CMPatti@aol.com
Date: 07/18/01-08:54:45 AM Z
I just bought a digital camera after doing a fair amount of research. (I
ended up with an Olympus 3000, which is a bit above your budget.) There is
quite a lot of good information available on the web. The three sites I
consulted most often were www.megapixel.net, www.steves-digicams.com, and
www.dpreview.com. All have in-depth and apparently objective reviews of many
cameras.
A couple of thoughts:
On resolution: I decided to go for 3.3 megapixels, which is the current top
end in consumer-class cameras. It's more than you need for the web, but
probably useful for those 5x7 family photos. I've recently also picked up an
Epson 780 printer, and the results at that size from 3.3 megapixel files is
acceptable for family snapshots, although, in my opinion, not quite as good
as minilab prints from 35mm. On the other hand, I'm still in the very steep
part of the learning curve on all this, and I may be able to get better
prints in the future. Be aware that actually using all that resolution,
especially in uncompressed (TIFF) format, takes up a huge amount of memory
card space, and is often impractical for vacation snapshots.
On lenses: One of the main reasons I chose the 3000 was for its lens range.
Pay attention to the 35mm equivalents of the zoom lenses. For family and
vacation snapshots, I like to have something that goes reasonably wide. Most
of the current lenses start at 38 or 40mm--practically normal. The 3000 goes
from 32mm to 98mm. Also, realize that the actual lens lengths are in the 5
to 15mm range (because the sensor is much smaller than 35mm film). Give some
thought to the implications of that on DOF and the ability to do macro (all
these cameras have great macro capabilities).
On buying: You can check internet mail-order prices on www.mysimon.com, but
don't buy based only on price and don't pay attention to mysimon's seller
ratings. These internet electronics-oriented sellers tend to have
significantly lower prices than places like B&H, but many of them appear to
be worse than the worst of the NY camera mail-order places. There is a very
good site that rates them. I don't have the address, but it has "reseller"
in the name, so you may be able to find it with a search. I bought my camera
from www.dbuys.com, which had a good price and good reviews (relatively), and
I had no problems and even received the camera before they said I would.
On the value of digital cameras: For your intended purposes, I think they
are great. The ability to email photos of my kids to their grandparents
across the country has already justified the purchase price. I also found it
fabulous to use on a family vacation, and have printed "collages" of the
snapshots I took to send to relatives. The annual holiday card will be a
breeze. It was extremely useful in taking a large group family shot where I
got no good photos from my film camera (because someone was always scowling
or had his or her eyes closed in each shot). I was able cut and paste faces
seamlessly in digital. Did I mention that it's a lot of fun? One other use
I've made: I took pictures of all my 35mm equipment to sell on eBay.
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