"Pamela Dallas" <
[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Last fall I did a 1200 mile tour on my BikeE RX from Monterey CA to Santa Barbara to Palm Springs
> and then back home to Reno, NV, and I wished I'd taken along a digital camera to record some
> snapshots.
Wow! That's a great tour! You should get a digital camera for next time, though a regular
point-n-shoot or disposable wouldn't be a bad choice either. They're less to worry about if you lose
them, for one thing.
> Visited PC Mag recently, and found the Nikon Coolpix 2500 was their Editors Choice for sub-$300
> cameras. This is a 2.1Megapixel device with 3X optical and 2.5X digital zoom, and I've found it
> priced as low as $220.
The CoolPix 2500 is a good choice; but there is a lot to look at in the $200 - $350 range
(see below):
> Now Nikon also has the Coolpix 3500, a 3Megapixel model that costs about $150 more but otherwise
> appears to have about the same features as the 2500.
Here are the cameras that I find attractive in the under-$350 range (current low prices as of
1/14/03 from PriceScan.com):
-2 Megapixel, 3x Zoom- Nikon CoolPix 2000 - $175
-3 Megapixel, 3x Zoom- Nikon CoolPix 3500 - $290 Canon PowerShot S30 - $335 Sony CyberShot
DSC-P7 - $345
-4 Megapixel, 3x Zoom- Olympus C-4000 Zoom - $332 (!)
The Olympus C-4000 is a lot of camera for the money; and could very easily replace a 35mm
point-n-shoot for image resolution. For about half the price, the Nikon CoolPix 2000 is an amazing
value at $175, with plenty of features, perfect image quality, and enough resolution for 8 x 10"
prints. You'll get a lot more images in a given memory card size with the 2MP camera
vs. the 4MP camera.
The inexpensive Compact Flash (CF) memory cards used by Canon and Nikon (but not Olympus) are also
useable in many Pocket PC palmtops and MP3 music players. I use the same 128 MB CF memory cards in
my Dell Axim palmtop, in my laptop computer (with a $12 PCMCIA adaptor) and in my Nikon CoolPix 800
camera. One 128 MB CF card can hold about 2 hours of MP3 music (the Dell palmtop can play music very
nicely). It's quite convenient and thrifty to share memory cards between devices like that, if
you're a gadget hound like
vt.
I prefer cameras that take standard AA batteries. Why? Because you can always find a set of AA
alkalines when you run out of juice unexpectedly. Last fall, my wife and I were flying in a friend's
Mooney single-engine aircraft. My wife was about to take the controls of an airplane for the first
time ever, and I wanted some photos. My camera batteries died; but we found small airport and
landed. Sure enough, they had a set of AA alkalines in the gift shop. We took off again, and I kept
on shooting photos of our wonderful little adventure. I captured some treasured images that day. Try
that with rechargeable Li-Ion's. (BTW: The extra set of batteries that I packed with me were also
dead - rechargeables do lose their charge over time, as I found out the hard way.)
> I don't ever expect to want more resolution than needed to provide nice pics on a web page. Is the
> Coolpix 3500 overkill in that respect?
For web pages, anything over 1.3 megapixels is overkill. What you get with the Nikon and Canon 2
megapixel cameras are great features and near-perfect images for very reasonable prices.
My Nikon CoolPix 800 has a 2 megapixel CCD and 2x zoom lens. I find it to produce beautiful images,
with spot-on exposures in almost any light. Like most digicams, the flash is weak beyond about 7
feet. The 2x lens isn't quite enough, and digital zoom is really just another word for in-camera
image cropping (yes, that's all it is - cropping and interpolation to make a fuzzier image that
looks bigger).
I recommend at least a 3x *optical* zoom. Don't even look at the digital zoom numbers - they're
irrelevant. A 3x zoom will give you about the equivalent to a 35-105 lens on a standard 35mm
point-n-shoot, with similar lens speed (f-stop ratings).
> Can somebody direct me to a good source on basic digital photography, where I can learn about
> reducing resolution for quick picture viewing,
www.dpreview.com is all you need to know. Let the full reviews and the photo galleries guide you.
Watch for image clarity in shadow areas - that's where CCD noise is most evident. I find that the
Canon and Nikon cameras are the best overall; but other companies such as Sony are offering some
amazing cameras these days.
Digital cameras are great for many applications. However, they're highly thievable, and will break
when you drop them or submerge them. They also can't take handheld, natural-light photos in dim room
light; but they're perfect for brightly-lit scenes, and they automatically compensate for variable
lighting temperatures (tungsten, fluorescent, daylight). Perhaps the biggest benefit of digital
cameras is instant previews of the actual image using the LCD screen. Instant gratification and
instant photo sharing in-the-moment is also a big benefit that really adds to the fun at times, and
makes people want to get creative with photography.
If you want ruggedness and/or expendability, go with a cheap point-n-shoot 35mm zoom camera. You can
have CD-ROM's made from your film negatives for about 75 cents per image or less at many shops
(including WalMart, IIRC). ISO 800 film for 35mm cameras is vastly superior to most digital cameras,
and is a bargain at about $6 per roll. With ISO 800 film, you can shoot handheld photos in just
about any light, down to candlelight. It's fine for bright daylight if you have enough f-stops (most
35mm SLR's will have an F16 or even F22 stop).
Ideally, carry both: a digital camera, and a film camera. For the sweeping panoramic vistas and
dimly-lit (museum) interior shots, use the film camera. For the outdoor travelogue photos, use
the digital.
Hope this helps you with your camera purchase decision making.
Barry Sanders