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December 2001
Posts: 10583
Location: NJ | My nikon took a triple backflip off the top of a dual fender stack a couple of days ago and the battery door will not close properly so I guess I need a new camera. any opinions? I want to stay in the 300 range and it must have an optical zoom and macro capabilities
two that strike my eye are the
nikon coolpix 4800
and the
konica minolta
dimage z2 3 or 10
any opinions? |
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February 2005
Posts: 11840
Location: closely held secret | How much optical zoom are you looking for, Al? |
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November 2003
Posts: 11039
Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | I've got the Canon ELPH. Great camrea. No compliants.3x optical (+digital zoom) It's got all the bells and whistles and then some...
ELPH |
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December 2003
Posts: 13996
Location: Upper Left USA | Canon A520 is found at about $180 and will do all that most people need.
4.2 mpxl 3x optical, 3x digital zoom and well proven. |
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December 2001
Posts: 10583
Location: NJ | Originally posted by Waskel:
How much optical zoom are you looking for, Al? 3x is what I currently have the nikon 4800 has a 8x and the konicas have 8-12x
I have to get new media too since I have compact flash and it looks like these others use SD |
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October 2005
Posts: 5331
Location: Cicero, NY | I have the Canon A85 and I think it takes outstanding shots but it sounds like you might be talking a bit heavier than that. Our agency had an earlier version Coolpix a while back and we thought (for that time) it took exceptional shots. I'm sure they've only gotten better like most of the others. Have you looked at the Rebels? |
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Posts: 14842
Location: NJ | Al;
If your looking for something small, "pocketable", yet powerful, I'd suggest the Canon Elph as well . . .
I one gave to Jeanette a couple Christmases ago, and she LOVES it! (And it DOES take some really nice pictures.)
Granted, I wouldn't open up a Portrait Studio with it, but for what I think you'd need it for, it's a sweet little unit for the money . . . |
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December 2001
Posts: 10583
Location: NJ | I need something for taking pics of musical items but need something with macro that will show serial numbers dings etc |
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November 2003
Posts: 11039
Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | Al,
All the pictures taken of my guitars on my webpage were taken with the Elph. It has Marco. |
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November 2003
Posts: 11039
Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | ...and maCRO |
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October 2005
Posts: 5331
Location: Cicero, NY | Wow! Both, eh? Don't find that often enough! |
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September 2003
Posts: 9301
Location: south east Michigan | I bought a Nikon Coolpix 4600 (maybe 4800?) for my wife as a Christmas gift. It seemed to be the right one to buy but I have not had enough time one it to discover it's flaws. |
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February 2005
Posts: 11840
Location: closely held secret | I bought myself a Canon S2 IS . I love it. 12x optical, image stabilization, great macros, full auto or manual or mixed, DV quality video... It'll even take full resolution stills while taking video. $440 but well worth it. |
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May 2003
Posts: 4389
Location: Capital District, NY, USA Minor Outlying Islands | OK, to add to the confusion ...
I use an Olympus 300 Stylus and it works great. See pics in my members gallery for results (the amp, mewp and the Uke sign).
Olympus no longer makes the 300, but they make the 500 which is even better. Really easy to use, just point and shoot. |
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May 2005
Posts: 120
Location: Gardnerville, NV | I have the predecessor to Waskel's Canon, the S1 IS, and the only things I don't like about it got fixed with the S2. |
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December 2001
Posts: 10583
Location: NJ | anyone have any experience with refurb nikon cameras? I can get a great deal on a refurb 4800 under bucks. |
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November 2003
Posts: 11039
Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | My friend, a pro photog, loves Nikon, but I couldn't tell you if that includes the 4800... |
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March 2005
Posts: 12759
Location: Boise, Idaho | I bought 2 of the Nikon Coolpix 5600s in the last year. The first one for my daughter's graduation. She's into graphic design and all that computer stuff and loves it. She could probably use a lot of manual features, but it has useful modes that you can select. The size is tiny and it goes forever on 2 batteries. She liked it so much we bought one for ourselves for Christmas. $215, although list is $249.
It is being replaced by something with a couple more features and a bigger price tag. A larger screen would be nice for us old guys, but the clarity of the screen is excellent. I thought it was the best deal out there twice after doing a bunch of comparison shopping and reading.
