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#1
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Seeking experienced advice:
I am planning on purchasing my first digital camera, and since I am
neither a photography expert nor intend to become one, I thought I would see what others thought I should buy. All comments are welcome: I would hope to purchase the camera for less than $250. Any suggested merchants? I believe I want an optical resolution of 10 or 12 since I feel I would be unhappy with only taking photos at close range. I do not intend to do anything other than family type photos and possibly some landscape shots. Based upon this, I don't THINK I need a lot of mega pixels. Most would never be printed larger than 5x7. I do not intend to print my own photos. If I wanted a print I would probably have a service print them. I have read some reviews about digital cameras and it appears some cameras "eat batteries." If this is an issue, and one brand or model is better than another, this would be helpful to know. The majority of comments seem to suggest that rechargeable batteries are the way to go. Any comments? I see some models for sale that are refurbished. Is there a downside to buying such a camera? Are there other issues I should be considering such as image stabilization? Or is that feature just for pros? Brand reliability? Needed memory card size? Please feel free to suggest anything I did not mention. I just don't want to buy a camera and find out I should have asked more questions. Thanks. |
#2
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Seeking experienced advice:
On 2008-03-11 21:09:22 -0400, Ken said:
I am planning on purchasing my first digital camera, and since I am neither a photography expert nor intend to become one, I thought I would see what others thought I should buy. All comments are welcome: I would hope to purchase the camera for less than $250. Any suggested merchants? I believe I want an optical resolution of 10 or 12 since I feel I would be unhappy with only taking photos at close range. I do not intend to do anything other than family type photos and possibly some landscape shots. Based upon this, I don't THINK I need a lot of mega pixels. Most would never be printed larger than 5x7. I do not intend to print my own photos. If I wanted a print I would probably have a service print them. I have read some reviews about digital cameras and it appears some cameras "eat batteries." If this is an issue, and one brand or model is better than another, this would be helpful to know. The majority of comments seem to suggest that rechargeable batteries are the way to go. Any comments? I see some models for sale that are refurbished. Is there a downside to buying such a camera? Are there other issues I should be considering such as image stabilization? Or is that feature just for pros? Brand reliability? Needed memory card size? Please feel free to suggest anything I did not mention. I just don't want to buy a camera and find out I should have asked more questions. Thanks. A few items from my own experience: The only refurbished digital camera I ever bought was from Kodak and it never worked properly and completely died in two months. If you get double A LITHIUM (not rechargeable) batteries you will do very well. Built in rechargeable batteries are useless if you run out in the field. Get a camera with double As and get the Lithiums. I have no idea what you mean by optical resolution of 10 or 12. If you are talking megapixels you don't need anything close to that for what you are doing. 5 to 7 is plenty. You can get a very good camera for your needs for well under $250. If you are talking zoom range then that is not reasonable if you mean 10X or 12X. You won't likely find it. I don't know what you mean by "merchants" but a good photo store would be your best starting point. Any of the name brands would do you well: Nikon, Fuji, Canon, Olympus etc. I use mostly film, but I bought a Nikon point and shoot digital with 7.1 megapixels and a 3X zoom for about $100 at Bj's and it does a good job for what digital does best: passible photography done quick. -- Michael |
#3
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Seeking experienced advice:
Michael wrote:
On 2008-03-11 21:09:22 -0400, Ken said: I am planning on purchasing my first digital camera, and since I am neither a photography expert nor intend to become one, I thought I would see what others thought I should buy. All comments are welcome: I would hope to purchase the camera for less than $250. Any suggested merchants? I believe I want an optical resolution of 10 or 12 since I feel I would be unhappy with only taking photos at close range. I do not intend to do anything other than family type photos and possibly some landscape shots. Based upon this, I don't THINK I need a lot of mega pixels. Most would never be printed larger than 5x7. I do not intend to print my own photos. If I wanted a print I would probably have a service print them. I have read some reviews about digital cameras and it appears some cameras "eat batteries." If this is an issue, and one brand or model is better than another, this would be helpful to know. The