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Would like to get some imput from those out there who have digital cameras. We finally deceided it was time to get one and really don't know what to look for. We want a nice one but somewhere in the middle price range not the cheepest. We want to use this with our computer and setting up a web page. Thanks in advance. Diann
------------------ Dave & Diann Kilgore Signs by Dave New Cumberland, Pa. djkdlk@compuserve
"Over 25 years signcrafting experience and still learning"
Posts: 92 | From: Wellsville, Pa USA | Registered: Feb 1999
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Kristi started me off with a Olympus D-340R. It has a color video monitor on the back for preview, and has been a great camera.
Most cameras come with cables to download the pictures thru your video card, and or USB port, but this tends to eat batteries up rather fast. One solution for this is a device called a "Flashcard", its made of metal, and looks like an 3.5 floppy. The Flashcard allows you to insert the memory card in which the pictures are stored, then the flashcard is placed into you 3.5 floppy drive, and the downloaded from that drive.
You might try checking out E-Bay, Egghead.com, and or CNET.com for reshearch and products for sale.
Good Luck!
------------------ Ron Percell Percell Signs 707-769-0639 Petaluma, California
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I settled on the Casio QV3000 propack with 340M microdrive, charger and NIMH batteries, and AC cable. A good deal for the money. I like it quite well. If you only want one for pictures on the web a 1 or 2MP one will do. If you want to be printing anything up to 8 by 10 a 3.3MP is needed. A photoediting program of some sort is really essential. It is your darkroom and most digital pics like scans need to be at least sharpened some. You can get the free irfanview or thumbsplus as well as other not very expensive software if you have no digital imaging program.
You need to consider what kind of batteries it uses and the cost. Rechargable and a charger are essential. Most do not include them or an AC adapter either. Then you need to consider what kind of media it uses. Compact flash I or II. the II cameras can also use IBM microdrives too. The flash cards that come with the cameras are way to small and you would need a larger capacity one.
posted
I love the Olympus Camedia. It costs about $280 at Best Buy. The resolution is incredible! It comes with some quickie editing software and download cable. You can plug it in to save batteries when downloading. I used another camera (I think it was Sony?), that costs over $600 and although it has nice features, the images did not have NEAR the clarity of the Olympus.
My 2 cents...
------------------ Dan Donnelly www.DonnellyArt.com Atlanta donnelly@bellsouth.net
Posts: 139 | From: Atlanta | Registered: Jan 1999
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I'm on my fourth one now. My first one was a Casio which was pure junk. Upgraded a couple of times since then and now have a Sony Mavica FG95. I'm really happy with this camera although it wasn't exactly cheap.
It takes picures that are high enough resolution for magazine publication but the two biggest advantages are that it takes pics directly to 3.5" floppies and also that it uses rechargable camcorder batteries. The first digitals I had ate flashlight batteries like they were going out of style.
------------------ Jerry Mathel Jerry Mathel Signs Grants Pass, Oregon signs@grantspass.com
Posts: 916 | From: Grants Pass, OR USA | Registered: Dec 1998
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If you wanna call 6-700 bucks midrange...I have the Sony CYBERSHOT. It does not have the resolution that some larger cameras do, but at 1.3 mpixels, it is plenty for what we do.
Barry
------------------ Master's Touch Signs & Screenprinting Clinton AR 5017456246 ICQ 17430008 "Imagine the Possibilities..."
Posts: 2500 | From: Clinton, AR USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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I have waited and waited....!! but like yourself are about to take the plunge, I have looked at many Cameras and read many reviews.
The neighbour here has a Sony Mavica and although its a great camera in its price range, and like Ron says easy to download via floppys or flashcard. I have been really keen on the Nikon Coolpix 990 which rates very very highly in all reviews, but at over $1000 its abit highly priced for me, I had sort of narrowed it down to the Sony DSC-S70 which is a 3.4 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss designed lens etc and good zoom and other features, when I read about the new Nikon Coolpix 880, and this will be the one for me its a 3.4 megapixel camera with interchangeable lens, it compact flash media with USB connectivity, whereas the Sony camera has its own propietary "Memory stick" might be a bad thing in the future and as it is made solely for Sony products, the price may not be as competitive as Compactflash. Check out the Coolpix 880 I think it will cost around $650 or at least its about that here in Europe.
