Author |
Message |
Draheid
| Thursday, January 08, 2004 - 10:12 pm
Juju: B&H PhotoVideo has this item: Fujifilm FinePix S3000 with 3.2 Megapixel, 6x Optical/3.2x Digital Zoom, SLR (EVF), Digital Camera listed for only $299.95. This looks like a much superior camera to your 601, IMO. The optical zoom alone is twice as good and the 'SLR' is a great feature too. Might be worth checking out. Or you may prefer this one: Fujifilm FinePix A310 Zoom with 3.1 Megapixel, 3x Optical/3.9x Digtial Zoom, Point-and-shoot, Digital Camera for $249.95.
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Juju2bigdog
| Friday, January 09, 2004 - 12:37 am
Thanks, Dra. You da best. We have purchased from B&H before and find them to be totally satisfactory. Here is one of our problems. We still have a substantial investment in accessories for the camera we lost, cradle, charger, picture cards, etc. Neither of these cameras is compatible with our accessories. I think the S3000 is the camera Bigdog's friend Rover has. It is quite a bit more bulky than the one we had, almost like having a small 35 mm. I will pass your research on to Bigdog. He swears by you. (notice "by" not "at"). Draheid is a household word in our house. LOL.
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Tabbyking
| Friday, January 09, 2004 - 10:47 am
juju, sell your accessories to the lost camera on eBay!
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Kaili
| Friday, January 09, 2004 - 11:01 am
I have a Vivitar 3715. It's 3.3 megapixel but really, really basic. Meaning, you get digital zoom but not a good, true zoom lens. I like it though. It's a very inexpensive camera but takes good pictures. The only annoying thing to me is that the flash takes a long time to get ready so no quick snapshots with a flash. Anyway, it's about $140. It takes short videos but without sound and has some (8 mb) built in memory. I got a 128 mb card for it and can take more than enough pictures- even on the highest quality setting. Of course, deleting the bad ones (my favorite feature!) is always handy. I suggest anyone with a digital camera do this and I'm sure many will agree: get rechargeable batteries and a charger!!!! The regular batteries in this camera lasted for about 40 pictures. It's a battery sucker!
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Kaili
| Friday, January 09, 2004 - 11:03 am
Oh!!!! Look on Overstock.com too! My cousin bought a nice one for her mom on there for really cheap. I love that site.
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Reiki
| Friday, January 09, 2004 - 12:10 pm
I am currently in the search for a new digital camera myself. My current hp618 is starting to go wonky on me and I am having to constantly recharge the batteries. There is a new line of HP digital cameras that have a docking station that is also a battery charger. This appeals to me. I also want a better zoom lens. I have been looking a little, but don't really need to have something new until May when I go to Chicago. So this thread is very helpful to me. I don't know if this is the appropriate place or not, but everyone keeps talking about how much they like my pictures. So here are the secret tips to my "great" pictures? Tip 1) When you are taking pictures of people, focus on the people. My biggest picture pet peeve are the pictures where you see unidentifiable people standing in the middle of a field. Get close enough to see their faces! The scenery is secondary in people pictures. Tip 2) I tend to use the view finder and not the screen for my pictures. I use the screen to view the picture after I take it. Tip 3) Frame the picture as if it were a landscape painting. Find a focal point and either center the picture on it or move it to the far right or left of the picture. For scenic pictures I often try to think if it would make a good puzzle picture. Tip 4) Don't be afraid to get close up. When I took the tulip pictures I scrunched down and got level with the flowers and as close as I could get. Most cameras have a close up feature. Tip 5) Take advantage of the picture software available out there and crop crop crop. Sometimes you can save a bad picture just by trimming out the bad stuff. The great thing about digital cameras is that with a decent memory card or two you can take lots of pictures. Odds are some will be great and some will be not so great.
