Thank you in advance,
Wayne

Now we return to lurking mode.

Being as confused at most digital cameras I have bought 3 over the past year or so to find that my needs where greater than my budget.

But as time goes on the needs I have fit into
a reasonable budget and Olympus got my money.

I purchased an Olympus D-510 2.1 megapixle digital camera with 3x optical zoom and I believe 7x digtal, I haven't used the digital zoom yet. As well as it takes little movie clips.

The features are easy to use and it has TV out feature so you can plug into the back of your TV and view the pics instantly. It downloads via USB and comes with an 8 meg smart media card.

You might want a bigger memory card, for you can take longer movies.

I paid 379.00 plus tax at a BJ's wholesale club.

I love the quality, and the zoom. Not to mention the battery usage is really great. Best I've had so far, even using the 1.8" LCD panel

I'm sure you can buy better, but I am extremely happy with this camera.

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Bob Rochon
Creative Signworks
Millbury, MA
bob@creativesignworks.com

"Some people's kids"

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"A wise man once said that, or was it a wise guy?"

If you are into digital prints, either printing them yourself or shipping off files to be printed then you need:

a 2.5 megapixel or larger (3.3 and 4.? are exceptional. 2.5 is the minimum low end.

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On the other hand, if you want to slap an image on the computer screen and do a layout over the top, then a 1.? megapixel will be just fine. When you decide to print a 24 inch x 24 inch print to slap on the side of a van, then you will cry your eyes out because you didn't go with the 3.3 megapixel camera.

But, it does't end with the camera. You will need Corel Photopaint or Adobe Photoshop to tweek your images to acceptable color managment levels for commercial work.

http://www.cnet.com/electronics/0-1429209.html?tag=dir

Resolution: Are you gonna be printing or just using the pics for a sign/graphic overlay or for the web and email? Overlays and web/email images dont need much resolution at all. My camera is 640x480 (.3 megapixels) and my web images are fantastic. Prints are OK for quick proofs when printed from CorelDRAW but not on a professional level at all. If you plan to print and you are serious about image quality, get the highest resolution you possibly can afford.. 2.1 MP (megapixel) is OK, 3MP is better, 4MP is fantastic, and now Sony has recently introduced a 5MP camera. There are higher resolutions in the true professional cameras as well but unless you want to trade your vehicle in for one I wont even mention any of those. =)

Interface: How are you gonna transfer the images to your computer? Does your computer have USB? Do you have a PC Card (laptop card) reader? This kinda fits in with the storage methods too..

Storage: How does the camera store the images? Does it use Sony Smartsticks? (Only Sony uses these and they are proprietary), Does it use CompactFlash or TypeI or TypeII PC cards? Floppies? (Sony) CD-R? (Sony again) or DVD? (Hitachi makes a digital camera that can store 2,000 images or 2 hours of video on a 3" DVD disc)
Which of these methods is compatible with the interfaces you have on your computer?
If the camera uses Smartsticks your PC needs to have USB cause that's the only way to get the images from the "sticks".
If the camera uses CompactFlash or TypeI/II PC cards you need a PC card reader hooked up to your computer (and they're cheap, dont worry about that)
Everyone's got a floppy drive and CDROM, 'cept you cant fit many high res images on a floppy AND now ya gotta carry a stash of floppies wherever you go.. The CD-R cameras are cool, if you have the $800+ I would go with one of these.

Battery Life: LCD screens, floppy drives and CD-R drives are all cool but they SUCK down the juice.. get rechargeable batteries, get extra batteries and maybe even an extra charger so you can charge two sets at once.
Cameras that store images on the PC Cards or other non-mechanical devices tend to last longer on a set of batteries.

My suggestion is to compare the features at CNET via the link Steve posted.

My suggestion on a camera would be one that can accept the Compact Flash TypeI/II PC Cards. These cameras can then also accept IBM's microcrives which are available in 300MB, 500MB and 1Gig sizes.. they are the same physical size as the PC cards and are a MUCH better value for the amount of raw storage capacity they offer. Get a card reader to plug into your computer to make downloading images a snap.

Now if you travel alot and want to get the pics into any computer you can find so you can put them online, a Sony camera with either a Floppy drive or CD-R drive is the most versatile. Given the choice between these sony cameras, I would pick one of the CD-R Mavicas because not only does one mini-CD hold 100X the number of images, but the CD is more durable and less vulnerable to damage than the floppies are.

Of course you need to weigh all that against your budget..

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Mike Pipes
Digital Illusion Custom Graphics
Lake Havasu City, AZ
http://www.stickerpimp.com

1) a FAST PHOTO SPEED a slow camera is the number 1 cause of unsharp and poor pics. Get ISO 800 equivalent.

