Digital camera ???

[Furby]

Paschale,
Just get a laptop as well..........no worries!  ;D

[Ianab]

If you are on holiday you can usually find a place that will write your pics to a CD then clear the memory card(s) and start again.
The beauty of the digital camera is you can take 100s of pics for practically no cost  8)

[asy]

Paschale,
Just get a laptop as well..........no worries! ;D

This is a GREAT idea, however, if it's cost prohibitive, there's a cheaper way out. It involves Ian's idea taken a little further.

Before you leave get yourself a GMail account. It's an email account which can take 2gb before it fills up (That is unless you already have an unlimited email account)

Go to a photo shop and ask them to write your photos to CD, Then go to an internet cafe and plug the CD in and email the contents to yourself.

That way, even though you are travelling with the CD's, you have a backup on email.

(Or you could email them to a friend and get them to clear them daily, or something. Point being, if your luggage gets lost, you still have the photos!).

asy :D

[rebocardo]

I bought a used Sony Mavica on E-Bay and I am happy with it. Uses floppies and each holds 16 hi res (which in this case means 640x480?) pictures. The newer ones use a custom mini CD-R or CD-RW instead of 3.5 HD floppies. I like the floppies because they are cheap (or free sometimes) and universal. Whatever camera you get, make sure you have a universal power supply/adapter or that you have a supply of batteries for the camera for out of the country use.

[Buzz-sawyer]

I was recently given the olympus
camedia d-395........
I believe it cost about 100 bucks....FANTASTIC!!!   
A FEW of the features...self timer, in camera picture editing , color features On screen review of pics and editing it will shoot video too but no sound with it....plus way more cool things!!!
I added a memory card So NOW it will take 156 High resolution Pictures before the need tp down load.the software is easy and not glitchy....I never take the memory card out of the camera simply down load every so often and back up on CD.
I owned a high end camedia and the newer ones are 3.2 meg pix and have all the high end features

[Ernie]

We use Alf's Sony handycam video camera with a 128 K memory stick for pics, the stick holds about 700 pics and automatically downloads into the computer as we plug it in.

Seems to do the job

[Furby]

I bought a 256k card for mine and it will hold over 400 pics, and they now have 512k cards for it.
All depends on how many pics you will take.
Asy has a REAL good idea when traveling over seas! Ya just never know!

[Paschale]

Good ideas--thanks!  Buzz sent me some pics from his 3.2 Megapixel camera, and they look great.  I suspect a lot of my pics will just end up on the forum anyway, so I don't really need the big 4 or 5 megapixel ones.  Now, if I can get up to 400 pics on one memory stick, I should be good to go.  I suspect those are ad ons later?  How much did that memory stick cost you Furby?

[Ianab]

Also when you are away from home you can reduce the picture size you are taking. If you are only going to view them onscreen or print them out postcard size you can drop the picture size down and get twice as many on your memory card. You can allways switch back to hi-res for the occasional magic pic that you may want to enlarge.

The mpix is only one measure of a cameras quality. A good 2 mpix camera with a better sensor and lens will give better results than a cheap 4 mpix one. This is where bargins can be had in 2nd hand cameras.

I love my 2 mp Panasonic with the 10x OPTICAL zoom. I'd like to upgrade to the new 5 mp version, (and Lil has offered to look after my current camera when I do) but for what I use it for there is no real advantage. :

Cheers

Ian

[asy]

I love my 2 mp Panasonic with the 10x OPTICAL zoom. I'd like to upgrade to the new 5 mp version.

That's what I have Ian, The Panasonic Lumix FZ20.

I love it.

It's so cool, but a little big for a travel point-and-shoot, although you CAN set it to automatic and just click away.

I have 2x256 cards and I can get around 250 photos per card at medium quality.

I don't often fill both cards up in one day, but have been known to

I took 110 photos in 20 minutes just before dinner today, of my kids' hands with paint all over them. It's for a photography competition where the project is 'hands'. it was great fun. Kids had fun with paint, and I had fun too. Here's one of the shots:



asy :D

[Buzz-sawyer]

At the high quality setting..like the onwe I sent, you get 156 on a 256 card ..mine cost around 30 bucks.

