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Post by Jedimom/Cor-Al Gelkar on Dec 1, 2004 15:26:16 GMT -5
After trying to take decent shots of me in my costume for Schph's presentation, I have had it with my cheapie digital camera (I'm talking Barbie camera cheapness. I paid $10 for it for the purpose of taking pictures of stuff to sell on eBay). So now I am in the market for a decent digital camera, but one that's kinda cheap. But I know nothing about them. What is a good storage size? Is stick better than card? Megapixel? Argh! Someone help me! If I still had a good 35 mm (I did a lot of photography during my journalism years) I'd use that, but i sold them when Nerf first got sick.
Or should I just invest in a studio shot of me in costume? Heck, K-Mart has a photo studio, as does the JCPenney in Lima (I could probably get a discount there (my store is too small for a studio) and after the first of teh year they'll be screaming for business).
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Post by Jauhzmynn Enz on Dec 1, 2004 17:11:04 GMT -5
I recoment the SOny Cyber shot . Best Buy Has them for under $200 unless the price has gone up sicne the Thanksgiving sale. I use this camera nd haven't been disappointed yet with it. . Keep you eyes open cuz on Thanksgiving they had them with a mail in rebate bringing the camera cost down to $100.
The cam does come with a 12 megabyte memory chip, but I suggest going to a 128 or larger one cuz that wee chip won't hold much espcially if you'er snapping pics at a Con.
Big plus for the Cybershot, it can use regular AA alkaline batteries and rechargables. Mine came with a set of rehcargable batteries and a charge unit.
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Post by lazlototh on Dec 1, 2004 20:09:49 GMT -5
I agree. Sony's low end Cybershots are awesome! My mom has one and it rocks....
If you're a little shy with digital cameras, you may want to try a Kodak or HP camera. You can find tem at a reasonable price and they're very easy to operate. The Sony is a little harder to get the best out of it but the learning curve isn't too bad.
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Post by Leda EmBorr on Dec 1, 2004 21:44:53 GMT -5
How about just picking up a disposable if you're pressed for time... and then make a good, well informed choice of digital camera. I can tell you that mine is an Olympus Camedia C-3030. It's 3.3 megapixel, and that I can tell you is very good quality, at least for what I do with it. It can take short, quick videos too, but I don't use that feature much. It uses flash memory... smart-media cards that hold about 24 to 36 shots, which is better than built in memory, I think, because you can change the card anytime, any carry as many with you as you want, like you would rolls of film. It takes 4 AA batteries and they can be rechargeables. My only complaint is that it's to fat to fit in my pouch, and I have to wear it around my neck at cons. Eventually I'll look for one that's more slimline, but has those same features. Here's a good explanation of what a megapixel is, this site clarified it for me: www.digicamhelp.com/what-is-a-megapixel/index.htmBut I still say that the Nikon I had in high school is the best camera I've ever owned. And the most rugged! I still have it... only I need a new flash attatchment.
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Post by Jen-Ru Balon on Dec 2, 2004 13:57:40 GMT -5
I am another fan of the sony cybershot. I have had two of the cheapo digital cameras with internal memory. Never got a decent pic out of them and was stuck when it was full. 3 years ago I got a 1.3 mega pixel Cybershot. It was good enough for most of what I did. I did start wishing for more megapixels. I would notice a bit a grainy, blurieness when I enlarged my pics. Then I was blessed with my camera breaking. I had a warranty and it couldn't be fixed. So I was able to get a new one at the same price I paid 2.5 years before. That meant a 3.1 mega pixel now. I use it all the time. I was able to snatch up two 256mb memorysticks after Thanksgiving for only $30 each. I will never run out of room. That means I can procrastinate longer after taking pics.
You should be able to find a good deal on a 1.3 to 2.1 Megapixel camera. Everyone is pushing for higher pixels now so those should go for a lot less now.