I just tried to post some pictures, though, and I couldn't figure out how to do it. It was easy with the old Toshiba and the Image Expert software that came with it. |
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December 2001
Posts: 10583
Location: NJ | well I decided on the nikon 4800 and decided to buy it from abe's in maine. It was not the cheapest price but they have a good reputation. I decided to spend the extra $50 and get the one with the full warranty. I have not had great luck with digital cameras and 90 days just did not seem like enough of a warranty.
look for some cool new photos LOL |
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December 2003
Posts: 26
Location: NYC | Hi Al,
I have the Nikon 4800, and it's worked very well for us. There are plenty of cameras that have a higher number of pixels in the imaging chip and more features for the same or less money, but the main reason we bought it was because it had the 8x optical zoom. For "regular" photos printed at the usual 4"x6" size, I don't think anyone could tell if you used a 4 megapixel or 6 megapixel camera. Even when enlarged, the photos are still very sharp. I also bought a 512 MB flash memory chip for it, which wasn't very expensive. It can store around 400 photos. Overall, I think it's a great little camera. |
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December 2001
Posts: 10583
Location: NJ | I usually agonize over these purchases but I just decided to go for it. I like the 8X optical and the macro capabilities. I also really liked my nikon 3100 so I decided to stick with what I liked. I also found out the nikon has been recalled for defective color so I am going to send it back and maybe they will fix the battery door also.
for the price I found it had exactly what I needed. most of my pics go on the web so 4 megapixels is plenty. |
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Joined:
August 2003
Posts: 2246
Location: Yucaipa, California | St. Al,
I have always been a Canon camera fan and was planning to buy one in the near future, then I read a review that indicated some problems/issues. They suggested doing a "google" search on "Canon E18" which is the Error code for the problems. I did just that and here's the link:
Google Search
very interesting and disturbing stuff.... caveat emptor! |
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March 2005
Posts: 12759
Location: Boise, Idaho | Al, when you figure out the software, give me a tutorial. I couldn't figure out how to upload pictures from our Nikon 5600. Couldn't figure out how to downsize them either. Boy, 5.1 megapixels makes for a really big picture. |
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March 2002
Posts: 14842
Location: NJ | If you're running fairly current version of Windows, y'SHOULD be able to just "pull" pictures from it via a USB connection . . . |
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December 2001
Posts: 10583
Location: NJ | I use photoshop |
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March 2005
Posts: 12759
Location: Boise, Idaho | The Toshiba came with Image Expert, which is a simplified version of what Dell seems to sell. It was so simple that even I could use it. We got the pictures off the camera and I can find them on the computer, but I can't seem to locate the files that they are in when I try to upload them to the Member gallery. Plus I was having computer glitch problems with the OFC board last night. |
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November 2002
Posts: 35
Location: Reading, PA | Check this site out.
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/stats.asp |
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July 2005
Posts: 150
Location: Las Vegas, Nevada | A consumer camera with pro features and incredible optics is the older and now discontinued Sony DSC-F717. Just checked eBay and found about 30 of 'em at ridiculous prices. A good deal new on one of these was $750-$800. Know 'cause I purchased one for me and one for my son. The big discounters closed them out for about $600.00. Looks like you could get a whole outfit for $300.00 to $400.00 used. The Zeiss lens is really, really good; nice display, great macro, optical/digital zoom from 38-190 (5X). |
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March 2002
Posts: 14842
Location: NJ | I use that exact same camera at work (& OFC Tours) and it IS sweet!!! The only (minor) drawback is it's size. Compared to other DigiCameras, it's "big", but's it's all LENS (and it's the lens on it that's killah!). It even has NightVision! Don't know why they decided to discontinue it . . . |
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August 2003
Posts: 4619
Location: SoCal | I have used the Olympus E-20N for the past couple of years; originally about $2K...now about $500-1,000 used.
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June 2004
Posts: 271
Location: Ft. Lauderdale, Florida | I just bought the Nikon D50 Digital SLR w/28-80mm Nikkor Zoom pkg for $587.99
I also dealt w/ Abe's of Maine...
Came with a free (after Rebate) Epson Picture Mate Deluxe Printer
http://www.abesofmaine.com/viewproduct.asp?id=nkd502880k
Here is a review of the camera:
http://www.bythom.com/D50REVIEW.htm
AB |
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September 2004
Posts: 777
Location: East Wenatchee, WA | I have had my Olympus C700 (now 720 or 740 I think) for a couple of years and have been very happy. It is an 8x optical (newer ones are higher), is around $250-300 and allows for full programming like the more expensive camera's so you have your choice of presets, or can create your own preferences. One of my pet-peeves is too bright of a flash up close...I programmed it down on one setting, then have another that leaves it hot for distant flash.
Takes great pictures. Complaints...yeah, the biggest is that the date sometimes resets. No one has figured that out yet, but I am used to it as a minor inconvenience and just check it.
I bought it originally for air-to-air shots when I was flying, and it did a wonderful job of sucking distant objects up close. Not sure of the Macro part, but my pics in the photo section are with this camera. Olympus does build pretty nice glass too as it has high ratings for the quality of the optics.
I have also taken digital zooms with the full 24x and was quite amazed with the clarity. |
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December 2001
Posts: 10583
Location: NJ | Well the Nikon 4800 arrived yesterday. It was a little bigger than I thought it would be but that is ok. it has a solid feel and the 8 x zoom is really great. I will probably put it to work this weekend at the ohio guitar show and let you know how I like it.
my only regret is that it takes SD cards and now I have a pile of compact flash that will probably not get much use. |
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digital cameras