majority of comments seem to suggest that rechargeable batteries are the way to go. Any comments? I see some models for sale that are refurbished. Is there a downside to buying such a camera? Are there other issues I should be considering such as image stabilization? Or is that feature just for pros? Brand reliability? Needed memory card size? Please feel free to suggest anything I did not mention. I just don't want to buy a camera and find out I should have asked more questions. Thanks. A few items from my own experience: The only refurbished digital camera I ever bought was from Kodak and it never worked properly and completely died in two months. If you get double A LITHIUM (not rechargeable) batteries you will do very well. Built in rechargeable batteries are useless if you run out in the field. Get a camera with double As and get the Lithiums. Thanks, I shall keep that in mind. I have no idea what you mean by optical resolution of 10 or 12. If you are talking megapixels you don't need anything close to that for what you are doing. 5 to 7 is plenty. You can get a very good camera for your needs for well under $250. If you are talking zoom range then that is not reasonable if you mean 10X or 12X. You won't likely find it. I was talking about optical magnification. Sorry for the wrong terminology. My thoughts were a 5-7 megapixel camera would be adequate for my purpose as well. I don't know what you mean by "merchants" but a good photo store would be your best starting point. My thought was buying the camera via the Internet, that is why I used the term merchants. I like the ability to compare prices as well as retrieve information on the net. Any of the name brands would do you well: Nikon, Fuji, Canon, Olympus etc. I use mostly film, but I bought a Nikon point and shoot digital with 7.1 megapixels and a 3X zoom for about $100 at Bj's and it does a good job for what digital does best: passible photography done quick. Thanks. |
#4
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Seeking experienced advice:
C0mdrData wrote:
I have no idea what you mean by optical resolution of 10 or 12. If you are talking megapixels you don't need anything close to that for what you are doing. 5 to 7 is plenty. You can get a very good camera for your needs for well under $250. If you are talking zoom range then that is not reasonable if you mean 10X or 12X. You won't likely find it. Actually, The Fuji S700 (S5700 outside the US or at Ritz Camera) has 10X zoom, 7 Megapixel and sells for about $200. It is a good value for the money. I recommend alkaline or NI-MH AA batteries however, since the manual advises against using lithiums. Battery life is pretty good with alkalines, unlike most cameras, and very good with decent NI-MH's. Thanks, I shall check it out. I have a question about the batteries: If I go to a sellers web site on the web to view a camera, they have accessories such as the NI-MH batteries. Many sell a charger and batteries for close to $90 as an accessory. If I search for the batteries and charger by itself, they can be had for a lot less. http://thomas-distributing.com/sony-...ry-charger.htm Is there something wrong with the above charger and battery combo or is this simply a case of the seller of the camera trying to get rich?? |
#5
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Seeking experienced advice:
C0mdrData wrote:
Thanks, I shall check it out. I have a question about the batteries: If I go to a sellers web site on the web to view a camera, they have accessories such as the NI-MH batteries. Many sell a charger and batteries for close to $90 as an accessory. If I search for the batteries and charger by itself, they can be had for a lot less. http://thomas-distributing.com/sony-...ry-charger.htm Is there something wrong with the above charger and battery combo or is this simply a case of the seller of the camera trying to get rich?? The Sony combo is a fine system. NIMH batteries come in various capacities. Look for 2500mah or more, if you want maximum capacity. Sanyo eneloop batteries offer lower capacity, but have a slower self-discharge rate. This means they won't lose charge as quickly as others when not used. Anybody trying to sell a set of AA rechargeables and charger for $90 is definitely overcharging (no pun intended), and should be avoided at all costs. I used to use rechargeable AA batts with my Fuji S7000. I had absolutely horrible luck with them. Various brands, no good luck. I could charge them until the charger indicated a complete charge *and they checked out at 1.6x volts with my voltmeter*, put them in the camera immediately, and get a batt warning light. Sometimes I could get two or three shots; sometimes it would just shut itself down. I wanted to recharge, but I just couldn't. I reverted to alkalines, and I *never* have problems like that with those. Now, if I hadn't been checking those rechargeables with that voltmeter, I'd just say that I got a bum charger, but I checked scores of recharged batts only to have them then not work in that camera. Can anyone shed any light on this? I like the idea of conventional batteries, available at a reasonable price everywhere. A couple months ago I bought a compact (Fuji A820), and using AA's was a hard rule when I was shopping. -- Blinky Killing all posts from Google Groups The Usenet Improvement Project: http://improve-usenet.org Blinky: http://blinkynet.net |
