Just got my Sony DSC-P200... wow... questions...

This is a cool camera... sure beats the pants off my old 3MP HP
camera... but boy, it is so much more complex. Not hard to use, just
overwheleming with cool stuff that it can do!

Since I am new to Sony digital photography, i have two questions:

1)This memory stick pro thing is confusing me. These sticks are useless
in anything other than a Sony? Sometimes, when I see them on websites
like newegg.com, they look smaller than the 32mb one that came with my
P200. Is a memory stick pro a memory stick pro no matter what? I am
looking to get a 1gb one. Does brand name matter? Is a sony memory
stick pro any better than a scandisk one?

2)Printers. I figure since i have a nice camera, it is time to start
printing them from home. I am not a professional photographer, but Id
like to printer photo-ablum-worthy photos, and my wife would like to
print scrap-book-worthy photos. Any suggestions for a photo printer to
use with my P200 that is affordable yet prints quality photos? I cant
imagine me needing to print anything larger than a 5 x 7.

thanks in advance!
Jazz Mann

1)This memory stick pro thing is confusing me. These sticks are useless
in anything other than a Sony?

That's the reason I'll never buy a Sony.

ef

uhhh...thanks for the advice... anyone else...?

uhhh...thanks for the advice... anyone else...?


Yeah I know, not much help. What is your price range for the printer?
$100? $1,000? It makes a difference....give us an idea.

The last 2 printers I've bought were Canons. I swear by 'em.

ef

"EF in FLA" wrote in message
. ..
1)This memory stick pro thing is confusing me. These sticks are
useless
in anything other than a Sony?

That's the reason I'll never buy a Sony.

There's nothing wrong with Sony. I have a Sony W5 I bought a few months
ago, and I like it fine.
Olympus and Fuji have proprietary memory cards the same as Sony does.
But if you are not taking hundreds of pictures every week or something,
a 512MB stores lots of pictures or even a 256 MB is OK for many people..
Its not as if you are buying memory cards every five minutes. How many
do you need? SD cards are not much cheaper than memory stick pros now.
I would not be put off buying a Sony or Olympus or Fuji just because
they have proprietary memory cards. I bought a camera I liked and
wouldn't buy a camera which takes an SD card if I didn't like the
camera.

Cathy

EF, as for the printer price, id like to stay under $200.

And Cathy, thanks for the wakeup call, for some reason, I assumed I'd
need a gig incase I wanted to shoot video, which I doubt I'll do very
much with it. 512 may be plenty for me, and it'll save me some cash!
thanks both of you...

"Jazz" wrote in message
oups.com...
This is a cool camera... sure beats the pants off my old 3MP HP
camera... but boy, it is so much more complex. Not hard to use, just
overwheleming with cool stuff that it can do!

Since I am new to Sony digital photography, i have two questions:

1)This memory stick pro thing is confusing me. These sticks are
useless
in anything other than a Sony? Sometimes, when I see them on websites
like newegg.com, they look smaller than the 32mb one that came with my
P200. Is a memory stick pro a memory stick pro no matter what? I am
looking to get a 1gb one. Does brand name matter? Is a sony memory
stick pro any better than a scandisk one?

Memory stick pro sticks are used only in Sony cameras the same as Fuji
and Olympus have their own memory cards used only with their cameras.
Some Sony memory stick pros can be used for other Sony devices. PDA's
and other products. I don't have any, so never paid much attention.
Sony Memory stick pros used to be higher priced than SD cards, but now
are not much more.
Memory stick pros are now made by Sony, Sandisk and Lexar, and are up to
4G or something. I bought a 512MB memory stick pro.I am not planning on
taking tons of photos. Just family photos, nice scenery, if I see any,
and general picture taking. A lot depends on what you will use your
camera for and how often, as to what size memory stick pro to get.
There is also the memory stick pro duo which is used for other devices
besides cameras. It needs an adapter, so you probably don't need that
one. When you go to buy one, ask the sales person what to explain the
differences in memory stick pro cards. Thats how I found out

I have a Sony W5 which I bought a few months ago. It takes good
pictures.I like it. I looked at the P200 but it was a bit more money
that I wanted to pay, but I liked the look of it. I think you will be
quite happy with the P200. I read that it takes good pictures.

2)Printers. I figure since i have a nice camera, it is time to start
printing them from home. I am not a professional photographer, but Id
like to printer photo-ablum-worthy photos, and my wife would like to
print scrap-book-worthy photos. Any suggestions for a photo printer to
use with my P200 that is affordable yet prints quality photos? I cant
imagine me needing to print anything larger than a 5 x 7.

