Digital Camera Advice

[FordGTGuy]

I'm thinking about asking to get a Olympus Camedia D-540 ZOOM for christmas:

http://www.olympusamerica.com/cpg_section/cpg_product_lobbypage.asp?l=1&p=16&bc=1&product=954

http://digitalcameraden.dealtime.com/xPF-Olympus_D_540_Zoom

your oppinion on it?

Check out this Ferrari Digital Camera:

http://www.olympusamerica.com/cpg_section/cpg_ferrari.asp?CMP=ILL-Ferrari

[PATo355]

Get the ferrari camera , is the coolest of em all :D

[FordGTGuy]

yeah right you paying?

[evoWalo]

Canon's are tops. They just released a new line of point and shoots. Preview the lineup at http://dpreview.com/

The 20D's sure sweet. :D

[PATo355]

yeah right you paying?

Bah ... you are the only one asleep ?

[FordGTGuy]

hmmmmm can coughing and posting get any more annoying than it already is?

[PATo355]

hmmmmm can coughing and posting get any more annoying than it already is?

I bet you are watching the porn videos and pictures in the site !! Hahaha

Well gtg , cya then !

[Regie]

The camera you are looking at sounds good. 3 MP is more than enough , unless you wish to print larger than A4. Nice fast shutter speeds (upto 1/2000 sec), but the shutter can't stay open for too lon, at only 1 second (or max of 2seconds in night shot). It has optical zoom (digital zooms sucks ass). Seems to be able to use AA batteries as well as a proprietary battery pack. The ability to use AAs can come in handy sometimes, especially when travelling and away from a power plug.

The only downside would be the Xd card media being more expensive than standard CF cards, but the price difference aitn that much.
Other brands of cameras you could look at
Canon, Fuji, Pentax and Panasonic (decent lenses and massive optical zoom in some models).


Have a look at a couple of digi photo review sites and perhaps even brwose a few forums.

I always go browse DPreview before deciding on my camera, great site, detailed reviews and very busy forums. Galbraith's forums are excellent (even better than DPreview, IMO)

http://www.dpreview.com/
http://www.steves-digicams.com/hardware_reviews.html
http://www.photoxels.com/
http://www.photo.net/
http://www.imaging-resource.com/

http://robgalbraith.com/bins/index.asp (great forums)

[FordGTGuy]

thanks alot man i'll check them all out since I have all the time in the day. <still sick damnit.

[5vz-fe]

Regie, u are missing one ..... http://www.megapixel.net/

[nthfinity]

honestly, fordgtguy... i dont recomend any digi cam less then 4 megapixels... and not less then $400 stand alone... not with any docking station... so my advice may be to save til you can get something you would love...

i personally got this one, and although its not top of the line at the electronics store, and quite limiting to a pro... im quite satisfied with its versatility...
http://www.ixbt.com/digimage/sony/717/sonyf717l.jpg
ran me 700$ for it, a case, a tripod, and a 256 mb stick

[Regie]

I'm going to have to disagree with you, nthfinity.

Assuming that this is FordGTguy's first digital still camera, and also assuming that he aint a shutter-bug/photoguy/expert in shooting still images. Then getting an expensive camera for his first foray into the medium would be pointless and a waste of money (IMO).
With technology changing so quickly, what was the bees knees could become fairly mundane in a year/18months time. FordGTguy would by this time, decide what features he would really need

Things such as full manual controls or just shutter and aperture priority. A fast lens, telephoto or wide angle. macro mode, decent night shooting, slow or fast shutter speeds, the ability to add an external flash (hotshoe) etc etc...

If one were to get all these features, the camera would be very expensive and it would be a shame and waste of money if the owner didn't know how to or didn't want/need to use all these features.

My advice is to get something relatively inexpensive for a first time purchase. Then after a year or so, buy somthing more expensive and feature laden.

p.s. I still stand by the fact the 3MP is more than enough if not printing beyond A4 size. I've got a 5MP camera (Sony DSC-V1) and I usually shoot at 3.2MP , and only resort to the full resolution when I know I'm taking a good shot for blowing up.

BTW, nthfinity, what sort of camera have you got? The image posted is not showing up in my browser?

[nthfinity]

BTW, nthfinity, what sort of camera have you got? The image posted is not showing up in my browser?

image seems to have been removed...
sony cybershot dsc-F717
http://www.alpha-jp.co.jp/~pochi/cgi-bin/hard/shouhin_h/deji_img/dsc-f717.jpg

[Regie]

Nice camera you got there mate, good lens and plenty of manual controls as well as the hot shoe for an external flash.

[itsthepham]

BTW, nthfinity, what sort of camera have you got? The image posted is not showing up in my browser?

image seems to have been removed...
sony cybershot dsc-F717
http://www.alpha-jp.co.jp/~pochi/cgi-bin/hard/shouhin_h/deji_img/dsc-f717.jpg

I happen to have that camera and it works excellent. Perhaps I'll post some pictures if you want.