#6
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Seeking experienced advice:
On 2008-03-13, Blinky the Shark wrote:
C0mdrData wrote: Thanks, I shall check it out. I have a question about the batteries: If I go to a sellers web site on the web to view a camera, they have accessories such as the NI-MH batteries. Many sell a charger and batteries for close to $90 as an accessory. If I search for the batteries and charger by itself, they can be had for a lot less. http://thomas-distributing.com/sony-...ry-charger.htm Is there something wrong with the above charger and battery combo or is this simply a case of the seller of the camera trying to get rich?? The Sony combo is a fine system. NIMH batteries come in various capacities. Look for 2500mah or more, if you want maximum capacity. Sanyo eneloop batteries offer lower capacity, but have a slower self-discharge rate. This means they won't lose charge as quickly as others when not used. Anybody trying to sell a set of AA rechargeables and charger for $90 is definitely overcharging (no pun intended), and should be avoided at all costs. I used to use rechargeable AA batts with my Fuji S7000. I had absolutely horrible luck with them. Various brands, no good luck. I could charge them until the charger indicated a complete charge *and they checked out at 1.6x volts with my voltmeter*, put them in the camera immediately, and get a batt warning light. Sometimes I could get two or three shots; sometimes it would just shut itself down. I wanted to recharge, but I just couldn't. I'd query the accuracy of your voltmeter. NiCd and NiMH cells won't deliver much more than 1.2v - but they do stay at that level until almost completely discharged. Rechargeable alkalines have the wrong characteristics for heavy-drain appliances and will discharge very rapidly. I don't know the Fuji S7000 but in general terms if an appliance has a 'battery state' indicator that is based on voltage readings and is calibrated to work with disposable batteries (which start out at 1.5v or slightly more and decline to 1v or less) then a NiMH or NiCd might be below the voltage that triggers the 'low battery' warning. I've also encountered a portable radio that refuses to run at all on NiMH or NiCd cells because it uses six of them in series and actually needs more than 8v - but 6 1.2v cells only adds up to 7.2v. My 2xAA Mini Maglite torch works with some NiMH cells and not with others; I think some makes are shaped so that they don't actually make electrical contact inside the torch - the casings on rechargeable cells tend to be bulkier than on disposables, and the positive 'button' ends up less prominent on some. I reverted to alkalines, and I *never* have problems like that with those. Now, if I hadn't been checking those rechargeables with that voltmeter, I'd just say that I got a bum charger, but I checked scores of recharged batts only to have them then not work in that camera. Can anyone shed any light on this? Presumably you were using the right sort of charger for the batteries ... I like the idea of conventional batteries, available at a reasonable price everywhere. A couple months ago I bought a compact (Fuji A820), and using AA's was a hard rule when I was shopping. Using AA sized batteries is certainly a useful feature, especially if you carry lots of gadgets that all use the same size. But I'd be surprised if alkaline cells (rechargeable or disposable) would work out more convenient or economical than NiMH cells. This site might be interesting http://www.greenbatteries.com/aa-battery-faqs.html. -- -- ^^^^^^^^^^ -- Whiskers -- ~~~~~~~~~~ |
#7
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Seeking experienced advice:
In article ,
Whiskers wrote: I used to use rechargeable AA batts with my Fuji S7000. I had absolutely horrible luck with them. Various brands, no good luck. I could charge them until the charger indicated a complete charge *and they checked out at 1.6x volts with my voltmeter*, put them in the camera immediately, and get a batt warning light. Sometimes I could get two or three shots; sometimes it would just shut itself down. I wanted to recharge, but I just couldn't. I'd query the accuracy of your voltmeter. NiCd and NiMH cells won't deliver much more than 1.2v - but they do stay at that level until almost completely discharged. The open-circuit voltage of a NiCd or NiMH which has just come off of a charger can be well above 1.2 voltl During the charge cycle it will rise to above 1.5 volts (or more depending on the charge rate) before it hits the zero-rise inflection point which indicates full charge. It'll drop quite rapidly when discharged - to 1.3 almost immediately and to 1.2 once about 20% of the charge has been withdrawn. A normal digital voltmeter has such a high input impedance that it wouldn't load the battery down at all, and thus you'd probably read a rather high open-circuit voltage for a cell that has just come off of a charger. I suspect that the original