I have a cheap Canon photo printer. It prints OK, but probably more
expensive printers print
better. I used to have an Epson printer which I got fed up with, because
it cost me a fortune in cartridges . The new one is more reasonable.
Maybe someone here can recommend a printer for you, or go to Staples and
some other computer stores and check out printers, and ask the salesman
about them.

Cathy

"Jazz" wrote in message
ups.com...
EF, as for the printer price, id like to stay under $200.

And Cathy, thanks for the wakeup call, for some reason, I assumed I'd
need a gig incase I wanted to shoot video, which I doubt I'll do very
much with it. 512 may be plenty for me, and it'll save me some cash!
thanks both of you...

You don't need a 1 Gig to shoot video. You can shoot video with any
memory stick pro, but video takes up a lot of memory. I experimented
with video on my memory card but only for a couple of minutes. Your Sony
manual will tell you how many minutes of video you can take with various
sizes of memory sticks. Video is kind of a novel on a P&S camera. Mine
came out quite well. I used the self timer to do a small video of myself
so nobody else would see if it I looked too bad - LOL.
Most Sony P&S cameras take good movies. Video can only be used up to the
space left on a memory card. A 512MB card should be fine for you. By the
way, don't get a memory stick. You might not even see any they are
mainly phased out now. You can't take video with them. You need memory
stick Pro to get video.

Cathy

Jazz wrote:
This is a cool camera... sure beats the pants off my old 3MP HP
camera... but boy, it is so much more complex. Not hard to use, just
overwheleming with cool stuff that it can do!

Since I am new to Sony digital photography, i have two questions:

1)This memory stick pro thing is confusing me. These sticks are useless
in anything other than a Sony? Sometimes, when I see them on websites
like newegg.com, they look smaller than the 32mb one that came with my
P200. Is a memory stick pro a memory stick pro no matter what? I am
looking to get a 1gb one. Does brand name matter? Is a sony memory
stick pro any better than a scandisk one?

I have owned a P200 since last February and you are right about it being
a powerful little camera. It has many nice features like 1/1,000 second
flash sync, 30 second shutter speed for long exposure, low ISO night
shots, manual controls with good data readout before and after the
picture is taken and fixed focus lengths to name just a few. As for
memory it really doesn't matter which brand you use but you will need to
make it the Pro version to take video at 640x480 @ 30fps. I have a 1
gig stick and it works well. You'll want decent capacity if you plan to
take any video. A 1 gig stick holds only 12 minutes of highest quality
video.

2)Printers. I figure since i have a nice camera, it is time to start
printing them from home. I am not a professional photographer, but Id
like to printer photo-ablum-worthy photos, and my wife would like to
print scrap-book-worthy photos. Any suggestions for a photo printer to
use with my P200 that is affordable yet prints quality photos? I cant
imagine me needing to print anything larger than a 5 x 7.

I recommend a Canon iP4000 printer. It produces excellent photos and
also print text very well. It you use third party cartridges it is very
economical to run. There are other good brands but I find Canon to
deliver the most bang-for-the-buck.

"Cathy" wrote in
:

1)This memory stick pro thing is confusing me. These sticks are
useless
in anything other than a Sony?

That's the reason I'll never buy a Sony.

There's nothing wrong with Sony.

For me that's the main thing wrong with Sony too. It's not just the
imcompatiblity, it's their commitment to their users: I remember the
introduction of the Memory Stick. Never did they mention that 128MB would
be the limit.

I have a Sony W5 I bought a few months
ago, and I like it fine.
Olympus and Fuji have proprietary memory cards the same as Sony does.

Yes, but not as many different models.

And it disqualifies them too

But if you are not taking hundreds of pictures every week or something,
a 512MB stores lots of pictures or even a 256 MB is OK for many
people..
Its not as if you are buying memory cards every five minutes. How many
do you need? SD cards are not much cheaper than memory stick pros now.

Hmmmm. 1GB SD card 15MB/s e80. 1GB Memory Stick 10MB/s e177. A mere 98
euro difference.

I would not be put off buying a Sony or Olympus or Fuji just because
they have proprietary memory cards. I bought a camera I liked and
wouldn't buy a camera which takes an SD card if I didn't like the
camera.

If you like a camera so much more than the competition, I agree the media
should not stop you.