Digital Camera

[Mrwurm]

Anyone care to recommend their favorite digital camera for under $300. I am looking for one that I can plug into a usb port and has easy to use software. I don't have time to study another manual.

 

[Golfgar4]

Hi Jerry!

We just bought a Kodak DX4900 digital camera with the "Shareware system" the first of July. We got it at OfficeMax for $299.00 (down from $499.00), which included $187.00 worth of attachments, etc. This was a special promotion, but I don't know if it is still running.

It's the easiest thing I've ever used./w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif I really didn't even read the manual, and I'm usually pretty good about doing that. /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

I loaded the CD into the computer, little boxes of directions popped up telling me what to do, and it was done! The next day, we went out and took 54 pictures at my Mother-In-Laws 70th birthday party. I went in to the computer, plugged the camera into the "dock", and all I had to do was give the file a name to save it. Then I went in and pulled up the pictures, made some modifications (cropping), and printed out about 5 of them on picture quality paper to give to our Aunt before she left. You can't tell they came off a computer!

The following week, we were driving to our State capital. My wife had set the camera to take black & white pictures of trees for some "art" she wanted to create. We'd see a tree she liked, so we'd stop and she'd shoot it. We'd look at the picture she just took, and if she didn't like it, she'd delete it and take another. Pretty cool. /w3tcompact/icons/cool.gif

If you want some more information, here's a link to a thread that discusses all of this stuff -
<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.tractorbynet.com/cgi-bin/compact/showflat.pl?Cat=&Board=rural&Number=146065&page=&view=&sb=&o=&vc=1>Digital Camera - Did I Make The Right Choice?</A>

Good luck on your choice. Oh yeah, I did post a couple of pictures we took with the camera in the Photo section, if you want to look at them. They're in the thread Poor Man's Air Conditioning".

 

[RanchMan]

Fuji digital cams are very good. I got mine years ago and other than processing speed, it still blows away a lot of the cams available today. A friend of mine has one of the newer Fuji models and is very happy with his as well.

'Course the technology has come a long way since I got mine, so there are a lot of nice cameras available now, but I think that the Fuji's are hard to beat. Like anything electronic, the models are constantly being upgraded, so I can't recommend a particular one, but if you look at them up close, I think you'll like 'em.

BTW, for $20-30 you can get a USB memory card reader that, assuming your digital cam has a removable memory card, makes file transfer a snap. (you can even move pictures from you PC to your camera - good for viewing when you hook it up to a TV or such). I use Windows Explorer to take care of picture transfer - just "drag & drop" - no fancy software required.

Good luck!

 

[Mrwurm]

I was looking at a Kodak DX3600 for $225. There's an Office Max right on my way home. I think I'll stop there and check out the DX4900. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif Thanks !

Also, I did see your awning photos. Looked good to me.

 

[Golfgar4]

<font color=blue>"Also, I did see your awning photos. Looked good to me."</font color=blue>

Those were taken on the "medium", or average resolution setting. The camera has three resolution settings; low, medium, and high. The low allows you take + - 120 - 130 pictures, the medium + - 50 - 60 pictures, and the high + - 20 - 30 pictures. Obviously the high resolution pictures are the best and the sharpest, but for everyday use, the medium seems just fine.

Another feature of the Kodak system is that if you don't want to mess around with printing the pictures out yourself, or your printer doesn't support picture quality printing, you can e-mail the pictures directly to Kodak and they'll print them and send them to you. Don't know the cost for this, however.

Another nice feature of this system is the camera dock. When you want to download the pics to the computer, you plug the camera onto the dock and the pictures are downloaded. But it also recharges the camera battery at the same time. So you can just leave the camera on the dock when your not using it, and it's always fully charged! /w3tcompact/icons/cool.gif

 

[Tractors4u]

I just bought a Nikon Coolpix 775. It uses a USB cable. When I plug the cable in and switch the camera on it automatically boots up the software and with one click it downloads the pictures. Then you select the ones to save. It is 2.1 megapixel. The higher the megapixel the better. It has a 3X optical zoom and a 2.5X digital zoom. It was $289 plus $15 S&H from Ebay. I have attached a picture I took with it.