[Paschale]

At the high quality setting..like the onwe I sent, you get 156 on a 256 card ..mine cost around 30 bucks.

Hmm...that's not bad.  That's over six rolls of 24 exposure film, which I can't imagine taking anyway.  I'm liking the sounds of things much better already!

[asy]

Paschale,

I think those will be 'famous last words'...

You take SO MANY more photos with a digital...  because you can...  ;D

I mean, why take 1 photo of something and hope it comes out when you can take 10 and improve the odds.

asy :D

[Furby]

Paschale,
The 256k for my camera is running around 50-60$ right now, and the 512k I think is a bit over $100.
Yep, you can buy as many and what ever size as you want later.
Prices vary based on camera make of camera.

I started out taking the pics at a lower pixel setting, but found it just wasn't worth it. Shoot full size all the time! Mine is 3.2 mega pixels.
Asy is right! You shoot waaaaaaaay more pics.............just because you can! Pretty easy to dump the ones you don't want later.

Also take a look at the battery system. I like the AAA as they are advailable EVERYWHERE! You may not have time to recharge at some point and miss some pics. They do eat batteries, but if you use some common sense like turning off the flash when not needed, AAA last for a fair amount of time.

[DanG]

I would have to think twice before using the floppys.  The new computers don't come with a floppy drive.   You have to pay xtra for one.

I'm real happy with my Dimage Z10 camera. It uses a standard SD chip which you can buy most anywhere.  Bought a 128mb chip at Walmart for $14.99, on sale.  I paid $297 for the camera, then the price dropped to $247 about a month later. :'(

One feature I really like is the viewfinder.  It has the view screen on the back of the cam, but you can switch the display to another screen in the viewfinder.  I find this much easier to use, since I have taken thousands of pics in my life looking through that little hole.  I can't get the hang of pointing the camera using the screen.  The cam has 8x optical zoom + 4x digital zoom.

My Dad has a Mavica, and I like my Dimage a lot better.  It's a lot easier to use, and it is easier on batteries, too.  The only feature I can think of, that it doesn't have, is sound on AVI.  I think you get that on the Z1 model, but it wasn't worth the extra hunnerd bucks to me.

[Paschale]

Hi guys,

Well, I think I want to buy the Canon A95 Digi Cam.  Consumer Reports has great things to say about this camera.  Now...I have a question concerning the memory sticks.  Are these fairly standard?  I've seen some package deals with extra memory in them, but if I look at the lowest prices for just the camera on Froogle.com, then look at the lowest prices for memory sticks, and compare that total with the total I see on the "package deals," I think I'd be ahead with buying the camera separately from the memory stick.  Here's the thing I'm concerned about--I just want to make sure that I have the right memory stick.  Perhaps the memory stick for a Canon A95 would be more than the cheapest ones I can find, so those package deals might be OK. On some of the websites, I do see something about complying with the "standard" for memory sticks.  Are memory sticks all the same?  Do I need to worry about this?

Hmm...I might drop in at Best Buy today to try and get some answers too. 

Also, since I'm heading overseas for nine days, you guys who are used to digi cams--how big of a memory stick do you think I should buy?

[Furby]

My 2 cents.

I looked up the Canon A95, don't look bad at all!
It will only use the CompactFlash (CF) card (Type I) memory stick.
The camera should come with a 32mb card, but it is a 5mb camera. I'd just get the camera and buy the memory cards you want as you go.
I like having one big card, but there are lots of times I would like several smaller cards for different subjects.
I also do NOT like handling the memory cards any more then I need to.
All in all, it's nice have a huge card to fill, you'll still have the 32mb as a back up.

Check Meijers for the cards, you have that slip for $20 off this week! ;) They also run sales with sometimes larger discounts the Best Buy and the others. I say get the camera and start learning how to use it, and watch for a deal on the cards. You can always pay regular price for one the week before you leave if you haven't found a good deal.

