Guest $iLk Posted January 15, 2003 Report Posted January 15, 2003 I'm getting interested in Digital Video and Digital snapshots. Anyone point me to a really good digital video camera and a digital camera? Thanks.
Charles Lindsey Posted January 16, 2003 Report Posted January 16, 2003 I know what not to get. Don't get a Ixla Digital Superpro 640. I got one about a year ago for about $60. It's ok for close ups but really poor quality for like landscapes or anything. Plus if you use the flash it eats batteries. It has internal memory only as well. I'm sure you'd want one with a memory card. It was good enough to start but now I want something much better.
Charles Lindsey Posted May 24, 2003 Report Posted May 24, 2003 Plus the little b@st@rd won't install to XP I now find out. http://www.qvc.com/asp/frameset.asp?aol_re...ref=ADD&ref=ADD Take a look at the above link. You might be interested. It's somewhat interesting to me. The only other digital camera I thought was cost effective was a $70 HP I found by punching in digital camera into my search engine or I may have seen it www.half.com .
Guest Posted May 24, 2003 Report Posted May 24, 2003 I have a little HP photsmart 320, great little camera, takes about 40 pictures on a set of 4 AA's, and it takes memory cards, I get around 60 pictures on 2 stars and 32 mbyte memcard. It also does around 20 seconds of video, no sound though. oh and after the video, I still have mem left for pictures. The downloading software is a cinch to use as well, plug in the USB, software comes up, and you are ready to download. Oh, and it's 2.1 megapixel, and has a 4x digital zoom It's also tough, yes, I have dropped it, and it keeps working fine. and it is so easy to use that I have only opened the manual once, and I can't remember what for.
J.Smith Posted May 24, 2003 Report Posted May 24, 2003 I have a slightly older one. A concord duoLCD only a 2x zoom and depending on what quality i choose i can get over a 100 pictures on a 128mb card, also does video, very small camera, only 1.3 mega pixel though. Also easy to download with USB.
Charles Lindsey Posted May 24, 2003 Report Posted May 24, 2003 The $70 one was at tigerdirect. 1.3 megapixel 2x zoom and 1.8" lcd viewer. HP Photosmart 215. The one I linked to was $150 2 megapixel, 2.5x zoom, 1.5 lcd monitor, movie mode (huh?), usb cable and drivers and mentions XP in the sys requirements. I'm not a big camera buff. I just want something to take pics at parties and whatnot and then email to friends. And of course work with my windows XP. There seems to be a layer missing here. You either get the really cheesy cameras like the ixla (Bought out I found out and no longer supported) or you jump to near professional quality. Standard 35mm cameras go up in quality nearly in a linear line while the digitals is more like a hyperbolic curve. Might as well jump on the consumer treadmill. $150 is my self imposed limit. There are lots right around that price at tigerdirect.
rjy01 Posted May 24, 2003 Report Posted May 24, 2003 My wife and I use Kodak's DX3900 (3.1 Megapixels with digital zoom.) We also bought the nifty One-Touch docking cradle -- hit the button and it instantly transfers the photos to your computer. I'm pretty pleased with its performance -- I've even done pictures for my office's newsletter with it.
Thomas Siemens Posted May 24, 2003 Report Posted May 24, 2003 Silk, this is a tough question. Mostly depends on how much money you can spare... The best digital camera one can buy at the moment may be the Canon EOS 1Ds, around 10,000 USD. 11 megapixel, full size. More affordable may be the FUJIFILM F601 Zoom with 3.1 megapixel, and 3x optical zoom. That is the one I bought a few weeks ago for about 350 USD, and which I really can recommend. I cannot give any hints for digital camcorders. Best regards.
Supreme Cmdr Posted May 24, 2003 Report Posted May 24, 2003 The Olympus C4000 Zoom is my all-time dream camera. So, if I don't get it first and you guys are thinking of getting me a retirement present, thats what I want.
Charles Lindsey Posted May 31, 2003 Report Posted May 31, 2003 http://www.compgeeks.com/details.asp?invtid=MX1700-R That's what I ordered. $135 total from computer geeks. I may have screwed up. It's only 1.5 megapixel but had lot's of modes. More so than some other cameras. It also only has a serial cable. I have two ports on my motherboard labeled IOIOIO with like nine pins facing out. Is that them? No imaging software listed either and it doesn't mention the operating system. Hmmmmmmmmmm. perhaps I should have gotten this one . ------------------------------------ General Features: 1/2.7-inch square pixel CCD with RGB filter (2.1 million pixels) 1.92 megapixel image resolution (1600x1200, 1280x960 and 640x480 resolutions) JPEG (.jpg) image format 16MB SmartMedia card (included) 6x optical zoom (plus 2.5x digital zoom in 640x480 mode) equivilent to a 38-228mm range on a 35mm camera 2.6-feet to infinity (normal) 3.9-inch to 31.5-inch (macro) focal ranges ----------------------------------------- A friend just bought one that looks identical to this one though I think it's a different brand. The macro mode is for taking close ups of small objects without looking like you just shoved the camera real close and getting a grainy pic. She took a pic of a daylily (day lillie?) and showed me in the viewscreen. It was a really good pic. You could see the inner parts of the flower really well. Guess I'll see. Hope computer geeks has a good return policy. I may go for the better one.