 

[Tractors4u]

One more thing, it will do 15 second MPEG videos also.

 

[Mrwurm]

Hey, thats pretty impressive ! /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

A friend of mine recommended the same camera.

 

[Steven]

You may want to check out <A target="_blank" HREF=http://dpreview.com>http://dpreview.com</A> they seem to have a lot of reviews on cameras. I still have not gotten myself a digital camera yet. but I have been looking /w3tcompact/icons/eyes.gif.

 

[MikePA]

<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.dpreview.com>DP Review</A>

I agree, a great site. I just got a <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.casio.com/cameras/product.cfm?section=239&product=4393>Casio Exilim EX-S1</A> to go along with my Olympus C2100-UZ. I wanted a camera that was convenient enough to carry all the time and one like the EX-S1, which is credit card sized, fits the bill. It also meets your price target.

 

[JohnMiller3]

Hi Jerry,

I don't know a thing about digital cameras... except what my "eyes" /w3tcompact/icons/eyes.gif tell me...

I've been on TBN for a week or two now and I tried to look at everyone photos... if they were extraordinary... I'd ask the poster what kind of camera they used...

Last summer, <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.tractorbynet.com/forumfiles/35-58736-JD722rearlampsmount2.JPG>I started with an el cheapo $49 camera...</A> that got me fiddling with the digital world... about a month after I got el cheapo... I stumbled on a Kodak 2.1 Megapixel for under $190... I just had to buy just because of the price...

<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.tractorbynet.com/forumfiles/35-67298-Camera-Bird-Fairtest.jpg>...Here's a sample picture I took with my Kodak at the one of our fairs last year...</A>

With enough light available... the Kodak has performed better than I expected... I recently saw a Kodak 1.3 megapixel being closed out for $69... so the bargains are alive and well...

So, I guess what I'm saying... if you can hold off on the $300. unit and instead buy a "name brand" bargain so you can "fiddle" and then you can work your way up... /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[Ozarker]

Whatever camera you get, if it uses flash cards for picture storage, consider getting a flash card reader to attach to your USB port. I have 3 of them. One on my computer, one on my wife's computer and one for my laptop.

The reason for the flash card is that it is convenient to use and saves your camera battery. If you get a unit that just plugs into the computer to download pictures, it uses the camera battery power to do that. And digital cameras eat up lots of battery juice.

They, the readers, also make it very convenient to transfer files from one computer to another. The computer sees the reader as just another disk drive so you can upload and download any type of file to it.

Most cameras come with an 8k flash card. I purchased a 128k flash card so that I can take about 250 pictures before I have to download. And the 126 card lets me transfer huge files between computers when I need to.

The higher the pixel number, the better potential for high quality pictures. I say potential because some cameras are simply better than others within the same pixel range.

There are two types of zoom, digital zoom and optical zoom. Optical zoom is better. Digital zoom simply crops the picture and uses pixels to "draw" a bigger picture. Optical zoom actually uses optics to magnify the scene.

 

[jyoutz]

I just bought a Minolta Dimage 7i digital camera. The features are simply awesome and the 5 megapixels produce amazing photos. 28-200 mm zoom lens. BUT, it cost 3 times what you want to spend. You have to be a shutterbug to buy something like this. Still if you want something to produce enlargements, I highly recommend it. If you just want to print 4 x 5s or post online, then the 5 megapixel camera is way too much camera for your needs. I have way too many expensive hobbies.