poster's camera has a low-battery detector which is improperly calibrated or adjusted - most likely it's set for alkaline cells rather than NiMH/NiCd. A detector set in this mode would tend to interpret the normal (plateau) voltage of a rechargeable battery as if it were an alkaline battery which is just about to die. The Nikon point-and-shoot cameras I bought for my wife's use have a three-way battery-type selector in the menu - standard alkaline, rechargeable, and AA lithium non-rechargeable. As I understand the manual, this setting controls the detection threshold for the low-battery indicator. From a quick look through the FinePix S7000 manual, it doesn't look as if it has this degree of adjustability. Unfortunate! I've had varying luck with NiMH batteries... there does seem to be a fair bit of brand-to-brand variability. On the "poor" side, I had disappointing results with Lenmar "NoMem" cells... even when freshly charged they'd often "go flat" after about half of the expected use (based on battery rating and the radio's known current draw during operation). The new generation of low-self-discharge NiMH (e.g. Uniross Hybrio, Rayovac Hybrid, Sanyo Eneloop) seem to be much more consistent. My wife took her L11 point-and-shoot on vacation a couple of weeks ago with a fully-charged pair of Hybrio batteries in it - when she got back, the low-battery indicator was on the screen, the camera still worked, and she'd taken over 500 photos (many with flash). Rechargeable alkalines have the wrong characteristics for heavy-drain appliances and will discharge very rapidly. True. As I read the data sheets, the internal resistance of a standard alkaline is high enough that the high-current drain of a digital camera is likely to result in almost half of the stored energy being dissipated as heat in the battery. I don't imagine that the rechargeable alkaline batteries are any better, and might well be worse. -- Dave Platt AE6EO Friends of Jade Warrior home page: http://www.radagast.org/jade-warrior I do _not_ wish to receive unsolicited commercial email, and I will boycott any company which has the gall to send me such ads! |
#8
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Seeking experienced advice:
On 2008-03-13, Dave Platt wrote:
In article , Whiskers wrote: I used to use rechargeable AA batts with my Fuji S7000. I had absolutely horrible luck with them. Various brands, no good luck. I could charge them until the charger indicated a complete charge *and they checked out at 1.6x volts with my voltmeter*, put them in the camera immediately, and get a batt warning light. Sometimes I could get two or three shots; sometimes it would just shut itself down. I wanted to recharge, but I just couldn't. I'd query the accuracy of your voltmeter. NiCd and NiMH cells won't deliver much more than 1.2v - but they do stay at that level until almost completely discharged. The open-circuit voltage of a NiCd or NiMH which has just come off of a charger can be well above 1.2 voltl During the charge cycle it will rise to above 1.5 volts (or more depending on the charge rate) before it hits the zero-rise inflection point which indicates full charge. I haven't been able to find any NiMH discharge curves peaking above 1.4v, nor have I seen a reading higher than that on my own equipment. But I'm prepared to believe that it might happen, if two people tell me they've seen it. [...] -- -- ^^^^^^^^^^ -- Whiskers -- ~~~~~~~~~~ |
#9
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Seeking experienced advice:
In article .net,
Blinky the Shark wrote: Using AA sized batteries is certainly a useful feature, especially if you carry lots of gadgets that all use the same size. But I'd be surprised if alkaline cells (rechargeable or disposable) would work out more convenient or economical than NiMH cells. They sure do when the others don't work. My wife and I have settled on a sort of two-battery-type approach for her point&shoot cameras. For use around home - typical everyday shooting - I've loaded them up with Hybrio or similar low-self-discharge-rate NiMH cells (2100 mAh or so), bought a similar number of spare cells, and provided her with a simple low-current plug-into-the-wall charger. Swapping battery pairs and recharging happens when necessary, or when it seems like a good idea (e.g. after an intensive photo-shooting session). This approach drops the incremental battery cost of each photo taken to as close to zero as matters. She can also use these batteries, and take a two-cell charger, when going on short trips. For overseas vacations, where weight and space are of primary importance (she prefers to pack everything in a carry-on bag, and not check luggage at all) and where AC-plug and voltage compatibility is in question, I'm going to remove the rechargeables and load up the camera with lithium AA cells and include at least one set of spares per camera. With two cameras, and two sets of these batteries, I figure she should be able to take a couple of thousand photos before having to buy new batteries, and could (if necessary) finish out the trip with ordinary disposable alkalines. This approach is certainly more expensive than using the NiMH batteries with a travel charger, but she feels it'll be less hassle and worry, and thus worthwhile. -- Dave Platt AE6EO Friends of Jade Warrior home page: http://www.radagast.org/jade-warrior I do _not_ wish to receive unsolicited commercial email, and I will boycott any company which has the gall to send me such ads! |
