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Good Morning SCS,
My husband and I are talking about getting a digital camera. He is a very technical person, so he is up on all of the Mega-Pixel stuff. I'm glad that he is so knowledgeable about that kind of stuff, but I am loking for the opinions of real scrapbookers. I am wondering what kind of cameras (and accessories) you have, and if you absolutely love or hate them. I hear a lot of "chatter" about them, but I have never paid much attention because I wasn't currently in the market. Your opinions would be much appreciated.
I have been using a digital camera for almost 4 years and I simply love it. I have my pictures uploaded to ofoto.com and choose which ones I want prints of for .29 each. They are a kodak company and the prints are wonderful!
I have a 3.1 mega pixel Sony Cybershot digital camera. It has multiple zoom and just about every feature you would want in a camera. The big plus is that it has rechargeable batteries. It takes wonderful pictures and it is small enough to fit into a fanny pack. I really like my camera. My daughter has a Sony Mavica which is about 3 times larger but it takes nice pictures as well.
Choosing a camera is a personal thing, but go digital, you will not regret it, no film ever!! Instant gratification, and if you do not like the image, just delete it!
We bought a new digital camera about 3 years ago.
I don't know what I did without it!!
We have an Olympus Camedia D-560 w/ zoom. Whever we look for a new camera my first item on the list is that it has to fit in my purse when we're on vacation. I can't stand lugging around a giant camera.
I love that I can take picutres and see them right away and delete them if they're awful.
My one suggestion is to get one that takes standard AA or AAA batteries - something you can easily get if you're away from home. Our first digital camera and our old 35mm took specail batteries that were hard to find.
We have a scanner and a Hewlet Packard color ink jet printer, too. I do print all of my own pictures now. I like the convenience of printing several to give away but I do admit that the quality isn't as good as regular photos.
I buy glossy photo paper and we have our camera set for the best pictures but sometimes it's just not as good as 'the old days'.
I'm satisfied, though.
The camera/printer software can take a little getting used to but once you figure it out it's very simple.
I also know lots of people who swear buy their Sony cameras. I really liked our old Olympus 35mm so we just upgraded to a digital by them since I was so satisfied.
I have a Fuji Finepix A210. It was a "cheap" digital but I am very pleased with it. I agree with Pinky about getting rechargable batteries. My camera uses AA and it ate up the regular ones really fast! I got rechargables that are specially for digital cameras and they last a really long time and only take 15 minutes to recharge!!
I usually just upload my pics to my pc but I did put them up on Yahoo photos once to order and they charge $0.19 per 4x6 with your first 10 free!! They shipped fast and looked great!
we are on our second digital, make sure the one you get has a quick push the button to take the photo time (my husband is the one with the technical stuff as well)
it is hard to take pictures of kids if your waiting on the camera. We get our photos developed at Target and Walmart ofor under 30 cents each and they are great for the weekly photo sent to the grandma's
Yesterday we went to the nursing home and the lady I was with had a camera with no batteries so the secretary volunteered her camera (we had a teddy bear parade for the residents) and before we left copied the photos to a disc and sent them home with us.
It turned out great.
__________________ Kyloe
The lesson from Charlie Brown: The people who make a difference in your life are not the ones with the most credentials, the most money, or the most awards. They are the ones that care.
I have the sony mavica cd500. I just love it. It's 5 megapixals. It records the pictures to mini cd's. You can take tons of pictures on one cd. It also comes with rechargable battery and it last a long time.
I have a 5 megapixel Nikon Coolpix 5400. This is my second Nikon Digital camera, and I have loved them both. My camera has loads of different settings, for those who like to play around to get different results, but also a fully automatic setting, if you don't want to mess with the others. I love my Nikon, don't think I'll ever buy a different kind.
__________________ Heidi My gallery There's no 'I' in 'team'. But then there's no 'I' in 'useless smug colleague', either. And there's four in 'platitude-quoting idiot'. Go figure.
I have the Kodak DX6490. One of the features I love most is the ability to switch between color, b/w and sepia. I'm not sure what other features would affect my scrapping. Your photo software and your pic developing would be an important factor for scrapping. My Kodak came with software and I develop online (Winkflash.com).
I have a Minolta Dimage S414 megapixel. I love it. It has an automatic and a manual mode and all the bells and whistles you might want, but it's also very easy to use if you just want to point and shoot. It's not the smallest camera on the planet, but I like the zoom. I chose one with higher megapixels so that I would have the option of taking high quality photographs if I wanted, but it allows me to decide on the image size and quality.
I am slowly weaning myself off of standard film. My 35mm camera is a Vivitar and I absolutely hate it. It makes decisions as to whether I should take a picture and often when I go to snap a picture of one of my children who is doing something cute, I'll lose the moment because the camera "decides" that it will not take it. Grrrr....
If you get a digital, make sure you get some rechargeable NIMH batteries. You'll go through tons of batteries otherwise. I like to have a set in the charger and one in the camera; that way, I'm never without enough juice to run the camera. THe other thing I recommend is a card reader to attach to your computer. My camera will transfer the pictures over, but it eats a lot of battery power. It was cheaper to buy a card reader than to get the AC/DC adapter for the camera.
