Digital Camera

[foongkh]

Plan to buy a 2.0 megapixel or a 3.0 megapixel Digital Camera....

Any members own any of these 2 category digital camera ???

Any recomendation ( Brand and Model) for this two category camera.....????

[CrowdAds]

[skyray]

If size is important, I'd strongly suggest the Canon Powershot S230. 3.2 megapixels, fits in your pocket, great image quality.

You can even shoot MPEG movies up to 3 minutes in length with it.

[foongkh]

Planing to get FujiFilm FinePix A303 ....

Any member out there using FinePix A303 ???

Some good review from www.cnet.com and freshgear.com

[KingTermite]

I have the Olympus C-720. It's 3MP, but what attracted me was the 8X optical zoom (ignore digital zoom...it's irrelevant). The only problem is that when you are using that high zoom it's very difficult to hold the camera still and this camera does not have image stabilization.

However, Olympus just came out with C-730 which is almost the same camera excpet it is 3.2MP, 10X optical zoom and I think it does have the image stabilization (you may need to double check that).

[Howard Stern_abx]

Just picked up the Canon G2 and its awesome. The pics are better then an SLR in my view but its a bit pricey.

[Double Density]

Just about all of the camera's out there are pretty good now, the best bet is to go somewhere where you can actually hold them and find out what feels right to you.

One thing I'll add, try to stick with cameras made by camera manufacturers, not computer or electronics companies. Canon, Nikon, Olympus, Fuji, Kodak and their ilk who tend to have better optics. The only exception I can think of is Sony who turns out some pretty nice glass too.

That brings up another thing....media. With the exception of Sony almost everyone takes Compact Flash 1. A lot of them take Compact Flash 2 as well, which allows for IBM Microdrives....1gb cards for $230ish...although very fragile compared to a regular CF card. In any event, I'd recommend buying a reader to match whatever media you choose. It saves a lot of wear and tear on the camera.

Here are some good camera review sites, complete with photo samples:

http://www.steves-digicams.com
http://www.imaging-resource.com
http://www.dpreview.com

[Monkey Hanger]

Originally posted by Double Density
One thing I'll add, try to stick with cameras made by camera manufacturers, not computer or electronics companies. Canon, Nikon, Olympus, Fuji, Kodak and their ilk who tend to have better optics.

I have to agree with this, but watch out for cameras with a non-photo name. I bought a Kyocera a couple of years back. It's made by Yashica. Although it's only 1.3MP (all I could afford at the time) it's a cracker and will have to do me for some time yet.
Also try to stick with proprietry memory - Compact Flash or Smart Media for example. There's plenty of it available at low prices.

[foongkh]

Also try to stick with proprietry memory - Compact Flash or Smart Media for example. There's plenty of it available at low prices.

What about the new memory by Olympus Optical and Fuji Photo - The xD-Picture Card. It claim to be faster and less power cousume

[Double Density]

xD looks great so far. The only drawback I see is that there isn't a lot of variety in cards available. The largest I'm aware of is 128mb and streets for about $70. Not a bad price. For the 2 or 3 mega pixel cameras we've been talking about it should hold more than enough images to make anyone happy. I'll be a lot more secure in the decision to use this type of media when we start seeing some third party support for it. Even Sony's memory sticks have a more broad manufacturing base. Once xD gains a little more acceptance, I think it's going to become a force in digital film.

On a similar track, I've had the opportunity to use a lot of Secure Digital cards for the last couple of months. I've got to say, I'm really impressed. How they're packing 512mb of memory into a card not much larger that a postage stamp is beyond me. Every time I work with one I think I'm going to accidently break it in half.

[foongkh]

Does anyone know how many picture can be store in a 16 MB storage for a digital camera. Both 2.0 MP and 3.0 MP

[foongkh]

Does anyone know how many picture can be store in a 16 MB storage for a digital camera. Both 2.0 MP and 3.0 MP

[Double Density]

Originally posted by foongkh
Does anyone know how many picture can be store in a 16 MB storage for a digital camera. Both 2.0 MP and 3.0 MP

It all depends on the quality setting and how the individual camera handles and stores data. If memory serves me, the A303 you mentioned only takes about 1.25meg to store a full resolution picture. Some of the five and six megapixel machines can take upwards of 18.

[KingTermite]

My Olympus is a 3 MP and I normally leave it on the highest quality. The pics are about 2 MB each.

Here is what Olympus webiste includes for number of pictures with thier 16MB card that comes with the camera:
1:TIFF 1984 X 1488
7:SHQ 1984 X 1488
21:HQ 1984 X 1488
24:SQ1 1600 X 1200 (NORMAL)
26:SQ2 1,280 X 960 (NORMAL)
39:SQ2 1,024 X 768 (NORMAL)
99:SQ2 640 X 480 (NORMAL)

[territorian]

If you just want snapshot size photos 2MP is fine. If you want to blow them up to poster size the higher the MP the better. I don't think 3MP gives as good a poster print as film. I heard there are some new 4MP cameras that do.

[Double Density]

Originally posted by territorian
If you just want snapshot size photos 2MP is fine. If you want to blow them up to poster size the higher the MP the better. I don't think 3MP gives as good a poster print as film. I heard there are some new 4MP cameras that do.

Here's the enlargement rules we use at work for digitals where photo quality is necessary:
1megapixel: 4x5"
2megapixel: 5x7"
3megapixel: 5x7"
4megapixel: 8x10"
5megapixel: 8x10"
6megapixel: 11x14"

These numbers give near photoquality enlargements, you can normally get pretty acceptable results one or two sizes larger. Anything larger still and you need to begin digitally enhancing the image to look good.

Canon has a 11 megapixel full frame ccd beast scheduled for release any day now. It's going to be really interesting to see how far it can go....and for a $7k street price it had best go pretty far.

I personally don't think digital will ever equal film in all regards. It may well achieve the same resolution, but it will never match the color saturation.