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Post by JediMistressDragon on Dec 6, 2004 9:01:57 GMT -5
Over a year ago we bought another digital camera that normally was $600, but got on sale for $150 one day only. It has taken greet digital photosd and is a Sony FD Mavica. It uses disks, but take plenty of photos that are super great. It zooms in and out and you can use your eye or looking at the screen to take pictures. Glad we got it when we did. JMD
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Post by Jen-Ru Balon on Dec 6, 2004 14:04:28 GMT -5
The first digital camera I got to use was a Sony Mavica. It convinced me that I HAD to have a digital camera. At the time I was using the one that belonged to my school I was teaching at. I was able to check it out for a weekend use. Bought a stack of floppy disks and a neat case to carry them, then headed to a VW show. I filled up 6 disks. They held 10 pictures each. It is about twice the size of the Sony Cybershot, but the advantage of that camera is you can immediatly view the pics on any computer with a floppy drive. With my Sony Cybershot I have to either connect with a USB cable to my camera or get a special device to connect to the computer just for using your memory sticks. I have an optical mouse with a memory stick drive on it. However I discovered recently that it will not take memory stick Pro. Which is what I bought after thanksgiving. So now I am back to connecting my camera viw USB, and the camera has to runn off it s battery.....I will soon be upgrading to a new mouse.
They are constantly improving things. It is hard to keep up sometimes. However that means that stuff that is only a few years old can now be found at great prices.
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JediKai
Message Board Member
TJA Savior
Posts: 5,560
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Post by JediKai on Dec 6, 2004 21:45:22 GMT -5
I have 3 Sony Cybershots: an "old" one from 2000, the 1.3 mp DSC-S30 my "good" one, the 5mp DSCF-707 (with Zeiss lens) which is what I use for my serious photography as it produces excellent images which can be enlarged to 20"x30". my pocket one, the 5mp DSC-P10, which, BTW, fits perfectly in the long ReinOne Jedi belt pouch. However, because it is so small, it is difficult to hold steady and I've never taken so many bad photos as I have with this camera (and I've been a serious photographer for 30 years). In retrospect, I didn't need the 5 mp for what I use this camera. The one issue with Sony is that it uses proprietary memory in that Sony Memory Sticks do not work in anything but Sony products. If you think you might buy a different brand, then one that uses more interchangable SD memory card would at least let you reuse the cards. here's the one I want to get once the price comes down some more...it's a digital SLR that might take all the Pentax lenses I still have www.steves-digicams.com/2003_reviews/istd.html though this would be my serious art camera replacement! I really miss having an SLR and interchangeable lenses. Once my old 1980's era Pentax's stopped working I went digital and haven't shot a frame of film in 4.5 years. Seriously, I'd say about 3mp or even less is fine. My 1.3 produces fine 8x10 prints. I was recently assigned the task of purchasing a digital camera as a retirement gift for a co- worker. After reading the recent Consumer Reports, I chose the Canon Powershot A60. It was within the price range given me (based on the donations), it took SD memory cards for adaptability, it was small but had a design that was much easier to hold on to than my tiny Cypershot. It is a CR Best Buy and was the only one of the 3 CR Best Buys that offered the option of manual operation. It lists for about $135. If you can spend more, than the Canon Powershot A75 is rated as producing slightly better prints but lists at $210. The problem was that I couldn't find it (even though the CR was from Nov, it was already out of date). I ended up buying the Nikon Coolpix 2200 at $125 list. It was also a Best Buy but didn't have the manual control option.
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Post by Jedimom/Cor-Al Gelkar on Dec 7, 2004 6:34:01 GMT -5
I've got a chance to buy a Olympus D-540 with an additional memory card for about $180. 3.2 megapixel. Is this a good deal?
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Post by Jauhzmynn Enz on Dec 7, 2004 10:33:10 GMT -5
Humm, seams good. Keep the recipts incase the camera doesn't work out.
If it does, enjoy it.
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Post by Jedimom/Cor-Al Gelkar on Dec 7, 2004 12:51:02 GMT -5
It's a $280 camera in the catalog. Someone returned it from catalog at JCP, so I can pick it up with 25% off that PLUS I disagreeociate discount.
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Post by Leda EmBorr on Dec 8, 2004 0:45:56 GMT -5
3.2 megapixels for that price is very good in my opinion. My camera cost around $500.00, but it was at corporate expense for the job, and the technology was newer at that time. We ended up with it when my husband left the company.
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Don Solo
Message Board Member
Posts: 341
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Post by Don Solo on Dec 8, 2004 4:08:28 GMT -5
I picked up a 3.1 MP camera from walmart a year or two ago for only $100, plus I got a 64 mb SD card for it for that x-mas... works pretty good (good enough for me )
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Post by Jedimom/Cor-Al Gelkar on Dec 8, 2004 8:38:47 GMT -5
LOL. I just noticed another word the Might Censor has eliminiated -- a$$ociate
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