica FD-73 . It was great. But it was stolen. Now I am shopping again.
I would love to find one for $200.00
[ edited by wwtraders1 on May 12, 2002 11:27 AM ]
posted on May 12, 2002 11:32:11 AM
If you have a sony outlet near you, they sell the Mavica floppy for $199.99. It is refurbished but it works really good. I really like mine. They don't make floppy disc cameras anymore. They have gone to the smart card because it will hold more pictures. I don't care how many pictures I can do, it is the quality I want.
posted on May 12, 2002 11:44:36 AM
see what i mean,most mavica fans bot their cameras years ago.
the cybershot replaces the mavica not so much as how many pictures it can hold,it is the quality ,it has a special lens and it is staying away from floppy disk.
but if you are going to use a digital camera for closeup of small items to be sold on ebay,and if you can get a fd73 for 200,go for it.
it depends on what you sell,if you are selling expensive,exquisite items with lots of details,you need a better and more expensive camera.
posted on May 12, 2002 12:05:51 PM
I bought a Polaroid PDC 2300Z about 6 months ago and it works great. They are down to $140-$150 for the whole setup now and it zooms and is a 2.3 megapixel camera.
I can not see paying $600 for a digital camera that will be outdated and worth only $200 in a couple of years. I remember knowing a guy paying $5000 for one of the very first Pentium computers and in two years it was outdated and worth less than $1,000. The state of the art is moving way too fast to buy the high end items for me.
posted on May 12, 2002 12:25:05 PM
if it helps you sell,sell and sell,it is worth every penny you spent.
when i bot mine fd51?? (which does not zoom)with extra battery and a carrying case,it cost me over 600 dollars 4 years ago,i recouped that sum long time ago.
extra rechargable battery comes in handy,no down time !!
posted on May 12, 2002 02:27:59 PM
If you want one for taking auction/web pictures and family fun pics, you don't need anything to fancy (expensive). I have a Fuji Finepix 1300.
There are 4 things that make it nice:
1. It has a screen on back. I just point toward an object and click when it looks good in the screen.
2. The 1.3 Megapixels are plenty. The pictures look fine.
3. It is cheap. You can get one for $100.00 on eBay.
4. I keep the cord connected to my USB port. When I want to load pictures on my computer, I just plug the cord into the camera, turn it on, and click the icon (that I installed when I got the camera).
In fact, the 1.3 Megapixels is even overkill. I use only the medium resolution. The higher the resolution, the bigger the file. In my auctions, I don't want pictures over 50k-70k so that they don't take too long to upload.
posted on May 12, 2002 02:44:00 PM
If you don't find the answer here I suggest the usenet. There is a very active newsgroup called rec.photo.digital you'll find hundreds of messages a day on sources, evaluations, comparisons, review sites, etc..
What camera to recommend depends on how much you want to spend. I recently purchased a Canon G2 not exactly a professional camera, but it does have all the bells and whistles for the high end amatuer.
posted on May 12, 2002 04:51:19 PM
I agree with toolhound. My Sony Mavica FD73 is just right for eBay and also vacation pix. The auto focus works fine, the color is great, the controls are easy to understand. It has a 10x zoom, makes completely adequate macro shots, and the floppy disk makes it easy to take as many pix as you need, with no problem transferring the pix to your computer for cropping, borders, drop shadows, etc. (BTW, I use Ulead PhotoImpact for processing digital photos - it's totally excellent, equivalent to Photoshop for my needs, and a lot cheaper.) I took the Mavica on an 8-day vacation and took over 300 pix - no worry about film or processing.
You can find an Mavica FD73 or better model on eBay for fairly cheap. I haven't been to a Sony outlet for a few months, but I think I'll check it out for a gift Mavica (don't tell her, OK?).
Eventually I will upgrade to an SLR digital, probably a Canon so I can use my EOS lenses, but for what I need it for now, the Sony Mavica is great.
For those of you who live in or near California's Central Valley, there's a Sony outlet in the Factory Outlet complex in Tracy. Good prices on all kinds of Sony stuff - my house is full of Sony stereos, clock radios, etc, that I bought for real cheap.
posted on May 14, 2002 11:16:00 AM
I have an Olympus D-450 Zoom & wide angle. I love it It has 1.3 megapixels & takes really sharp pics. I have my down load cord permanently attache to my computer & also use a DC adapter which really saves on batteries, especially when you are downloading 20 to 30 shots which I sometimes do. This came with Adobe Home Edition 3.0 software which does a decent job. The software really makes the difference in how well you can enhance your pics. I got this at Costco about 2 years ago for $250.00. The local camera store wanted $295.00 for the same thing.
[ edited by sanmar on May 14, 2002 11:18 AM ]
posted on May 20, 2002 01:11:12 PM
Ad from Sunday paper (5/19/02) Circuit City ad. "Mew from Sony" "Cyber Shot" digital camera. 2 Mega pixels, with 2X/6X Zoom & 1.5" LCD viewer. $279.99. Might be worth looking at.
posted on May 21, 2002 05:33:47 PM
Just looked at Ubid.com. The Cybershot that had mentioned in my last email was going for $199.00. They had several listed. I have bought a Gateway laptop & a Xerox printer, fax, copier from them at very good prices.
[ edited by sanmar on May 21, 2002 05:34 PM ]
posted on May 21, 2002 07:11:44 PM
Call around your retail stores. The FD-73 is on clearance for $99.
I bought one back when it was $500 and took it back to the store. I got a Kodak DC-210 Plus. The pictures are much sharper, the color is better. It's finicky about lighting, but it has served me well selling on eBay. My photos are much better than my competitors.
In my opinion, picture quality is more important than ease of use. If all you're interested in is posting pics on eBay, if you don't want to make a little extra effort, and you don't mind so-so quality pics, go with the Mavica. If you want a camera that's versatile (for example, you can take it on vacation without dragging 500 floppy disks along), get something else. Both the Cybershot and Kodak's new camera got very good ratings from C|NET.
Quality pics do make a difference. Take a look at the photos above. Which one would you bid on?
posted on May 22, 2002 06:31:40 AM
Preferrably, look for something with optical zoom on it (digital zoom is worthless)...I still use an Olympus D-460Z that I picked up at Target when they cleared them out. Only 1.3 mp, but it still does a respectable job.
