Sorry Wrong NG but i dunno where else to ask-digital camera

Okay, I've played quite a bit with this Olympus 2500 (about 2.2
megapixels). Nice zoom feature. Fast cycle time about 1 sec or so only.
Startup time about 5 sec, acceptable. Can use both smartmedia and
compact flash media. But it cost my company about RM7000 or so, IIRC.

Anyway, the Olympus 2500 is much better than the Kodak 240 (about 1.7
megamixels) and Kodak 120 (about 1 megapixels) that the company were
previously using.

My personal one was the cheapest I could get about a year ago. That's
Canon Powershot 350, but it's only VGA (sub megapixel), and no Zoom.
Cycle and startup times are 20-30 secs. urgh.

Fotokem, is quite a good local shop, for digital cameras. They have
quite a selection. Fotokem Sg Wang is good, there are also a few other
digital camera shops on GF Sg Wang, near BBPlaza end.

I bought my Canon Powershot from Fotokem Klang Parade ...

Nope. This jaring.pcbase is the most appropriate newsgroup for digital
cameras (you can think of them as small personal computing device can't
you?) on jaring.*.

regards,
.sabre

Hmm ... I think you have better choice and prices if you stick with
CompactFlash. The smaller size of the Smartmedia is not that big an
advantage, IMHO. Imagine the CompactFlash can now be up to 128MB. And
CompactFlash II using the IBM micro harddisk is upto 300MB or
thereabout.

Also, you can get PC-Card adapter for CompactFlash, and you have fast
offline download to PCs (great for notebook especially). No need for any
drivers to be setup on the PCs, as long as it has a PCCard slot.

I thought the Smartmedia to floppy adapter would work in the same
manner. Unfortunately no. You have to setup some software drivers on the
PC to read the Smartmedia floppy adapter. Furthermore its almost as slow
as a serial connection.

The viewfinder for the Olympus 2500 is always going through the SLR
lens. It also has a simulated shutter, or was that really the mirror
going out of the way and blanking off the viewfinder?

The viewfinder eyepiece also has focus adjuster.

Hmm ... Optical zoom does rank quite high with me. Though a 2 or 3X
optical zoom should be enough. It is like having 2x2xN or 3x3xN
megapixels cameral!

Yes. The delay in the LCD viewer is a problem for action pic. But when
you're learned the quirks, you'd be doing like what those pro SLR camera
users do anyway. The just hold up the SLR above their head at crowded
functions and click. ;-}

I like the canon S10 or the earlier A10. Nice and small. I like my
camera to be compact size, not much bigger than a wallet, and can be put
into a trousers pocket (big one like mine anyway).

Hmm ... Can't remember the price they advertise in Intech ... Anyway,
# should show it right?

regards,
.sabre

...

not really important(but not those pro model) not that 'm rich,just dun want
to save a few hundred just to find out that with extra few hundred i can get
a much better camera

none really,currently i have an eos1000/650 with lens from 35-80 & 75-300 n
a compact fix focus camera n casio digital camera qv10,i used to take lots
of picture but than i stopped out of frustration coz my favorite shop close
down n i 'm not satisfied with another shop doing my pic developing.'m
thinking of going full digital now since my pc is good enough for it.so i'll
replace my whole gear i described with this digital camera 'm buying

trying to get into this with my slr camera but cant afford the gear,macro
lens n flash is not cheap,intent to go into this with digital camera

not really important
just want a good picture :)

out of the question
only pro camera offer this
both nikon950 n oly c2500l can be added with teleconverter n fisheye
iinm,dunno abt the sony
so not much of a deciding factor

cant afford the tip top flash gear
will only do basic lighting

dun really require much zoom

actually i have no intention of printing it out
final destination willbe archived on cdr,much easier than keeping albums +
nowdays almost anybody have pc
but being able to have the option to print out at 8x11 is good enough
already
so i'll be satisfied with 2mp camera
if mp is my target then definately i'll go for the kodak dc290 for
rm3999,its 3.3mp
but its dead ugly,taking picture is already hard enough,i dun want a camera
that attract attention

i know its expensive but not s bad s pc
imgine how much price drop for your pc compared to digital camera in a year
:)
btw,my initial survey is
oly c2000 = 3000(best price)
oly c2500=4300(best price)
nikon 950=2800(list,not bargain yet)
nikon 990=5xxx(dun ask much coz out of budget n new thing is expensive)
kodakdc290,3.3mp=3999,promotion

is the swivel body design reliable? although i havent break my casio swivel
lens,its still a concern

how much the bracket cost?anyone knows?

nice to have but dun think i'll do studio stuff

the filter tread is so small,have to buy adaptor :(,the sony is standard
52mm)

what kind of bug?is it like flashing the bios?

hmmmm,this is bad,how abt the olympus?

