Digital Cameras

[FJJP]

I'm going to buy a digital camera soon, and would appreciate your ideas & experiences. Would also be grateful if anyone can cut through the technical jargon and in plain English tell me the significance of the various technical terms, so that I can make a sensible comparison of whats out there.

Thanks for your help guys.

[fobotcso]

Welcome FJJP to this civilised Forum; I take it that you're on Respite Leave from the Mil Forum that's going through another one of its cathartic slanging matches! <img src="redface.gif" border="0">

Good Question on a subject that comes up periodically but is long overdue a refresh.

Make a start with this thread that I found at the bottom of Page 8:

<a href="http://www.pprune.org/ubb/NonCGI/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic&f=35&t=001324" target="_blank">http://www.pprune.org/ubb/NonCGI/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic&f=35&t=001324</a>

Some general principles are discussed there but also try looking further back in time.

I too am intrested to hear the latest recommendations. My old Olympus with only 1.4 MPixels is still great for everyday and I use it a lot for temporary records of such things as which wire went where before I dismantle some piece of electrical kit.

But my biggest regret is the 3-4 second delay between shots and not being able to take a rapid sequence. Especially with kids where the first shot is always wasted and the best shot is ½ second later. These days you can even do a short mpeg video at low resolution and you can certainly take high res still pictures in quick succession. Disregard Digital Zoom; take pictures with the highest resolution you can consistent with other constraints such as memory and time taken to write to the media. If you want digital zoom, you can always do it later on the PC using software.

Olympus, Canon... c'mon guys, lets hear it for this visitor from the World's Best. :)

[ 20 January 2002: Message edited by: fobotcso ]</p>

[What_does_this_button_do?]

I have a Nikon Coolpix 950, old by comparison but still producing excellent quality pictures. Have taken 4,000 pictures now with it and the images are still as good when I first got it.

I would suggest doing a search on the reference "digital camera" you will come up with 25 threads, all of which deal with the ins and outs as requested.

Any issues then contact me and I will see what I can do.

B

[innuendo]

Go to <a href="http://www.dpreview.net" target="_blank">www.dpreview.net</a> and <a href="http://www.steves-digicams.com" target="_blank">www.steves-digicams.com</a> and you should be able to find out everything you are looking for. The reviews are very comprehensive and the forums while they can be a little partisan are a mine of information. The forum on PC Tools is very good for info on programs for image manipulation.

[BayAreaLondoner]

I second both of those websites. Both feature amazingly in-depth reviews of cameras.
My first digital camera was an old Casio several years ago. Apart from being fixed focus and only VGA resolution, it also had a voracious appetite for AA batteries. I didn't keep it long.
In June I bought a Canon Powershot S300, which is slightly larger than their original Digital Ixus. Great camera and the 2.1MP resolution was sufficient for most applications, including 4x6 on an ink jet on photo paper. Recently I sold that and bought a Canon Powershot S40, which offers 4MP and fully manual controls (if you want them). Different form factor to the S300, but still very small. So far I've been very impressed.
A word of advice - if you are buying mail order in the US, beware of the "bait and switch" east coast camera dealers. They usually have the "too low to believe" prices. I can recommend <a href="http://www.bhphoto.com" target="_blank">www.bhphoto.com</a> and although their prices aren't the lowest they are reputable.

[FJJP]

Awesome sites - just what I need! Thanks for the help guys...

FJJP

[spekesoftly]

Hope FJJP won't mind me also asking:-

Has anyone used the Casio QV-4000, or the Kyocera Finecam S3 ? They're two digicams I'm considering, and would appreciate any opinions.

Thanks in advance <img src="smile.gif" border="0">

[Cornish Jack]

Have had a Minolta Dimage 1500EX (1.5 Mps)for a couple of years and have found it to be excellent. However, for a combined redundancy/Xmas present to myself, I bought a Dimage 7 (5.24 Mps). Quite, quite astounding!! The 16 Mb CF card which they provide is a total nonsense, so also got a 128 Mb. The camera is capable of far better photographs than I could ever produce but some of the results so far have been stunning - Moon rise on a self-timer shutter; some low sun angle shots with incredible detail and colour; zoom to A3 size and find details which I hadn't known were there when I took the shot. 830 GBP from Jessops and worth every penny. :)

[Background Noise]

Got a Fuji 40i. Max resolution is 2400x1800 which gives photo quality prints at A4 size. Its also got MP3 playback if required but that uses lots of card space, and it will record video clips with sound. Its small and perfectly formed. It also takes standard AA batteries if required although it gets through them dead quick. The 1800mAh rechargeable batts supplied are very good. >

[ 22 January 2002: Message edited by: Background Noise ]</p>

[ShyTorque]

I recently bought a Jenoptik 4100z3 (German make) from Dixons. I spent at least an hour in the shop, (got good advice actually from the Dixon's assistant); started at the lowest prices and worked my way up the shelves / prices and back down again, so I looked at about 20 cameras in all.

It's a 4.1 megapixel camera, otherwise quite simple (it looks like a simple 35mm viewfinder camera with a black case and an integral flash). It has a 36mm by 28m colour viewscreen and a separate viewfinder. The pictures it takes are pretty amazing when printed out on my HP PhotoSmart 1000 printer, in fact better than my Pentax 35 mm SLRs using conventional films.

The shelf price was £399.99p with a 16 meg compactflash card but I bought a 32 meg card with the 10% discount I got off that price.

The number of pics on 32 megs can be varied between 14 (bigger than A4 size in "fine" resolution) and 623, depending on the size and quality selected.

BTW, The "CompactFlash" memory card format fits straight in my HP printer so that pics can be printed without the PC switched on. (The Sony "memory stick" does NOT fit either slot on this printer).

We tend to to use the camera mainly in the "half size" mode (1600x1200) and standard quality, which gives 58 pics on a 32 meg card. My wife is a professinal florist and uses it to take 7 by 5 inch pictures of floral arrangements. That resolution is perfectly good for printing out in enough detail to go in the shop catalogue and also for family snaps.

It has a USB cable included for connection direct to a PC and a video out cable for direct viewing on a TV (it has a slideshow function which is useful for showing Granny on the telly etc). A vinyl case and wrist strap, and software for PC and MAC use are included.

We have found it uses 4 AA batteries fairly quickly so I bought 8 NiMH ones plus a charger for another £24, they last far better. I also bought a £19 AC power adapter for bench use when I'm downloading pics etc, well worth it to avoid glitches due to flat batteries halfway through a download.

Jenoptik do have a website, but this camera only came out in October and it doesn't show yet, however, use Google search (type in Jenoptik 4100z3) for a few sites reviewing it. It gets good write ups and I seem to have got it very cheaply.

I would say that it is great for someone wanting high quality pics but it is fairly basic in function. For example, there is no external flash conector, no sound mode. From what I have seen, if you want bells and whistles and 4.1 megapixels you need to pay at least a couple of hundred pounds more, or possibly up to double the price of this camera.

Overall the camera feels solid and has the advantage of a non-quirky shape - some of the other ones I looked at were awkward to carry. We are very pleased with it and see it as something of a bargain for the quality of pictures it produces.

Hope this helps, I heartily recommend the camera.

[Tom the Tenor]

There is a photography forum on <a href="http://www.airliners.net" target="_blank">www.airliners.net</a> where there is all ways lively discussion about the merits of the different digital cameras. A lot of the spooters have some really great kit now and they do not miss a trick when evaluating the different manufacturers offerings. It might be worth a look!