MnGCA

KC0GRN · Past MnGCA Board Joined: 22 Feb 2004 Posts: 1424

Okay so I broke my pocket digital camera the other day (still bummed, as it had a bunch of pictures on it, and no way to get them off it due to integrated memory).

So I'm looking at getting another small camera that will fit in a pocket easily (that's really the major thing), have a simple USB interface (ie no weird cables to hook it up), a flash, possibly have removeable memory (in case of a repeat accident). Besides that, I don't care about super great megapixels, as the images all get sized down to 640x480 anyways.

Anyways, does anyone have any ideas? Heard about a decent camera that fits this bill?

Thanks!

Marsha and Silent Bob · Past MnGCA President Joined: 02 Sep 2003 Posts: 6261

KC0GRN · Past MnGCA Board Joined: 22 Feb 2004 Posts: 1424

Actually on my old camera, it only took in 640x480 mode, which was ideal for it's purpose. Higher res modes are fine, but really not neccesary.

The reason is actually twofold. One, it's only documentation images I take at cache sites (for myself personally, or if I need to send something to the cache owner) and so being, a smaller filesize is fine. And two, it's much easier to upload direct to gc.com if it's in that size.

Marsha and Silent Bob · Past MnGCA President Joined: 02 Sep 2003 Posts: 6261

KC0GRN · Past MnGCA Board Joined: 22 Feb 2004 Posts: 1424

yeah I have broadband as well, I thought gc.com had a sizelimit to image uploads though.

Even so, I guess I'm just looking for a camera that's small and lightweight, takes a decent image, and will be cheap enough I'll be okay draggin it around with me while caching.

Marsha and Silent Bob · Past MnGCA President Joined: 02 Sep 2003 Posts: 6261

s4xton · Posted: Wed Jul 07, 2004 8:47 pm Post subject:

KC0GRN-

If you want to spend $200 on very nice ultra-compact pocket camera:

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/specs/Sony/sony_dscu40.asp

If you want to spend less, you can find deals if you hunt. You can find Sony DSC-S30's pretty cheap on eBay. Although it may be a bit chunkier than what you want, it is probably the best 1 megapixel compact camera I have ever touched. Excellent lens and surprisingly good color reproduction for an inexpensive digital camera.

Just avoid these brands with digital cameras: HP, Casio, Epson, Kodak, Kyocera. They generally are focused on BS features that will make the customer buy the product if they don't know much about digital photography, and they don't invest in making good quality cameras.

The better consumer digital cameras, if I were to make a huge generalization, generally come more often from Canon, Sony and Nikon.

You may be able to find older model Canon and Sonys at CompUSA even on clearance...

Another thing to remember: Over a few million megapixels, the resolution is meaningless unless you're serious on making professional looking prints. What really matters is the quality of the lens and the CCD or whatever imaging unit is in the camera. When looking at ultra-compacts, you can keep it simple and think that generally a bigger lens will be better quality, especially in lower light situations. That rule of thumb generally will work with ultra-compacts.

My $0.02.

I'm in the market for a camera myself as my Sony DSC-S30 broke this weekend and I've narrowed down my search to a few Canons and a Sony.

-Aaron

Centris · Posted: Wed Jul 07, 2004 9:31 pm Post subject:

SirPoonga · Posted: Wed Jul 07, 2004 10:01 pm Post subject:

I'd stick with Sony, Canon, or Olympus for a digicam. Checkout www.steves-digicams.com Olympus has some very nice pocket cams that are weather resistant. All the opennings have rubber seals and such.

I have an older Olympus C-3000. I love it. I needed features and expandability.

My sister had a 4 megapixel Olympus, I believe the D-400. One of the weather resistant pocket cams. Very nice, basic features, 3x zoom, fits in pocket.
Make sure you get the extended warranty wherever you get it from. My sister's camera , the latch for the data port door broke. Since Best Buy didn't run that model anymore they replaced it with the D-410 because of the extended warranty.
She took it along when we did this cache and has some nice pics of the view.

A friend of mine wished he got the extended warranty. On his Canon a pixel went out on the CCD and it was out of the 1 year manufacturers warranty.

SirPoonga · Posted: Wed Jul 07, 2004 10:18 pm Post subject:

KC0GRN · Past MnGCA Board Joined: 22 Feb 2004 Posts: 1424

Thanks for the suggestions. I started looking at some sony ones today actually, seems like some of the cybershot models are fairly small and portable.

I actually own an older olympus digital camera (a d-460 zoom, 1.3 megapixel, GREAT lens) and it's the best camera I've ever had, I just don't like to bring it caching with me due to the size and risks of dropping it, though I have accidentally dropped it a few times and it's still working great.

As for this camera, again megapixels aren't a priority, nor super features. Just a simple small camera that fits in the pocket well. So far Sony seems to have an edge on that, especially pricewise. Basically a camera I don't mind banging around a bit while caching (hence the price thing, less fancy should mean cheaper).

SirPoonga · Posted: Fri Jul 09, 2004 8:48 pm Post subject:

That's why I suggested the new olympus cameras. They are water resistant. My sister has dropped hers while caching. But only once, she normally keeps it in a fanny pack while caching.

King Boreas · Posted: Mon Jul 26, 2004 2:31 pm Post subject:

http://www.officemax.com/max/solutions/product/prodBlock.jsp?BV_UseBVCookie=yes&expansionOID=-536906215&prodBlockOID=537346778&moreInfo=yes

s4xton · Posted: Mon Jul 26, 2004 2:32 pm Post subject:

King Boreas · Posted: Mon Jul 26, 2004 4:16 pm Post subject:

Sorry

http://www.officemax.com/max/solutions/search/search.jsp?BV_UseBVCookie=yes&searchType=product&searchString=credit+card+camera&searchBtn.x=28&searchBtn.y=4

or

www.officemax.com

search for sakar camera

credit card size, $29.95