[Paschale]

Well, I just bit the bullet and bought the Canon A95 from Amazon.  They had a deal to save $30 if you opened up a Visa with them, so I took full advantage of that.  With shipping, and the added on soft case, I bought it for $253, which ain't all that bad.   8)

Hopefully it'll be here by Friday, or at the latest, Monday.  Can't wait!   8)

Furby, good suggestion on using that Meijer card!  I'll have to swing over there this week and see what they have in the way of memory cards. 

[Chris J]

If you're travelling you might want to invest in a couple of memory cards. One, they're not that expensive, expecially if you watch the sales.  Two, if you lose one, you still have the other one.  That's what I did when my wife & I went to Scotland in '02.  I wound taking over 400 photos in two weeks.  I have a couple that might interest y'all, but more on that once I get some more info to go with the photos.

[Paschale]

Well, my digital camera arrived today from UPS.  I took about four or five pictures, and the DanG lense won't retract.  Called Canon technical support, and they told me the error message I was getting made it clear the DanG thing is defective.   >:(  Well, I got a hold of Amazon's customer service number.  Now THAT'S impossible to find on their website.  We should put that thing in the Knowledge Base!!!   :D  Fortunately, they're going to send me out a replacement two-day air, and it'll be here on Monday.  Free shipping back as well.  I was all set to post some pictures this weekend, but oh well.  It'll be here soon enough.   :

PS  Here's Amazon's customer service number.  I'm putting this here for my benefit as much as anyone's--if I ever need to call them again, I'll so a search for Amazon on the FF!

1-800-201-7575

[Bibbyman]

Speaking of memory cards..

When I bought our fist digital camera – an HP – it used the little SanDisk memory card.  It was 16mb.   I thought WOW! 16mb on that little card!

Later I got a Cannon ProShot A20 and it came with a SanDisk card of 32mb.  Extra memory cards were expensive so I was pleased I could use both cards in either camera.   

When we were about to take a long vacation out west,  I thought I'd need more memory cards so I bought another 32mb SanDisk card.  The price over a year's time had went down quite a bit.

A month or so back,  we attended the Wood-Mizer open house in Mt. Vernon,  I took the Cannon and extra SanDisk.  When I got back,  I couldn't find the extra one where I thought it was.  Looked everywhere but concluded I'd lost it.  Well,  I didn't.  I found it in the dryer.   They don't take washing and drying any to good!

So,  I went looking for another SanDisk card.  Found one in Wal-Mart but the smallest size they had 512mb for about $60.   I've never filled a 32mb so I didn't know why I needed 512mb.  I passed.

Today we dropped in at Staples to get some printer ink.  (No wonder they can about give printers away,  they make it up with the price of re-fills!).  Anyway,  they had SanDisks of various mb sizes – up to 1gb!  It cost just under $100.  I ended up getting a 256mb, the smallest they had,  for about $28.   

How could you possibly use 1gb of memory in a camera! 

[isawlogs]

  My thoughts also  Bib ... I just cant see anyone filling one of those cards ... I know I would not trust  a camera with so many pics in it ... Just my luck that it would fall in water or out of the truck once full ... I have two 32MB cards for mine ... and I cant for the life of me fill one up , I would not try ether , rather download them and sort them out when there is not to many in there ...

[crtreedude]

I have a 5 megapixel camera with a 256 meg memory card - I fill it all the time. I get about 100 pictures on it.

Perhaps it is because I am not the greatest of picture takers, so I take several pictures of the same thing hoping one will be good.

1 for the thumb
1 for the blur
1 for the strap of the camera in the picture
1 .... you get the idea.

[Bibbyman]

My Cannon is a 2.1 but I never set it that high.   Just not much need to with the kind of snapshots of the stuff I'm taking.   I guess if you're taking fine photos,  then you could use more memory.

[crtreedude]

I tend to take at the highest resolution because then if I get something in the picture that is far away, I can enlarge it more without losing the good quality.

I had a 2.1 and lost it  :-\ and replaced it with this one which has been great. Sony DSC-V1  I really like it.

It is very easy to use, but also has features that like night shot, etc which really take some remarkable pictures.

It will also take movies with sound. I am experimenting with those.

My ownly issue is that it doesn't take good pictures of me - I am still ugly... ;)