Re: digital cameras

Erin,

I just purchased the Canon PowerShot S10 for $499. It has 2.11 megapixel
(you want at least 1 megapixel, 2 megapixel is better) and the resolution
can be set to three different levels depending on the quality desired. It
has a 2X optical zoom, you want to avoid digital zoom as this just plays
with pixels and does not give the best results. It uses the compact flash
storage cards and comes with an 8Mb card. This will give you around 12-18
shots at medium resolution, 1280-960 at a middle compression setting (Since
the memory card is reusable you should wait to see what your needs are
before buying additional cards because they are expensive, around $60 for a
16Mb card. However, once you buy them they can be used over and over).  This
will give you very good quality for most purposes, including prints. Bear in
mind that prints are also very dependent on the printer used. I have an
Epson 640 that prints color at 750 dpi and gives pretty good results. You
might want to get a better printer if you plan to do prints often.  HP makes
one geared to photo quality prints. I prefer the compact flash card because
this technology is widely used in other applications so it is more
available. Others include Memory Stick, exclusive to Sony (the next
BeataMax?), and Media Card.

The Canon uses a 2CR5 lithium battery (available from Radio Shack for around
$10) and has a rechargable battery kit  available. The kit includes a
battery, recharger, and AC adapter for $100.

My son recommends the Kodak DC240 or DC260 (his last job involved working
with digital imaging and he used a high level camera quite often). While the
DC240 has less resolution, 1.3 megapixel, at the same price it uses AA
batteries and you can get rechargeable ones and a charger for around $50.
The DC260 has over 2 megapixel but costs more.  These also use the compact
flash cards.

Another consideration is downloading pictures to your PC, or Mac as the case
may be. You can do this either directly from the camera or from a card
reader that works like a removable disk drive. This is better as you do not
use up camera battery power downloading pictures. Make sure you get USB for
both. The Canon uses USB from the camera, the Kodak does not (the card
reader for both is USB, third party products are available for around $30).

Finally, make sure that the camera has both an optical viewfinder and LCD
viewfinder. The Canon and Kodak have both.

Hope all this rambling helps.

Regards,
Edward Springer
Athens, Alabama
----- Original Message -----
From: "Erin Parker" <erin(at)bizzbizz.com>
To: <hwg-basics(at)hwg.org>
Sent: Monday, June 26, 2000 5:14 PM
Subject: digital cameras


> Does anyone have a suggestion for a really good digital camera (for more
> than emailing photos) for around $500?
>
> TIA,
> Erin
> ===============================
> Erin Parker
> Erin(at)BizzBizz.com
> 415-456-6765
> http://www.BizzBizz.com
> http://www.Vaxa.com/31379
>
>

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