digital camera choices

[unclej]

some asshole jacked my 3 year old hewlett packard digital cameral out of my truck a few days ago giving me an excuse to upgrade. after a week or so of research i've narrowed my search down to the following two cameras:

1) nikon coolpix 4300
2) olympus camedia c-4000

i want at least 4 megapixels and a true 3x optical zoom. the ability to go manual is preferable. i'm going to be using this primarily to take pics of my guitars and other creations to list on e-bay and on my webb site when i finish it. close up ability and even macro ability is very important. $400.00 +/- price range.

do any of you have a camera that falls into these catagories that you're particularly fond of that you'd recommend?

 

[Guest]

 

[Bidin~Time]

I like my Sony FD Mavica. I like being able to take the 3 1/2" disk from the camera to the pc. Although I think the FV Mavica, which is the step above mine, would be more what you're looking for.

 

[unclej]

thanks goddess, i actually went to a local outlet mall to the sony store yesterday and looked at those. still a possibility. will the smaller disks play on a regular dvd drive or do you need a special one?

 

[Bidin~Time]

thanks goddess, i actually went to a local outlet mall to the sony store yesterday and looked at those. still a possibility. will the smaller disks play on a regular dvd drive or do you need a special one?

Mine uses a regular 3.5 floppy disk (2 HD, 1.44 MB, formatted) I've not seen the ones that use the DVD disk. I like not having to use a memory stick, or attaching USB cables. But then I'm not the most pc literate person around. This camera is great for me, since it's almost "idiot proof".

you might try http://sony.com/

I'm sure it would be very helpful.

 

[Weird Harold]

thanks goddess, i actually went to a local outlet mall to the sony store yesterday and looked at those. still a possibility. will the smaller disks play on a regular dvd drive or do you need a special one?

The mini-disks used by the Sony cameras will work in a full-sized CD Rom drive. They work best in a CD-RW drive because they don't have to be "closed" as they do for a regular CD drive.

Depending on the drive, you may have to use the adapter that comes with the camera.

The Sony Camera My neighbor had also functioned as an external CD-RW drive when connected with the USB cable.

 

[The Heretic]

Various Nikons are cool, but I was leary of the swivel some of them have - especially with regards to being able to put them in an underwater housing.

The Sonys are cool too - especially if you want a lot of zoom, but I did not at all like their proprietary memory format, and the ones that use a disk are slow for repeat shots IIRC.

I really like my Canon G1 - about the right size, manual, automatic and programmed modes, CFII memory (you can get a 1 GB hard drive to go in them), optical zoom and great quality pics. Just the right size too. They now make a G2 that is 4+ MP.

 

[horny_giraffe]

Anyone know if there are digital cameras that take USB flash drives--like the fujitsu flash drive, for example? Or do you have to get a reader?

 

[marksgirl]

I love my Sony cyber-shot 2.1

It really is a good little camera.

 

[The Heretic]

Anyone know if there are digital cameras that take USB flash drives--like the fujitsu flash drive, for example? Or do you have to get a reader?

I don't think so - what would be the purpose? They are no cheaper than CFII memory. You can't just hook up one USB device to another, one has to be one kind of device (such as a computer) and the other another kind of device (such as a mouse or camera) - you can't just hook up two of the same type to each other, it won't work.

You can get inexpensive memory card readers both for USB and PCMCIA. I have a PCMCIA memory card adapted for the CF memory I use in my Canon and I can transfer and store files and pics on it with my laptop and camera. It cost me $10.

 

[horny_giraffe]

I don't think so - what would be the purpose? They are no cheaper than CFII memory. You can't just hook up one USB device to another, one has to be one kind of device (such as a computer) and the other another kind of device (such as a mouse or camera) - you can't just hook up two of the same type to each other, it won't work.

I was thinking something like this:
http://www.americas.creative.com/products/product.asp?product=432&category=2&maincategory=2
--except for on a camera.

The advantage of such a device is that the flash drive can also be used for data transfer--especially useful for computers for which one does not have administrative rights and thus cannot install a driver. I suppose that one could get a plug'n'play card reader. It's just less convenient.

....Ah. This might partly do the trick
:http://www.sterlingtek.com/6inmulcarrea4.html

It evidently doesn't require drivers on WindowsMe or Linux, at least. But it does require drivers for Windows2000--which is unfortunately where I don't have administrator access.

 

[The Heretic]

I was thinking something like this:
http://www.americas.creative.com/products/product.asp?product=432&category=2&maincategory=2
--except for on a camera.

The advantage of such a device is that the flash drive can also be used for data transfer--especially useful for computers for which one does not have administrative rights and thus cannot install a driver. I suppose that one could get a plug'n'play card reader. It's just less convenient.

I am still not sure what you desired use is; do you want something that will play back music like the muvu? Or do you just want something that will readily transfer data from a camera to any comupter? If the latter then just make sure you get a camera with USB. I got the PCMCIA card adapter because it was so cheap and because my laptop, an older IBM thinkpad did not have USB, but does have 2 PCMCIA slots, as does my mother's laptop and most others.

....Ah. This might partly do the trick
:http://www.sterlingtek.com/6inmulcarrea4.html

It evidently doesn't require drivers on WindowsMe or Linux, at least. But it does require drivers for Windows2000--which is unfortunately where I don't have administrator access.

What are you looking to transfer data to and from - a camera and computer, a music player - what? I found that using the PCMCIA card adapter I could read and write files to the CFII card, the same may (should) be possible with a USB card reader - the one you referenced above apparently does.

If you need to install drivers on a machine where you don't have admin privies, then ask the admin to install them for you. If this is at work tell them you want to be able to take work home with you or something like that - my employers have never had a problem with that; I could always install any hardware I wanted on my work computer, but then software engineers get away with murder.