------------------ Henry Barker #1924 akaKaftan SignCraft AB Stockholm, Sweden. A little bit of England in a corner of Stockholm www.signcraft.se info@signcraft.se
Posts: 1552 | From: Stockholm, Sweden | Registered: Nov 1998
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posted
We have the Toshiba PDR-M70. It is a 3.3 pixel camera and is perfect for my needs.
I was looking for something that was capable of taking closeups of small detailed work, as well as have a fast recovery rate so I can take action shots of the kids (including the big one). I was also looking for a camera that would allow me to print out 8x10's for portfolio work and magazine quality pictures.
Be sure to review all the features available. You may want something that has a burst of video, or that records audio. You may not be as concerned with the Macro feature.
My point is this I love my camera. I got a great price and a rebate. It came with all the needed adapters. The only thing I bought was an extra battery and more "film." But everyone is not looking for the same things in a digital camera. Your choice is likely to be different than mine, but it will be perfect for you.
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got a toshiba pdr-m60 2.3 mp with a 2x zoom and macro feature....$399.00...awesome pics, but does eat batteries if you use the lcd window. it takes AA batteries so its not a problem to find batteries for it anywhere. got a power plug for it....if your in the house usein it...i was in a computer club and one of the guys bought amaciva when they 1st came out and it was the 640x480 res one...it was ok as long as you didnt try to blow up the picture....
------------------ joe pribish-A SIGN MINT 2811 longleaf Dr. pensacola, fl 32526 850-944-5060 BEWARE THE TRUTH.....YOU MAY NOT LIKE WHAT YOU FIND
Posts: 11582 | From: pensacola, fl. usa | Registered: Nov 1998
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posted
It's all gonna come down to your brand preference and what kinda storage you want, and the options for transferring photos to your computer.
The most flexible cameras when it comes to transferring files are Sony's Mavicas. They use regular floppy disks which work on any machine so you can get to your pics while you are on the road and away from your computer. There's nothin worse than being on the road and forgetting to bring your camera's software and drivers with you so you can load your camera on someone else's computer.. been there, done that. SOny also has a camera that puts your pics directly onto a 3" recordable CD. The CD writer is part of the camera, and the pictures are permanent since they are put onto CD.. this camera sells for about $1,000.
Flash media and PC cards are only good when you have another device on your computer that can actually read them. Otherwise, you need to plug the camera into the computer to transfer the pics, which will eat up batteries... this is not a problem if you buy an AC adapter for your camera.
If all you want is pics for the web, then any camera with 640x480 resolution will be fine, but when that day comes that you want to print the pic, forget about it. You will be disappointed.
As far as brands.. Olympus cams are excellent, as well as Kodak cameras. I have an older Epson camera and I couldnt be happier with it, perfect color reproduction. Sony's mavicas have come a long way too, I didnt like them at all when they first came out (too much compression to fit images on a floppy) but now they are top notch. Canons are great, so are Nikons. The jury is still out on Minoltas.
I suggest you take a trip to your local camera shop instead of the computer store. You'd be amazed how many digital cameras they have available and the best part is you can try every one of them... well, that is if you have a decent camera shop nearby.. =) The sales associates at camera shops are also very knowledgeable and can help you find a good compromise between cost, product quality and image quality.
------------------ Mike Pipes -----trapped in a box with a computer and a slice of cheese-----
Posts: 145 | From: Lake Havasu City, AZ | Registered: Dec 2000
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My purpose here isnt to knock anyones choice of camera. Most are good and many use the same lenses as my Casio has a Canon lens on it. The main thing is to pick the features and storage and battery type you like. They are quite a bit different than film cameras but considering the sorry state of film developing you get much better pictures. Regardless, a digital isnt gonna make you a good photographer if you dont have the knowledge of how to compose a good picture and utilize whatever camera you get to its best use. I like to look at lots of photos on the web and ive seen gorgeous ones from all the brands and no so good from all the brands, depending on the photographers skill.
From what I see in the comparison pics if you want one that is all automatic with great pics the Nikon 880 is excellant. Tests show it to be sharper than the 990 but not all the manual options. If you want to spend 3000 the Canon EOS slr turns out better pics than any of the non slr digicams. Dont forget the pro slr digicams cost from around 5000 on to 5 digit prices.