 

[patrickg]

If the Kodak DC4900 is anything like our Kodak DC 4800 then that is a terrific deal. The 4800 is 3.1 megapixel and uses flash cards. I don't seem to need a card reader or "dock" as the camera came with a charger and USB cable. When plugged in to both cables the charger powers the camera (or charges it if you turn it off) and the O/S detects the camera as a device and the desktop treats it like a drive with drag and drop file xfers (or multiple xfers). Supplied CD has S/W to allow camera control (change settings/modes/etc) even easier than working the camera controls. There is picture fidling software that allows rotating, cropping, enlarging, printing, or making slide shows etc that came with it for free.

I bought a couple close up lenses and a X2 teleadaptor to boost the built in zoom. Not as easy as built in macro but tremendously effective. Can fill the picture with a very small item.

Oh by the eay, I bought a RCA close out camera at Wallmart for $50 last year and used that while shopping for a beter camera. It died, just out of warranty but the concept of getting a cheapie first is sound AND yo have a knockabout camera to put in your pocket when tractoring so yo can share the fun and unusual things you see.

Patrick

 

[Mrwurm]

Thanks to all that responded. There was lots of good advice dispensed. I did end up buying a camera yesterday. I went to BestBuy to look for a window air conditioner and I decided to look at their cameras. They had a Kodak DX3500 2.2 megapixel camera. This camera is discontinued and was on clearance for $189 (original price $289). They had the display model for sale at $129. I looked it over and decided to take a chance on the floor model. Turns out the software was missing, /w3tcompact/icons/hmm.gif They offered me the camera for $89 and told me I could download the software from the Kodak site. I did, and I'm up and running. I would like to post a picture for this thread but I need to resize my pictures (they're all too big). Thanks for all the help, you'll be seeing some of my new pictures in the customization forum soon.

 

[Golfgar4]

Congrats Jerry on finding a real deal on the camera! /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

If your pictures are as much fun to look at as your posts are to read, we've got some real fun times to look forward too! /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif/w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif

 

[JohnMiller3]

<font color=blue>...Kodak DX3500 2.2 megapixel ...for $89 ...</font color=blue>

Jerry... You did great...! /w3tcompact/icons/blush.gif

I said this before in another post but...

Now pick up a 64 or 128 memory card, (2 sets)rechargeable batteries and charger and you're in like flint... /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

One last thing... don't get into a habit of using the LCD screen to view or "snap" pictures... it's a battery hog... use the optical viewfinder instead... I can take about ~~170-190 pictures on my Kodak with one set of batteries before a recharge is due...

I think the 2 megapixels is just right... my eyes just don't justify any major quality difference with the 3 or 4 meg units when the majority of the pictures are under 8 by 10...

The one thing you'll long for is a better optical zoom... but hey this is fantastic for a starter...

Looking forward to seeing some beautiful posts... /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[rstcso]

Now that you have your camera, batteries are going to be an important part of your life. If you have rechargeables, that's great. But if you're going to be away from the charger for an extended period of time (now for my 2 cents), may I suggested the Energizer Lithium-Ion batteries. They are blue-colored and sell at Walgreen's for $10 a four pack. On the surface it seems high, but I literally get hundreds and hundreds of pictures with one set (and I have the LCD display all the time). Most importantly, have fun with it. It's nice to take a gazillion pictures and just delete the ones you don't want.

 

[woodmills1]

go to xat.com for some nice free optimizer programming to easily resize your pictures

 

[Mrwurm]

Thanks for all the tips.

LCD as viewfinder.... You're right! I ran down a set of alkalines after only 15 pictures (I was using the LCD)

Lithiums.... Yep, downloaded the owners manual last night, it says not to use alkalines because of short life.

Extra memory, I bought a 32 meg card. It will hold about 40 'best quality' pictures.

xat.com.... I'll check that out. The only way to resize with the Kodak software is to do a 'save as'. 'Save as' provides an option for three sizes.

I added a toolbox to my TC30 yesterday and photographed the entire process. As soon as I resize them, I'll post them in 'customization'.

Thanks to all.