RE: Digital cameras for dummies????

[sandykayak]

 
The selection is vast....and price variations even more so!
 
 I m not a technical person.  What I want is a simple (not too large) digital camera that is idiot proof.  I do want the little 1.5"  screen to see what is being shot.
 
 My main use is to be able to put items for sale on the internet.
 
 I was looking in Wal-Mart yesterday.  My original " budget"  was about $99.  For that money it was 1.3 pixels (??).    She said that for posting on the  net I should have 2.0 pixels or higher.  Is that true?   They started at about $120-130, which I could go for if the benefits were much greater.
 
 Wal-mart did not have a great selection in stock.  She said they were expecting a new shipment this week.  
 
 What features are REALLY nice to have? (I m a novice, remember, but I imagine some zoom is nice. )
 
 The first items I want to place are some fabric bags I make that serve to store your used plastic grocery bags.  So, I need the designs of the fabrics to be clearly visible.  I guess this means I need to be able to take closeups.  
 
 thanks
 
 

[wynot]

 sandykayak
Welcome to the world of " I can t decide what I need." .
 
 OK.  In digital cameras, everything is a trade off.
 
 The megapixel count (1.3, 2.1, 3.3, etc.) is a very  general  standard of how fine resolution the picture will be.  The crisper (finer) the picture, the rapidly higher the price.  The finer the picture, the less photos that can be saved in memory and the slower the  picture taking  is.  
 
 However, some cameras with 1.3 are really decent and sometimes better than the  higher  quality cameras.
 
 There are two types of zoom available, digital and optical.  Optical is just that, it uses glass lenses to zoom in, and doesn t lose photo quality doing it, although light is usually reduced (subject needs to be brighter, or the  aperature  open wider).  Digital essentially fakes it, making the picture larger, but usually at the cost of sharpness (it spreads the available image out over a larger area).  Some cameras, like ours, have a 6x digital and 3x optical zoom.
 
 Memory is how many pictures which can be stored on the storage media, and it varies depending on how sharp the pictures are.  For example, we can only get 15 picures on a 16 MB memory stick, at the resolution I use.
 
 Digital cameras like batteries, and you probably want to use Metal Hydride batteries which can be recharged.
 
 The comment on the internet is correct, there is a recommended resolution for internet pictures.  Your owner s manual or the sales person should be able to demonstrate that for you.
 
 Another option, is to take high quality prints on a normal camera and scan them in to the computer.
 
 Hope this helps.

[Honeybee]

 sandykayak
Here is a site that we found helpful in our search, it lays out the basics just for people that are digital camera challenged.
 
 http://www.digitalcamerabasics.com/index.htm

[DBGCAMP]

 sandykayak
I would think that 1.3 MP would be fine for display on the internet. Moniter images are genrally displayed at 72ppi.  
 
 If you go too large then you will need to worry about band width on up-loads.
 
 Higher MP cameras do allow greater ability to crop and enlarge
 different areas of the image. Make sure that the camera has close up capability for detail shots, then you can shoot everything full frame, and not worry about the need to crop and enlarge.
 
 You will find that 1.3 MP is limited if you are going to make prints of your images!
 Hard copy output of a digital images is often and 300 ppi or greater (much higher then the 72ppi monitor display) A full frame 2.1 MP capture will deliver a very good 4x6 inch print.
 
 There are several web sites that offer reviews of digital cameras ...
 try [link]http://www.dpreview.com/[/link]

[NCSunshine]

 sandykayak
This is just a suggestion that we use to save on batteries.  Use the view finder (or whatever it is called) to take the picture.  Then view the picture on the small screen.
 
 We have found that taking pictures by using the small screen really eats up the battery, but using the view finder(?) just like a regular camera really saves the battery big time.  Plus, when you look at the picture on the screen you can save it if its a good shot and delete it if not.
 
 May not work for every camera, but just thought I would throw in my 2 cents worth.[]
 
 

[SkipP]

 sandykayak
DGBCamp hit it right on. A computer monitor can only resolve at 72 dpi (maybe a little higher with a big $$$ monitor) so anything " extra"  is a waste. A 1.3mp will easily fit this bill. Want prints from your digital pics? I d go at least a 2.3mp camera of higher. As far as value, the Olympus cameras are hard to beat. Good optics and easy to use.

[sandykayak]

 sandykayak
i was thinking: if i was willing to pay about $180 for an Olympus point  n shoot, how come i don t want ot spend more than a hundred bucks for a digital one?
 
 i know it s because i m scared it will be an expensive shelf ornament[&:]
 
 just spoke with a friend who paid $300 for hers about 3 years ago (and prices have come down).  don t remember the make, but it came with a Hewlett Packard adapter so she doesn t use up the batteries so quickly.   that seems like a good asset.
 
 does anyone know if this addition is only available for the really expensive ones?

[wynot]

 sandykayak
Not sure what that means exactly (HP adapter), but...
 
 Digital cameras are nice for those things you want to have around the computer, or making sure you got the shot you want.
 
 But you will have to make arrangements to get prints made of the pictures or get a Photo printer, and that photo paper ain t cheap.
 
 We use several high quality 35mm cameras, a high resolution scanner, as well as our medium quality digital camera.
 
 The problem is, that you have to decide where you want to jump on the train at.  The price is coming down on the digital cameras BUT, you also know that whatever you get will be either relatively obsolete or much lower in cost a couple of years from now.  Digital models are lasting between 4-6 months in the marketplace before being replaced by either higher resolution models, or costing less.  I bought my last 35 mm camera almost 20 years ago, and it is still pretty much the same camera as I would buy today, for about the same cost.