The camera is a tool. you want the best tool for your needs and then you supply the skill behind it. A 1MP is great for the web but if you want to make prints you cant get more than about a 2 x 3 inch print from it that is any good. The 2mp can do a 4x6 easily and the 3.3 an 8x10. They must be resized and resampled to make prints. So a 3.3MP resized to fit on 8 x 10 will be around 200ppi and print good with your highest printer setting.
Here is another good camera site with high resolution comparison pictures from all the cameras. Yes if you live near a large camera store that will let you take pictures from cameras there by all means do that. Where i live there is no such thing. http://www.imaging-resource.com/
YOu cannot expect a digital camera to work with ordinary one time disposable flashlight batteries more than a couple photos. NIMH rechargables are a necessity for the ones that use AA batteries. Most others now come with either that or often a proprietory to that particular camera battery. These have to be gotton from the manufacturer and cost around 60 bucks usually. if you shoot a lot you want at least two or two sets of rechargeables. The main thing to consider is if the camera has the features you want. None will probably have everything. Dont forget they also cannot be used in inclement or dusty conditions unless you get the only weatherproof one so far (affordable) which is the Kodak 5000 2MP.
Some like the new CanonG1 (which looks very good) have to have the batteries recharged in the camera so if you could be out of commission taking pictures for a spell. All these things are something to be considered.
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[This message has been edited by Sarah (edited January 22, 2001).]
Thanks for the website link, that is a great site. I did a comparison between the Sony Cybershot DSC-S70 and the Nikon Coolpix 880 and am sure now that I am going with Nikon, if you buy the ac adapter and rechargeable batteries, for the Nikon there is then not much difference in price, but the picture quality is great and in the Sony you can set the asa settings to just 100 but in the Nikon you can choose beween 100, 200, & 400 which is another difference....there was a big list anyhow!! All the different "Scene" modes look good in the Nikon too, plus I read alot of private opinions too that all seemed to be very positive.
------------------ Henry Barker #1924 akaKaftan SignCraft AB Stockholm, Sweden. A little bit of England in a corner of Stockholm www.signcraft.se info@signcraft.se
Posts: 1552 | From: Stockholm, Sweden | Registered: Nov 1998
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posted
Ill be waiting to see some of the pics you get from it It really looks good to me but it is very small. A consideration for me was that I have arthritic hands and am very shakey. So i went with something bigger to get ahold of as i sure dont want to drop one of these babies very often. I have dropped my CAsio on the carpeted floor when it wasnt turned on and nothing broke, whew! Thats where it pays to research these as one person may have a certain requirement another doesnt.
Heres a great place to order batteries and chargers and some other accessories. the MAHA batteries are very popular with digital photographers and these people have great service. They are a pleasure to deal with. http://www.thomas-distributing.com/
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[This message has been edited by Sarah (edited January 22, 2001).]
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Dave, There are lots of good cameras available in the mid-price range, the links provided in the posts from Sarah shows a good comparison of features and abilities. Depending on your needs and budget, for web work only you can do well with a $200 camera but if you ever need to enlarge some great shot for a print then you're lost. A good starting place is a 2 megapixel camera, these are in the mid-price range and will give decent prints up to 8x10. Sarah and Henry, you need to keep in mind that conventional film cameras and digital cameras are rated differently in their ASA settings. Even though a digital may be able to be set at 400 ASA or higher it is going to be VERY grainy at that setting compared to its optimal setting of 80 to 100. In digital cameras you are limited to the optics and sensitivity of the CCD where in a conventional film camera the ASA is determined by the type and quality of the roll of film you place in the camera. I have used digital cameras commercially for three years and am now using the Olympus E-10, even though it's well above mid-priced and the quality of the true 4 megapixel images are great it still has its drawbacks. Setting the ASA to 320 (max) shows a degradation compared to ASA 80. Digital cameras have yet to truely reach the capability of film in speed, shadow detail, highlight clarity and color saturation. They will get there someday but right now we'll have to be content with high priced toys.
------------------ Larry
Elliott Design McLemoresville, Tn.
If you can't find the time to do it right, where gonna find the time to do it over?
Posts: 486 | From: McLemoresville, TN. USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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posted
Yesterday I went with a friend to return his Ricoh digital camera for the 3rd time, some people buy for price. I use a Sony FD 95, Jerry Mathel and Ron Percell’s comments about the Sony line should validate these fine cameras. The automotive insurance industry adapted digital cameras about three years ago, the concept was keen but the purchasing person was not. Every camera that arrived at my tow yard had electrical tape holding the plug in door shut or the battery cover connected via a rubber band. I use NT 4.0 and for me connecting something to another port meant, “no can do” as everything is committed to 4 printers, a scanner and a plotter. I now take the floppy out from my camera and take it to my office, home or friend’s computer to enjoy something that is really fun again…photography! Something to think about is Mega Pixels, anything over 2 is now considered equal to or better than 35 mm. Good luck.