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Juju2bigdog
| Friday, January 09, 2004 - 7:12 pm
Aha!!! I KNEW Reiki had some secrets! Hahahahaha!! Tabbyking, not a bad idea to sell the accessories on ebay. I have considered it. Although they don't seem to bring much. Still, it is most likely the way we will go if we decide not to get the same camera. We are now seriously thinking about going the refurbished route. Anybody else got any comments good or bad about buying refurbished?
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Jmm
| Friday, January 09, 2004 - 7:40 pm
Juju, Dra and I buy refurbished all the time. Refurbished means that there was a problem with the product and not only has it been fixed but the entire unit has been gone over by a technician. It's actually better IMO than new, since it gets the personal touch. Most refurbished items often carry at least a portion (if not all) of the manufacturer's original warranty. Jackie
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Colordeagua
| Friday, January 09, 2004 - 8:32 pm
Nikon CoolPix 4300 was my choice too. Haven't used it yet though.
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Seamonkey
Member
09-07-2000
| Sunday, February 01, 2004 - 12:55 am
Juju.. you might even catch the creep who has your camera.. when they bid for the accessories they "need".. just saying...
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Juju2bigdog
Member
10-27-2000
| Sunday, February 01, 2004 - 10:18 am
Seamonky, thought about that, but the camera is in Cyprus. The camera takes a unique type of lithium battery. We tried going to camera stores in the city where we lost it, but the language barrier was just too much. They tried their best to figure out what kind of battery we needed, so they could sell us one. We found that although many people in Cyprus speak English, they just speak shop English, and if you try to ask them anything outside the norm, they don't understand at all. Thanks for reminding me, Seamonkey, that I meant to come here and update our camera story. I followed the Fuji Finepix prices for a month, including the doldrums after-Christmas period, and the prices on our stolen camera never came down to anywhere near what we bought it for. So, last week I bought a refurbished one from Overstock.com for the same price we paid for the new one in September. It arrived in three days, and Bigdog took his first picture with it yesterday, which I may post in the thread about what your computer area looks like, if I remember.
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Juju2bigdog
Member
10-27-2000
| Sunday, February 22, 2004 - 10:19 pm
Can't afford a digital camera? Maybe you can. Office Max (no, I don't work there or even own any stock) is offering a 3.2 megapixel camera this week for $69!!!!!!! With a 4x digital zoom. You don't even have to send in a rebate for this one. If you are at all interested, I'd dig out today's Sunday newspaper flyers and find the one for Office Max, and then I'd go there tomorrow if at all possible to see if they have any left. Sale started today. You can look it up at www.officemax.com and then look for in-store specials and find the store nearest to you, and then the ad is on page one of the flyer. Apex Digitrex, never heard of it, but you could Google it and see if there is any information on it.
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Deesandy
Member
08-12-2003
| Monday, February 23, 2004 - 9:52 am
My advice is don't drop it. It is not good when you do! We love our Nikon CoolPix 885. Also, don't go with a refurbished one if you plan to keep it a long time.

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Ladytex
Member
09-27-2001
| Monday, February 23, 2004 - 12:58 pm
That is not necessarily so. I buy refurbished electronics all the time and I have no complaints and I have used them for a very long time. Many times the refurbished ones are put through a more vigorous testing than new ones are.
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Landi
Member
07-29-2002
| Monday, February 23, 2004 - 2:21 pm
i have a GREAT refurbished camera! i paid $300 less for it than new! and i've had no problems with it whatsoever.
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Juju2bigdog
Member
10-27-2000
| Monday, February 23, 2004 - 4:16 pm
We bought the refurbished one to replace our one that got lost or stolen. I guess if this one gets lost or stolen, we don't plan on having it long. LOL.
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Deesandy
Member
08-12-2003
| Monday, February 23, 2004 - 9:59 pm
I have been through two refurbished cameras that ended up with problems later. Guess I had bad luck!