Charles Lindsey Posted June 13, 2003 Report Posted June 13, 2003 I got it Monday. It took nine days via UPS ground. That was a bit long I thought but it did arrive when promised. It's neat. I haven't figured out all the doo dads and whizzbangs yet but I have read the manual and charged the rechargeable battery. The supplied 8 meg Smartmedia card has only 19 out of 24 pics left in 1280 x 1024 mode. Switching to 640 x 480 I got 71 pics left with those four original 1280 pics still on the memory card. It does have software and it did install to Windows XP. Compatible with Paint shop pro. Acquiring from Paint shop launches the cameras acquisition program. Odd that it says on top but it works. Downloading through the serial port takes a bit. Downloading the 640 size pics goes a little faster. (duh ) It's interesting. I'll learn more.
Gordon Posted June 13, 2003 Report Posted June 13, 2003 I have an older Fuji MX600 Zoom 1.5 Mega Pixel and have found at the highest resolution it will give me pictures close to my Canon AE-1 Program 35mm. Just a suggestion but at the highest resolution you will always get better pictures since you can do so much more with the photos. 640x480 are OK but if you try to enlarge them the will become grainy. Your better off getting a bigger card than taking the photos at the lower resolutions. Prices of cards have come down quite a bit, so keep your eye out for a good sale and pick one up. At 1024x768 you can store approximately 40 pictures on a 32mb card. I use an online service to print my pictures, it was the lowest I found on the net. Like most companies they give you free storage for your photos. They do a good job on 4" & 5" prints but I had problems with some 8x10's, but they did reprint them twice so I guess I can't complain. If your interested check them out here sign up is free and you get 30 prints for free when you do sign up. My next camera is going to be a digital video camera with megapixel still images. This way I only have to carry one camera instead of two. Besides with the video editing software available you can capture any frame of the video as a still, no more waiting for that perfect shot, just look for it frame by frame. Currently I'm transferring all of my analog video to SVCD that way I can watch it on my DVD player and not worry about tape degradation. One other thing, if you plan to work on any of your photos, first save them in tiff format. Make the corrections you want keep saving in tiff format until all changes have been made. You can then save it as a jpeg. I read that each time you make changes and save in jpeg the photo is slightly compromised whereas, tiff files are not affected. Enjoy your new camera and don't forget to backup your photos to disk for safe keeping.
Supreme Cmdr Posted June 13, 2003 Report Posted June 13, 2003 A few weeks ago I caved in and got a Nikon Coolpix4300 instead of the Olympus - and with a bunch of accessories (e.g. extra CF card, case etc) I have yet to open the box.
Gordon Posted June 13, 2003 Report Posted June 13, 2003 That's because you have so much spare time on your hands. Just took a look at your camera, love the fact that you can change lenses, 4.0 megapixel is going to give you great shots. I think you made the right choice I'm not a big Olympus fan. Now break that badboy out of its box!
weegee_101 Posted June 14, 2003 Report Posted June 14, 2003 I've been looking for a camera recently myself. I'd like a digital, but I need it to be able to take pictures in dark rooms with high intensity spots in it (A Theater). Currently it looks like I might be looking at a standard camera that can take tungsten film, but thats just so damn expensive. This is for taking pictures of sets and lighting schemes for my porfolio at work, so maybe the tungsten might be worth it, but I'd really like a digital anyways.
Charles Lindsey Posted June 14, 2003 Report Posted June 14, 2003 Thanks for the info Gordon, especially the .tiff manipulation before saving to .jpeg. That may come in handy at some point. My only objective in this is to have a camera that produces decent enough pictures to pass around to friends on the web. Say we have a pool party/BBQ. I would take pics, download them, and send them out. The people who use film cameras can develop theirs and I will have mine to email. The pics at 1280 x 1024 ( I think this is pixels and not resolution but I swear that is the mode the manual and camera report) fill up my 19" monitor. The 640 x 480 pics are about as big as say the pic of the MKIII on the 3000ad home page. Either size mode has three quality modes. Fine, Normal, and Basic. Either size pic in normal mode I can't tell the diff in quality on my monitor. Just that one is bigger. Let's see. I charged it monday and today it's still showing half the battery left. Not too bad considering I have been playing with it. I will just have to plan for and work around my intended purposes.
Supreme Cmdr Posted June 14, 2003 Report Posted June 14, 2003 quote:Originally posted by Gordon: That's because you have so much spare time on your hands. Just took a look at your camera, love the fact that you can change lenses, 4.0 megapixel is going to give you great shots. I think you made the right choice I'm not a big Olympus fan. Now break that badboy out of its box! heh, you're right. Maybe I'll crack open the box today.
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