i know serial is slow but this will be the primary mean of transfer that
i;ll use coz most pc have it
btw i'm considering a click drive to go with it

not really a problem
limitation bring out the creativity in u
:)

heheheheh
i saw a sticker price for 950 going for 28xx rm

i think i'll go for 950 if i do decide to go for nikon
990 is too expensive
actually i'm kind of paranoid with nikon coz the name cost so much,i mean i
dun want to pay for the name nikon(experience from normal slr camera)
btw did the lens outside the body moving for the cp800?

i dun really use continous mode actually

just now i call 1 shop in kl and was quoted 5xxx for it,too expensive for me
n i have seen 2mp pic n think its good enough for me(remember,i want to keep
it on cdr not print it out


i dun think so
its still not good enough for pro i think

read lots of them already
just need more opinion

done that already
steves link pages is s good s overclockers.com for overclockers :)

1 of the major factor that influence my decision

not really compared to 950
also cheaper compared to 990 even though 990 is not slr(but its 3mp)
i wonder how good the picture qulity compared to non slr
with film camera u can c the different between pic taken with slr n non slr
i havent c enough pic taken with oly n nikon for comparison due tu jaring
slow connection :(

heheheheheh
why bother with slr if u want to use lcd to focus?
compleately a waste of its main feature

nope,but i hate usb coz not all pc have it(my pc at my kampung dun have it)
n becoz 'm running nt

yep,its abt 1k different
but i dun want to save 1k n buy a 3 k camera only to find out later its much
better to get the oly
its like save 1k n lost 3k :)

dun think so + i havent c much of 2020 around
c2000(rm 3000-best price) is already more expensive than n950(rm 28xx
sticker)
so the c2020(updated version of c2000)must cost more right?

heheeheheheh
i think u have a weird taste :)

btw the oly2500 also using carl zeis iinm

zoom factor is not high in my list

its lack of optical finder make it difficult to take action pic.

hate usb

ppl dun use built in flash for macro photograpy

64mb stick is already here :)
basically the sony is at the bottom of my list now coz
1.propriety battery,my research seem to indicate most camera is using 4
rechargeable nimh aa
2.no optical viewfinder will make it difficult to take moving stuff picture
3.the iomega click dun support sony memory stick
i know sony is big but the "standard" for now is either cf or sm
only sony is using the chewing gum right?(i think its damn cool,imagine mp3
player with that64mb=12song at that size,but price got to go down)

not to mention they cost a bomb
:(
i wonder how much its battery cost and last
gp aa rechargeable nihm only cost 90 with charger,so i can have a spare set

...
read more »

...
memory and

any idea how much it cost now?

not s expensive s pc :)

processing.

exactly my reason to convert to digital

done
but to c test image is abit difficult due to slow connection nowdays

'm going to buy a camera from a camera company now :)
i still have the casio great grandfather qv10
:)

thanks

Well explained ! I own a Kodak DC280 and am very happy with its performance. It is
basically a point and shoot digicam. Comes with a 20 MB compact flash card. I
can't say its capacity is whopping though, because with high res I can get only
about 30 photos. So I have bought another 48MB compact flash card which can take
about 77 high res photos. I like the colour reproduction. Comes with USB
interface - fast downloading of photos to my PC. Superb printout on A4 size paper
but eating away my colour cartridge pretty fast.

The camera costs me RM2800, not to mention other costs like additional memory and
printer cartridge. Expensive hobby lah. But I am very satisfied. At least now,
there's no more hassle of buying film and sending it to the shop for processing.

My personal experience before buying the digicam was to read all the detail
reviews in the links Jason mentioned. Compare test images. Read postings in
rec.photo.digital newsgroup. You may be able to find some flaws in certain brand
e.g. the Casio QV 2000UX, though its a 2+MP digicam loaded with features,
apparently had 'jaggies' in its image.

=ngah=

At 23:45 10/03/2000 , Moat wrote:

Ummm, I'll try and give it a shot :)

Depends on your budget :) What price are you willing to pay? What are your
special requirements? Do you shoot in macro mode often? Do you lie your
digicam to offer full manual control as well? Do you want to able to add
additional lenses later on? Do you want to be able to use external flash
synchronisation? What kind of zoom do you want (2x, 3x, 5x, etc)? These are
some of the questions to ponder.

And yes, are you willing to wait for the newer 3.34 MPixel digicams? The
ones you listed are 2.1 MPixel which should give you sufficiently good 8" x
11" printouts. The Oly 2500 is a 2.5 MPixel digicam IINM.

Well from the range of models that you post, you could be running into RM
3000 to RM 4000 budget in case you didn't already know :) I think the Oly
is much more expensive.

Here are some of my views on the cams you require;

Nikon CP 950

Pros

Very widely used. Considered a prosumer level camera. Lots of features.
Patented 256 Matrix Metering, Best Shot Selection (BSS), up to 2 cm focus
in macro mode etc. Uses Compact Flash cards. Basically you get quality
lenses that Nikon is known for :)

Also, the 2 split body design swivel lenses are useful in certain ways.
Either you like it or you hate it. Lots of people use it for
astrophotography where they use it in conjunction with telescopes to take
pictures of the moon etc. Using split body design makes it easier to use
the LCD screen to frame the picture.