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Max
Member
08-12-2000
| Monday, February 23, 2004 - 11:34 pm
I have three digital cameras. A 1.1 megapixel Kodak DC120 that's been around for a LONG time and for which I have a wide angle lens and several special filters; a 2.1 megapixel Canon ELPH that I've had for a few years; and a new Panasonic LUMIX FX10 that I just bought, which is 4.0 megapixels and has a 12x optical zoom lens. They are all great for different things. The Canon is wonderful because it's so small I can keep it in my pocket or purse. It's also very durable. I've dropped it twice on pavement and it still works fine (the battery cover is a little loose, that's all). There are lots of options out there that aren't expensive anymore. What works best for you depends on what you want to photograph. I got the new one because I'm starting a business making personalized items using pictures of people's cars, so I wanted the better lens and other capabilities it provides.
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Juju2bigdog
Member
10-27-2000
| Tuesday, February 24, 2004 - 12:39 am
Max, how do you like the 12x optical zoom? I have been reading that the optical zoom is really the only one you want to pay any attention to, and not the digital zoom. But they also say you get a lot of wobble at the higher zoom powers. Have you played with it enough to comment on the wobble aspect?
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Draheid
Moderator
09-09-2001
| Tuesday, February 24, 2004 - 8:09 am
Juju: The 'wobble' effect as you call it, is going to be present in almost any setting. It appears more significant when dealing with high-powered zoom lenses (the cameras I used in my previous job were 80mm with 20x zoom, some with doublers making them effectively 40x zoom!). The problem is that the apparent wobble is magnified proportionally to the distance to the subject, zoom, and amount of 'movement' the photographer makes while shooting. The most effective way to help with this is to use a tripod or monopod to steady the camera on the ground. You can even use a lightweight tripod with the legs folded together yet still extended as a monopod so the whole thing is easier to move around with. Otherwise, just be aware of how this effect works and try to compensate for it when you are shooting. Steady yourself, try not to 'breath' at the moment you're shooting, use a smooth 'stroke' when pressing the shutter release (shooting button), etc. Hope this helps.
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Bob2112
Member
06-12-2002
| Tuesday, February 24, 2004 - 10:16 am
Is the wobble effect negated or compounded when taking a highly magnified picture of a weeble?

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Juju2bigdog
Member
10-27-2000
| Tuesday, February 24, 2004 - 2:15 pm
Bob, as you know, weebles wobble, but they don't fall down. Dra, thanks for the advice about the smooth strokes. <wanders off wondering if Draheid has ever used a smooth stroke on a weeble ...>
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Max
Member
08-12-2000
| Tuesday, February 24, 2004 - 6:10 pm
The Panasonic camera I got has an optical image stabilizer to help compensate for the wobble factor. I haven't used the extreme zoom enough yet to really be able to comment much on the effectiveness of this feature, but all the reviews I read spoke favorably of it. I will be purchasing a lightweight tripod for use as Dra suggested. That will help me get the best shots possible for what I'm doing, whether the zoom is involved or not. 
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Lobster
Member
04-13-2001
| Friday, February 27, 2004 - 7:01 pm
Does anyone know how many pictures an 8mb memory stick will hold? When I bought my camera, the saleschild suggested I buy an extra memory stick or two for vacations or big events. I decided to wait. Well, I'm going on vacation and going to attend a big event while there so how much memory should I have? Will another 32mb stick do the trick?
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Bob2112
Member
06-12-2002
| Friday, February 27, 2004 - 7:44 pm
Sony memory stick? The number of pictures will vary greatly depending on the resolution. How many pictures can you get on your 8MB stick? The number will be linear, so you'll get about 4 times that on a 32MB stick and 8 times on a 64MB stick. A quick check at BestBuy.com had: 32MB for $29 64MB for $39 128MB fo $70 256MB for $120 Online I've seen the 256MB for around $90. I wouldn't get less than 64MB, but it depends on how many pictures you take. I like to take a bunch and never delete until I transfer them to the computer. What camera do you have? It may have a size limitation on the memory stick.
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