2) Large optical zoom. Digital zoom is not that good for quality.

3) Macro focusing

4) Image stabilzation

5) at least 2.1 Mpixel chip

6) USB interface such that the camera appears to be a removeable drive. Fast downloading saves batterie

At Adrianne's request:
I bought an Olympus C-700 we are very happy with it. And yes she can have a CD of the 600 photos from Nova Scotia once I get around to burning it.

ernie
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Balch Signs
1045 Raymond Rd
Malta, NY 12020
Wholesale Routing

http://www.balchsigns.com

As far as file/picture storage, I really like the smart media cards. I have a Flashpath smart media floppy disk adapter. You pull the smart media card out of the camera, stick it in the adapter and stick the adapter into the 3.5" floppy drive of your computer. Works slick and fast and doesn't eat up the batteries in the camera.

Also the smart media card, when in the adapter can act as an 8 meg, 16 meg or whatever 3.5" floppy disk.

These are the ones that seem to have the right specs and within my budget:
Nikon Coolpix 990
Olympus C-3040 Zoom
Sony Cyber Shot DSC-S75
I think I'm liking the Olympus the best but it may be like buying a good pair of running shoes. I never really know if I like them until after I've ran in them for a while. Naturally, it's too late to bring them back at that point.

It's not like I have to make a choice in the next few days. I have a couple of old 35mm Pentax SLRs that I've used for years. Getting good results from todays scanners is a snap so I can continue to shoot, develop and scan for the time being. I do think I'll find plenty of use for one when I get it.

Thanks again for the help,
Wayne

Whatever you do - make sure you are getting a USA model and not the cheaper European model. The euro's cant be serviced in the US, and will need to be shipped overseas for repair.. they also come with 1/3rd the warranty. this is a typical trick of the cheaper online camera shops.

Olympus cams consistently have better image quality than the others in their particular class.. less color shifting and fewer digital artifacts.

These of course can be taken care of with image editing software but if you dont have to do it, why should ya?

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Mike Pipes
Digital Illusion Custom Graphics
Lake Havasu City, AZ
http://www.stickerpimp.com

I think it was an Olympus? But don't remember the specifics.

I think it was a great choice...how are you liking it so far? Is it performing to your expectations? Have you any regrets about it's performance, features? or price?

Will I ever get a copy of the 600 some pics you took on our trip????

A

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Adrienne Morgan
Splash Signs
"Wherever you go...there you are!"
www.splashsigns.com
"Rainkatt'on chat

I called Nikon earlier this year, and complained about the poor availability, they said wait to April 24th or thereabouts there was to be a worldwide announcement.....I waited....the nikon coolpix 990 was discontinued and the Coolpix 995 was born. Improved flash etc etc. So I am waiting once again...it will be worth the wait, read about it on any on-line guides.

THe Olympus would be a good second choice.

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Henry Barker #1924
akaKaftan
SignCraft AB
Stockholm, Sweden.
A little bit of England in a corner of Stockholm
www.signcraft.se
info@signcraft.se

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Judy Pate
Signs By Judy
110 LuMac Road
Albany,Ga 31701
229-435-6824
Letterville is my HOME!
Life is like a canvas...you do the painting.

For me, I will be using photos for large format printing which means 3 mega-pixel.
Zoom is something I really want and only a few seem to have good ones coupled with good
resolution; Fuji 6900(highly rated) and Olympus 2100 (10x zoom). Both are under $600 and have the best ratings.

I want standard type storage such as Compact flash or Smart Media. Check out consumer reviews of each camera as that will tell you more about everyday experiences with the camera.

Finally when buying, follow Judy's advice and work with a highly rated vendor with a known name. It is way too easy to get burned when you are tempted to save a few bucks. I always will be from a local store when possible, but with cameras such as these, many brands may not be available at the store. Cnet.com has good reviews and info on all cameras. A good place to start.

My camera is an Olympus c-3000 3.3 mega pixel.

It has worked extremely well for taking a picture, uploading the image to the computer by way of a USB connection, and then of course printing the image on the Gerber Edge.

The camera has sever settings, so you can take as many 300 low resolution lmages or
as little as 8 very high resolution .tif files.

I leave mine on the .jpg file which is one step downn from the .tif. It still gives me a very high resolution image, and saves some memory on the card.

It was based priced at $850, the I seen it on sale for $550 not long ago.

My suggestion is to buy the camera from BEST BUY and get the severice agreement as well. If you have any problems with the camera, they just give you a new one, they don't even try to fix it. I also have a 35mm camera that has broken 3 times. BEST BUY replaced the camera each time instantly when I took it in to the store. That service was worth every penny of the service agreement.

I remember the trouble Dave Grundy had with his camera breaking down then he had to ship it off. gheesh!