Another thing is to buy a card with more storage than what comes with the camera. Mine came with a 16 megabyte disk which holds a fairly decent amount of photos, but when I went to Orlando, I bought a 512 megabyte disk....I still haven't filled it up!
For those of you who have made the switch and gone completely digital for your photos, I found a product at the art store yesterday that you might be interested in. This is a local store, owned and staffed by alumni and students, so I don't know if it can be found at major chain stores yet. Anyway, it's a spray that is supposed to prolong the life of digital printouts, since they don't last nearly as long as prints developed from film. I can't remember the name of the spray, but it was displayed with the drawing fixatives and sealers. When I find out what it is I'll come back and post it!
I have a Canon Powershot A310. It has 3.2 mp, and has lots of options on it for taking pictures. Haven't figured them all out yet (just got it a month ago) but love the sepia pictures it takes!! And it came with a 32mb flashcard so didn't have to buy that seperate like a lot of camera's out there.
I saw that spray in the store too, just don't remember where it was! I do print quite a few pictures off my printer so maybe should invest in it, just gotta find it again... think I saw it at Wal Mart though. Will have to look. I printed my pictures from Snapfish.com and they turned out very nice, but I hear Clark color labs prints them, then you got ofoto.com and another one I can't think of yet.
I loved my old camera, which was a Kodak, about 3.1 megapixels. The things I want to improve on when I get this next camer are: Quicker photos in succession (really important for catching cute kid moments...I agree with the other person who posted that it's a pain to be waiting on your camera), and better zoom (I'm looking for 10x optical zoom). I also want to make sure I have a tripod mount, the ability to interchange lenses in case I want to put a wide angle lens on, and the ability to hook up an external flash. I also want to make sure that my camera will accept standard memory media rather than something new that is more rare and expensive. Sony tends to be expensive for its media.
I'm moving into a little bit more high-end camera now, but if you are just taking basic photos you can get a lot for your money for definitely under $300, maybe even under $200. You don't need to buy more megapixels than you will be able to print out. My 3.1 mp camera was awesome for
4 x 6's.
I would definitely recommend buying online, since you can get the best prices that way.
I have a Sony Cybershot - it is only 1.3 megapixels, but takes awesome pictures. I upload mine to shutterfly and get the pictures back in just a couple days.
The one thing I really found important though on our recent cruise to Alaska: Make sure you get a camera with an Optical Zoom digital zoom is when you can zoom after the picture is taken. Optical Zoom is when you get a really good distant shot right off the bat.
Also, the speed of the shutter (or the button you push to take the picture) is important.
We were trying to take distance pictures of a whale breaching, everytime the whale came up, I pushed the button, but by the time the picture took he was splashing in the water! Also, the optical zoom would have been great because he was just too far.
My camera does have an optical zoom, just not a very good one.
I have two- one is a digital SLR-the canon digital rebel 6MP. It takes AWESOME pics but it is a bit expensive and not convienient to take places with you. I also have a sony cybershot 3.2 MP that takes decent 4x6 pics. This is my second sony and I have had great luck with them.
If this link works properly, you should be directed to a document I uploaded a while back containing websites and information that can help you evaluate your choices.
Good luck! let us know what you choose!
All my best,
Nancy
__________________ You can always tell a real friend; When you've made a fool of yourself, he doesn't think you've done a permanent job.
- Lawrence J. Peter http://community.webshots.com/user/neighbor_nancy
I purchased a Kodak DX 7630 a few months ago & I ABSOLUTLY love it!!! It's 6mp; I just returned from an Alaksa cruise, I have over 200 pictures, every one turned out GREAT!!! I had an HP 2mp before this and I HATED it!!! I recommend not to purchase one that takes AA batteries; mine takes a li ion and it hold a charge for a very long time. I didn't have to charge it at all for the entire time I was gone. The AA camera ate batteries like you wouldn't believe.
Good luck!
Hey - the latest edition of Consumer Reports (I got mine yesterday in the mail) is a mega-electronic issue...including info on digital cameras. Check it out!
I have a Canon A80 and I love it. It's a 4 mega pixel. It's loaded with features and has my favorite feature I've ever had in a camera. It has a screen like a camcorder that "pops out" on a swivel so you can take pictures from every angle. The other day I was at the zoo, they were feeding the hippos and there was a huge crowd. My DD wanted to see but I couldn't lift her over the crowd. I popped the screen, tilted it down, held that camera right over my head and snapped a great shot of the hippo. I've used it to look over cliffs without looking over. I've used it to take secret pics of my DD around corners to catch her doing things that she would have stopped doing had I been standing there. On top of all that, it takes great pics.
I didn't check out the other string with the websites but www.dpreview.com is a great one.
Digital Camera Decision
I will be buying the Kodak Easy Share DX 7590......I halmost have DH convinced!! 