------------------ Ken Morse Jamn Graphics Santa Cruz, CA
Posts: 213 | From: Santa Cruz, CA. USA | Registered: Nov 2000
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posted
Correct on the ASA or ISO thing. I always use the lowest. Most cameras have 100 as lowest altho some now have 50. Film is a very different thing. Most digital cameras are not sturdy like the old film cameras were. Remember you are carrying around a tiny computer. And you are dependent on batteries.
BTW the Canon EOS D30slr digicam has amazingly fine grained output that resembles film grain. I have taken some of their samples and sharpened them a number of times. They will sharpen without going grainy much better than the others. Id love one but they are too expensive. However these cameras are advancing fast every year.
I used to use a Bronica 2 and 1/4 and a twin lens reflex as well as 35mm slr. I easily made 16 x 20 prints in my darkroom. A 35mm cant go as large as a 2 1/4 either (prints). They arent made to last forever either like the good film cameras.
Neither is a digital good for fast action shots. You can use the burst mode if you have it but you cant go wild using it cause the camera can heat up. Most digitals have a high resolution tiff or raw mode as well as jpg. Many have the burst mode which will allow you take 3 and up pictures as fast as you can press the shutter and a small quicktime movie mode.
I read the digital newsgroups and forums and no matter what camera you get you can get a bummer and virtually all the companies have overall lousy support.
My personal preference would be an all manual 2 and 1/4 camera if one could get halfway decent prints from photo developers without going the high dollar professional developer route.
I do find the digital has really stimulated a renewed interest in photography for me. It is a camera, it takes photos but in a very different way that you will easily adapt to. The great thing is you dont worry about film costs and the time to develope. You can just shoot as many pics as you want and dump the bad ones.
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[This message has been edited by Sarah (edited January 23, 2001).]
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I bought a Nikon 950 almost 2 years ago. I love it. AT the time, its 2.1 mg was the best you could get. All pics are stored on a Compact Flash car which, for me slips right into my Sony laptop PCMCIA slot. I took a picture of my daughter and new husband while they were in a carriage on the way to the reception hall. The carriage company is now going to use one of the pictures for their advertisments. I am ready to go up to the newer Nikon. I looked at the Mavica but didn't want to carry all those 3.5's around and be limited to pics of only 1.44 pixels.
------------------ Laura Butler Vision Graphics and Sign 560 Oak St. Lapeer, Mi 48446 810-664-3812 visiongraphics@tir.com
Posts: 2855 | From: Attica, Mi, USA | Registered: Nov 2000
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We recently purchased an Olympus C-3000 Zoom. Its 3.3 mega pixel and will even shoot 90 seconds of video. $800 for the camrea and another $200 for some attachments we thought would be useful.
I Edge printed a photo that I took with this camera. I made it 36" high by 11.7" wide and it printed crystal clear. No visible pixelation.
I took the same shot with my 35mm Cannon EOS film camera, developed the film, scanned a high resolution scan and printed the same picture on the Edge. The picture was not pixely but not as sharp in focus as the digital photo.
It made a believer out of me!
We also bought an adapter to plug into the wall socket when shooting digital shots indoors to save the batteries. The extension cord gets a little hard to deal with....but I hate spending $20 on batteries for every 30 to 40 hi-resolution pictures!
Before you buy, check all all the web sites and camera shops. Find the camera that fits your business and personal needs, as well as your budget!
------------------ Draper The Signmaker Bloomington Illinois USA Stop in and visit a while! 309-828-7110 signman@davesworld.net Raptorman or Draper_Dave on mIRC chat
[This message has been edited by Dave Draper (edited January 23, 2001).]
Posts: 2883 | From: Bloomington Illinois USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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It really looks good to me but it is very small. A consideration for me was that I have arthritic hands and am very shakey. So i went with something bigger to get ahold of as i sure dont want to drop one of these babies very often. I have dropped my CAsio on the carpeted floor when it wasnt turned on and nothing broke, whew! Thats where it pays to research these as one person may have a certain requirement another doesnt. 
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