Digital Cameras

The machines we love to hate

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Kathryn Sabey
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Digital Cameras

Post by Kathryn Sabey »

What are the should haves and the don't needs when looking at a camera to purchase? anyone heard of ixla brand?
Raybob
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Post by Raybob »

I have an ixla under a different brand "Dimera" it was $99 so I bought it. I wish the oriental mechanical engineers would catch up with their electronics engineers. On mine there's a switch on back from standard to fine mode that didn't work. I opened it up to manually set it to "fine" mode. Other than that, it's OK. Now it's 640x480 only, has auto flash and seems to eat batteries.

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Richard Sinkler
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Post by Richard Sinkler »

I bought a Kodak DC215 and it seems to be pretty decent. It cost less than $300.

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Bill Leff
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Post by Bill Leff »

I bought a Snappy off ebay for about $35.
It interfaces my camcorder (any camcorder) to my PC. I can take live camera shots with it and also grab video from the camcorder. Works well, simple to operate. I recommend it for people that just need to get some pics for email etc, not for professional quality photos to print (though the resolution is very good, and only limited by your camcorder).

Check out www.play.com for info on Snappy.

-Bill
Bruce Wutzke
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Post by Bruce Wutzke »

I like the Sony feature of using floppy
discs. I can view my pics on any computer where ever I might be. Also, it makes for cheap storage of pics.
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John Gretzinger
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Post by John Gretzinger »

Kathryn -

The main thing you have to remember is that until you get into the professional models < $2000, you will not have the quality of the least expensive 35mm.

That having been said, the Kodak cameras seem to be about the best value for the money. I got a Kodak DC210 as an open box from Best for $150. The quality is good, and the batteries last reasonably well. The software provided to transfer the photos is OK, but any transfer via a serial port is slow. The DC210 produces reasonable pictures when attached to my Lexmark Z51 running at high resolution (1200x1200) on high gloss paper.

It is not a replacement for really nice 8x10 photos of something special. Leave that stuff to analog cameras for the time being.

If what you want is quick and dirty computer images, then you will be very happy with the Kodak line.

John
your mileage may vary



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Kathryn Sabey
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Post by Kathryn Sabey »

Thanks for the info. Looks like there are several to chose from.
Randy Reimer
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Post by Randy Reimer »

I use a creative labs "web go" It is a web cam, but unplug the usb and its a 600x400 digital camera with mempry for 96 pics.

Quality isnt the best, no flash, but it works good for posting pics on the web.

I've used Chinon and some other brands and determined its best to stick with a brand which has a net presence. I choose creative labs because i was tired of looking for drivers. If you ever misplace the disk or cd (mine came damaged for the previous camera) then its nice to be able to get the twain drivers off the web fast.<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Randy Reimer on 10 March 2000 at 01:16 AM.]</p></FONT>
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Janice Brooks
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Post by Janice Brooks »

I just got a Hewltt Packard c200 for around $ 300. It holds up to 80 pictures a low resolution and 20 at high. however it is a battery eater


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Jonathan Cullifer
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Post by Jonathan Cullifer »

My dad has a Kodak DC265 digital camera that actually makes better pictures than 35mm. The camera costs around $800 and has extremely good resolution up to 8x10 size. The next best feature is it runs off AA bateries. It stores the pictures on a CompactFlash card (sizes range from 8 megs on up) and will hold about 90 pictures per card, depending on the capicity.

The next best thing to get is a SanDisk ImageMate, a CompactFlash reader. The I/O on a CompactFlash card is extremely fast with this reader. I think they run about $80.

Jonathan

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"We get up at twelve and start to work at one, take an hour's lunch and then at two were done."<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Jonathan Cullifer on 12 March 2000 at 02:09 PM.]</p></FONT>
Kathryn Sabey
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Post by Kathryn Sabey »

Thanks for all the great info Image
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rpetersen
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Post by rpetersen »

I have a Sony FD88 - Love it -I can print out pictures with the software that comes with it and It is realy hard to tell them from 35 mm.
One of the tricks is getting good photo paper - I have been buying mine on the internet for about 25 cents a sheet. it is japanese made but I have found it to be better than Kodak, HP, etc. It is very brite white and high gloss and quick drying. If anybody is interested, email me and I will give the email address on where to order it. One downfall I have seen with all digital cameras is they are very tricky to get good night pictures.

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Richard Sinkler
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Post by Richard Sinkler »

You can pick up the Sandisk Imagemate from buy.com for around $40.00. That's where I got mine.

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Kathryn Sabey
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Post by Kathryn Sabey »

Richard..how do the Kodak and the Sandisk compare?
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Richard Sinkler
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Post by Richard Sinkler »

The Kodak flash card reader is made by Sandisk and is the exact same thing. It reads flash cards from any make of camera as log as they are the same type card. My wife has a Panasonic Cam Corder that uses a flash card for digital still pictures, and it reads those also.

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