You can use external flash with the help of a flash bracket. Also useful if
you do studio photography where you need to sync the external flash.

You could also purchase extra accessories like the wide angle, fisheye and
zoom lenses to be fitted on the treaded lenses.

Cons

Some anomalies / bugs in the earlier firmware. You can download the latest
firmware (version 1.3) and update it manually yourself.

Bad in low light conditions. No USB (only slow serial connection). To solve
the slow file transfers, usually a USB / Parallel card reader is used
(purchased separately as an accessory). Only 3x Optical zoom.

Cost

Around RM 3200++. My advice is if you don't need all the features, then get
the CP 800 model which is a much cheaper model. I got mine for around RM
2500. It's basically the same thing except that its only 2x zoom and
certain things missing. All the main features are the same. In fact some
additions in features like continuous shoot mode etc that is missing in the
CP 950. With the cost savings you get, you could get extra accessories like
more memory, another set of NiMH batteries and an external card reader.

The CP 990 is the newer 3.34 MPixel digicam. Definitely more expensive and
its only due out in April (next month). In Malaysia? Don't know. You can
ask Shriro (Nikon distributor in Malaysia). You know that anything new in
Malaysia is DAMN EXPENSIVE.

Olympus 2500L

Pro digicam. Lots of features. Can't remember them. Go to #
or # for in-depth review of those cams.

You could also try some of the links below here;

#
#

Some of the things unique that I can remember about the Oly 2500L is that
it accepts both Smartmedia and CompactFlash type of memory cards. It's a
true SLR type of digicam which you rarely come across but damn expensive.

Also, you cannot use the LCD screen to frame your subjects. You have to use
the eyepiece to do it whereas most other digicams let you do both ways
(i.e. LCD and through eyepiece). I think it has USB built in for file
transfers.

IMO, the 2500 is not in the same range as the Nikon 950/800 or the Sony.
You could take a look at the Oly 2020Z which is a 2.1 MPixel digicam. Price
and features are about the same range as the Nikon.

Sony DCS-505

If looks had it, this one wins :) Good Carl Zeis lens. Superb zoom (5x
optical). Best hybrid LCD screen. Still very good visibility in bright sun.
Most other digicams suffer from the LCD being blurred when coming into
contact with bright sun. Has built in USB for file transfers. The good
thing about USB is it is fast for file transfers but the bad part is your
digicam is stuck to the cable and you cannot use it until the file
transfers are complete.

One bad thing about the rather huge lens is when in macro mode, the flash
(when used) will cast a shadow of the edge of the lens.

Uses the propriety Memory Stick (comes max 64 MB a piece but in Malaysia,
you will only find 32 MB around) and propriety batteries.

One thing bad about propriety stuff is that if you later on change to a
different digicam, then all those extra accessories you bought for the
digicam will become useless.

Things like batteries and memory cards can still be used if you change
digicams. Normal batteries most digicams use are the NiMH type which saves
a lot of money if you use the digicam often. Buying a separate propriety
Sony LiON battery could cost you a bundle and could only be used in Sony
digicams and digital video recorders.

Also, if you shoot a lot, then extra memory comes in handy. The other types
of memory are the Smartmedia (32 MB max) or the CompactFlash type (128 MB
max for Type I and 340 MB IBM Microdrive for the Type II). Sony's Memory
Stick can only be used in the Sony DCS-505 or their DVs.

For digicams, you have to go to a camera shop :)

For starters, you could go to Sungei Wang. Lots of camera shops there that
carry various digicam models.

Do some homework (price comparisons) and bargain like hell (as usual) :)

Actually, as mentioned above, you could check out many other digicams like
the Oly 2020Z, Kodak DC 280 (which comes with a whopping standard 20 MB CF)
or the higher end DC290, the Canon S10 or the Nikon CP 800 which I have.
All are 2.1 MPixel digicams and in the same price range as the Nikon CP 950
except the Nikon 800 which is among the cheapest IINM.

I must say this that the Canon S10 has some bugs with regards to the
firmware where when using flash, the shutter is set to 1/15 of a second. So
you get blurry pics. Don't know if they already ironed that bug out.
Otherwise, it's a very compact and solidly built cam. Normal pics are
generally good.

No problem. So there you go. As brief as I could get hopefully I covered
most of it. If you have any questions, I'm glad to answer them (if I can).
I'm also a newbie :)

A place where you can learn a lot is the at #
where you can download text file to view it offline. Also a place to learn
is the forums at # where they have brand / model specific
forum discussing problems and tips.

Also there you can learn a lot of other things besides the basics like
optical vs digital zoom, compactflash vs smartmedia, NiMH batteries and etc.

...jason


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