#10
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Seeking experienced advice:
Whiskers wrote:
On 2008-03-13, Blinky the Shark wrote: C0mdrData wrote: Thanks, I shall check it out. I have a question about the batteries: If I go to a sellers web site on the web to view a camera, they have accessories such as the NI-MH batteries. Many sell a charger and batteries for close to $90 as an accessory. If I search for the batteries and charger by itself, they can be had for a lot less. http://thomas-distributing.com/sony-...ry-charger.htm Is there something wrong with the above charger and battery combo or is this simply a case of the seller of the camera trying to get rich?? The Sony combo is a fine system. NIMH batteries come in various capacities. Look for 2500mah or more, if you want maximum capacity. Sanyo eneloop batteries offer lower capacity, but have a slower self-discharge rate. This means they won't lose charge as quickly as others when not used. Anybody trying to sell a set of AA rechargeables and charger for $90 is definitely overcharging (no pun intended), and should be avoided at all costs. I used to use rechargeable AA batts with my Fuji S7000. I had absolutely horrible luck with them. Various brands, no good luck. I could charge them until the charger indicated a complete charge *and they checked out at 1.6x volts with my voltmeter*, put them in the camera immediately, and get a batt warning light. Sometimes I could get two or three shots; sometimes it would just shut itself down. I wanted to recharge, but I just couldn't. I'd query the accuracy of your voltmeter. NiCd and NiMH cells won't deliver much more than 1.2v - but they do stay at that level until almost completely discharged. Rechargeable alkalines have the wrong characteristics for heavy-drain appliances and will discharge very rapidly. For the record, my rechargeables were all NiMH. I got the same readings with two different voltmeters. I don't know the Fuji S7000 but in general terms if an appliance has a 'battery state' indicator that is based on voltage readings and is calibrated to work with disposable batteries (which start out at 1.5v or slightly more and decline to 1v or less) then a NiMH or NiCd might be below the voltage that triggers the 'low battery' warning. I've also encountered a portable radio that refuses to run at all on NiMH or NiCd cells because it uses six of them in series and actually needs more than 8v - but 6 1.2v cells only adds up to 7.2v. My 2xAA Mini Maglite torch works with some NiMH cells and not with others; I think some makes are shaped so that they don't actually make electrical contact inside the torch - the casings on rechargeable cells tend to be bulkier than on disposables, and the positive 'button' ends up less prominent on some. Re bulky casings: Side note: Those rechargeables - brand aside - didn't fit in the battery caddies for my Vivitar 283 and 285 strobes. I wish I'd slapped my dial calipers on 'em. I *could* get them into the caddy, actually, but then the caddy woudn't fit into its bay in the strobe body. The caddies were obviously engineered to be a very close fit; I wouldn't have had that problem using them in a typical clock or Walkman or something like that. And not only were the batteries from various manufactureres, but I tried aftermarket caddies from two sources *and* the original Vivitar caddies, while scratching my head and mumbling obscenities. I reverted to alkalines, and I *never* have problems like that with those. Now, if I hadn't been checking those rechargeables with that voltmeter, I'd just say that I got a bum charger, but I checked scores of recharged batts only to have them then not work in that camera. Can anyone shed any light on this? Presumably you were using the right sort of charger for the batteries ... Good presumption. I like the idea of conventional batteries, available at a reasonable price everywhere. A couple months ago I bought a compact (Fuji A820), and using AA's was a hard rule when I was shopping. Using AA sized batteries is certainly a useful feature, especially if you carry lots of gadgets that all use the same size. But I'd be surprised if alkaline cells (rechargeable or disposable) would work out more convenient or economical than NiMH cells. They sure do when the others don't work. Well, in terms of convenience; as for economy, though, I suppose one could argue that since I couldn't install the rechargeables in the strobes and they wouldn't work in the camera, figuring their cost versus their *shelf life* would make them the most economical -- they'd last for years. This site might be interesting http://www.greenbatteries.com/aa-battery-faqs.html. Will check. Thanks! -- Blinky Killing all posts from Google Groups The Usenet Improvement Project: http://improve-usenet.org Blinky: http://blinkynet.net |
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